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Photograph by David Coventry
All artifacts Collection Canadian Museum of Civilization
New clues suggest that the ancient Americans who carved this fierce mask may have dealt with Viking explorers on friendly terms.
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Photograph by David Coventry, Viking Ship Museum, Roskilde, Denmark
Daring Viking seafarers used ships like this modern replica to reach the New World in their search for furs, walrus ivory, and trading partners—which they may have found in the native Dorset people.
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Photograph by David Coventry
Unearthing what she believes to be a Viking outpost, archaeologist Patricia Sutherland (in orange jacket) and her colleagues work in Baffin Island’s Tanfield Valley, which offered turf for sod shelters and a harbor for ships.
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Photograph by David Coventry
As archaeologists work at a nearby site, Donny Pitseolak keeps watch for polar bears on the shores of Baffin Island.
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Photograph by David Coventry
On Baffin Island, archaeologists discovered cordage made the Viking way, as well as other evidence of European contact.
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Photograph by David Coventry
On the shore of Baffin Island, Tanfield Valley would have offered Viking seafarers a natural harbor, turf and stone for building materials, and fresh water for drinking. The Dorset people lived here in a settlement that today is called Nanook (its ruins are to the right of the white and yellow tents). Archaeological evidence suggests that Vikings built a base camp for hunting and trading.
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Photograph by David Coventry
Did Vikings use these notched sticks to record trade transactions? Patricia Sutherland thinks so.
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Photograph by David Coventry
Mosesie Kolola finishes up a soapstone carving of a seal. Like many Inuit artisans in the small Baffin Island village of Kimmirut, Kolola sells his crafts to the local co-op store, a modern-day trading post.
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Photograph by David Coventry
Skillfully working walrus ivory, Dorset artists portrayed the mysteries and wonders of their remote Arctic world, from wandering polar bears (next photo) to what may be the face of a European visitor (above).
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Photograph by David Coventry
Carvings on a piece of antler present a study in contrasts: One face is broad and round, features typical of the indigenous Dorset. The other is long and narrow with a prominent nose and heavy brows, evoking a European.
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Photograph by David Coventry
Two native carvings depict a Dorset hunter (right) and a robed figure (next photo).
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Photograph by David Coventry
The carved figures have what appears to be European-style clothing—possible evidence that the carver had face-to-face contact with a Viking visitor.
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Photograph by David Coventry
Whetstones discovered on Baffin Island and at other sites in the Canadian Arctic bear clear evidence of Viking technology. Wear grooves harbor traces of bronze, brass, and smelted iron—materials made by Viking metalsmiths but unknown among the Arctic's native inhabitants.
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