Abstract

In recent years, archaeological fieldwork has considerably expanded our empirical basis on late Dorset, with new material from excavations and surveys in the general regions south and north of the Hudson Strait, in central High Arctic Canada, and in the Smith Sound area. Important questions have been raised among other things on the nature of interaction between both local and regional late Dorset groups, as well as between late Dorset groups and other ethnic groups (the Thule people and the Norsemen). The focus of the present paper will be on the late Dorset expansion into the High Arctic and the factors that lead to this expansion. It will be suggested that the expansion should be seen as a conscious choice among groups of individuals responding to a number of 'pull' and 'push' factors. It will furthermore be argued that the relatively dispersed local and regional groups in the High Arctic for a number of social, economic, and psychological reasons made a strong effort to maintain contact with each other and the more southerly Dorset groups. The considerations presented in the paper will be of a preliminary character and mainly raised to suggest one of the ways research may take in the coming years.