Abstract

To date, there have been only casual assessments of the significance of pottery in Thule culture sites of arctic Canada. This paper reviews evidence for the origins, distributions, and varieties of Thule pottery. Information obtained from the analysis of a sample of Thule pottery is interpreted in light of ethnographic descriptions of pottery manufacture in the Arctic. The results of the study provide a basis for evaluating various ideas that have been put forward with regard to the distribution of this cultural trait.