Abstract

One of the principal methods currently used to investigate prehistoric hunting techniques involves the construction of mortality profiles based on growth layers in the teeth of hunted animals. However, archaeologists have paid much attention to the fact that in addition to teeth, the bones of some vertebrate taxa also contain annual growth layers. Research reported here builds on earlier published evidence that beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) mandibles incorporate regular annual growth layers. For the present study, thin-sections were cut from eight beluga mandibles of known age, in order to determine the most reliable location on the mandible for observation of growth layers. This methodology was then used to establish a mortality profile based on over 50 beluga whale mandibles recovered from Elwin Bay, the site of a large-scale historic whale hunt on Somerset Island, Northwest Territories.