From bone to wood, 100 years of techno-economic acceleration among the Inughuit
A dog sled from London’s British Museum bears witness to the economic development and technical ingenuity of Inughuit society in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
A bit of whalebone, walrus ivory, leather straps, and presto, a sled ready to take to the snow, pulled by a pack of dogs. When, in 1818, John Ross prepared for the Northwest Passage, he exchanged a few belongings for some of these prototypes built by Inughuit hunters such as Meigack. The documented exchange was short, lasting just a few days. On the return of the expeditions, a number of objects entered the collection of the British Museum in London, including Meigack’s sledge, according to the museum. This piece is one of a kind: “It’s the oldest dog sled, complete and intact, that we know of,” explains archaeologist Emma Vitale, holder of a doctoral scholarship at the Universities of Copenhagen and Greenland, to Polar Journal AG.
Two hundred years later, Emma Vitale and research professor Bjarne Grønnow, from the National Museum of Denmark, have studied it from every angle to make it speak again. On February 19, in an issue of the scientific review ARCTIC, they demonstrated that this technology, which is more important than the wheel in these parts of the world, reflects the ingenuity of the Inughuit people and marks the starting point for an acceleration of the Inughuit economy in the 19th century.
The Inughuit used sledges as a means of transport for hunting, fishing and even harvesting glacier ice, essential for the freshwater supply. They were few in number at the time, between 100 and 150 individuals, living between different camps. “You could divide their territory into three regions. Some of them were not in direct contact with the whalers,” explains Christiane Drieux, anthropologist and friend of the Inughuit.
Vitale and Grønnow show in this study that the British Museum’s sled is constructed from a multitude of parts, each as unusual as the next: 89 in all. Caribou antlers, walrus penis bones, whale teeth and ribs – some parts retain their natural shape, others are pierced, carved and bound with seal leather.
“They reused pieces of bone, which proves that resources were very limited,” explains Emma Vitale. “As I had experience of building and driving a sled myself, I spotted a dog whip, placed diagonally on the sled in a place where you wouldn’t normally place an inflexible object.” This whip was not inventoried in the museum’s collection, yet it remained in public view for over a century.
The archaeologists then compared the London sleigh with the descriptions in John Ross’s account. Although the two sleds are very similar, the architecture does not match. After further research, the archaeologists believe that the sled on display was in fact a second prototype, exchanged by “an anonymous hunter”, the study states. The Meigack hunter’s sled would then have disappeared. “It vanished into the darkness of history,” regrets Bjarne Grønnow. “But it could be somewhere in the attic of a castle in Scotland, we just don’t know.”
By the time John Ross arrived in the North, European whalers were pursuing cetaceans in the Avannaarsuaq area. “We often talk about explorers, but there were already people there,” anthropologist Christiane Drieux tells us. “And they overwintered several times.”
The Inughuit then salvaged wood abandoned by southerners, from “wrecks, caches and cabins”, tells the study. Of the 89 pieces on John Ross’s sled, three small pieces of wood were described by Emma Vitale.
Switch to 100% wood
“Whaling accounts mention 28 sails in 1821 and 60 sails in 1834,” explains Christiane Drieux. And with them, more and more of this forest material. “Planks and beams were traded as merchandise,” says the study.
Stiles, floorboards, runners… sled builders are changing their methods, piece by piece. A small 1861 sled bears witness to the switch to 100% wood. At just 71 centimetres long, it could be “a child’s sled”, write the authors.
“When Robert Peary starts arriving regularly in the region and the wood is marketed, the sleds grow,” notes Bjarne Grønnow. And the number of pieces decreases.
By 1892, some were approaching 2.5 meters, while John Ross’s sled was only 1.5 meters long. “This increased our capacity to transport people and supplies,” he explains. At the time, furs were highly prized. Harpoons were of interest to explorers, who could exchange them for rifles… “sometimes without ammunition”, says Christiane Drieux.
From 1910 onwards, Rasmussen’s establishment of a trading post coincided with the appearance of sleds over 4 meters long, pulled by packs of 12 to 16 dogs. A century earlier, five canids had sufficed to pull the sleds.
“The economy has accelerated, and the sleds reflect the opportunities that the Inughuit are so adept at seizing,” says Bjarne Grønnow.
Construction, archaeology and history intertwine in this study linking Emma Vitale’s and Bjarne Grønnow’s fields of predilection. And when Christiane Drieux is asked if the Inughuit adaptation is still relevant today, here’s her answer:
“In the Qaanaaq region, a new style of sled has been flourishing for the past ten years. They are huge and carry a cabin. In this way, the Inughuit go out fishing for several days at a time and can bring more fish back to the cooperative. And to pull these fishing huts, they use their snowmobiles.”
Link to the article : Vitale, E., Grønnow, B., 2025. Of Skin and Bones: Revisiting an Inughuit Dogsled Procured by John Ross in 1818. ARCTIC 77. https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic80793.
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