The Dorset culture (also called the Dorset Tradition) was a Paleo-Eskimo descendent group of people living in Nunavut from 500 BC to 1500 AD who preceded the arrival of the Thule people. Through contact with the more advanced Thule culture, and potentially also through intermarriage, some anthropologists believe that modern Inuit are at least related culturally and perhaps also biologically to the ancient Dorset. Dorset culture used unique technology related to hunting and tool making. They made distinctive triangular blades, soapstone lamps and engraving tools called burins. Scholars believe that the Dorset (and later the Thule) had contact with Norse sailors who visited Baffin Island from 1000 AD to 1450 AD. The Vikings derisively called these people Skræling yet they outlasted the ancient Norse! The Dorset were, however, nearly extinct by 1500 AD. They had difficulty adapting to the Medieval Warm Period (950 AD - 1250 AD) and were largely displaced by the superior Thule culture. Certain Inuit legends describe their ancestors driving away the people they called Tuniit or Sivullirmiut (first inhabitants). According to Inuit legend, they were timid giants, people who were taller and stronger than the Thule, but who were easily scared off. The last vestige of Dorset people disappeared in the early 20th century. A small, isolated community of Dorset known as the Sallirmiut survived until the winter of 1902-1903 on Coats, Walrus and Southampton Islands in Hudson Bay near the present-day Nunavut community of Coral Harbour. DNA testing has confirmed these people were directly related to the Dorset.
The Dorset culture (also called the Dorset Tradition) was a Paleo-Eskimo descendent group of people living in Nunavut from 500 BC to 1500 AD who preceded the arrival of the Thule people. Through contact with the more advanced Thule culture, and potentially also through intermarriage, some anthropologists believe that modern Inuit are at least related culturally and perhaps also biologically to the ancient Dorset. Dorset culture used unique technology related to hunting and tool making. They made distinctive triangular blades, soapstone lamps and engraving tools called burins. Scholars believe that the Dorset (and later the Thule) had contact with Norse sailors who visited Baffin Island from 1000 AD to 1450 AD. The Vikings derisively called these people Skræling yet they outlasted the ancient Norse! The Dorset were, however, nearly extinct by 1500 AD. They had difficulty adapting to the Medieval Warm Period (950 AD - 1250 AD) and were largely displaced by the superior Thule culture. Certain Inuit legends describe their ancestors driving away the people they called Tuniit or Sivullirmiut (first inhabitants). According to Inuit legend, they were timid giants, people who were taller and stronger than the Thule, but who were easily scared off. The last vestige of Dorset people disappeared in the early 20th century. A small, isolated community of Dorset known as the Sallirmiut survived until the winter of 1902-1903 on Coats, Walrus and Southampton Islands in Hudson Bay near the present-day Nunavut community of Coral Harbour. DNA testing has confirmed these people were directly related to the Dorset.
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