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Paleo-Eskimos’ Abrupt Extinction


Earl.Of.Trumps

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/29/science/study-offers-clues-to-arctic-mystery-paleo-eskimos-abrupt-extinction.html?_r=0

Seven hundred years ago, the Dorset people disappeared from the Arctic. The last of the Paleo-Eskimos, the Dorset culture had dominated eastern Canada and Greenland for centuries, hunting seal and walrus through holes in the ice and practicing shamanistic rituals with ornate carvings and masks.

Then, they promptly ceased to exist. Modern archaeologists have scoured troves of Arctic artifacts, searching for clues to the Dorset’s sudden extinction. Did they assimilate when the Thule, ancestors of the modern Inuit, advanced from the Bering Strait with dog sleds, harpoons and large skin boats? Or did they die out, victims of either an unfortunate epidemic or a violent prehistoric genocide?

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Mods, if this is duplicated, or in the wrong board, I appologize.

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"Did they assimilate when the Thule, ancestors of the modern Inuit, advanced from the Bering Strait with dog sleds, harpoons and large skin boats?"

This one seems to be ruled out by DNA testing. Dorset are unrelated to Inuits or any South native Americans. The closest matches are in Siberia.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/08/28/ancient_tooth_dna_sheds_light_on_origins_of_arctic_peop.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28965227

"Or did they die out, victims of either an unfortunate epidemic or a violent prehistoric genocide?"

Genocide seems unlikely, there is no archeological hint to that, nor anything in Inuit oral tradition to point to that. A more likely scenario is they were pushed to unfavorable places by the Inuits' superior technology and then on struggled to survive. Add to that they disappear around the same time the Greenlanders left their settlements, which is to say as little ice age kicked in. And to top it all, they seem to have been trading with Greenlanders for a few centuries, until the laters left Canadian arctic.

So the more likely outcome is Inuit pushed them to less favorable place while climate was getting harsher and they lost their Greenland suppliers. With so many vital factors getting bad at the same time, they probably could cope anymore and just died out.

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I thought there was an island, maybe Coats Island, Mansel Island, or one of the small islands in Hudson Bay, where these pre-Thule people held out for a while longer.

Found it....

The Sadlermiut[edit]

Main article: Sadlermiut

The Sadlermiut were a people living in near isolation mainly on and around Coats Island, Walrus Island, and Southampton Island in Hudson Bay up until 1902-1903. Encounters with Europeans and exposure to infectious disease caused the deaths of the last people. Scholars believe they were the last remnants of the Dorset culture, as they had a culture and dialect distinct from the mainland Inuit. Although mitochondrial DNA research has shown that the Sadlermiut were directly related to the Tuniit,[3] a subsequent genetic analysis demonstrates no genetic link between the Sadlermiut and the Dorset.[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorset_culture

In recent years, human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) research[13] on skeletal remains has provided a greater insight into the genetic relationship between the Sadlermiut and various other related ethnic groups. As it turns out, the Sadlermiut show the presence of both haplogroups A (46%) and D (54%), attributed to the Thule (A 100%) and Dorset (D 100%) cultures respectively.[14] This evidence, along with statistical differences, suggests that the Sadlermiut would have been remnants of the Dorset culture, with more recent gene flow from the Thule,[15]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadlermiut

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Your quotes are contradicting themselves.

From the frist one "Although mitochondrial DNA research has shown that the Sadlermiut were directly related to the Tuniit,[3] a subsequent genetic analysis demonstrates no genetic link between the Sadlermiut and the Dorset"

It sounds more like a "probably yes", then "absolutely no". The latest part being from August 2014, I guess it means "absolutely no" is ne right answer... No wait, August 28th 2014? Wow that's up to date as it can be, even the articles I linked are not 1 week old, o.O

Edited by Gingitsune
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Digging down into the Aug 2014 article, it appears to be true that the Sadlermiut are almost all haplogroup A, while the Dorset are almost all group D. The Thule were almost all A, and the Saqqaq are almost all D. There appears to be a little crossover between the A and D in a very few places, but clearly the Sadlermiut were Inuit, by genetics, and not Dorset.

You live you learn.

See the data at the very end of this supplemental doc.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2014/08/27/345.6200.1255832.DC1/Raghavan.SM.pdf

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abrupt extiction... 700 AD I'd suspect disease from contact with Norse sailors?? Does that make any sense?

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