The Eskimos

Roaming Eskimos..........

Eskimos started off their journey in Bering with the Aleuts following the coasts of Siberia. The Eskimos traditionally inhabited the coastal regions of eastern Siberia (Russia), Alaska, Canada and Greenland.

I will be focusing on the Greenland branch of Eskimos and towards the end of this blog I have uploaded a video on the present day sea level rise situ at a whistle stop over in Kivalina, Alaska.............

The Greenland gang adapted themselves into three different cultures

•       Saggag culture ca 4400 – 2800 B.P.

•       Dorset culture 2600 - 1800 B.P.

•       Thule culture after 900 B.P.

The 'Eskimos' were very dependent on the sea. Hence many settlements were found much nearer to the sea along the coasts of West Greenland.

Many archaeological excavations show elevation differences between the settlements demonstrating sea level fluctuations during the Holocene. The evidence show that Greenland has been either very close to or below present day sea levels (Morten et. al., 1997).

Many ruins belonging to the Thule culture from the 17th - 18th centuries were found damaged or partially submerged by the sea throughout the West and South coast’s in Greenland (Morten et.al., 1997).

Like the Aleuts, Eskimos too successfully adapted themselves biologically and culturally to coincide with the surrounding ecosystem. These marine adapted people embraced the changes made to their coastal environment which led to leading a nomadic life exploiting coastlines for their benefit (Laughlin,1975).

These marine adapted people have not had any problems with rising sea levels until recent years............... as most of these groups of Eskimos now live in permanents settlements near the sea abandoning their nomadic lifestyle........

The question is..... can they rise to the challenge to be resilient to the rising sea levels and adapt themselves like their ancestors did....

OR

are their new lifestyles a hindrance in succeeding their ancestors?

Let's watch this short video from Kivalina, Alaska....... 80 miles from the Arctic Circle where a branch of an Eskimo tribe has been affected by the present day rising sea levels.

What can we learn from it...............?

Meet the Aleuts

Here is their story……..

It all began in Beringia……..

‘Beringia land bridge’ was a large landmass that connected Siberia and North America. This stretch of land was inundated by seawater around 10,000 years ago.  Hence, the ancestors of American Indians passed through to North America while the ancestors of the Aleuts and Eskimos tracked along the rich coastal lines. Archaeological evidence show that the Aleutians lived off from the seas (Laughlin, 1975).

I am going to focus on the Aleuts on this blog and Eskimos in the next.........

The ancestors of the Aleuts walked and used boats when travelling through to Alaska. They had their own race, language and culture. Russians discovered the Aleuts only 8700 years after they have discovered the Aleutian Islands (Laughlin,1975).

The Aleuts were well known for their mastery to hunt whales and sea otters. They adopted hunting skills to hunt in the open seas with the use of harpoons. The skill for hunting whales needs methodical training from childhood. This acquired stretching tendons of the shoulders to cast harpoons and tendons of the back and legs for sitting in a baidarka. Also navigating the open waters and understanding animal behaviour was a vital component of their training (Laughlin,1975).

Dr Who?

The Aleuts developed good knowledge on health that led to medical practices such as acupuncture, skills in delivering new babies and preparing mummies.

The clever Aleuts.......

Aleuts also adopted and adapted the European culture well, learning to play chess with speed. Shortly they acquired the alphabet where men and women learnt to read and write letters and keep diaries.

This adoption, adaptation skills they acquired and their long life expectancy are related with their environment.

I think adaptation skills Aleutians have acquired are a great example for us to learn from....... No extinction of species was reoccurred in their vicinity demonstrating of good management of natural resources available to them.

Holocene sea level rise leading to the shifting of coastal lines and human movement

Rising sea levels and climate change have shaped human diversity. Cultural transition from Mesolithic gatherer economies to a more settle Neolithic economies were transformed in different parts of the world as a result of the early Holocene sea level rise. In general, the changeover took place on different times and places around the world. 11,500BP in the Middle East, around 9000BP in China and between ca 8000BP to ca 6000BP in Europe (Smith et al.,2011).

Smith et al., (2011) suggests for the Brits it was a more Neolithic native adaptation rather than a colonisation. Britten was cut off from Europe as a consequence of flooding of Doggerland. Scandinavian coastal dwelling Mesolithic people had to make a rapid retreat inland at the beginning of this period. This made them become more stable with the development of farming during the Neolithic period. Archaeological evidence show vegetation shifts during the Holocene with the outbreak of farming (Schmolcke et al., 2006).

Well on the other hand, Gulf of Persia was overwhelmed by rich coasts and aquatic habitat into the region as a result of rising sea levels. The finding of fish bone assemblages in archaeological sites around the coastal areas show human populations clearly dominated fishing (Schmolcke et al.,2006). This was a by product of the fundamental changes made from limnetic to marine conditions which led to an increase in cod, flatfish and eel population (Schmolcke et al., 2006).

This map will give you an idea of the changes made to the coastal lines during the Holocene..............

Our very own Holocene

Please do except my apologies for the delay in publishing this post.............

Ok, today's post is about sea level rise during the early Holocene.

Why is this important? Well, you will have to wait and see..............

Outline................

Holocene is the period where planet earth started to get warm after the ice age. This led the sea levels to rise to 5 - 6 m over a few hundred years following 7600 cal yr B.P. Examinations carried out during the Holocene show that melt water flow to the oceans was not constant, indicating rising sea levels occurred on intervals during the Holocene. (Bird et al.,2010).

In the earlier paragraph I mentioned about examinations carried out on the Holocene. Well, we all know that we were not around to have known or to have collected data from.

This is the secret........

Studies on the Holocene are carried out by analysing sediment cores collected from peat bogs and lakes. The sediment core is collected in a tube by inserting into the deep soil. Here is a picture of an extraction of a sediment core from a lake. (Soelen et al.,2010).

The sediment core is then examined for biomarkers, pollen and diatoms as they are indicators of the environmental conditions in a particular era in a region. The proxies analysed during the early Holocene indicates that many regions were flooded. It also shows of a high content in marine species and a limited circulation of freshwater. This is a clear indication of the earth being flooded in saline water during the early Holocene (Soelen et al.,2010).

Rising sea levels were triggered by the melt water from the decaying glaziers. Proxy records also show that during this period atmospheric temperatures rose to pre-industrial levels. (Smith et al.,2011).

Importance...........

Study of the Holocene sea level rise has enabled scientists to predict how coastal areas will be affected by the modern day sea level rise.

Let’s watch a short video relating to what you have been reading....

On my next post, I am planning to look at the Holocene sea level rise leading to the shifting of coastal lines and human movement...........

It's cartoon time...........

I thought of posting this cartoon for you to enjoy......... Adaptation!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you know?

Hi Again,

‘Rising Sea Levels’ is something you all have heard. Let's find out what ‘Rising Sea Levels’ mean, what really happens? Well...... can water really raise itself? Questions? Questions??

Let's watch this short video and see if we can find answers to the above questions...... I am sure you will be intrigued watching this clip........

I found my answers watching the video.

Here are my answers..... have you got yours ready to compare!!!!

•       There are two factors for the sea to rise

1.  The ocean waters are being heated due to warming of the climate. Heating of water makes the volume of water to expand. This causes sea levels to rise.

2.  Melt water of land and marine ice sheets and glaciers adds into the oceans. This melting of the ice sheets happens above and below sea level. Melting of the marine ice sheet underneath the surface of the sea cannot be seen. This occurs when a column of warm water from the tropics flow underneath the surface of the sea and touches the marine ice sheet. The ice sheet begins to melt triggering the land based ice sheets to move towards the open oceans.

Sea level rise endangers 10% off the world’s population to date.  Scientists predict up to 5 to 6 m of sea level will rise in the years to come, with an annual increase of at least 10mm/yr within 200 years (Richard et al., 2006).

Megacities situated near coastal areas, home to around 5 million people will have to migrate inland. Abandoning their homes, facing job loss leading to economic loss will bring great strain to these coastal areas causing economic and political chaos (Richard et al., 2006).

So, shall we abandon or adapt our lifestyles and homes to live in this becoming ‘water world’
Good bye, until next time..............

Hi All............

Writing a blog is something that I have never anticipated to do in my life. This is because I often feel nervous about the perception and general public view of my ideas and views. Well, one has to start from somewhere to overcome one’s fears, so here we go again. I am rewriting my first post as I feel it was not too friendly. I am starting again and hope everybody reading my blog will enjoy reading it.

Moving on, ‘Rising Sea Levels and Cultural Adaptation’ makes a great hot topic as rising sea levels and its physical and social consequences are in the limelight of both scientific research and political interests. The threat of losing land to the sea due to rising seas have been a threat to the coastal communities in the past and present, presenting itself as an unavoidable phenomenon.

The ability and knowledge humans have acquired to migrate, survive and adapt have enabled humans to exist since early civilisations. Unfortunately, animals with less adaptation skills have been extinct.

I will be looking at past and present cultural displacements, adaptations and lost civilisations due to rising sea levels as a consequence of deglaciation and climate change. In the long run I am planning to look at how the continents will look on a map in another 200 years to come. Not forgetting the coastal communities.

So my dear readers, you are all welcome to make comments and share your opinions on my posts and also share what's on your mind.