Archaeology from an Greenlandic Inuit Perspective - HeVo 110

Oct 19

On this month’s episode, Jessica speaks with Pauline Knudsen (Assistant Professor in the Department of Cultural and Social History at the Institute of Culture, Language and History at Ilisimatusarfik- the University of Greenland). The two discuss Pauline’s journey from being fascinated during a museum visit to working in museums as a curator to ultimately becoming an archaeologist. Pauline explains the context of doing archaeological work as a professional in Greenland and how climate change affects the archaeological features themselves. She also provides several examples of different ways her projects have centered the interests of local communities and incorporated local Indigenous knowledge into archaeological interpretation, including how oral history, archaeology, anthropology, and historical research came together to tell the story of a hunter from the eighteenth century who has been viewed as either a murderer or a hero depending on the storyteller and time period. Lastly, Jessica and Pauline discuss an Antiquity article that Pauline co-authored that showed the greater navigational sophistication and heavier integration of Early Paleo-Inuit people into the environment than previously understood in a region of Greenland that is still difficult to access today.