The Thule Inuit Mummies From Greenland

Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2015 Jun;298(6):1001-6. doi: 10.1002/ar.23131.

Abstract

Fourteen Thule Culture Inuit mummies are described here, including remarks on the cultural and archaeological setting of the Thule people. The mummy finds pertain to two mummy caches: six mummies found near Nuuk, at the site Pissisarfik, and eight mummies from Qilakitsoq. The latter find is the biggest mummy find in the Arctic. The mummies are all children and females. Although their state of preservation is uneven, much data about the Thule culture people has been gleaned from them. This includes the use of facial tattooing, Paleopathology and isotopic and genetic data.

Keywords: aDNA; inuit; mummies.

MeSH terms

  • Child
  • Female
  • Greenland
  • Humans
  • Inuit
  • Mummies*
  • Paleopathology
  • Tattooing