1997/08/08 by Heather Pringle · 1 citation
Health Professions · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Indigenous Studies and Ecology #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Arctic #The arctic #Oceanography #Geology
paper · doi:10.1126/science.277.5327.766
openalex publication_date 1997/08/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
When English naval officer Sir William Parry was searching for the elusive Northwest Passage in the Canadian High Arctic in 1821, he got a vivid glimpse of the Inuit passion for iron tools. Wherever Parry's party went, they encountered aboriginal groups eager to barter their most cherished possessions for iron nails and hoops; on one occasion, he wrote in his journal, he even witnessed an Inuit woman offer a 4-year-old child in exchange for a metal knife. His experience was shared by others who ventured into Arctic regions in the early 19th century. When British explorer Robert M'Clure's ship Investigator became jammed in the ice off northern Banks Island in 1853, for example, aboriginal families flocked from hundreds of kilometers away to salvage metal for making tools.