Editing Greenland (section)

===Early Palaeo-Inuit cultures===
[[File:Independence-fjord.svg|thumb|upright|Areas of Independence I and Independence II cultures around Independence Fjord|left]]
In prehistoric times, Greenland was home to several successive [[Paleo-Eskimo|Palaeo-Inuit]] cultures known primarily through archaeological finds. The earliest entry of the Palaeo-Inuit into Greenland is thought to have occurred about 2500&nbsp;BC. From about 2500&nbsp;BC to 800&nbsp;BC, southern and western Greenland was inhabited by the [[Saqqaq culture]]. Most finds of remains from that period have been around [[Disko Bay]], including the site of Saqqaq, for which the culture is named.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grønnow |first=B. |year=1988 |title=Prehistory in permafrost: Investigations at the Saqqaq site, Qeqertasussuk, Disco Bay, West Greenland |journal=Journal of Danish Archaeology |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=24–39 |doi=10.1080/0108464X.1988.10589995}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Møbjerg |first=T. |year=1999 |title=New adaptive strategies in the Saqqaq culture of Greenland, c. 1600–1400 BC |journal=World Archaeology |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=452–65 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1999.9980423 |jstor=124963}}</ref>

From 2400&nbsp;BC to 1300&nbsp;BC, the [[Independence I culture]] existed in northern Greenland. It was a part of the [[Arctic small tool tradition|Arctic small-tool tradition]].<ref name="Greenland History">{{Cite web |title=The history of Greenland – From dog sled to snowmobile |url=http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/kultur-sjael/historie.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927011214/http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/kultur-sjael/historie.aspx |archive-date=27 September 2011 |access-date=10 September 2011 |publisher=Greenland.com}}</ref><ref name="Greenland Migration">{{Cite web |title=Migration to Greenland – the history of Greenland |url=http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/kultur-sjael/historie/indvandringerne-til-groenland.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905074558/http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/kultur-sjael/historie/indvandringerne-til-groenland.aspx |archive-date=5 September 2011 |access-date=10 September 2011 |publisher=Greenland.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rasch |first1=M. |last2=Jensen |first2=J. F. |year=1997 |title=Ancient Eskimo dwelling sites and Holocene relative sea-level changes in southern Disko Bugt, central West Greenland |journal=Polar Research |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=101–15 |bibcode=1997PolRe..16..101R |doi=10.3402/polar.v16i2.6629}}</ref> Towns, including [[Deltaterrasserne]], appeared. About 800&nbsp;BC, the Saqqaq culture disappeared and the Early [[Dorset culture]] emerged in western Greenland and the [[Independence II culture]] in northern Greenland.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ramsden |first1=P. |last2=Tuck |first2=J. A. |year=2001 |title=A Comment on the Pre-Dorset/Dorset Transition in the Eastern Arctic |url=https://www.academia.edu/231379 |url-status=live |journal=Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska |series=New Series |volume=1 |pages=7–11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408154010/https://www.academia.edu/231379 |archive-date=2022-04-08}}</ref> It is unknown whether the Dorset people ever encountered the later [[Thule people]]. The people of the Dorset culture lived mainly by hunting [[Aboriginal whaling|whales]] and [[reindeer]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grønnow |first=B. |year=1986 |title=Recent archaeological investigations of West Greenland caribou hunting |journal=Arctic Anthropology |volume=23 |issue=1/2 |pages=57–80 |jstor=40316103}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rowley |first=G. |year=1940 |title=The Dorset culture of the eastern Arctic |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=490–99 |doi=10.1525/aa.1940.42.3.02a00080 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gulløv |first1=H. C. |title=The archaeology of shamanism |last2=Appelt |first2=M. |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=0-415-25255-5 |page=146 |chapter=Social bonding and shamanism among Late Dorset groups in High Arctic Greenland}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gulløv |first=H. C. |title=In search of the Dorset culture in the Thule culture. The Paleoo Cultures of Greenland |publisher=Copenhagen: Danish Polar Center (Publication No. 1) |year=1996 |pages=201–14}}</ref>