Editing History of Greenland (section)

==Late Dorset and Thule cultures==
[[Image:ThuleGreenlandersWhaling.png|right|thumbnail|The [[Thule (people)|Thule]] were skilled [[whaling|whalers]], as depicted here by Norwegian missionary [[Hans Egede]] in the 18th century.]]

The [[Late Dorset culture]] inhabited Greenland until the early 14th century.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199766956.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199766956-e-36|isbn = 978-0-19-976695-6|doi = 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199766956.013.36|year = 2016|editor1-last = Friesen|editor1-first = Max|editor2-first = Owen|editor2-last = Mason|last1 = Appelt|first1 = Martin|last2 = Damkjar|first2 = Eric|last3 = Friesen|first3 = Max|title = Late Dorset}}</ref> This culture was primarily located in the northwest of Greenland, far from the Norse who lived around the southern coasts. Archaeological evidence points to this culture predating the Norse or Thule settlements.<ref name=DAndrea11/> In the region of this culture, there is archaeological evidence of gathering sites for around four to thirty families, living together for a short time during their movement cycle.

Around CE 1300–1400, the [[Thule people|Thule]] arrived from the west settling in the Northeast areas of Greenland;<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last1=Sørensen|first1=Mikkel|last2=Gulløv|first2=Hans Christian|date=2012|title=The Prehistory of Inuit in Northeast Greenland|jstor=24475839|journal=Arctic Anthropology|volume=49|issue=1|pages=88–104|doi=10.1353/arc.2012.0016|s2cid=162882708}}</ref> genetic data suggest that they colonized the island in a single wave spreading along the coast from the northwest to the south to the east.<ref name=ajhg>{{cite journal |first1=Ida |last1=Moltke |first2=Matteo |last2=Fumagalli |first3=Thorfinn S. |last3=Korneliussen |first4=Jacob E. |last4=Crawford |first5=Peter |last5=Bjerregaard |first6=Marit E. |last6=Jørgensen |first7=Niels |last7=Grarup |first8=Hans Christian |last8=Gulløv |first9=Allan |last9=Linneberg |first10=Oluf |last10=Pedersen |first11=Torben |last11=Hansen |first12=Rasmus |last12=Nielsen |first13=Anders |last13=Albrechtsen |year=2015 |title=Uncovering the Genetic History of the Present-Day Greenlandic Population |journal=[[American Journal of Human Genetics]] |volume=96 |issue=1 |url=https://www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltext/S0002-9297(14)00478-9?elsca1=etoc&elsca3=0002-9297_20150108_96_1_&elsca2=email&elsca4=Cell+Press |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250224235455/https://www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltext/S0002-9297(14)00478-9?elsca1=etoc&elsca3=0002-9297_20150108_96_1_&elsca2=email&elsca4=Cell+Press |archive-date=2025-02-24 |url-status=live }}</ref> These people, the ancestors of the modern Greenland [[Inuit]],<ref name=DAndrea11>{{Cite journal|last1=D'Andrea|first1=William J.|last2=Huang|first2=Yongsong|last3=Fritz|first3=Sherilyn C.|author-link3=Sherilyn C. Fritz|last4=Anderson|first4=N. John|date=2011|title=Abrupt Holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in West Greenland|jstor=25831309|journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=108|issue=24|pages=9765–9 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1101708108 |pmid=21628586 |pmc=3116382|bibcode=2011PNAS..108.9765D|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Helgason|first1=Agnar|last2=Pálsson|first2=Gísli|last3=Pedersen|first3=Henning Sloth|last4=Angulalik|first4=Emily|last5=Gunnarsdóttir|first5=Ellen Dröfn|last6=Yngvadóttir|first6=Bryndís|last7=Stefánsson|first7=Kári|date=2006-05-01 |title=mtDNA variation in Inuit populations of Greenland and Canada: Migration history and population structure|url=https://vaiandpav.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/mtdna-variation-migratory-history.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250224222137/https://vaiandpav.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/mtdna-variation-migratory-history.pdf|archive-date=2025-02-24|journal=[[American Journal of Physical Anthropology]] |volume=130|issue=1|pages=123–134|doi=10.1002/ajpa.20313|pmid=16353217}}</ref> were flexible and engaged in the hunting of almost all animals on land and in the ocean, including walrus, narwhal, and seal.<ref name=":14">{{Cite journal|last=Outram|first=Alan K.|date=1999|title=A Comparison of Paleo-Eskimo and Medieval Norse Bone Fat Exploitation in Western Greenland|jstor=40316508|journal=Arctic Anthropology|volume=36|issue=1/2|pages=103–117|url=https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10036/27472/paleo-eskimo.PDF}} {{open access}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Lynnerup|first=Niels|date=2015|title=The Thule Inuit Mummies From Greenland|journal=The Anatomical Record|volume=298|issue=6|pages=1001–1006|doi=10.1002/ar.23131|pmid=25998634|s2cid=7773726|doi-access=free}}</ref> The Thule adapted well to the environment of Greenland, as archaeological evidence indicates that the Thule were not using all parts of hunting kills, unlike other Arctic groups, meaning they were able to waste more resources due to either surplus or well adapted behaviours.<ref name=":14"/> Genetic comparisons indicate gene flow between the ancestors of the Dorset and of the Thule at least 4000 years ago, long before the Thule migrated out of the Bering Strait region, but genetic data from the modern Greenlandic and Canadian Inuit shows no evidence of more recent Dorset admixture, indicating that the Thule replaced the Dorset with little or no interbreeding with them.<ref name=ajhg/><ref>{{cite journal |year=2014 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bjarne-Gronnow/publication/265165222_The_genetic_prehistory_of_the_New_World_Arctic/links/540db4cc0cf2d8daaaccc49c/The-genetic-prehistory-of-the-New-World-Arctic.pdf?__cf_chl_tk=50XAdpVXhrp1YGr9NHnvtr1HLSFDzrlPMZOr5v3f6OU-1740436118-1.0.1.1-z8k54Xm9vbmaDTCVlvgF7B8jCqLw2RDytABDzA0vUV4 |journal=Science (journal) |volume=345 |title=The genetic prehistory of the New World Arctic |first1=Maanasa |last1=Raghavan |first2=Michael |last2=DeGiorgio |first3=Anders |last3=Albrechtsen |first4=Ida |last4=Moltke |first5=Pontus |last5=Skoglund |first6=Thorfinn S. |last6=Korneliussen |first7=Bjarne |last7=Grønnow |first8=Martin |last8=Appelt |first9=Hans Christian |last9=Gulløv |first10=T. Max |last10=Friesen |first11=William |last11=Fitzhugh |first12=Helena |last12=Malmström |first13=Simon |last13=Rasmussen |first14=Jesper |last14=Olsen |first15=Linea |last15=Melchior |first16=Benjamin T. |last16=Fuller |first17=Simon M. |last17=Fahrni |first18=Thomas, Jr. |last18=Stafford |first19=Vaughan |last19=Grimes |first20=M. A. Priscilla |last20=Renouf |first21=Jerome |last21=Cybulski |first22=Niels |last22=Lynnerup |first23=Marta Mirazon |last23=Lahr |first24=Kate |last24=Britton |first25=Rick |last25=Knecht |first26=Jette |last26=Arneborg |first27=Mait |last27=Metspalu |first28=Omar E. |last28=Cornejo |first29=Anna-Sapfo |last29=Malaspinas |first30=Yong |last30=Wang |first31=Morten |last31=Rasmussen |first32=Vibha |last32=Raghavan |first33=Thomas V. O. |last33=Hansen |first34=Elza |last34=Khusnutdinova |first35=Tracey |last35=Pierre |first36=Kirill |last36=Dneprovsky |first37=Claus |last37=Andreasen |first38=Hans |last38=Lange |first39=M. Geoffrey |last39=Hayes |first40=Joan |last40=Coltrain |first41=Victor A. |last41=Spitsyn |first42=Anders |last42=Götherström |first43=Ludovic |last43=Orlando |first44=Toomas |last44=Kivisild |first45=Richard |last45=Villems |first46=Michael H. |last46=Crawford |first47=Finn C. |last47=Nielsen |first48=Jørgen |last48=Dissing |first49=Jan |last49=Heinemeier |first50=Morten |last50=Meldgaard |first51=Carlos |last51=Bustamante |first52=Dennis H. |last52=O'Rourke |first53=Mattias |last53=Jakobsson |first54=M. Thomas P. |last54=Gilbert |first55=Rasmus |last55=Nielsen |first56=Eske |last56=Willerslev }}</ref>

The nature of the contacts between the Dorset and Norse cultures is not clear, but may have included [[trade]] elements. The level of contact is currently the subject of widespread debate, possibly including Norse trade with Thule or Dorsets in Canada. Whether the Thule interbred with the medieval Norse cannot be clearly determined from the genetic data, since the modern Greenlandic Inuit population has substantial admixture from the later Danish colonial period; however, the facts that the Inuit in southern Greenland, where the Norse settled, have no more European ancestry than the [[Inughuit]] of northwestern Greenland, and that even in southern Greenland more than half of village-dwelling Inuit have no European ancestry, indicate that the Thule probably did not interbreed with the Norse.<ref name=ajhg/>