Hypotheses on the Origin of Canadian Thule Culture

J. A. Ford has recently (1959) offered a revision of the traditional view on Canadian Thule culture origins. He suggests that Canadian Thule is not derived directly from Birnirk, but that the eastern Thule migrants were contemporaries of the post-Birnirk Nunagiak stage. The further revised hypotheses of this paper are based on data generally unavailable for Ford's analysis. These hypotheses state that: (a) by A.D. 900 Birnirk existed as far east as Amundsen Gulf, (b) a Nunagiak-like culture was carried to Victoria Island, (c) the Birnirk-Nunagiak development occurred generally along these coasts, (d) a proto-Thule stage existed about A.D. 900-1100 between Birnirk and Nunagiak, and (e) this proto-Thule, developing into Canadian Thule in transit, spread across the eastern Arctic, entering Greenland by A.D. 1100.