These are tiny sculptures, only a few centimeters in size, from a nomadic tribe known as the Dorset culture or Tuniit culture, extinct between the year 1000 and 1500. They did live in the artic before the Inuit came there. Their disappearance is supposed to be linked to a globally warmer phase which changed their environment. It is said that they were tall, very shy but friendly people, they made those miniature carvings, easy to carry with them. I am sorry that the dark museum room (The museum of Canadian history in Ottawa) where I found them didn't allow me to make better photographs. Here is a better one from the internet representing a swimming polar bear. I found those carvings very touching and was intrigued by the lines on the bodies of the figures. And a second one from the internet, but I did see it for real, aproximately 6 cm high representing different faces which can be viewed in both directions.
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AuthorGerdi Fonk; Categories |