Independence-Fjord

MODIS satellite image of North Greenland with the Independence Fjord

The Independence Fjord is a fjord in East Greenland in present-day Northeast Greenland National Park. It is about 200 km long and up to 30 km wide. His mouth into the wall Staffelsee of the Arctic Ocean is on the position! 582.2572225478.093333582 ° 15 ' N, 021 ° 54' W82.257222222222 - 21.906666666667. In the Independence Fjord the Hagen Fjord, the Astrup Fjord and Jørgen - Brønlund Fjord lead. Two major outlet glaciers of the Greenland ice sheet, the Marie -Sophie and the Academy glaciers calve near the tip directly into the fjord. They include designated as a Navy Cliff ice-free area on both sides.

In the region around the fjord traces of two paläoeskimoischer cultures were found.

History

The recent history of the Independence Fjord begins with his discovery and naming by the American Robert Peary, who in 1892 reached the area for the first time with the Norwegian Eivind Astrup ( 1871-1895 ). A more detailed mapping took before 1907, headed by Ludvig Mylius Erichsen Danmark Expedition. Christian Bendix Thostrup (1876-1945), a student in this expedition, published in 1911 the first comprehensive report on the found traces of human settlement. Other important expeditions in the region were the Danish Jubilee Expedition 1920-1923 with the circumnavigation Peary land by Lauge Koch and the Danish Peary Land Expedition 1948-1949, which was led by Eigil Knuth.

Prehistory

To the north of the fjord, in Pearyland exist remains of the built with elliptical floor plan dwellings of the people from the Independence I culture. These people used tools made ​​of stone and bone, and lived by hunting wild animals such as musk oxen and arctic hares. In Pearyland found bones of musk oxen that were killed by people who point to a settlement around 2000 BC, the oldest finds are dated to 2400 BC. From about 1800 BC to 1300 BC are found mainly traces in Northeast Greenland, south of the fjord. It is unclear whether the Independence I culture went down, or if people simply migrated.

From a later period some 500 years, from about 800 BC to 200 BC, native finds the Independence II culture are attributed. Originally Independence I and Independence II were considered as a culture, but they could be separated by Eigil Knuth in 1956 due to various constructions of residential buildings and differences with other artifacts. So the houses of the Independence II culture, for example, more complex and larger than the older buildings in the area. Unlike their predecessors, the people of the Independence II culture also populated areas south of the Independence Fjord.

In both cases, it is unclear whether findings away from the core distribution area in northern Greenland and Ellesmere Island should not be counted towards other cultures. During the Independence I and Independence II cultures are counted among the pre- Dorset cultures, some of these finds are also associated with the early Dorset culture. But some finds in northern Greenland might also be from the Saqqaq culture ( also pre- Dorset) originate.