l8o POLAR PROBLEMS 



Greenland As a Field for Archeological Study: 

 Northern Part of East Coast 



It is natural that I, as a Dane, should call attention to Greenland 

 as one of the countries where there are still many problems awaiting 

 solution. Strange as it may seem, we know more as to archeological 

 conditions on the uninhabited northern part of the east coast of 

 Greenland than we do of the inhabited and colonized regions on the 

 west coast. This is explained by the fact that investigators have 

 naturally turned chiefly towards those fields where all was yet un- 

 touched and where there was most to do and dare. 



Even here, however, there is of course still much to be done. 

 Unfortunately, it is rarely that expeditions have numbered among 

 their members any scientifically trained archeologist; and on sledge 

 journeys, where time is precious, it is natural to devote oneself chiefly 

 to such ruins as show up plainly in the landscape and seem to promise 

 the richest yield; this means, however, that the oldest and most 

 valuable ruins escape notice. Bendix Thcstrup, who was with Mylius- 

 Erichsen on the Danmark Expedition in 1 906-1 908 to the northeast 

 coast of Greenland, has already called attention to this point; and 

 later excavations, carried out on the occasion of the recent establish- 

 ment of a Danish colony at Scoresby Sound, seem to show that he 

 is right in supposing that an older form of culture than we at present 

 know still remains to be found. 



So much for the northern part of the east coast. 



Southern Part of East Coast 



There is far more need, however, of investigations on the west 

 coast and the southern part of the east coast as far north as Ang- 

 magssalik. Such researches as have hitherto been carried out here 

 have not succeeded in establishing any cultural connection between 

 northeast Greenland and Angmagssalik ; and, as matters stand at 

 present, the results seem to suggest that the Angmagssalik district 

 must have been populated from the south, by people coming down 

 along the west coast and going on again to the east. 



This, however, cannot be regarded as a certainty as long as we 

 have so few archeological finds from the southern part of the east 

 coast and no systematic excavations whatever have been made. To 

 form definite conclusions by comparison of archeological material 

 from northeast Greenland with modern implements from Angmagssalik 

 is out of the question; there is, for instance, the possibility that 

 the original inhabitants of Angmagssalik came from the north and 

 that this older form of culture remained hidden in ruins that have 

 never been excavated, while a later group of immigrants from the 

 south gave the inhabitants their present form of culture. 



