A report on the Crane Site (Obkv-I) a Palaeoeskimo component located along the Old Horton River Channel in the interior of the Cape Bathurst Peninsula, about 250 km east-northeast of Tuktoyaktuk. Many of the artifacts show strong affiliation, in a variety of typological categories, with the Lagoon Site on Banks Island, which was influenced by the Norton and Dorset cultures. The detailed similarities, as well as comparable material on Melville Island, provide the basis for the definition of the Lagoon complex, a regional cultural complex that existed during the period of change from the Pre-Dorset to the Dorset phases of the Palaeoeskimo continuum.

The similarities shared by the Crane site, Cape Bathurst Peninsula, NWT with Lagoon Site on Banks Island, as well as comparable material on Melville Island, provide the basis for the definition of a regional cultural complex that existed during the period of change from the Pre-Dorset to the Dorset phases of the Palaeoeskimo continuum.

This collection of papers offers insights into the Dorset Palaeo-Eskimo occupation of Arctic Canada, Newfoundland and Greenland. Topics include biological relationships in the Dorset population; succession and discontinuity in Palaeo-Eskimo occupations; Dorset technology in soapstone, metal, and skeletal materials; and social aspects of the late Dorset stone “longhouses”.

Despite its extreme climate, the North American Arctic holds a complex archaeological record of global significance. In this volume, leading researchers provide comprehensive coverage of the region's cultural history, addressing issues as diverse as climate change impacts on human societies, European colonial expansion, and hunter-gatherer adaptations and social organization.

The similarities shared by the Crane site, Cape Bathurst Peninsula, NWT with Lagoon Site on Banks Island, as well as comparable material on Melville Island, provide the basis for the definition of a regional cultural complex that existed during the period of change from the Pre-Dorset to the Dorset phases of the Palaeoeskimo continuum.

Two archaeological sites in the western Canadian Arctic offer glimpses into the autumn trek of the Inuvialuit away from the coast to procure caribou meat, hides and other materials. A detailed study of the caribou bones found at these sites offer a better understanding of this poorly known aspect of Inuvialuit life. In addition, current methods of zooarchaeological analysis are outlined.

Volume two examines such developments as the replacement of the earlier spearthrower by the bow and arrow, the introduction of pottery from the south, the importance of communal hunting of bison on the Plains, and the appearance of ranked societies on the West Coast.