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Thule culture

The Thule moved into the High Arctic at the time of a warming trend, c. 1000 CE. Their major population centre was the Smith Sound area (on both the Ellesmere and Greenland sides) due to its proximity to polynyas and its position on transportation routes. From settlements at Smith Sound, the Thule sent summer hunting parties to harvest marine mammals in Nansen Strait. Their summer camps are evidenced by tent rings as far north as Archer Fiord, with clusters of stone dwellings around Lady Franklin Bay and at Lake Hazen which suggest semi-permanent occupations.

The Thule genetically and culturally completely replaced the Dorset people some time after 1300 CE. The Thule displaced the small-tool cultures, having a number of technological advantages which notably included effective weapons, kayaks and umiaks for hunting marine mammals, and sled dogs for surface transport and pursuit. The Thule also had an extensive trade network, evidenced by meteoritic iron from Greenland which was exported through Ellesmere Island to the rest of the archipelago and to the North American mainland.

More than fifty Norse artefacts have been found in Thule archeological sites on the Bache Peninsula, including pieces of chain mail. It is uncertain if Ellesmere Island was directly visited by Norse Greenlanders who sailed from the south or if the items were traded through a network of middlemen. It is also possible the items may have been taken from a shipwreck. A bronze set of scales discovered in western Ellesmere Island has been interpreted as indicating the presence of a Norse trader in the region. The Norse artefacts date from c. 1250 to 1400 CE.

Between 1400 and 1600 CE, the Little Ice Age developed and conditions for hunting became increasingly difficult, forcing the Thule to withdraw from Ellesmere and the other northern islands of the archipelago. The Thule who remained in northern Greenland became isolated, specialized at hunting a diminishing number of game animals, and lost the ability to make boats. Thus, the waters around Ellesmere were not navigated again until the arrival of large European vessels after 1800.