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Mystery cairns on Washington Irving Island

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Karen McCullough  and
Peter Schledermann
Karen McCullough
Affiliation:
The Arctic Institute of North America, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
Peter Schledermann
Affiliation:
The Arctic Institute of North America, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
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Abstract

In 1875, members of the British Arctic Expedition under the command of George S. Nares discovered two ancient-looking stone cairns on Washington Irving Island at the entrance to Dobbin Bay, eastern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. At least one of these cairns was destroyed by the expedition members to construct their own cairn. The possibility that these cairns were built by Norse voyagers to Kane Basin is supported by the large number of Norse artifacts recovered from Thule culture Inuit sites in the Bache Peninsula region just south of Washington Irving Island. Surveys of the island have identified scattered boulders marking the location of the cairns, but the question of the builders' identity still remains a mystery.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 35 , Issue 195 , October 1999 , pp. 289 - 298
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

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