Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T19:16:35.692Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Holocene History of the Bering Sea Bowhead Whale (Balaena Mysticetus) in Its Beaufort Sea Summer Grounds off Southwestern Victoria Island, Western Canadian Arctic1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Arthur S. Dyke  and
James M. Savelle
Arthur S. Dyke
Affiliation:
Terrain Sciences Division, Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth St. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0E8, E-mail: [email protected]
James M. Savelle
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, McGill University, 855 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A 2T7
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The fossil remains of 43 bowhead whales were mapped on the raised beaches of western Wollaston Peninsula, Victoria Island, Canadian Arctic, near the historic summer range limit of the Bering Sea stock in the Beaufort Sea. The elevations and radiocarbon ages of the remains demonstrate that the bowhead ranged commonly into the region following the submergence of Bering Strait at ca. 10,000 14C yr B.P. until ca. 8500 14C yr B.P. During the same interval, bowheads ranged widely from the Beaufort Sea to Baffin Bay. Subsequently, no whales reached Wollaston Peninsula until ca. 1500 14C yr B.P. Late Holocene populations evidently were small, or occupations were brief, in comparison to those of the early Holocene. Although the late Holocene recurrence may relate to the expansion of pioneering Thule whalers eastward from Alaska, there are few Thule sites and limited evidence of Thule whaling in the area surveyed to support this suggestion.

Keywords

Bowhead whale fossilsBeaufort SeaHolocene climate changeArctic sea-ice historyThule culturesea-level change
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , May 2001 , pp. 371 - 379
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Geological Survey of Canada contribution 2000069.

References

Andrews, J.T., (1985). Quaternary Environments: Eastern Canadian Arctic, Baffin Bay, and Western Greenland.. Allen and Unwin, Boston.Google Scholar
Burn, C.R., (1997). Cryostratigraphy, paleogeography, and climate change during the early Holocene warm interval, western Arctic coast, Canada.. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 34, 912–925.Google Scholar
Cubbage, J.C., Calambokidis, J., (1987). Size-class segregation of bowhead whales determined through aerial stereophotogrammetry.. Marine Mammal Science, 3, 179–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyke, A. S., (1996)., Preliminary Paleogeographic Maps of Glaciated North America.. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 3296, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Dyke, A. S, and Morris, T. F., (1990)., Postglacial History of the Bowhead Whale and of Driftwood Penetration: Implications for Paleoclimate, Central Canadian Arctic.. Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 89-24., Ottawa.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Savelle, J.M., (2000). Major end moraines of Younger Dryas age on Wollaston Peninsula, Victoria Island, Canadian Arctic: Implications for climate and for formation of hummocky moraine.. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 37, 601–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Savelle, J.M., (2000). Holocene driftwood incursion to southwestern Victoria Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and its implications for paleoceanography and archaeology.. Quaternary Research, 54, 113–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyke, A. S, and Savelle, J. M., (2000c)., Surficial Geology of the Cape Baring Area, Victoria Island, Northwest Territories (NTS 87C/15, 87C/16, 87F/1, 87F/2).. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 3899, scale 1:100 000, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Dyke, A. S, and Savelle, J. M., (2000d)., Surficial Geology of the Lady Richardson Bay Area, Victoria Island, Northwest Territories (NTS 87C/8, 87C/9, 87C/10).. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 3900, scale 1:100 000, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Dale, J.E., McNeely, R.N., (1996). Marine molluscs as indicators of environmental change in glaciated North America and Greenland during the last 18 000 years.. Géographie physique et Quaternaire, 50, 125–184.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Hooper, J., Savelle, J.M., (1996). A history of sea ice in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago based on the postglacial remains of the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus).. Arctic, 49, 235–255.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Hooper, J., Harington, C.R., Savelle, J.M., (1999). The Late Wisconsinan and Holocene record of walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) from North America: A review with new data from Arctic and Atlantic Canada.. Arctic, 52, 160–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyke, A.S., McNeely, R.N., Hooper, J., (1996). Marine reservoir corrections for bowhead whale radiocarbon age determinations.. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 33, 1628–1637.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyke, A. S, Morris, T. F, and Green, D. E. C., (1991)., Postglacial Tectonic and Sea Level History of the Central Canadian Arctic.. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 397, , Ottawa.Google Scholar
Elias, S.A., Short, S.K., Nelson, C.H., Birks, H.H., (1996). Life and times of the Bering land bridge.. Nature, 382, 60–63.Google Scholar
Environment Canada, (1995)., The State of Canada's Climate: Monitoring Variability and Change.. Environment Canada, State of the Environment Report, 95-1., Downsview.Google Scholar
Fisher, D.A., Koerner, R.M., Reeh, N., (1995). Holocene climate records from Agassiz Ice Cap, Ellesmere Island, N.W.T., Canada.. The Holocene, 5, 19–24.Google Scholar
Harington, C.R., (1966). Extralimital occurrences of walruses in the Canadian Arctic.. Journal of Mammalogy, 47, 506–513.Google Scholar
Kerr, D.E., (1996). Late Quaternary sea level history in the Paulatuk to Bathurst Inlet area, Northwest Territories.. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 33, 389–403.Google Scholar
Koski, W. R, Miller, G, and Davis, R., (1988)., The Potential Effects of Tanker Traffic on the Bowhead Whale in the Beaufort Sea.. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.. Environmental Studies 58, , Ottawa.Google Scholar
McCartney, A. P., (1971)., Thule Eskimo Prehistory along Northwestern Hudson Bay.. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison.Google Scholar
McCartney, A. P., (1980)., Study of Archaeological Whale Bones for the Reconstruction of Canadian Arctic Bowhead Whale Stocks and Whale Use by Prehistoric Inuit.. Final Report Prepared for the Northern Environmental Protection Branch, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, Ottawa.Google Scholar
McCartney, A.P., Savelle, J.M., (1985). Thule Eskimo whaling in the central Canadian Arctic.. Arctic Anthropology, 22, 37–58.Google Scholar
McGhee, R., (1970). Speculations on climatic change and Thule Culture development.. Folk, 11/12, 173–184.Google Scholar
McGhee, R., (1984). The timing of Thule migration.. Polarforschung, 54, 1–7.Google Scholar
McGhee, R., (1996). Ancient People of the Arctic.. UBC Press, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Moore, S.E., Reeves, R.R., (1993). Distribution and movement.. Burns, J.J., Montague, J.M., Cowles, C.J., The Bowhead Whale, 313–386.Google Scholar
Moser, K.A., MacDonald, G.M., (1990). Holocene vegetation change at treeline north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.. Quaternary Research, 34, 227–239.Google Scholar
Nichols, H., (1976). Historical aspects of northern Canadian treeline.. Arctic, 29, 38–47.Google Scholar
Savelle, J.M., (1997). The role of architectural utility in the formation of zooarchaeological whale bone assemblages.. Journal of Archaeological Sciences, 24, 869–885.Google Scholar
Savelle, J.M., McCartney, A.P., (1999). Thule Eskimo bowhead whale interception strategies.. World Archaeology, 30, 437–451.Google Scholar
Savelle, J.M., Dyke, A.S., McCartney, A.P., (2000). Holocene bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) mortality patterns in the Central Arctic Archipelago.. Arctic, 55, 414–421.Google Scholar
Sharpe, D. R., (1992)., Quaternary Geology of Wollaston Peninsula, Victoria Island, Northwest Territories.. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 434, , Ottawa.Google Scholar