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Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services
The Kitikmeot Heritage Society is taking DNA swab samples from Inuit elders to assist Dr. Gisli Palsson, an anthropologist with the University of Iceland, in determining what happened to the Vikings.
Palsson is testing the theories of anthropologist and explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who visited the Copper Inuit of Victoria Island in 1910.
"In his diaries he describes his encounter with the Copper Inuit and he is fascinated by the way they looked, reasoning that they look a bit different from other Inuit in the area," said Palsson.
Stefansson was mesmerized by the light-haired, blue-eyed Copper Inuit, which he called "blond Eskimos." He believed they might be the descendants of Norse, Icelandic or Norwegian settlers of Greenland.
After forming a huge colony in Greenland that thrived for four centuries, the Norse settlers disappeared in the 1400s and nobody knows why, said Palsson.
"There are all kinds of theories about disappearance of the Norse - climate, plagues, economic conditions, or a mixture of all of this.
"But one possibility was that the Norse simply mixed with the Inuit, whether it was peacefully or in a hostile fashion, by passion or being captured, we don't know," said Palsson.
Stefansson hypothesized that the Norse had, in fact, bred with the Inuit, and their descendants are the Copper Inuit of Victoria Island.
"Many people think it's crazy, that it was too far to go ... but up until now, it hasn't really been possible to check," said Palsson.
Using the modern breakthrough technology of DNA testing, the scientist decided to find out once and for all if Stefansson's theories were legitimate. After being approached by the curious anthropologist, the Kitikmeot Heritage Society met with Cambridge Bay elders to inquire if they wished to participate in the experiment.
Kim Crockatt, president of the KHS, said the board was skeptical at first, but left the decision up to their membership.
"The elders were very much in support. They said that they felt that they wanted to know and they wanted their children to know about their ancestry, so they felt it was a worthwhile project," she said.
Over the past several months, Emilie Angulalik, programs manager for the society, has been taking DNA swab samples from the inner cheeks of elders and sending them off to Palsson in Iceland.
The project is a special one for Crockatt and society members, who are quite curious to hear the results.
"I'm quite excited to see if there is any merit to the stories about the possibility of some of the people here being of Viking ancestry.
"The elders are so open-minded and interested in all aspects of culture ... I just find it really fascinating that they are so enthusiastic about it," she said.
An icelandic television crew is documenting the experiment from beginning to end. Footage was filmed in Iqaluit and Cambridge Bay last April. Palsson plans to return to Cambridge Bay in May to announce the results of the DNA tests.
