This trip was not to see native dwellings or other aspects of the occasional inhabitants of the Skaergaard region. Such photos are therefore few and not of particularly good quality. When we were there, no one was living in the area. Remember that, in this region, there is nothing local to build with except rocks, and maybe animal skins and bones. Everything else has to be imported.
View southeast from the northern end of Mikis Fjord. The low, dark, ring-shaped structure at the bottom is an abandoned Inuit house, a stone foundation that would have been covered with skins. This one was occupied by people of the modern Thule culture, and was abandoned in ~1700 (we were told). The large boulder, on the ledge on the other side of the house, is supposed to have been where the dwellers kept their food out of reach of the dogs.
Looking down the doorway passage of the Inuit house in the photo above. The passage points down to help keep warm air in the house. These houses always faced the sea, so as to keep a lookout for seals and other animals, on which life depended.
View to the west from the north end of Mikis Fjord, with Forbindelses Glacier visible in the saddle at the top of the U-shaped valley. In the foreground is one of a set of three pre-Thule houses that were built higher than the house in the two photos above. This house was apparently abandoned 3000 to 4000 years ago, and was built and occupied by the pre-Thule culture. This culture had no dogsleds and had less specialized hunting points than those which characterize the Thule culture.
An abandoned Inuit house foundation on the southern point of Ivnarmiut Island.
This is a group of more modern Inuit dwellings on Skaergaard Peninsula. Not currently occupied. View is looking southwest from Ivnarmiut Island across the strait to Skaergaard Peninsula.
Shacks and trash on Skaergaard Peninsula, with Tinden on the left.
More shacks on Skaergaard Peninsula, with a better view of all the trash left lying about. Empty fuel drums, boat parts, sheet metal, bones, clothing, plastic. A real mess, but then, everything carried in also has to be carried away. There is no place to bury anything in this area, except at sea. Brødretoppen (left) and Sydtoppen (right) are in the background. Layering in the volcanics is visible near the top center.
A closer view of a Quonset hut dwelling, covered in insulation with lots of trash about. Basistoppen is on the left, Brødretoppen on the right, and the Basis Glacier between.
More huts and trash on Skaergaard Peninsula, with Basistoppen in the top right.
