Comments on Coltrain et al., Journal of Archaeological Science 31, 2004 “Sealing, whaling and caribou: the skeletal isotope chemistry of eastern Arctic foragers”, and Coltrain, Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 2009 “Sealing, whaling and caribou revis

In recent papers, Coltrain et al. (Sealing, whaling and caribou: the skeletal isotope chemistry of eastern Arctic foragers, Journal of Archaeological Science 31, 39–57) and Coltrain (Sealing, whaling and caribou revisited: additional insights from the skeletal isotope chemistry of eastern Arctic foragers, Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 764–775) propose that four previously excavated human skeletons from Native Point, Southampton Island, Nunavut, Canada, are Dorset Paleoeskimo and European. The suggested reclassification of one burial as Dorset is based upon a single radiocarbon assay and interpretation of isotopic values. The authors’ conclusion that three other individuals, found together inside an aboriginal dwelling, were European rests on an isotopic signature indicative of a terrestrial diet, as well as radiocarbon date ranges. This paper assesses the information used by Coltrain et al. (2004) and Coltrain (2009) to reach these conclusions and, in contrast to those authors, determines that the data is equivocal at best and does not support revision of the individuals’ biocultural affinity. The paper stresses the necessarily critical role that must be given to archaeological context in any interpretation, or reinterpretation, of human remains.

► Addresses recent reinterpretations of the biocultural affinity of four Native Point individuals,
► Argues one person reclassified as Dorset Palaeoeskimo is most probably Sadlermiut Inuit,
► Demonstrates that three others found inside a Sadlermiut dwelling are likely not European,
►  Questions whether some material sampled for isotopic analysis is in fact human.