Page 130 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

Inuit Knots 119
The first accessible archaeological evidence of knots comes from the Ruin
Island project [24]. Ruin Island lies not far off the coast of Inglefield Land
which forms the southeast shore of the Kane Basin. Ruin Island is situated
slightly to the northwest of Inuarfigsuaq. Around the year A.D. 1000 pioneer
settlers inhabited the island. Karen McCullough shows several artifacts with
remnants of knotwork made by the Ruin Islanders. The photographic evidence
is often difficult to interpret. On some pictures a number of Half Hitches can
be discerned. The clearest knotted object is a remarliable piece of square
plait of which a tying method (or algorithm) is illustrated in Fig. 4 [24, p1.68,
figs.x,yl.

Fig. 4. Square Crown Sennit algorithm
The next possibility to see some old Inuit linots occurs at Qilakitsoq on the
north shore of the Nuusuaq Peninsula north of Dislto Island on the west coast of
Greenland. At the beginning of the 1980s a grave with the mummified remains
of six people was found [21]. C-14 examinations revealed that they had lived
around A.D. 1425-1525. A number of knot fragments has been investigated.
We know that their clothing was sewn up with single-stranded sinew thread.
Photographs revealed that they tied complicated plaited Codline-Knot-like
structures in the strings which kept their liamik (boots) on their feet [27].
At the beginning of the 18th century extensive trading and a whaling
industry were firmly established around Greenland. Pla.ces such as Nuuli
(Godthaab) were frequently visited because they remained ice-free year round.
It would therefore be interesting to see what kind of linots were used in such
centres of activity. Fig. 5 shows some truly exciting knots tied in baleen, which
are carbon dated back to A.D. 1700. They were excavated by H. C. Gullov in
the vicinity of Nuuk [18]. Among some indistinguishable linots we also notice
two newcomers, namely a Bowline variant and a Triple Fisherman's Bend. We
shall have more to say about these knots in the next section; for now, we pose
the interesting question-were the linots indigenous, or were they brought to
Greenland by Mariners?