Page 133 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

122 History and Science of Knots

Three of them are of interest to our study. The first, a variant Bowline,
we have just encountered among the knots from 1700 Nuuk. The second, a
Diamond Knot (Fig. 6), because it is one of the very few samples of decorative
Inuit knotting. The last of the interesting Ross Knots is a Groundline Hitch.
So far the structure has only turned up on one other occasion in my studies
of Inuit knots. The Groundline Hitch structure was shown in a description of
a knot used by the people on the west coast of Upernavik in narwhal hunting.
Keld Hansen, then curator of the National Museum of Greenland, wrote to
tell me that it was called qitdlaq, from the verb gilerpa, which means ties with
a knot [201. Unfortunately Qitdlaq is also a well-known man's name among
Polar Inuits, indicating that a certain Qitdlaq might have been responsible for
this knot name. The knot no longer functions as a hitch, but as a stopper
knot (Fig. 7), holding the harpoon line inside the float (Fig. 8), and as it is
supposed to hold a narwhal it has to be absolutely safe.

Fig. 8. An Inuit narwhal spear with float

Discussion

From the overview in the previous section it becomes obvious that during
the past 4500 years the Inuit have not changed their simple knot repertoire
substantially. Of the roughly 15 knots we have met so far, most have been
used since palaeo-eskimoic times. By and large they are also the simple knots
to be found in use among other cultures. However, two of the more `recent'
knots spring out of that picture, the variant Bowline and the Multiple Fish-
erman's Bends. This has also been noted by Day [9, p. 84-85]. Furthermore
the archaeological evidence dating the apparent first usage of these two struc-
tures coincides with intensified contacts between the Inuit and Europeans.
Mariners, established rope users, have been known to use similar structures
for a longer recorded period. It has been suggested that these knots therefore
were elements of western knotting traditions, which had been absorbed by the
Inuit culture. For these reasons we shall confine ourselves to a discussion of
the variant Bowline and the Multiple Fisherman's Bends and argue that these
knots are most likely part of at least some of the aboriginal Inuit cultures.
We shall commence this discussion by first giving a more detailed descrip-
tion of these knots and their possible tying methods.