The influence of a lost society, the Sadlermiut, on the environment in the Canadian Arctic

Abstract High latitude freshwater ecosystems are sentinels of human activity and environmental change. The lakes and ponds that characterize Arctic landscapes have a low resilience to buffer variability in climate, especially with increasing global anthropogenic stressors in recent decades. Here, we...

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Autores principales:	Finn A. Viehberg, Andrew S. Medeiros, Birgit Plessen, Xiaowa Wang, Derek Muir, Reinhard Pienitz
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/517b8d17fae14d688ef7af596af265de
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:517b8d17fae14d688ef7af596af265de2021-12-02T17:24:02ZThe influence of a lost society, the Sadlermiut, on the environment in the Canadian Arctic10.1038/s41598-021-97631-72045-2322https://doaj.org/article/517b8d17fae14d688ef7af596af265de2021-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97631-7https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract High latitude freshwater ecosystems are sentinels of human activity and environmental change. The lakes and ponds that characterize Arctic landscapes have a low resilience to buffer variability in climate, especially with increasing global anthropogenic stressors in recent decades. Here, we show that a small freshwater pond in proximity of the archaeological site “Native Point” on Southampton Island (Nunavut, Arctic Canada) is a highly sensitive environmental recorder. The sediment analyses allowed for pinpointing the first arrival of Sadlermiut culture at Native Point to ~ 1250 CE, followed by a dietary shift likely in response to the onset of cooling in the region ~ 1400 CE. The influence of the Sadlermiut on the environment persisted long after the last of their population perished in 1903. Presently, the pond remains a distorted ecosystem that has experienced fundamental shifts in the benthic invertebrate assemblages and accumulated anthropogenic metals in the sediment. Our multi-proxy paleolimnological investigation using geochemical and biological indicators emphasizes that direct and indirect anthropogenic impacts have long-term environmental implications on high latitude ecosystems.Finn A. ViehbergAndrew S. MedeirosBirgit PlessenXiaowa WangDerek MuirReinhard PienitzNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Finn A. Viehberg Andrew S. Medeiros Birgit Plessen Xiaowa Wang Derek Muir Reinhard Pienitz The influence of a lost society, the Sadlermiut, on the environment in the Canadian Arctic
description	Abstract High latitude freshwater ecosystems are sentinels of human activity and environmental change. The lakes and ponds that characterize Arctic landscapes have a low resilience to buffer variability in climate, especially with increasing global anthropogenic stressors in recent decades. Here, we show that a small freshwater pond in proximity of the archaeological site “Native Point” on Southampton Island (Nunavut, Arctic Canada) is a highly sensitive environmental recorder. The sediment analyses allowed for pinpointing the first arrival of Sadlermiut culture at Native Point to ~ 1250 CE, followed by a dietary shift likely in response to the onset of cooling in the region ~ 1400 CE. The influence of the Sadlermiut on the environment persisted long after the last of their population perished in 1903. Presently, the pond remains a distorted ecosystem that has experienced fundamental shifts in the benthic invertebrate assemblages and accumulated anthropogenic metals in the sediment. Our multi-proxy paleolimnological investigation using geochemical and biological indicators emphasizes that direct and indirect anthropogenic impacts have long-term environmental implications on high latitude ecosystems.
format	article
author	Finn A. Viehberg Andrew S. Medeiros Birgit Plessen Xiaowa Wang Derek Muir Reinhard Pienitz
author_facet	Finn A. Viehberg Andrew S. Medeiros Birgit Plessen Xiaowa Wang Derek Muir Reinhard Pienitz
author_sort	Finn A. Viehberg
title	The influence of a lost society, the Sadlermiut, on the environment in the Canadian Arctic
title_short	The influence of a lost society, the Sadlermiut, on the environment in the Canadian Arctic
title_full	The influence of a lost society, the Sadlermiut, on the environment in the Canadian Arctic
title_fullStr	The influence of a lost society, the Sadlermiut, on the environment in the Canadian Arctic
title_full_unstemmed	The influence of a lost society, the Sadlermiut, on the environment in the Canadian Arctic
title_sort	influence of a lost society, the sadlermiut, on the environment in the canadian arctic
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/517b8d17fae14d688ef7af596af265de
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The influence of a lost society, the Sadlermiut, on the environment in the Canadian Arctic

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