Environmental Influences on Inuit Eskimo Funeral Practices
The importance of funerals is universal to practically all cultures. The need to dispose of the dead seems to derive less from the survivors' affections as from their fears. Many cultures believe that the dead have a natural tendency to return to the place where they once lived. It is believed that the appropriate funeral ceremony will prevent this from occurring. The various practices involved in each ceremony vary between cultures. Rarely, is mere burial considered a sufficient precaution against the return of a ghost. The development of different funeral practices can, in some cases, be related to the physical environment in which the people lived. One example of how environmental influences can affect funeral ceremonies is seen with the Inuit Eskimos of Greenland.
In 1972, eight mummified bodies were found at Qilakitsoq on the west coast of Greenland. The six women and two children had been buried in two mass graves.
The Inuit were a society of hunter/gatherers who became established in the Canadian high Arctic around A.D. 1,000. Two hundred and eighty miles north of the arctic circle, Qilakitsoq served as a winter camp for hunting. The coastline in that particular region of west central Greenland consists of rocky islands and fjords which open onto Baffin Bay. The area is characterized by jagged peaks rising brusquely out of a calm sea. In most places, the shore is composed of vertical cliffs. At Qilakitsoq, these sheer cliffs have receded to form a tiny cove.
The Inuit built tents and small stone and turf structures on the cove's steeply sloping, rocky terrain. Although during the summer, the weather at Qilakitsoq tends to be foggy and bleak, in the winter game is plentiful.
The mass graves were located 200 meters from the remains of the Inuit settlement. The bodies had been placed one atop another five in one grave and three in...