Late Dorset Longhouses on southern Victoria Island

Four sites containing Late Dorset (ca. 750-1200 cal AD) longhouses were investigated. Longhouses were built by Late Dorset people at summer aggregations. The Outcrop site (NhNg-1) contained one longhouse, Starvation Cove (NgNf-1) contained two longhouses, Oxford I (NgNg-1) contained seven longhouses, and Oxford II (NgNg-2) contained three. All sites also contained a variety of additional dwelling, storage, and other features. This concentration of longhouses, which range up to 24 m in length, is remarkable. In particular, Starvation Cove, Oxford I, and Oxford II incorporate a combined total of 12 longhouses within only 6 km of coastline - by far the highest concentration anywhere in the Arctic. Data collected includes GPS coordinates for all longhouses and caribou bone samles for radiocarbon dating.