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Changing climatic conditions is a perpetual circumstance for mankind. In this study, we investigate local environmental and climatic changes near Kangerlussuaq, west Greenland. Our reconstruction is based on a lake sediment core and methods include chemical proxies and a palynological analysis. The investigated site is located 15 km from the Aasivissuit Inuit summer hunting ground, which has been in use for caribou hunting for more than 2000 years. The presented climatic reconstruction covers the time from c. 560 CE to present time. We identify three distinct periods of climate regimes: From c. 560–1100 CE conditions were stable, warm and humid, and summer temperatures were 1.5–2°C warmer than today. 1100–1600 was a period of cooler and very arid conditions with more sea ice, corresponding to the Neoglacial cooling. In this period, we detect two wildfire events and subsequent temporary caribou abandonment of the area. From 1600 to present we find increasingly warmer conditions with more precipitation and less extensive sea ice cover, gradually approaching today's climate regime in Kangerlussuaq. We review the existing literature regarding the Aasivissuit summer hunting ground, which was first used concurrently with the detected cooling. Despite climatic deterioration, the hunting ground was regularly in use throughout the Neoglacial and onwards, with peak hunting intensity in the early 1700s. The detected wildfires and reindeer abandonment are interpreted to be localized events at the coring site and did not affect the hunting ground. Our findings highlight the resilience of the Inuit hunters to climatic changes as well as the advantages and limitations of local environmental reconstructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peary Land, and in particular the area of Jørgen Brønlund Fjord and Wandel Dal, is the only place in Greenland where prehistoric muskox hunting sites are plentiful and investigated, and it gives a unique insight into prehistoric muskox hunting. In the mid-1900s, Eigil Knuth discovered the 4400 years old muskox hunting sites, which he believed corroborated the idea of a so-called Muskox Way that formed an important part of H. P. Steensby's theorizing about the origin of the peoples of the Eastern Arctic. We revisit Steensby's theory of the Muskox Way and discuss its previous use as a culture-historical idea. We also revisit the site of Pearylandville – the largest of the Independence I (2400–2000 BC) sites in Peary Land – where muskox constituted the primary game animal for prehistoric hunters. We present and analyze the archaeological lithic and faunal material in relation to individual dwellings and suggest an intensive but very short-term occupation of Independence I in Peary Land. This analysis shows that warm season indicators in the fauna material are overrepresented in dwellings with limited lithic tool inventories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]