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ANCIENT DNA PROVES INUIT AND TUNIIT ARE CLOSELY RELATED
ANCIENT DNA PROVES INUIT AND TUNIIT ARE CLOSELY RELATED
When Inuit arrived in Nunavut, they replaced an earlier and very different culture called “Tuniit”. PI/KHS teams recovered a Tuniit tooth from the Cambridge Bay area. This is the only one known from this period in all of Nunavut. Ancient DNA from the tooth was used in a study that proved that both Inuit and Tuniit are descended from the same ancestral culture that lived 5,000 years ago. This means that all ancient people in Nunavut, including both Inuit and Tuniit, are related.
Sherry Kadlun, Mariane Hardenberg, and Lesley Howse excavate the 2,000-year-old tent structure that contained ancient DNA.
Mackie Kaosoni and Mabel Angulalik discuss an ancient fox trap that might have been built by Tuniit. The PI/KHS was part of a research project that proves that Inuit and Tuniit are related.
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