Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Page 19

Approaches to the Greenlanders
Connections were of course many and
close indeed with the establishment of a
permanent Danish-Inuit/Eskimo (thus
mixed) settlement in Greenland from
1721 onwards (cf. Egede 1741; etc.; gen-
erally, e.g., Gad 1984). In other words,
ethnographica from Greenland might
have been more plentiful in Denmark
before 1800 than, for example, the offi-
cial inventories of the Royal Art
Chamber/Kunstkammeret reveal. The
Greenland ethnographica were perhaps
even so common, or so plain, that they
were not really considered "collectors’
items", in spite of the obvious love and
care with which they were made from
often sparse materials. It can be added
that archaeological artefacts of the
Inuit/Eskimo cultures in Greenland like-
wise do not seem to have appeared in the
Danish national collections until the
nineteenth century.
In an interesting, although merely
anecdotic addition with respect to
"ethnography" and "archaeology", it
should be mentioned that Norsemen vis-
iting America around 1000 are actually
known to have made comparisons
between lithic arrowheads observed with
the natives in what is today Canada and
ancient Inuit/Eskimo ones found as
archaeological artefacts in Greenland.
The Greenlanders thereby took a small
but interesting step in direction of using
analogy in Nordic and European material
historical studies (Magnusson & Pálsson
1965, 27, quoting íslendingabók).
But no doubt, people everywhere
have noted cultural differences and made
observations of an essential archaeologi-
cal nature.
RESEARCH & MUSEUMS
The Danish National Museum in
Copenhagen much benefited from the
above mentioned early research activities
in Greenland, as well as from the very
many later archaeological and "ethno-
graphical" initiatives of the nineteenth
and twenties centuries: just as the muse-
ums and cultural institutions in Denmark
and in Greenland - including the present
Greenland National Museum in
Nuuk/Godtháb - still do.
Today, Greenland, with a population
of only 60,000+, has more than fifteen
historical museums, all professionally
led. This is indeed a magnificent adapta-
tion of the Danish regional antiquarian
and museum model. In fact, the close
antiquarian and other collaboration
between the two countries also demon-
strate what might have been the outcome,
for example, of a continuation of the
West Indian/Virgin Islands-Denmark
liaisons after the ceding of the islands to
the United States in 1917 (this being said
without any vestige of "colonial" senti-
mentality). The United States Virgin
Islands then saw - and still see - no major
cultural-historical museum on the Danish
or European model, including archaeo-
logical collections, at least in part, based
on concerted and intensive professional
field-activities.
Thus, also in this respect Greenland is
a remarkable country, with a remarkable
history, including its double encounter
with Scandinavia, and as one of the few
examples of a failure of European cul-
ture and society. Moreover, if the
above hypothesis of the role of the
17