The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis (L.) in Greenland

Abstract

This paper presents all available archaeozoological, ethnohistorical, and historical evidence on the Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis (L.), in Greenland. Substantial new contributions are: (1) the presentation of 132 Auk bones from seven archaeological sites, and (2) a translation of Otto Fabricius's original handwritten notes on the Great Auk in Greenland.

A description of the Greenlandic Great Auk's zoogeography and biology is given as well as a description of the Inuit's Great Auk hunting methods and of their use of Great Auk products.

Main conclusions are: (1) P. impennis probably occurred further north in Greenland c. 2000 BC than in historical times; (2) c. 1500 BC P. impennis possibly nested in West Greenland; (3) Between 1350 and 1800 AD Great Auks originating from breeding colonies near Newfoundland or Iceland wintered on the banks off West Greenland from Cape Farewell in the south to Maniitsoq in the north; (4) Great Auks were breeding in Southwest Greenland in small numbers in the 1760's and 1770's; (5) The Great Auk was hunted by the Inuit through 4500 years. The first Inuit immigrants to West Greenland may initially have overexploited and depleted accessible breeding colonies, but the Inuit were not instrumental in the final extirpation of P. impennis; and (6) the last Great Auk recorded in Greenland was seen and killed in 1815.

Key words:

• Great Auk
• Pinguinus impennis
• Greenland
• zoogeography
• archaeozoology