Tous semblables, tous différents

Abstract

The ulu knife is a tool used from the Russian Far East to the east coast of Greenland by Inuit, Athabaskan and Dene women for activities like butchering, and skin cutting or processing. This knife is also found in Arctic and Subarctic archaeological contexts in the form of blades, handles, intermediate pieces and miniatures. Archaeological excavations and ethnographic literature show significant variability of ulu knives, at the scale of the Arctic at large, and within the same society or the same cultural phase. Despite the importance of the ulu knife to arctic or subarctic societies and its recurrence in archaeological sites, it has not been the object of recent studies. Thus, several questions regarding the variability of ulu in Ammassalik on the eastern coast of Greenland, and its meaning from a functional point of view were addressed as part of a Master's thesis in Arctic archeology. The aim of the research was to determine whether, at the scale of a well-defined geographical, chronological and cultural framework, the structural and morphometric variability of ulu knives could be explained by a the diverse functions of the tool. To address the issue of ulu’s functional variability, a methodology was developed that included a systematic study of the intrinsic characteristics of knives and of the related technical gestures within the contexts of use of the tool in Ammassalik. This article provides a synthesis on the different stages of this methodology and emphasizes the importance of combining the study of the tool to that of body gestures to reach a functional perspective.

Keywords

• ulu
• Greenland
• Ammassalik
• technical gestures