THE AESTHETIC POWER OF ANCIENT DORSET IMAGES AT QAJARTALIK, A UNIQUE PETROGLYPH SITE IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC

Abstract

At the end of the first millennium AD the Eastern Canadian Arctic became significantly warmer and the Dorset people, a nomadic society of hunter-gatherer-fishermen, had to hastily adapt to this sudden climate change. Shamanism appears to have become more important in this context of adaptation and stimulated visual art production, which became a major symbolic activity in response to the new environmental conditions. As a result, a few rock engraving sites were produced in what might have been a shamanistic context. One of those sites, the Qajartalik quarry, seems to have been the most important of all. Combining proxemic and kinesic approaches, this paper aims to discuss some aesthetic aspects proper to Qajartalik that may have been experienced by onlookers.