Inukshuks, Cairns or Rock Piles: What to Do or Not Do?

[PaddlingPitt]

Kathleen and I paddled the Thelon River in 1993, and encountered many Inuit structures along Aberdeen Lake. The word “inukshuk” means “in the likeness of a human.” For generations, Inuit have been creating these impressive stone markers on the vast Arctic landscape. Inukshuks serve several functions, including guiding travellers, warning of danger, assisting hunters and marking places of reverence.





Wr read that hese stone pillars (Inukshuks) were used as directional aides, or as markers to guide the caribou to slaughter. Stretching out in a lengthy “V” across the tundra, the pillars appeared as groups of men. The caribou, would be guided to cross narrow sections of the lake or river, where they could be more easily killed by Inuit in their kayaks.

We admired these historical creations, and certainly never thought to destroy them!!!!

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

For generations, Inuit have been creating these impressive stone markers on the vast Arctic landscape. Inukshuks serve several functions, including guiding travellers, warning of danger, assisting hunters and marking places of reverence.

I mentioned this interpretation in my OP. But I wonder how we really know why many of these rock piles were built by ancient, and how ancient, peoples. Maybe some were built by a lonely hunter or family group just for amusement—like a snowman or an Erector Set or Legos—in an absolutely barren wilderness with nothing else to do after dinner in the land of the midnight sun.

as markers to guide the caribou to slaughter. Stretching out in a lengthy “V” across the tundra, the pillars appeared as groups of men. The caribou, would be guided to cross narrow sections of the lake or river, where they could be more easily killed by Inuit in their kayaks.

This is interesting. I don't see how isolated inukshuks could perform this function. The research indicates that long lines of inukshuks, cairns and stone walls were built, often embedded within V-shaped or other funneling topography, to direct the caribou herds to kill blinds on land or hidden kayaks on a shore. Here's a PDF research article:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254926918_Inukshuk_Caribou_Drive_Lanes_on_Southern_Victoria_Island_Nunavut_Canada

This next article describes how:

"As a herd of caribou approached, women, children, and elders who were not hunting moved in behind the animals, carefully driving them between the lines of scarecrows, and then urging them along until finally the herd entered the water.

"This was the moment the hunters had been waiting for—sitting in kayaks tucked out of sight against the lakeshore or under a concealing riverbank. Their specially designed inland kayaks (qayaq) were long and narrow, built for maximum speed. Once the caribou started swimming, hunters swiftly paddled after them, came up alongside, and killed the animals with spears.

"Importantly, caribou do not sink like most other animals because their coats are made up of hollow hairs, with tiny pockets of air providing buoyancy. Hunters could get large numbers of caribou and then tow them ashore. Then everyone in the camp worked to butcher the caribou and preserve the meat, either by drying it in the open air or by freezing."

The Caribou Drive - Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

 

[Mason]

I've seen (and mostly abhor, and commonly knock down) cairns throughout the western US--sometimes as something "cute", other times misplaced and leading the follower places he/she really doesn't want to go, and also as legitimate trail demarcations on rock trails where there are no alternatives (no trees, no trampled vegetation). However I have a lot more respect and tolerance of those cairns/inuksuk of the Barrens of Canada. There they are functional tools laid down through generations on lands owned by the people inhabiting them. They provide points of bearing in a pretty bleak, monotonous environment; denote campsites not visible from a river; provide cover for caribou hunters; as well as functions known only by them.
Here's some good background to true inuksuks Inukshuks.

Thelon River--probably the same inuksuk Pitt posted.


More Thelon inuksuit:



Inuksuk on the Tha Anne River, Nunavut

 

[Paddlinhal]

I just finished reading The Farfarers by Farley Mowat. In it he lays down a convincing argument for a wave of European settlement ahead of the Vikings. It describes the cairns similar to the ones photographed above on many of the landfalls and as guides along routes (ie the Kogaluc River approach to Payne Lake while crossing Ungava Peninsula). These mimic structures found in Scotland and Ireland and are way more than 1,000 years old. I would ask that everyone leave the construction and/or destruction of cairns to someone in authority.