Dataset of Dorset Harpoon Heads, Knife Handles, Metal blades, and Lithic Tools across the Eastern North American Arctic

All objects come from Early, Middle, and Late Dorset sites in Nunavut and Labrador. This does not include material from Nunavik (Northern Quebec) or Greenland. For the harpoon heads and knife handles, all objects are bladed (as opposed to self-bladed) with complete blade slots. Metal tools are from the Franklin Pierce site on Ellesmere Island. At the time of data collection, the material sampled were housed at the Rooms Museum (St. John’s Canada), Canadian Museum of History (Gatineau, Canada), and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre (Yellowknife, Canada). The material itself was originally excavated from a number of sites across the Canadian Arctic in Labrador and Nunavut over decades of fieldwork by numerous archaeologists. These data were collected at three museums across Canada in 2016: the Rooms Museum (St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador), the Canadian Museum of History (Gatineau, Quebec), and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre (Yellowknife, Northwest Territories). All measurements were taken with two sets of Fisher Scientific callipers to the nearest 0.01 mm. The instruments had an error range of 0.02 mm. One set of callipers had stainless-steel measurement beds while the other was plastic. In most cases the stainless-steel set were used except when an organic object was particularly fragile and it was deemed the plastic callipers would be more appropriate. Additionally, various qualitative attributes for the artifact types were also noted in present/absent tabulations. In those cases, "y" indicates the listed attribute is present while "n" indicates it is absent. The original purpose of this dataset was to compare harpoon head and knife handle blade slot thicknesses with associated measurements on lithic and metal tools. This would create a sort of baseline to understand if any given harpoon head or knife handle might have held either a lithic or metal blade. In addition to detailed blade slot and basal thickness measurements, length, width, and thickness was measured for all objects. However, these data have many other potential uses. These data represent a relatively comprehensive collection of Dorset material culture from across Nunavut and Labrador with associated measurements for both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The large, Arctic-wide scope of this dataset potentially eliminates the need, in some cases, to identify potentially relevant artifacts by combing through site catalogues that may not be easily accessed. Researchers interested in doing qualitative or quantitative measurements for lithic or organic material culture will find these data useful. Students can also use these data for projects where having a relatively complete dataset from a variety of sites is needed. These data are particularly suited to be used on their own or as a comparative dataset to research geographic or temporal variations in material culture.

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