The Muskox Way: Humans, plants and animals in northeast Greenland through the Holocene
- 1UiT - The Arctic University of Norway
Abstract
The Muskox Way hypothesis suggests that the first humans entering northeast Greenland from Arctic Canada followed and hunted muskox. Yet whether muskox arrived before people remains debated, as only two bones predate the Independence culture (4500-3900 cal BP). More broadly, the arrival of plants and animals, and how the three periods of human settlement related to ecosystem changes, remain poorly understood. We analysed sedimentary ancient DNA from lakes in Wandel Dal (Late Sommersoe and Midsommersoe) and Zackenberg, identifying 121 native plants and nine animal taxa. In Wandel Dal, the plant assemblage indicates a warmer climate than today about 8200-3900 years ago, followed by an abrupt change in flora and sedimentation rate at 3900 cal BP, especially at Midsommersoe. Muskox DNA is present continuously at Midsommersoe from 7400 cal BP, about three millennia before humans arrived. The Zackenberg record dates to 12,200 cal BP, with arctic forbs, grasses, ferns and crowberry in the earliest layers, willow from 8200 cal BP and birch from 7200 cal BP, but muskox only in the last 2500 years, the latter period coinciding with Greenlandic Dorset culture. The arrival of the Thule culture in 1400 CE coincides with a slight increase in plant richness at Wandel Dal and an increase in mammal detections. Reindeer occurred only in samples older than 6000 years, consistent with their absence from archaeological bone records. Overall, humans arrived long after the first megafauna and appear to have had limited impact on their populations, although cultural periods coincided with environmental changes.
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BibTeX
@misc{alsos2026muskox,
title = {{The Muskox Way: Humans, plants and animals in northeast Greenland through the Holocene}},
author = {I. G. Alsos and M. Beaulieu and N. L. Balascio and L. Elliott and R. S. Bradley and S. Pla-Rabes and S. Giralt and A. Gotherstrom and L. Deppe and Y. Lammers and J. Alumbaugh and P. D. Heitzman and L. Dalen and S. Nogue and B. Perren and W. J. D'Andrea and J. Bakke},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.20.760410},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.20.760410v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The Muskox Way: Humans, plants and animals in northeast Greenland through the Holocene
AU - I. G. Alsos
AU - M. Beaulieu
AU - N. L. Balascio
AU - L. Elliott
AU - R. S. Bradley
AU - S. Pla-Rabes
AU - S. Giralt
AU - A. Gotherstrom
AU - L. Deppe
AU - Y. Lammers
AU - J. Alumbaugh
AU - P. D. Heitzman
AU - L. Dalen
AU - S. Nogue
AU - B. Perren
AU - W. J. D'Andrea
AU - J. Bakke
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/20
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.20.760410
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.20.760410v1
AB - The Muskox Way hypothesis suggests that the first humans entering northeast Greenland from Arctic Canada followed and hunted muskox. Yet whether muskox arrived before people remains debated, as only two bones predate the Independence culture (4500-3900 cal BP). More broadly, the arrival of plants and animals, and how the three periods of human settlement related to ecosystem changes, remain poorly understood. We analysed sedimentary ancient DNA from lakes in Wandel Dal (Late Sommersoe and Midsommersoe) and Zackenberg, identifying 121 native plants and nine animal taxa. In Wandel Dal, the plant assemblage indicates a warmer climate than today about 8200-3900 years ago, followed by an abrupt change in flora and sedimentation rate at 3900 cal BP, especially at Midsommersoe. Muskox DNA is present continuously at Midsommersoe from 7400 cal BP, about three millennia before humans arrived. The Zackenberg record dates to 12,200 cal BP, with arctic forbs, grasses, ferns and crowberry in the earliest layers, willow from 8200 cal BP and birch from 7200 cal BP, but muskox only in the last 2500 years, the latter period coinciding with Greenlandic Dorset culture. The arrival of the Thule culture in 1400 CE coincides with a slight increase in plant richness at Wandel Dal and an increase in mammal detections. Reindeer occurred only in samples older than 6000 years, consistent with their absence from archaeological bone records. Overall, humans arrived long after the first megafauna and appear to have had limited impact on their populations, although cultural periods coincided with environmental changes.
ER -