Pulling together - The history of Arctic sled technology and human-dog interactions

PhD defence by Emma Giovanna Vitale

Assessment Committee

Associate professor Luise Ørsted Brandt, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
Associate professor Mari Kleist, Ilisimatusarfik
Professor Peter J. Whitridge, Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Supervisors

Head of Department Anders Johannes Hansen
Professor Morten Meldgaard
Assistant Professor Tatiana Feuerborn
Research Professor Bjarne Grønnow

Department

Globe Institute

Graduate Programme

Life, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Place

The defence is conducted as a hybrid defence.

To attend the defence in person:
Building: Ilimmarfik, Room: Auditorium at Campus Ilimmarfik,
Manutooq 1, 3905 Nuussuaq

To attend the defence online:
Please follow the link to attend the defence online: 

https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/311458411754273?p=R5uDnBPkegs1GrMKEx

Email address to gain access to the thesis: emma.vitale@sund.ku.dk.
You will either receive a copy of the thesis or be informed where you can read a physical copy.
Recipients of copies of the thesis are not allowed to share or distribute it due to copyright compliance.

Short description of the thesis

This thesis provides a multidisciplinary understanding of the Arctic dog sled technocomplex, with particular emphasis on Greenlandic sled traditions. It investigates the origins, technological development, and cultural significance of dog sledding, examining how human-dog cooperation, mobility systems, and sled technologies have developed from early Arctic migrations to the present. Combining archaeological, historical, ethnographic, and experimental approaches, the research explores how material culture, technological knowledge, and interspecies relationships shaped dog sledding practices across Greenland. The findings provide new methodological tools and experimental insights into sled construction and use, while demonstrating how humans, dogs, materials, and environments have co-shaped mobility, technology, and cultural development in the Arctic over the long term.