Expert: John Shea - 10/3/2005

Question
John,

did the eskimos have fire before the europeans arrived?  did they cook food?  use for heat?

did they have any vegtables?  How did they stay healthy on meat only diet?

thank you,
richard  

Answer
Dear Richard
They did indeed have fire long before Europeans arrived. Earliest traces of fire in the Arctic New World date to at least 10,000 years ago and much older in the parts of Siberia from which Eskimos (who prefer to be called Inuit, actually) migrated.
They did cook food, as indicated by numerous burned bones from Arctic archaeological sites.  Presumably they also used it for heat, light, anti-predator defense, as well as to smoke meat and help dry/tan leather.
The arctic is very poor in vegetal resources, so the traditional Inuit diet was heavily meat-dependent. They did collect some plants, however, and often they would eat the partly digested stomach contents of herbivores that they killed.
The Inuit had a lot of health problems when Europeans encountered them, the most virulent of which was probably tuberculosis.  In general, though, their skeletons suggest people who were in excellent health, partly from a sound diet (few sugars, lots of fat from fish sources) and from regular exercise in the course of their daily foraging activities.
Sincerely,
John Shea