Inukshuk

The Inukshuk (pronounced in-ook-shook) is an Inuit word meaning in the image of man. It symbolizes the Arctic, Canada's north, better perhaps than any other recognizable artifact. The Inukshuk (or Inuksuit) is sometimes referred to as the Silent Messenger of the Arctic. The literal translation means "stone man that points the way". Inukshuks are stone cairns that were erected by Inuit at prominent locations throughout the barrens to serve as guideposts or markers. Some indicate the location of a safe harbor or dangerous passage. To a hunter they reveal where food has been cached, where migrating animals tend to be at certain times of the year or where preferred routes begin. Some stone markers placed on the landscape point the way to a spring hidden from view, to the entrance to a narrow pass or to a natural shelter that can be used in times of desperate need. Traditionally they were erected to help herd caribou during their annual migration towards sites where they could more easily be hunted. Some inukshuk-like structures are called Angaku'Habvik, to mark where shamans were initiated.

No one knows when Inukshuks were first placed upon the Arctic landscape but all evidence points to the Paleo-Eskimos who once occupied the North. Contemporary Inuit attribute it to the Tunit, a race of giants. The first people to inhabit the Canadian Arctic arrived at least 4500 years ago. The oral history of today's Inuit refer to "ancient inukshuks built by those who prepared the land for our ancestors". The age of some inukshuks cannot be confirmed but some old ones are constructed of a type of stone which repels the build-up of lichen, so they tend to look recent

(picture source: www.polarnet.ca/~pellybay/history.html )

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