An eastern Arctic tradition whose stone-working technology is clearly related to the Arctic Small Tool Tradition. Its core area was centred on the North Foxe Basin in northern Canada, but ultimately its influence spread as far as Greenland. Whether the culture originated in Alaska or from a point somewhere south is still uncertain. The earliest manifestation, known as pre-Dorset (in some areas as Sarqaq) is represented at sites on Baffin Island and dates from c2400 be. A slow and steady transition marked the passage from pre-Dorset to Dorset, and by 700 be the latter is distinctly different from the former. By cl000 ad Dorset had almost universally been replaced by Thule.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied