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Heritage Overlooked and Under Threat: Fort Conger and the Heroic Age of Polar Exploration

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Identity and Heritage

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Archaeology ((BRIEFSARCHHERIT))

Abstract

Fort Conger is located in Quttinirpaaq National Park on northeastern Ellesmere Island in the Canadian High Arctic. The site has received many awards and heritage designations because of its association with expeditions of the First International Polar Year (1882–1883) and Robert Peary’s quest for the North Pole. Often overlooked are the contributions made by indigenous arctic peoples to these expeditions, as well as the hardships they suffered alongside their Euro-North American companions. As the destructive effects of climate change and human activity begin to threaten Fort Conger, we argue that the site’s significance will need to be more broadly defined, in order to justify the high costs associated with its continued protection and preservation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, AB, Canada, T2N 1N4

    Peter Dawson

  2. Parks Canada, 145 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R3B 0R9

    Margaret Bertulli

  3. History and Heritage, #103, 1055 Harwood Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6E 1R5

    Lyle Dick

  4. Nunavut Field Unit, Parks Canada, 278, Iqaluit, NT, Canada, X0A 0H0

    Panik Lynn Cousins

Authors
  1. Peter Dawson
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  2. Margaret Bertulli
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  3. Lyle Dick
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  4. Panik Lynn Cousins
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Dawson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, USA

    Peter F. Biehl

  2. Cultural Site Research and Management Inc.,, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Douglas C. Comer

  3. University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Christopher Prescott

  4. University of Washington School of Law, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Hilary A. Soderland

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Dawson, P., Bertulli, M., Dick, L., Cousins, P.L. (2015). Heritage Overlooked and Under Threat: Fort Conger and the Heroic Age of Polar Exploration. In: Biehl, P., Comer, D., Prescott, C., Soderland, H. (eds) Identity and Heritage. SpringerBriefs in Archaeology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09689-6_11

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