Object description

Qajartalik is a petroglyph site located on the Qajartalik peninsula of Qikertaaluk Island, Nunavut, approximately 40 km southeast of Kangirsujuaq, Quebec. The site consists of over 150 carvings of faces in soapstone. It was created by the Dorset people, the culture who inhabited the Canadian eastern Arctic and Greenland beginning approximately 2,200 years ago before disappearing approximately 1,000 years ago, and who inhabited the region prior to the Thule Inuit who arrived approximately 800 years ago. It is believed to be the north most rock art site in North America and is considered to be one of a kind. The site is currently on Canada's tentative list of sites proposed for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List.