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I read Ancient People of the Arctic from the point of view of someone with some background in archaeology, but almost no knowledge of the pre- and early history of North America. And, coming from that situation, I found McGhee's book to an invaluable introduction to that subject.
The book is a simply laid-out, easy to follow account of the early cultures that populated the far North, from the primitive Palaeo-Arctic peoples of the 10th through the 7th millenia B.C. to the artistically prolific Dorset people who were the immediate predecessors of the modern Inuit. McGhee, who is curator of archaeology at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, tackles the ever-increasing body of excavated evidence, and presents it, and the conclusions that can be drawn from it, concisely and clearly. Presented particularly well is the chronology of the ancient Arctic. There are numerous pictures and maps to back up the text, and McGhee's style makes what could have been a very convoluted, difficult, subject much more understandable and easy to follow.
If there is a flaw with Ancient People of the Arctic, it is that McGhee occasionally indulges in speculation about the daily lives and cultures of the ancient peoples without the archaeological evidence to back him up. While this is not serious, and, indeed, his speculations are in most cases very reasonable, I think he could have made it clearer that they are not fully proven by the available evidence. The most notable example of this speculation is in the chapter about the religion and cosmology of the Dorset people (pp. 149ff.).
That minor flaw aside, I found Ancient People of the Arctic to be an enjoyable and easy-to-follow introduction to the early inhabitation of Arctic North America. My own knowledge of that era has been increased immensely, and I feel that anyone with an interest in that area will benefit to a similar degree through reading this book.
Reviewed by Patrick Conway on Friday, January 16, 1998. Photograph from Archaeology in Arctic North America.
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