Frigg Fjord ( da, Friggs Fjord) is a
fjord
In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Förden and East Jutland Fjorde, Germany, ...
in
Peary Land
Peary Land is a peninsula in northern Greenland, extending into the Arctic Ocean. It reaches from Victoria Fjord in the west to Independence Fjord in the south and southeast, and to the Arctic Ocean in the north, with Cape Morris Jesup, the nort ...
, far northern
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...
.
The archaeological remains in the northern shore and at the head of this fjord belong to the northernmost human settlements in human history.
[Bjarne Grønnow, Jens Fog Jensen: ''The Northernmost Ruins of the Globe. Eigil Knuth’s Archaeological Investigations in Peary Land and Adjacent Areas of High Arctic Greenland'' (= Man & Society. Vol. 29). Museum Tusculanums Forlag, Københavns Universitet, Copenhagen 2003, pp. 219–237]
History
The area around the shores of Frigg Fjord was inhabited by the
Independence I culture
Independence I was a culture of Paleo-Eskimos who lived in northern Greenland and the Canadian Arctic between 2400 and 1900 BC. There has been much debate among scholars on when Independence I culture disappeared, and, therefore, there is a margin ...
and later the
Independence II culture
Independence II was a Paleo-Eskimo culture that flourished in northern and northeastern Greenland from around 700 to 80 BC, north and south of the Independence Fjord. The Independence II culture existed in roughly the same areas of Greenland as t ...
until about 2,400 years ago. These inhabitants were people dependent on hunting
muskoxen
The muskox (''Ovibos moschatus'', in Latin "musky sheep-ox"), also spelled musk ox and musk-ox, plural muskoxen or musk oxen (in iu, ᐅᒥᖕᒪᒃ, umingmak; in Woods Cree: ), is a hoofed mammal of the family Bovidae. Native to the Arctic, i ...
for survival and they lived a great part of the year in complete darkness. The ruins were found in the first half of the 20th century. The main sites are the Adam C. Knuth site, Qissivik and the Whale Terraces.
Since all other fjords in Northern Peary Land are frozen even in the summer, Frigg Fjord was identified as one of the few places where a seaplane can land in the northern part of
Peary Land
Peary Land is a peninsula in northern Greenland, extending into the Arctic Ocean. It reaches from Victoria Fjord in the west to Independence Fjord in the south and southeast, and to the Arctic Ocean in the north, with Cape Morris Jesup, the nort ...
by the members of a 1953 geological expedition. After landing successfully with their plane in the unfrozen surface of the head of the fjord they made a south–north crossing of the
Roosevelt Range
The Roosevelt Range or Roosevelt Mountains ( da, Roosevelt Fjelde) is a mountain range in Northern Greenland. Administratively this range is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park. Its highest peak is the highest point in Peary Land.
Loca ...
through the
Polkorridoren pass to
Sands Fjord.
[Crossing North Peary Land in Summer 1953](_blank)
/ref>
Geography
Frigg Fjord is an offshoot on the northern shore of Frederick E. Hyde Fjord located from Cape John Flagler, at the fjord entrance. The fjord is roughly oriented in a NW/SE direction. There are two small islands near the head and there is no glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...
discharging in the fjord. Freja Fjord
Freja Fjord ( da, Frejas Fjord) is a fjord in Peary Land, far northern Greenland.Google Maps
The fjord is mentioned in a letter from geologist Peter Dawes to Eigil Knuth regarding a possible archaeological discovery.''The Northernmost Ruins of ...
has its mouth in the opposite side of Frederick E. Hyde Fjord.[''Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 Greenland and Iceland Enroute'', p. 130]
Unusually for the latitude, the head area of Frigg Fjord is not frozen in the summer. When Lauge Koch
Lauge Koch (5 July 1892 – 5 June 1964) was a Danish geologist and Arctic explorer.
Biography
Lauge Koch was born in 1892 to Karl and Elisabeth Koch. His development as a scientist was greatly influenced by his father's second cousin Johan P ...
saw a sector of this area from the air in 1938, he named it ''Drivhuset'', meaning greenhouse, because he thought it was covered with vegetation, but it turned out to be an extensive, barren delta terrain.[Geografisk Tidsskrift, Bind 50 (1950) ''Dansk Pearyland Ekspedition. Sidste års meteorologi og topografisk overblik''](_blank)
/ref>
Bibliography
*
*H.P. Trettin (ed.), ''Geology of the Innuitian Orogen and Arctic Platform of Canada and Greenland''. Geological Survey of Canada (1991)
See also
*List of fjords of Greenland
This is a list of the most important fjords of Greenland:In Northern Greenland, a large area made up entirely of fjords; therefore Peary Land above not a fjord but a fjord area.In Northeastern Greenland, a large area made up entirely of fjo ...
*Northernmost settlements
The most northern settlements on Earth are communities close to the North Pole, ranging from about 70° N to about 89° N. This is a list showing all of the northernmost settlements on Earth, which are all south of latitude 90° N.
There are no ...
References
External links
Basaltic Dykes in the Kap Washington and Frigg Fjord Areas (North Greenland)
Frederick E. Hyde Fjord
{{Greenland-fjord-stub