Preface

During a workshop on Arctic lithic technology in Copenhagen in February 2001, it was decided to welcome Saint-Pierre et Miquelon into the realm of Arctic prehistory research by holding the next meeting in Saint-Pierre. Indeed, the discovery of Palaeoeskimo remains at the l'Anse à Henry site makes Saint-Pierre et Miquelon the southernmost Arctic site ever known and the only one on French territory. Not only would such a symposium represent an exceptional occasion to establish scientific collaboration between France, specifically Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, and Canada, it also offered the opportunity for international diffusion of research results.

Thus, a committee composed of Sylvie LeBlanc (University of Alberta), Murielle Nagy (Études/Inuit/Studies) and Rosiane de Lizaraga (L'Arche, Musée-Archives de Saint-Pierre et Miquelon) collaborated to organize a symposium in Saint-Pierre et Miquelon which took place from September 1 to 5, 2002. The theme of the symposium was Palaeoeskimo Architecture: State of Knowledge. It brought together over twenty specialists in Arctic prehistory from Canada, Denmark (including Greenland), the United States, Norway, Sweden and Russia.

Such a project required substantial financial support and we would like to thank the following organizations for their generosity: the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication de la France, the Ministère d'Outre-Mer de la France, the Direction Territoriale de la Jeunesse et des Sports, the Conseil Général de la Collectivité Territoriale de Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, the Department of Anthropology of the University of Alberta, and the J.R. Smallwood Foundation for Newfoundland and Labrador Studies.

In Saint-Pierre, we greatly appreciated the logistical support of Service Loisirs Accueil, Centre Culturel and Francoforum. The list of individuals we would like to thank is too long to enumerate here, but particular gratitude goes to Mr. Jean-Louis Mounnier and Ms. Annick Girardin (Direction Territoriale de la Jeunesse et des Sports), as well as Mr. Jean-Hughes Detchéverry (Service Loisirs Accueil).

Finally, we want to thank all the participants who made the trip to Saint-Pierre et Miquelon (Claus Andreasen, Martin Appelt, Maria Hinnerson Berglund, Sheila Coulson, Eric Damkjar, Edward Eastaugh, John Erwin, Bjarne Grønnow, Sergey Gusev, Latonia Hartery, Jens Fog Jensen, Geneviève LeMoine, Brooke Milne, Tinna Møbjerg, Ulla Odgaard, Robert Park, Priscilla Renouf and Karen Ryan), and also those who could not attend but contributed to this thematic volume of Études/Inuit/Studies (Steven Cox, Pierre M. Desrosiers, James Helmer, Yves Labrèche, Daniel Odess, Claude Pinard, Noura Rahmani, Patricia Sutherland and Timothy Rast).