A tiny wooden figure from Baffin Island in northern Canada offers a glimpse of early contact between Inuit people and Europeans. Made around 1350, it was found in 1977 in an old house built by Inuit ancestors. The carving stands just 5.4 centimetres tall and is now displayed at the Canadian Museum of History.
The figure wears European clothing with a cross on the chest and probably represents a Norse person. Its long garment resembles clothing worn by Norse Christians in Greenland between the 11th and 13th centuries. The plain face and short arms are typical of Inuit carvings from the 14th century, but the representation of someone from outside the Inuit community is unique.
It is the earliest known Indigenous representation of a European in the Western Hemisphere. According to the museum, it may record a meeting between Inuit and Norse people, long before regular contact with Europeans began in the late 15th century. The details chosen by its maker offer an early Indigenous perspective on these visitors, showing which features seemed important to represent.
