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The remains of a bowhead
whale skulls. These pieces are resting atop a mound
that is all that remains of a "blubber oven" where
the oils was rendered from whales, the fires being
fuelled by whale skin, bone and any other pieces
that were not directly useful. Such large pieces
would presumably have been too large to fi into the
oven themselves, they seem to have been left around
the ovens, possibly adding to the structure with
their bulk.
Note the lush growth of mosses. This is a result of
the nutrients supplied by the bones as they decayed,
the surrounding ground by comparison is bare and
sterile. The most amazing thing about this is that
over 350 years after being left in this position,
the minerals that leached out of the bone are still
having a significant localized effect on plant
growth. A vivid example of recycling on the small
scale.
A large open bay to the south of the Hornsund fjord, Gåshamna
is the site of whaling activity from the 1600 to
1700's. In these times bowhead and right whales were
the target species as they were slow swimming and
relatively easy to catch, they yielded large
quantities of oil and of whale bone (baleen). The
faster swimming rorquals such as blue, fin and minke
whales wouldn't be in the whalers sights for another
two hundred years.
These remains are left behind by English whalers of
this era.
76° 56.7' N, 15°
49.9' E
Picture
copyright Paul Ward |
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