1. TREASURE BASKET: FAR NORTH IRUSAQ,

10^TH CENTURY POST IMPERIUM

The far North of Irusaq is extremely cold. It is frozen for much of the year, and those who live there have to be extremely hardy. Death comes in many forms. Dwellers live simply by fishing and trapping what animals they can. Clothing, and also official Robes, tend to be made from skins and animal intestines to protect the people from the extreme cold. Women and children hunt, fish and gather next to their menfolk, but unlike the men, tend to collect precious things – stones, strange pieces of wood, etc. which they fashion into gifts and jewellery. These precious things are always kept in a treasure basket hidden high in the roofs of their summer houses. The houses are built away from the permafrost area and allow inhabitants some refuge in the short summer, when they collect fruits, grains and berries to dry for winter provisions. This basket found its way into the Archives for reasons long forgotten –this is not uncommon, and is one valuable source of anthropological information for Irusaqi scholars.