Qarmaq
{{Short description|A type of inter-seasonal, single-room family dwelling used by Inuit}}
Image:Qarmaq relicts 1996-07-29.jpg]]
File:Qarmaq 1 1997-08-02.jpg]]
Qarmaq (plural: "qarmat"){{cite book|last=Henshaw|first=Anne Stevens|title=Central Inuit household economies: zooarchaeological, environmental, and historical evidence from outer Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VSoaAQAAIAAJ|access-date=28 August 2011|year=2000|publisher=Archaeopress|isbn=978-1-84171-073-0|page=10}} is an Inuktitut term for a type of inter-seasonal,{{cite book|last1=Nabokov|first1=Peter|last2=Easton|first2=Robert|title=Native American architecture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bd2L9xc_D9AC&pg=PA201|access-date=28 August 2011|year=1989|publisher=Oxford University Press US|isbn=978-0-19-503781-4|pages=201, 425–}} single-room family dwelling used by Inuit. To the Central Inuit of Northern Canada, it refers to a hybrid of a tent and igloo, or tent and sod house. Depending on the season, the lower portion was constructed of snow blocks or stone, while the upper portion used skins or canvas.{{cite book|last=Stern|first=Pamela R.|title=Historical dictionary of the Inuit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xa_Pq8X_MIsC&pg=PA129|access-date=28 August 2011|year=2004 |location=Lanham, Md |type=Print |publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-5058-3|pages=129–}} To the Kalaallit of Greenland, qarmaq refers to the dwelling's wall.{{cite book|author=Denmark. Kommissionen for videnskabelige undersøgelser i Grønland|title=Meddelelser om Grønland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7LBNAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA72|access-date=28 August 2011|edition=Now in the public domain.|year=1891|publisher=C. A. Reitzels Forlag|pages=72–}} Qarmaq were built in the transitional seasons of fall and spring with a circular wall of stone, sod, or blocks of snow, a framework usually made from animal bones, which were covered with a skin.{{cite book|last1=Barrett|first1=Carole A.|last2=Markowitz|first2=Harvey|title=American Indian Culture: Acorns-Headdresses|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-RIWAQAAIAAJ|access-date=28 August 2011|date=May 2004|publisher=Salem Press|isbn=978-1-58765-193-9|page=38}}
History
Qarmaqs were used by the Inuit up to the 1950s. They were used as early as the Thule people, predominantly during the cold season. In winter, they also lived in igloo, especially while traveling, but when possible, the qarmaq was the preference.
Architecture
=Snow qarmaq=
Men collected and pieced together boulders and framework. Lacking timber, the framework was usually made of bone, preferably whale bone. Women and children gathered tundra moss for crevices, and prepared skins for roofing and siding.{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=Pamela|last2=Stewart|first2=Michelle|title=Global indigenous media: cultures, poetics, and politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-8pzHPos4U0C&pg=PA83|access-date=28 August 2011|date=January 2008|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-4308-0|pages=83–}} After winter snow arrived, the men used long knives to cut up blocks of snow, placing them in an outwardly direction for further protection. When the outer casing was attacked by the weather or gnawed on by wolves or foxes, women patched it up again and again, often with numb fingers in the freezing cold and biting wind.{{cite book|last=Walk|first=Ansgar |title=Kenojuak : Lebensgeschichte einer bedeutenden Inuit-Künstlerin|publisher=Bielefeld Pendragon-Verl.|date=1998|isbn=3-929096-61-7 |language=de}}
=Sod qarmaq=
Summer tents, which were easy to transport, gave way to the sod qarmaq in fall.{{cite book|last=Ehrlich|first=Gretel|author-link=Gretel Ehrlich|title=In the Empire of Ice: Encounters in a Changing Landscape|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4z4UEKMmizQC&pg=PA158|access-date=28 August 2011|date=20 April 2010|publisher=National Geographic Books|isbn=978-1-4262-0574-3|pages=158–}}
Interior
Inside, qarmaqs offered warmth only by the flame of the qulliq. The sleeping area was slightly elevated and used caribou skin for padding.
References
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Tents}}
{{Huts}}
{{Native american styles}}
Category:Portable buildings and shelters