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Retracing the route of Hans K. E. Krüger's 1930 German Arctic expedition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2009

Douglas R. Stenton ,
Robert W. Park  and
Tara Grant
Douglas R. Stenton
Affiliation:
Government of Nunavut Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, PO Box 1000, Station 800, Iqaluit, Nunavut X0A 0H0, Canada (dstenton1@gov.nu.ca)
Robert W. Park
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
Tara Grant
Affiliation:
Canadian Conservation Institute, 1030 Innes Road, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0M5, Canada
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Abstract

Prior to the discovery in 1999 of an archaeological site near Cape Southwest, on southern Axel Heiberg Island, little was known about the movements of the ill fated 1930 German Arctic Expedition, led by Hans K.E. Krüger. What was known was based on the content of three cairn documents that spanned a period of just thirteen days. This paper presents new information that expands our knowledge of the expedition's route using catalogue labels found with geological specimens collected by Krüger and recovered from the site. The movements of the expedition over a period of 43 days are reconstructed, ten additions are made to the known itinerary, and an approximate date of the group's arrival at Cape Southwest is presented. The data show that despite concerns about the health of both Krüger and his Danish assistant, and about the weight of equipment being transported, the expedition had made good progress prior to reaching Cape Southwest.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , October 2010 , pp. 349 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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