Editing Inuksuk (section)

{{Short description|Inuit built stone landmark or cairn}}
{{Redirect|Inukshuk|the Canadian wireless network|Inukshuk Wireless}}
[[File:Inuksukjuaq Foxe-PI 2002-07-26.jpg|thumb|An inuksuk at the [[Foxe Peninsula]], [[Nunavut]], Canada]]

An '''inuksuk''' (plural '''inuksuit''')<ref name="inudict">{{cite book |last=Spalding |first=Alex |author2=Thomas Kusugak |date=1998 |title=Inuktitut: A Multi-dialectal Outline Dictionary |publisher=Nunavut Arctic College |isbn=978-1-896204-29-1 }}</ref> or '''inukshuk'''<ref name="livingdict">{{cite web |url=http://www.livingdictionary.com/term/viewTerm.jsp?term=52780539622 |title=Inukshuk |work=Asuilaak Living Dictionary |access-date=2007-02-16 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>{{efn|From the {{langx|iu|ᐃᓄᒃᓱᒃ}}, plural {{lang|iu|ᐃᓄᒃᓱᐃᑦ}}; alternatively '''{{lang|ikt|inukhuk}}''' in [[Inuinnaqtun]],<ref name=translate>{{cite book |last=Ohokak |first=G. |author2=M. Kadlun |author3=B. Harnum |title=Inuinnaqtun–English Dictionary |publisher=Kitikmeot Heritage Society |url=http://nbes.ca/2014/03/27/inuinnaqtun-to-english-dictionary/ |access-date=2014-12-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402193115/http://nbes.ca/2014/03/27/inuinnaqtun-to-english-dictionary/ |archive-date=2015-04-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref> '''{{lang|ik|iñuksuk}}''' in [[Inupiaq language|Iñupiaq]], '''{{lang|kl|inussuk}}''' in [[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]]}} is a type of stone [[landmark]] or [[cairn]] built by, and for the use of, [[Inuit]], [[Iñupiat]], [[Kalaallit]], [[Yupik peoples|Yupik]], and other peoples of the [[Arctic]] region of North America. These structures are found in [[northern Canada]], [[Greenland]], and [[Alaska]]. This combined region, north of the [[Arctic Circle]], is dominated by the [[tundra]] [[biome]] and has areas with few natural landmarks.

The inuksuk may historically have been used for navigation, as a point of reference, a marker for travel routes, fishing places, camps, hunting grounds, places of [[veneration]], [[drift fence]]s used in hunting,<ref name=ReferenceA>{{cite book |last=Gray |first=Charlotte |title=The Museum Called Canada, 25 Rooms of Wonder |date=2004 |publisher=Random House Canada |location=Toronto |isbn=978-0679312208 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/museumcalledcana00gray }}</ref> or to mark a [[Food storage|food cache]].<ref name=sfu_aboriginal>{{cite web |title=The Inuit Inukshuk |url=https://www.sfu.ca/aboriginalpeoples/inukshuk.html |publisher=Simon Fraser University |access-date=1 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121223083538/http://www.sfu.ca/aboriginalpeoples/inukshuk.html |archive-date=23 December 2012 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The Iñupiat in northern Alaska used inuksuit to assist in the herding of [[Reindeer|caribou]] into contained areas for slaughter.<ref>[http://www.ethnobiology.org/conference/abstracts/pdfs/28th_abstracts.pdf 28 Ethnobiology Conference Abstracts] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080530011304/http://www.ethnobiology.org/conference/abstracts/pdfs/28th_abstracts.pdf |date=2008-05-30 }}</ref> Varying in shape and size, the inuksuit have ancient roots in [[Inuit culture]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.freespiritgallery.ca/inukshuk.htm |title=The Inuit Inukshuk |access-date=2018-11-28 |archive-date=2022-11-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118082351/http://www.freespiritgallery.ca/inukshuk.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Historically, the most common types of inuksuit are built with stone placed upon stone. The simplest type is a single stone positioned in an upright manner.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Hallendy |first=Norman |title=Inuksuk (Inukshuk) |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |date=8 December 2020 |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/inuksuk-inukshuk}}</ref> The size of some inuksuit suggests that the construction was often a communal effort.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

At [[Inuksuk Point]] (Enukso Point) on [[Baffin Island]], there are more than 100 inuksuit. The site was designated a [[National Historic Sites of Canada|National Historic Site of Canada]] in 1969.<ref name=DFHD>{{cite web|url=https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=322 |title=Inuksuk National Historic Site of Canada|publisher=Directory of Federal Heritage Designations, [[Parks Canada]]|access-date=22 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{CRHP|18947|Inuksuk National Historic Site of Canada}}</ref>

{{Contains special characters|Canadian}}