Pisissarfik (old spelling Pisigsarfik ) is a 1,220-metre-high (4,000 ft) mountain in the Sermersooq municipality , West Greenland . The mountain plays a major role in the Inuit mythology of Pisissarfik. It is also important as an archaeological site.
7-717: The mountain is near the settlement of Kapisillit on the North bank of the Kapisillit Kangerluaq , a branch of the Nuup Kangerlua ( Danish : Godthåbsfjord ), about 150 km northeast of the Greenlandic capital Nuuk . The inland side of the mountain is relatively smooth, but it forms a steep cliff by the coast. Pisissarfik is one of the most striking mountains of the region owing to its distinctive shape. Until about AD 1350 farmsteads forming part of
14-513: A legend of that time. An Inuk and a Viking are said to have climbed to the summit and held a shooting competition with bow and arrow on a seal pelt, stretched on a bank of the fjord. The Inuk won and pushed the loser off the cliff to his death, per the terms of the Viking's agreement. According to Inuit mythology, the final and decisive battle between the Nordic settlers and themselves took place at
21-553: The Western Settlement (Vestribyggð) were situated along the Kapisillit-Fjord. At that time there were often conflicts with the local Inuit ; it is believed that this fighting (along with changes in climate) was one of the reasons for the disappearance of Scandinavian settlers from the region, and eventually from the whole of Greenland. The Kalaallisut name 'Pisissarfik' means 'shooting range' and derives from
28-542: The clothing—anoraks made from bird and seal pelts, and Kamit (singular Kamik, seal skin boots)—were well preserved. Pisissarfik played an important role in the Christianisation of the region in the 18th century: on Pentecost Sunday 1749 the first Deutsche Messe was celebrated at its foot. Kapisillit Kapisillit is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in southwestern Greenland . In 2020,
35-820: The foot of the mountain, and resulted in the extinction of the settlers. The people long considered numerous graves found at the bottom of the cliff to be those of people killed in this fight. However, scientists from the Danish National Museum , who examined the site between 1945 and 1952, found that they were in fact Inuit graves dating from the 16th to 17th century. The graves contained human corpses that had been preserved by natural mummification, as with those in Qilakitsoq . In one grave, three children were found, all under one year old. In another lay two women and two children, swathed in Reindeer skins. Even
42-461: The longest fjord on the Labrador Sea coast of Greenland, and one of the longest in the inhabited part of the country. The inhabitants mostly subsist on hunting, fishing and tourism. The settlement has its own school, church, and grocery store. Transport to Kapisillit is done by boat. Helicopter is sometimes used. There is no road from outside to Kapisillit, although there are plans to build
49-556: The settlement had 52 inhabitants. Kapisillit means the salmon in the Greenlandic language ( Danish : laksen ). The name refers to the belief that the only spawning-ground for salmon in Greenland is a river near the settlement. Kapisillit is located 75 km (47 mi) northeast of Nuuk , near the head of Kapisillit Kangerluaq , one of the tributary fjords of the 160 km (99.4 mi) long, Nuup Kangerlua ,
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