From an ethnological point of view, the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard above all constitutes a meeting place of many different ethnic groups and cultures: From time to time its natural resources have been utilized by entrepreneurs of several nationalities, with the aid of multi-ethnic crews and parties and with varying resources in mind. Thus, the Dutch and English whaling, from about 1600, was to a large extent based on the skills of Basque harpooners. Russian parties wintering on Svalbard had their homelands in the “Pomor” villages on the shores of the White Sea, where Russians, Karelians, Saami and other ethnic groups were repre -sented. The Norwegian exploiters came from similar multi-ethnic communities. In outlining two perspectives of Svalbard cultural research I want to start out by referring to an 18th century Russian settlement, situated at the inlet called Trygghamna, or “Safe Harbour”, on the north side of the Ice Fiord. This settlement was excavated in 1960, under the guidance, of the late professor Helmer Tegengren of Åbo Akademi University in Åbo (Turku), Finland. Being a member of his team I had the opportunity of making observations of my own, but on this occasion my point of departure is based on the results of this excavation put forth by Tegengren in 1962. Tegengren had intended to summarize the results of his three expeditions to Svalbard, but unfortunately never had strength enough to carry out this work before his sudden death in 1974.
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