Inuit child associated with explorer Robert E. Peary; adopted daughter of tribal leader Nuktaq and his wife, the shaman Atanqana.
From 1898 until 1993 the American Museum of Natural History retained the remains of 12-year-old Aviaq, one of six Arctic Eskimos brought to New York City by Peary in 1897 to participate in an anthropological study. Born c.1885 in northwestern Greenland, she was described as a "pleasant girl with blue-black hair falling to her shoulders", and had made the journey with her adoptive parents, the tribal leader Nuktaq and the shaman Atanqana, and three other Inuits, including the celebrated Minik Wallace and his father Qisuk. All were soon felled by tuberculosis and other urban diseases, and taken to Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital. While at Bellevue, Aviaq and the other child in the group, 7-year-old Minik, were doted on by the nurses, but after the death of Minik's father, Qisuk, the Inuits were moved to the Upstate New York estate of museum official William Wallace. Tragically, neither the move away from the city nor the healing skills of her adoptive mother, Atanqana, were enough to save Aviaq's life, and she was soon joined in death by both the shaman and Nuktaq. Their bodies, as well as that of Minik's father, were subsequently processed like biological specimens, and the skeletons mounted for display at the museum, where they remained for over 95 years. In 1993 author Kenn Harper finally succeeded in having the remains of Aviaq, Atanqana, Nuktaq, and Qisuk released from storage and returned to Greenland, where they were buried near Qaanaaq, in Thule. The plaque marking the gravesite bears an Inuit inscription which translates as "They Are Home".
From 1898 until 1993 the American Museum of Natural History retained the remains of 12-year-old Aviaq, one of six Arctic Eskimos brought to New York City by Peary in 1897 to participate in an anthropological study. Born c.1885 in northwestern Greenland, she was described as a "pleasant girl with blue-black hair falling to her shoulders", and had made the journey with her adoptive parents, the tribal leader Nuktaq and the shaman Atanqana, and three other Inuits, including the celebrated Minik Wallace and his father Qisuk. All were soon felled by tuberculosis and other urban diseases, and taken to Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital. While at Bellevue, Aviaq and the other child in the group, 7-year-old Minik, were doted on by the nurses, but after the death of Minik's father, Qisuk, the Inuits were moved to the Upstate New York estate of museum official William Wallace. Tragically, neither the move away from the city nor the healing skills of her adoptive mother, Atanqana, were enough to save Aviaq's life, and she was soon joined in death by both the shaman and Nuktaq. Their bodies, as well as that of Minik's father, were subsequently processed like biological specimens, and the skeletons mounted for display at the museum, where they remained for over 95 years. In 1993 author Kenn Harper finally succeeded in having the remains of Aviaq, Atanqana, Nuktaq, and Qisuk released from storage and returned to Greenland, where they were buried near Qaanaaq, in Thule. The plaque marking the gravesite bears an Inuit inscription which translates as "They Are Home".
Inuit child associated with explorer Robert E. Peary; adopted daughter of tribal leader Nuktaq and his wife, the shaman Atanqana.
From 1898 until 1993 the American Museum of Natural History retained the remains of 12-year-old Aviaq, one of six Arctic Eskimos brought to New York City by Peary in 1897 to participate in an anthropological study. Born c.1885 in northwestern Greenland, she was described as a "pleasant girl with blue-black hair falling to her shoulders", and had made the journey with her adoptive parents, the tribal leader Nuktaq and the shaman Atanqana, and three other Inuits, including the celebrated Minik Wallace and his father Qisuk. All were soon felled by tuberculosis and other urban diseases, and taken to Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital. While at Bellevue, Aviaq and the other child in the group, 7-year-old Minik, were doted on by the nurses, but after the death of Minik's father, Qisuk, the Inuits were moved to the Upstate New York estate of museum official William Wallace. Tragically, neither the move away from the city nor the healing skills of her adoptive mother, Atanqana, were enough to save Aviaq's life, and she was soon joined in death by both the shaman and Nuktaq. Their bodies, as well as that of Minik's father, were subsequently processed like biological specimens, and the skeletons mounted for display at the museum, where they remained for over 95 years. In 1993 author Kenn Harper finally succeeded in having the remains of Aviaq, Atanqana, Nuktaq, and Qisuk released from storage and returned to Greenland, where they were buried near Qaanaaq, in Thule. The plaque marking the gravesite bears an Inuit inscription which translates as "They Are Home".
From 1898 until 1993 the American Museum of Natural History retained the remains of 12-year-old Aviaq, one of six Arctic Eskimos brought to New York City by Peary in 1897 to participate in an anthropological study. Born c.1885 in northwestern Greenland, she was described as a "pleasant girl with blue-black hair falling to her shoulders", and had made the journey with her adoptive parents, the tribal leader Nuktaq and the shaman Atanqana, and three other Inuits, including the celebrated Minik Wallace and his father Qisuk. All were soon felled by tuberculosis and other urban diseases, and taken to Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital. While at Bellevue, Aviaq and the other child in the group, 7-year-old Minik, were doted on by the nurses, but after the death of Minik's father, Qisuk, the Inuits were moved to the Upstate New York estate of museum official William Wallace. Tragically, neither the move away from the city nor the healing skills of her adoptive mother, Atanqana, were enough to save Aviaq's life, and she was soon joined in death by both the shaman and Nuktaq. Their bodies, as well as that of Minik's father, were subsequently processed like biological specimens, and the skeletons mounted for display at the museum, where they remained for over 95 years. In 1993 author Kenn Harper finally succeeded in having the remains of Aviaq, Atanqana, Nuktaq, and Qisuk released from storage and returned to Greenland, where they were buried near Qaanaaq, in Thule. The plaque marking the gravesite bears an Inuit inscription which translates as "They Are Home".
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