Qikertaaluk Island

petroglyphic site in Canada

Qikertaaluk Island is an island of Nunavut, mostly known for Qajartalik, a petroglyph site consisting of over 150 carvings of faces in soapstone. Although it is in Nunavut, it is much closer to Nunavik in Quebec.

Understand

Get in

By boat is your only option.

Get around

Your only way to get around the island is via foot – there are no roads on the island.

See and do

  • 🌍 Qajartalik. The highlight and main point of interest on the island. The site has over 150 carvings of faces in soapstone, created by the Dorset people. Since April 2018, it has been listed on Canada's tentative UNESCO's world heritage list. Most of what you will see in the archeological site depicts human faces, but you may also encounter animal faces, or both. Though it had been known to the Inuit people for a long time, it has been known to non-Inuit people only since the 1960s, when it was first documented by anthropologist Bernard Saladin D’Anglure. (updated Feb 2022)

Buy, eat, drink and sleep

There is zilch on the island. Your nearest places to find anything to buy, eat or drink or places to sleep, other than what you bring in, are in Kangiqsujuaq/Kangirsujuaq.

Go next

Your only choice is to head back to Nunavik in Quebec or further north to Nunavut.

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