section_path: Homo sapiens/Holocene migrations/Arctic
section_name: Arctic
paragraph_text: Arctic
  
  The earliest inhabitants of North America's central and eastern Arctic are referred to as the Arctic small tool tradition (AST) and existed c. 2500 BCE. AST consisted of several Paleo-Eskimo cultures, including the Independence cultures and Pre-Dorset culture.
  
  The Inuit are the descendants of the Thule culture, which emerged from western Alaska around CE 1000 and gradually displaced the Dorset culture.