Baffin Island evidence of contact with Europeans prior to the Vikings' arrival in Greenland". Dr Sutherland's research eventually led to a 2012 announcement that whetstones had been found with remnants of alloys indicative of Viking presence. The archaeological site at Tanfield Valley is thought to have been a trading post, and thus Baffin Island would be Helluland. Baffin Island is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region. The hamlets of Cape Dorset and Qikiqtarjuaq do not lie on the Baffin Island proper. Cape Dorset is situated on the Dorset Island which is located few kilometers from the south eastern tip of the Foxe Peninsula.
Baffin Bay the aquatic life of the bay is concentrated near that region. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of Baffin Bay as follows: The area of the bay has been inhabited since . Around 1200, the initial Dorset settlers were replaced by the Thule (the later Inuit) peoples. Recent excavations also suggest that the Norse colonization of the Americas reached the shores of Baffin Bay sometime between the 10th and 14th centuries. The English explorer John Davis was the first recorded European to enter the bay, arriving in 1585. In 1612, a group of English merchants formed the "Company of