England, who were searching for the North-West Passage. Oleson's primary thesis was that the Thule culture of the High Arctic was a fusion of the Norse culture from Greenland and the indigenous Dorset culture. In support of this thesis, Oleson relied on his interpretation of archaeological evidence, such as the structure of stone shelters in the eastern Arctic which he saw as similar to Icelandic structures; the development of a sea-culture including whaling from small boats, which he saw as similar to Norse practices; and a body of academic historical research from Icelandic scholars, which was not generally available to Canadian researchers. He also relied on the Norse sagas, which have several descriptions of encounters between Norse and indigenous peoples of the Arctic. This thesis also had the advantage of explaining the gradual disappearance of the Norse settlements on Greenland. In Oleson's view, the Norse did not simply disappear or die out; they fused with the indigenous people of the Dorset culture. Oleson's theories attracted considerable academic criticism. Several reviews of the book were critical of this thesis, arguing that it went against the archaeological evidence. The prevailing interpretation was that the Thule culture had its origins in Alaska and had moved eastward. Oleson's thesis was that the Thule originated in the eastern Arctic and gradually moved westward. Several reviewers challenged Oleson's interpretation, particularly William Taylor, who was one of the leading experts in Arctic archaeology at the National Museum of Canada, as well as Wilcomb E. Washburn from the Smithsonian Institution. The one contemporary review which was more favourable was from Thomas E. Lee, another archaeologist from the National Museum of Canada, who wrote that he had read Oleson's "tremendous work" six times, cover to cover, and thought it was "...by far the most important and instructive single work to come out of Arctic research in this field in recent times." More recently, there has been some favourable re-examination of Oleson's thesis, emphasizing his careful scholarship and reliance on works in Icelandic which were not accessible to most Canadian academics. The criticism of Oleson's thesis, particularly its sometimes personal tone, appears to have caught the general editors of the Centenary Series by surprise. They were also hampered in responding to the criticism by the untimely death of Oleson shortly after Early Voyages and Northern Approaches was published. In response, when the text was re-issued some five years later, the