Pisissarfik

Pisissarfik (old spelling Pisigsarfik) is a 1,220-metre-high mountain in the Sermersooq municipality, West Greenland [1]. The mountain is near the settlement of Kapisillit on the North bank of the Kapisillit Kangerluaq, a branch of the Nuup Kangerlua, about 150 km northeast of the Greenlandic capital Nuuk [1]. The inland side of the mountain is relatively smooth, but it forms a steep cliff by the coast [1]. According to Inuit mythology, the final and decisive battle between the Nordic settlers and themselves took place at the foot of the mountain, and resulted in the extinction of the settlers [1]. The people long considered numerous graves found at the bottom of the cliff to be those of people killed in this fight [1]. However, scientists from the Danish National Museum, who examined the site between 1945 and 1952, found that they were in fact Inuit graves dating from the 16th to 17th century [1]. The graves contained human corpses that had been preserved by natural mummification [1].