New U of O study suggests ancestors of Inuit arrived in Nunavut 200 years earlier than previously thought Kavi Vidya Achar 2024/07/30, 3:48 pm In a groundbreaking study spanning over two decades, a research team led by U of O faculty has reconstructed the history of the Thule people — the ancestors of modern-day Inuit people — and revised the timeline of human occupation of the Arctic.