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On the edges of downtown Oslo, Norway — thousands of kilometres from the closest Inuit settlement — sits one of the world’s most comprehensive catalogues of Inuit life.

The Museum of Cultural History holds hundreds of examples of harpoons, reindeer-skin clothing, eating utensils and even full-sized sledges, all obsessively collected by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen in a bid to emulate the Inuit way of life and ultimately use it to conquer both the Northwest Passage and the South Pole.

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Now, in what locals say is a testament to the continued links between the Inuit and Amundsen’s home country, 14 of those artifacts have been repatriated to a permanent display in their original home.

“There were 900 plus pieces, and I just wanted a couple,” said Joanni Sallerina, deputy mayor of Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, and a lead proponent in the repatriation effort.

He’s going completely crazy: he’s stuffing this tiny little boat with ethnographic materials

The artifacts, which include a harpoon, a bow and arrow, a kudlik oil lamp and a Shaman’s belt, will be used to keep “our youth educated about how hard it was to live at that time; not having housing, not having rifles and so forth,” said Mr. Sallerina.