If we look at archaeological and DNA evidence, there is no solid proof that the Dorset and Inuit ever met. On the other hand, Inuit oral history tells us about inhabitants they called Tuniit, who were taller than them and tended to flee easily. These sources disagree about conflicts between the Inuit and the Tuniit. Some say there was conflict, some say there was none.

It is possible that Dorset culture started declining before the Thule (ancestors of the modern Inuit) got to meet them. We generally think this decline took place between 1000 and 1500 CE. This leads many historians and archaeologists to think that their demise might be linked with climate change and the Medieval Warm Period. The Thule had a fairly sophisticated technology, the kayak, that allowed them to travel the seas, while the Dorset relied heavily on ice cover for hunting sea mammals.