Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit adopted local Palaeo-Inuit dogs or introduced a new dog population to the region remains unknown. To test these hypotheses, we generated mitochondrial DNA and geometric morphometric data of skull and dental elements from a total of 922 North American Arctic dogs and wolves spanning over 4500 years. Our analyses revealed that dogs from Inuit sites dating from 2000 BP possess morphological and genetic signatures that distinguish them from earlier Palaeo-Inuit dogs, and identified a novel mitochondrial clade in eastern Siberia and Alaska. The genetic legacy of these Inuit dogs survives today in modern Arctic sledge dogs despite phenotypic differences between archaeological and modern Arctic dogs. Together, our data reveal that Inuit dogs derive from a secondary pre-contact migration of dogs distinct from Palaeo-Inuit dogs, and probably aided the Inuit expansion across the North American Arctic beginning around 1000 BP.

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Carbon and nitrogen isotopes analyses were performed on marine mammal bone collagen from three archaeological sites (AD 1170-1813) on Cape Espenberg (Kotzebue Sound, northwestern Alaska) as well as modern animals harvested from the same area to examine long-term trends in foraging ecology and sea ice productivity.We observed significant and dramatic changes in ringed seal stable isotope values between the early 19th and early 21st centuries, likely due to changing sea ice productivity and reduced delivery of organic matter to the benthos driven by recent warming in the Arctic. These data highlight the importance of the archaeological record for providing a long-term perspective on environmental variation and interpreting recent changes driven by anthropogenic processes. K E Y W O R D SArctic, climate change, marine mammals, paleoecology, sea ice, stable isotopes, western Alaska

Analysis of preserved lipids from archaeological sites in northwest Alaska indicates hunters exploited marine animal resources as early as 4500 years ago. Bone preservation at early prehistoric sites in northern Alaska is generally poor, contributing to uncertainty about the economic orientation of the earliest Arctic Small Tool tradition (ASTt) hunters. We used lipid analysis and compound specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) of burned, cemented sand and organic residue features to detect the use of marine versus terrestrial animals at several coastal sites in northwest Alaska. Though the sample size for this initial study was small (n ¼ 5), comparisons among samples from early ASTt, and later Norton and Thule sites indicate all three groups made use of marine animals for food and/or fuel. Recently obtained radiocarbon dates suggest ASTt hunters settled coastal regions of Alaska prior to moving inland to exploit terrestrial habitats. Our results provide empirical evidence that suggests the economy of the early ASTt population included a maritime component. In Arctic settings where bone preservation is poor, lipid analysis of cemented sand and organic residue features can provide an effective alternative for detecting the use and processing of marine versus terrestrial animals.

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