Kodiak Island's Prehistoric Fisheries: Human Dietary Response to Climate Change and Resource Availability

Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) as a paleothermometer: otolith oxygen isotope reconstruction

“…Archaeological otoliths of this family have been recovered in the North Pacific (e.g. Crockford et al, 2004;Kopperl, 2003;West, 2009a), though it is worth noting that otoliths may be misidentified as shellfish fragments or could have been lost when screens were not used during excavation.…”

“…The otoliths used in this study were sampled from the stratified and well preserved Karluk-1 site on Kodiak Island, Alaska, which has been described in detail elsewhere (Jordan and Knecht, 1988;Knecht, 1995;West, 2009b, 2011). Kodiak Island is part of the Kodiak archipelago, which is located in the central Gulf of Alaska in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean.…”

“…The otoliths were graded based on preservation, and a total of 15 whole otoliths were selected from the deposits, representing all layers of the archaeological site over an approximately 500-year time period (Table 1). Spatial patterning was not considered, given the rarity of otoliths among the faunal remains (West, 2009b).…”

“…As described by West (2009aWest ( , 2009b and West et al (2011), Pacific cod otoliths were recovered from the bulk faunal samples excavated from each stratigraphic layer of the Karluk-1 site (Table 1). Each bulk sample was sifted through 1/8" screen and all otoliths were removed for analysis.…”

“…Despite the recent interest in this methodology, as well as the central role that fish played in prehistoric economies in this region, studies of archaeological otoliths are limited. Previously, West (2009a) and West et al (2011) used the stable oxygen isotopes in Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) otoliths to reconstruct Little Ice Age (LIA) ocean conditions and to assess the relationship among climate, fish biogeography, and human foraging activity in the Gulf of Alaska. In this paper, we focus on the methods for using Pacific cod otoliths as a paleothermometer and suggest that the broad temporal and geographic distribution of this fish species makes their otoliths ideal for paleoenvironmental reconstruction in this region.…”