Regional Variation in Thule and Colonial Caribou Hunting in West Greenland

Pasda, Clemens

doi:10.3368/aa.51.1.41

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Combining marine geophysical, sedimentological, and archeological data and considerations, we suggest that the Blinkerwall is of late-Pleistocene/earliest Holocene age. The wide absence of similar-sized Stone Age megastructures in Europe is likely due to preservation issues on the densely populated subcontinent, while difficulties of identification or even recognition could play another role ( 69 , 70 ). Offshore, their recognition is mainly hindered by the required centimeter to decimeter scale resolution of hydroacoustic data, which was usually not achieved in legacy studies conducted over the last decades.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A submerged Stone Age hunting architecture from the Western Baltic Sea

Geersen,

Bradtmöller,

Schneider von Deimling

et al. 2024

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The Baltic Sea basins, some of which only submerged in the mid-Holocene, preserve Stone Age structures that did not survive on land. Yet, the discovery of these features is challenging and requires cross-disciplinary approaches between archeology and marine geosciences. Here, we combine shipborne and autonomousunderwater vehicle hydroacoustic data with up to a centimeter range resolution, sedimentological samples, and optical images to explore a Stone Age megastructure located in 21 m water depth in the Bay of Mecklenburg, Germany. The structure is made of 1,673 individual stones which are usually less than 1 m in height, placed side by side over a distance of 971 m in a way that argues against a natural origin by glacial transport or ice push ridges. Running adjacent to the sunken shoreline of a paleolake (or bog), whose youngest phase was dated to 9,143 ±36 ka B.P., the stonewall was likely used for hunting the Eurasian reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) during the Younger Dryas or early Pre-Boreal. It was built by hunter–gatherer groups that roamed the region after the retreat of the Weichselian Ice Sheet. Comparable Stone Age megastructures have become known worldwide in recent times but are almost unknown in Europe. The site represents one of the oldest documented man-made hunting structures on Earth, and ranges among the largest known Stone Age structure in Europe. It will become important for understanding subsistence strategies, mobility patterns, and inspire discussions concerning the territorial development in the Western Baltic Sea region.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A submerged Stone Age hunting architecture from the Western Baltic Sea

Geersen,

Bradtmöller,

Schneider von Deimling

et al. 2024

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Despite the high spatial resolution of UAV imagery, it was sometimes difficult to identify caribou fence sections (i.e., a human construct) as its overlapping or parallel orientated CWD objects have to be differentiated from naturally present CWD objects left untouched. These challenges are not unlike identifying animal drive systems or kill sites on the ground or through remote sensing approaches in other environmental settings (e.g., Brink 2005;O'Shea et al 2014;Pasda 2014;Hamilton 2018). Future work related to the (semi)-automated detection of CWD objects for archaeological mapping purposes therefore ought to consider the likelihood of belonging to an anthropogenic feature compared to being a naturally placed object.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeological documentation of wood caribou fences using unmanned aerial vehicle and very high-resolution satellite imagery in the Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories

Sluijs

MacKay

Andrew³

et al. 2020

J. Unmanned Veh. Sys.

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Indigenous peoples of Canada’s North have long made use of boreal forest products, with wooden drift fences to direct caribou movement towards kill sites as unique examples. Caribou fences are of archaeological and ecological significance, yet sparsely distributed and increasingly at risk to wildfire. Costly remote field logistics requires efficient prior fence verification and rapid on-site documentation of structure and landscape context. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and very high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery were used for detailed site recording and detection of coarse woody debris (CWD) objects under challenging Subarctic alpine woodlands conditions. UAVs enabled discovery of previously unknown wooden structures and revealed extensive use of CWD (n = 1745, total length = 2682 m, total volume = 16.7 m3). The methodology detected CWD objects much smaller than previously reported in remote sensing literature (mean 1.5 m long, 0.09 m wide), substantiating a high spatial resolution requirement for detection. Structurally, the fences were not uniformly left on the landscape. Permafrost patterned ground combined with small CWD contributions at the pixel level complicated identification through VHR data sets. UAV outputs significantly enriched field techniques and supported a deeper understanding of caribou fences as a hunting technology, and they will aid ongoing archaeological interpretation and time-series comparisons of change agents.

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Caribou Inuit Activity and Settlement Around Yathkyed Lake: A Record of Archaeological Features in an Inland Arctic Landscape, Canada

Stewart

2023

Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology

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Regional Variation in Thule and Colonial Caribou Hunting in West Greenland

Cited by 8 publications

References 56 publications

A submerged Stone Age hunting architecture from the Western Baltic Sea

A submerged Stone Age hunting architecture from the Western Baltic Sea

Archaeological documentation of wood caribou fences using unmanned aerial vehicle and very high-resolution satellite imagery in the Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories

Caribou Inuit Activity and Settlement Around Yathkyed Lake: A Record of Archaeological Features in an Inland Arctic Landscape, Canada

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