Subsistence and Seasonality at a Late Prehistoric House Pit in Northwest Alaska

Shirar, Scott

doi:10.5038/2162-4593.13.1.1

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Overall, settlements became more dispersed and population may have decreased across the region after 500 years ago, perhaps in response to changing climate and related marine mammal availability (Anderson, 1984). During this same time period a woodland or river culture emerged (Anderson, 1977(Anderson, , 1988Anderson et al, 1998;Giddings, 1952;Hall, 1971Hall, , 1976Hickey, 1968Hickey, , 1977Shirar, 2009), possibly as coastal people dispersed into the interior (Mason and Barber, 2003).…”

Section: Cultural Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new perspective on Late Holocene social interaction in Northwest Alaska: results of a preliminary ceramic sourcing study

Anderson

Boulanger

Glascock

2011

Journal of Archaeological Science

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a b s t r a c tThis research examines the evidence for prehistoric ceramic exchange networks over the last 2000 years in northwest Alaska through the use of neutron activation analysis of ceramic artifacts. Results from ceramic analysis on eight coastal and inland archaeological sites identified three source macrogroups and three associated subgroups. Clay source diversity and shared source macrogroups between geographically distant sites suggest the use of multiple sources and/or the movement of pots between production locales, mirroring related patterns in pottery stylistic data. Although additional analytical work is needed to fully understand the changing character of clay procurement and ceramic distribution across this time period, this study provides exploratory data on past ceramic production and distribution that hints at changes in exchange and territoriality in northwest Alaska during the late Holocene.

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Section: Cultural Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new perspective on Late Holocene social interaction in Northwest Alaska: results of a preliminary ceramic sourcing study

Anderson

Boulanger

Glascock

2011

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…We assume the animals that occupy these ecological zones today also occupied them in the past. Zooarchaeological studies across Alaska offer broad support for this assumption (Casperson, 2012;Clark, 1998;Crockford and Frederick, 2007;Giddings, 1964;Larsen, 1968;Potter, 2008b;Schaaf, 2015;Shirar, 2009;Stanford, 1976;Stephenson et al, 2001;Tremayne, 2011;Yesner, 1989). We recognize that some areas experienced greater environmental instability, primarily due to volcanic activity (e.g., southwest Alaska), but the presence of sites in these areas throughout our study window suggests animal and human populations always recovered to reinhabit impacted areas relatively quickly, notwithstanding an apparent 500 year hiatus around beginning around 3400 cal BP (Dumond, 2004;Tremayne, 2015b;VanderHoek, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large mammal biomass predicts the changing distribution of hunter-gatherer settlements in mid-late Holocene Alaska

Tremayne

Winterhalder

2017

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

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a b s t r a c tThis study provides an ecological explanation for the distribution of Arctic Small Tool tradition (ASTt) settlements in Alaska and the origin of their arctic maritime adaptation. Theoretically grounded in the ideal free distribution (IFD) model, which predicts that higher ranked habitats will be occupied first and most continuously, we contend that the location of large mammals was a major factor influencing human dispersal and settlement decisions in the arctic and subarctic ecosystems of Alaska. We rank habitat suitability based on historic mammal population densities from wildlife ecology reports across predefined ecological zones in Alaska; we multiply densities by average animal weights per species to determine suitability rankings. Coastal habitats in Alaska are higher ranked than adjacent tundra habitats, but the interior boreal forest may have been the highest ranked, considering technological constraints of hunting aquatic species. The ASTt migration into Alaska created population pressure that promoted the colonization of the unoccupied Arctic coast and development of the dual, terrestrial-maritime economy. When pan-Alaska human populations declined around 3200-2500 years ago low ranked tundra ecoregions were abandoned. As human populations recovered Alaska coasts became the most densely populated habitats. The adaptive logic entailed in the IFD provides a consistent evolutionary interpretation for settlement patterns documented in this region.Published by Elsevier Inc.

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A High-Resolution Chronology for the Cape Krusenstern Site Complex, Northwest Alaska

Anderson

Freeburg²

2013

Arctic Anthropology

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Subsistence and Seasonality at a Late Prehistoric House Pit in Northwest Alaska

Cited by 3 publications

References 12 publications

A new perspective on Late Holocene social interaction in Northwest Alaska: results of a preliminary ceramic sourcing study

A new perspective on Late Holocene social interaction in Northwest Alaska: results of a preliminary ceramic sourcing study

Large mammal biomass predicts the changing distribution of hunter-gatherer settlements in mid-late Holocene Alaska

A High-Resolution Chronology for the Cape Krusenstern Site Complex, Northwest Alaska

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