The Effect of Holocene Eruptions on Prehistoric Habitations in the Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska

Okuno, Mitsuru; Izbekov, Pavel; Nicolaysen, K. P.; Nakamura, Toshio; Savinetsky, Arkady; Vasyukov, Dmitrii; Krylovich, Olga A.; Miranda, Jonathan; Deacon, Emily M.; Loopesko, Lydia L.; Hatfield, Virginia; Bruner, Kale; West, Dixie

doi:10.1130/abs/2016am-280480

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“…Among the 163 islands of the Aleutian chain, the Islands of Four Mountains (IFM) have among the steepest peaks with the smallest landmasses (Persico et al, 2018), one of the most persistently active volcanoes throughout the Holocene (Neal et al, 2015; Okuno et al, 2016, 2017), and a location known for generating devastatingly massive earthquakes in recent times (Johnson et al, 1994; Ruppert et al, 2007; Griswold et al, 2018). Long distances isolate the IFM from the larger landmasses and villages of adjacent island groups.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human resilience and resettlement among the Islands of Four Mountains, Aleutians, Alaska

Hatfield¹,

Nicolaysen

West

et al. 2019

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Combined archaeological, ecological, and geologic research on Chuginadak and Carlisle Islands in the Islands of Four Mountains (IFM) probed questions about the sustainability of human settlements over the past 4000 years in the face of geologic, ecological, and social hazards. We use a human ecodynamics approach to frame the investigation and present original archaeological evidence from this poorly known region of the remote Aleutian Islands. Several village sites occupied during the last four millennia are clustered in locations that were not damaged by earthquake-induced tsunamis; however, new geologic evidence indicates that at least one volcanic eruption forced humans to abandon one or more prehistoric village sites. Combined archaeological, ecological, and geologic analyses demonstrate resilient Unangax̂ occupations of the IFM through long-term climate change as well as earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions with occasional community vulnerability to volcanic eruptions.

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