North America - NW Coast/Alaska (Geographic Keyword)
76-100 (301 Records)
In recent years, zooarchaeological studies have been designed to address a variety of issues in conservation biology, but rarely has zooarchaeology been used to document cultural practices that are currently under public scrutiny. Use of sea otters is part of Tlingit and Haida cultural heritage. Conducted with Sealaska Heritage Institute, this project attempts to show how laboratory analysis of archaeological collections can document butchery and processing practices that have direct...
Disentangling the demographic consequences of subsistence stress and parasite epidemiology among the ancestral Alutiit of the Kodiak Archipelago (2017)
Ecological and biodemographic perspectives on human population history emphasize changes in health and disease as key drivers of macrodemographic change. However, the approaches that demographers and archaeologists have taken to modeling the epidemiologic and demographic sequelae of food insecurity on one hand and infectious disease on the other differ in several noteworthy respects: Models addressing subsistence sufficiency and stress have tended to accommodate frequent changes in food...
Diversity and Development of Property Rights and Money in the Southern Pacific Northwest Coast (2017)
At contact, property rights systems in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon were complex and diverse, and applied to a wide range of sacred places and items as well as use rights to foods and materials associated with a highly productive (yet very patchy) resource base. Use rights and possession extended from property that was commonly owned (e.g., game, line fishing locations) to individually owned property (e.g., productive salmon weir locations and acorn groves, dance rights,...
The Earliest Catch: The Origins of Salmon Fishing in the Alaskan Interior (2015)
Ethnographic records indicate that salmon fishing was a primary activity for Athabaskan people living in Alaska’s interior. Evidence of fish use in antiquity is difficult to assess due to the highly degradable nature of delicate fish bones. Fishing in the archaeological record is identified by fishing tools in addition to faunal remains. This poster will discuss the antiquity of salmon fishing in Alaska's interior through a GIS-based comparison of anadromous fish streams and evidence of fishing...
Early Cultural Developments and Adaptations in Hunter/Gatherer Communities: A Case Study from Keatley Creek on the Canadian Plateau (2015)
The emergence of socio-economically complex hunter/gatherer communities has been identified as one of the most critical theoretical issues in the study of early cultural evolution. In North America, one key geographical area for studying the emergence of complex hunter/gatherer societies has been the Northwest Coast and Plateau. The village site of Keatley Creek, one of the largest sites of complex hunter/gatherers in Western Canada, has featured prominently in understanding the emergence and...
Early Human Occupation at Healy Lake: A Study of Lithic Technological Organization at the Linda’s Point and Healy Lake Village Sites (2015)
Under the collective organization of the Healy Lake Working Group, renewed investigations into the prehistory of the Healy Lake region over the past five years have allowed for new insights into terminal Pleistocene human activity in the Alaskan interior. This paper reports the detailed assessment of curated materials from the Village site, originally excavated in the 1960s and 1970s. Using original field notes, drawings, and photographs, the lowest component was stratigraphically separated from...
Eastern Beringian Toolstone Procurement: Investigations of Fine-Grained Volcanics in the Nenana Valley, Interior Alaska. (2017)
Investigating prehistoric landscape use is significant in understanding adaptive strategies in the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene. One way to begin to address landscape use is through lithic procurement and selection studies; these are significant in understanding prehistoric human behavior because procurement and selection behaviors shape toolkits, mobile strategies and settlement patterns. An initial step in addressing these problems is attempted through examining lithic artifacts from...
Ecological, Archaeological, and Social Perspectives of Northern Coast Salish Marine Resource Management Systems (2017)
Coastal peoples around the world have complex systems of marine management that are situated within and influenced by a myriad of social and ecological actions and contexts. On the Northwest Coast of North America, as elsewhere, understanding the physical and non-tangible aspects of these systems requires using diverse kinds of knowledge and data. In this presentation, we bring together traditional ecological knowledge of Tla’amin First Nation elders with archaeological data to understand the...
Effective Public-Centered Approach to Compliance work- Case study of the Angoon Airport Project, Alaska (2015)
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) in response to a request from the Alaska Department of Transportation for funding and other approvals for a new land-based airport near the community of Angoon in Southeast Alaska. With multiple SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author...
The Effects of Sampling by Size Class on the Organization of Technology at the Sunrise Ridge Borrow Pit Site (45PI408), Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington (2015)
Prior lithic paradigmatic classification at the Sunrise Ridge Borrow Pit site (45PI408) has shown significant intra-site variation in chipped-stone technology and function. Recent fieldwork recovered an additional sample of artifacts bringing the total chipped stone assemblage to a sample size of n = 13036. Size grading, or mass analysis, was done for all lithic artifacts before cataloging. Recent attribute analysis of all lithic artifacts > 0.635 cm mesh size (n = 3681) demonstrates that...
The Effects of Thermal Processing on Alaskan King Salmon (2016)
This study considers the effect of thermal and non-thermal processing techniques (cooking and fermentation) on carbon and nitrogen isotopes in wild caught King Salmon from Alaska's Interior in order to determine isotopic profiles for both processed and unprocessed tissues. This study is relevant to the study of past diet and particularly past cooking techniques employed in the Far North throughout prehistory. The data presented here will serve as a reference for future studies of prehistoric...
Eight years of partnership with Coast Tsimshian First Nations on genomic research (2017)
In 2008 a partnership was established with the Coast Tsimshian to use genomics as a novel avenue of research to learn about the population and evolutionary history of these First Nations. Community based research methods were used as a way to establish research goals that were respectful and mutually beneficial to all parties. Through this partnership we have been able to gain insight into the present-day and ancestral Coast Tsimshian genetic structure. Specifically, we have demonstrated a close...
Elemental and microscopic characterization of quartzite stone discs and knives from the Slocan Narrows Pithouse Village, Upper Columbia River Region. (2015)
Chipped stone tools made from fine-grained quartzite with thin mica-rich (phyllitic) lamellae are commonly recovered from archaeological contexts along the Upper Columbia River in the interior Pacific Northwest. In this study we present the results of a comprehensive analysis of a collection of quartzite discs and knives recovered from the Slocan Narrows Pithouse Village. Our analysis includes examination of microscopic use-wear traces to attempt tool function interpretation, as well as...
Empowering Tribal Youth in Cultural Heritage Management (2017)
We examine a multi-year cultural heritage training program developed by Elders, youth and archaeologists in the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska. The program aims to embed cultural protocols and knowledge into methods of cultural heritage management (CHM). The program demonstrates the benefits of collaborative approaches that provide the foundation for more effective CHM, while at the same time providing direct social outcomes. We examine how this was established via a case study of one of the...
Environmental Changes in Archaeologically Significant Sand Dunes in Subarctic Interior Alaska (2016)
Environmental changes, presently and prehistorically, are important factors which influence the expression of the archaeological record in subarctic sand dune environments. Current environmental changes (e.g., vegetation loss, shifts in aridity) affect preservation and associative contexts of the archaeological and paleoenvironmental records. Prehistoric environmental factors and post-depositional changes in these geological settings also played a role in how humans decided to use dune fields,...
Estimating Ancient Urchin Size on the West Coast of Vancouver Island (2017)
Archaeological remains of sea urchins along the Northwest Coast have not been a subject of concerted archaeological research, but has the potential to provide new insights into Indigenous marine subsistence practices, and the complexities of pre-contact First Nations’ ecological roles within the marine ecosystems they inhabited. The focus of this report is to investigate the importance of red sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus franciscanus) size in the archaeological record at the sites of DfSh- 7...
Exploring 'Helicopter' Consulting (2017)
Large-scale cultural resource management on the Northwest Coast stands at the crossroads among resource development, for-profit resource management, and Indigenous control and consent. Recent legal cases, specifically in British Columbia, highlight the need for consultants, industry and Indigenous governments to plan for future development together. This paper follows a line of inquiry from our previous work, exploring how the ‘fly in, fly out’ nature of consulting practices alienates...
Exploring Settlement and Mobility Pattern Changes Using Radiocarbon Databses (2015)
Using data from a newly constructed regional 14C database for the Early and Middle-Holocene on the northern Northwest Coast of North America, a combination of Bayesian models, summed probability distributions and spatial analyses are used to evaluate hypotheses regarding the nature and timing for the development of collector strategies on the northern coast. Research and taphonomic biases are accounted for by binning the radiocarbon data, and by applying a general linear model to the data set. I...
Exploring the relationship between coastal geomorphic processes and archaeological site distributions in central Puget Sound of Washington State (2015)
Although the uneven distribution of precontact archaeological sites along the Puget Sound shoreline is widely recognized, limited research has been undertaken to systematically consider how this pattern may relate to local anthropogenic and geomorphic factors. In this study, we consider archaeological site distributions through the lens of shoreline geomorphology and discuss possible reasons for any observed relationships. Using publically available drift cell data, we categorized the shoreline...
Faunal Analysis for Two Columbia River House Feature Sites: Hole-in-the-Wall-Canyon (45KT12) and French Rapids (45KT13) (2016)
As part of ongoing thesis work, a taxonomic and taphonomic faunal analysis was completed for the zooarchaeological collections (n≈4000) of two house feature sites, Hole-in-the-Wall Canyon (45KT12) and French Rapids (45KT13). Both sites are located near Vantage, Washington, within the inundated area of the Wanapum Reservoir, and date ca. 2400-200 B.P. Originally excavated as part of large scale archaeological salvage work prior to dam construction in the summers of 1961-62, the fauna was never...
Faunal Analysis of the Village Site, Healy Lake, Central Alaska (2017)
Healy Lake Village Site, an important multicomponent site with occupations spanning the terminal Pleistocene and Holocene provides an important opportunity to address fundamental issues of subarctic hunter-gatherer economies as they changed through time. To date, there are only a limited number of sites in former Beringia with preserved faunal remains. This poster presents zooarchaeological analyses and interpretations from well-preserved mammal, bird, and fish remains addressing current...
Faunal assemblages from archaeological levels at the Croxton site in Alaska (2016)
Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are often abundant in faunal assemblages from archaeological sites in arctic, sub-arctic, and alpine tundra areas of the Northern Hemisphere. Archaeological faunal assemblages from interior Alaska include prime examples. This poster focuses on the interpretation of a new sample of vertebrate faunal remains from the Croxton site located along the shore of Tukuto Lake on the north slope of the Brooks Range in which caribou dominate. Analyses compare faunal assemblages...
Field Methods in Indigenous Archaeology: Building Capacity through Community-Based Research and Education (2016)
There are few formal field schools in the United States where students can receive formal training in tribal historic preservation, community-based collaboration, and archaeological field methods. Given the increasing role of consultation and collaboration in disciplinary practice, learning to effectively communicate and build relationships with a Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) and/or tribal community is a critical skill. The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon’s...
Fish Through Time at KIS-050, Kiska Island, Western Aleutians (2015)
Test excavations at KIS-050 during the Rat Islands Research Project Summer 2014 season resulted in abundant faunal assemblages, including a well-preserved fish assemblage. The goals for this research project include the development of a history of human and environment interactions between humans and the land- and seascapes, and the contribution of regional data to broader scale environmental impact studies. Sites occupied over the long term, such as KIS-050, are invaluable to better understand...
Fish Traps, Kayak Surveys, Culture Camps – NHPA in Alaska National Forests (2016)
In an effort to meet the spirit of the NHPA, USDA Forest Service Alaska Region has a long history of collaboration and partnering with a wide variety of tribal, state, federal, not-for-profit, and educational entities, institutions, agencies, and volunteers throughout the state and beyond. The Alaska Region consists of the two largest national forests in the system, totaling 21.9 million acres. Over the last 18 years the Ketchikan-Misty Fiords Ranger District (KMRD), located on the Tongass...