arctic (Other Keyword)
76-100 (170 Records)
This is an abstract from the "Temyiq Tuyuryaq: Collaborative Archaeology the Yup’iit Way" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Throughout the past decade there have been significant dialogue and debate surrounding Indigenous Archaeology and the perceived challenges of designing and carrying out research. Indigenous approaches demand an individualized place-based approach, eluding the ability to establish a specific methodology. This can result in...
The Hess Creek Site and Implications for Livengood and Yukon River Archaeology (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of Alaska, the Gateway to the Americas" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Hess Creek Site (LIV-00001) is a multicomponent site 36 km southeast of the Yukon River within the Yukon-Tanana uplands. It was initially located in 1969, tested and partially excavated in 1970, and revisited in 1975, 2016, 2020, and 2021. Extensive excavation in 2021 shows a potential separation between two cultural zones, Cultural...
Human Behavioral Ecology and the Complexities of Arctic Foodways (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper we will examine whether Arctic and Subarctic coasts have unique characteristics in the context of human behavioral ecology (HBE). We start with a review of the variability in maritime adaptations around the circumpolar north, and then examine efforts to apply HBE models...
Human Land Use Strategies and Responses to Risk during the Pleistocene–Holocene Transition in Eastern Beringia (2018)
Recent investigations in central Alaska at multiple scales (macro-regional, watershed, site cluster, intrasite) have revealed robust patterning among technological, faunal, and feature datasets. These responses are explored in the context of both regional environmental change associated with climatic oscillations between the Bolling-Allerod, Younger Dryas, and early Holocene chronozones as well as systemic change incorporating more logistical organization, shifts in diet breadth, and changes in...
Identification and Classification of the Environmental Microbiome of the Temyiq Tuyuryaq (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Temyiq Tuyuryaq: Collaborative Archaeology the Yup’iit Way" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This pilot study aims to culture and monitor bacterial species from a specific range of archaeological samples from Temyiq Tuyuryaq, a multigenerational village in northern Bristol Bay, Alaska. Goals of this study are to test our ability to identify variability and consistency of the microbial species present in conditions of...
Iita before the fall: Mitigation of a unique stratified site in the high Arctic of Greenland (2017)
Iita (Etah), which sits on the north shore of Foulke Fjord in northwestern Greenland, in many ways could serve as a poster child for climate-change-driven destruction of coastal sites. Sitting on an alluvial fan at the base of a steep-sloped kame deposit, the site has rich historic and late prehistoric occupations visible on its surface. But more uniquely for the high Arctic, there are also 1000 years of continuous human use locked in stratigraphically sequenced buried soils, starting with the...
The Inequalities of Households – Cemetery Management and Social Change in Early Medieval Iceland (2018)
In AD 1000 Icelanders adopted Christianity in an apparently swift and embracive fashion. The new tradition was implemented by discrete households that built private churches and cemeteries on their farms. These cemeteries were in use until the beginning of the 12th century and interred were all individuals of the household, men and women, the old and the young, householders and servants. The establishment, management, and abandonment sequences of these cemeteries reflect the religious, social,...
The Inglefield Land Archaeology Project in NW Greenland, 2004-16: Mitigating Cultural Resources in the Era of Climate Change (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Accelerating Environmental Change Threats to Cultural Heritage: Serious Challenges, Promising Responses" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. With support of the NSF Arctic Social Sciences program, we undertook seven field seasons (2004-2016) investigating the 4000-year history of human habitation of Inglefield Land, with particular attention to the Inughuit and their interactions with Euro-American Arctic explorers in the...
The Inland Life of Southeast Alaska (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The focus of archaeological research in Southeast Alaska has long been on coastal sites. Over the past decade new inland sites have been recorded on Prince of Wales Island, including the first early Holocene lakeshore site. Waterfalls presenting natural fish barriers to migrating salmon also preserve evidence of Holocene human activity far removed from early...
Innovation, Intensification, and "Maritimeness" 4,500 Years Ago at Chignik, Alaska (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. On the south side of the central Alaska Peninsula, close to culture-history's boundary between "Eskimo" and "Aleut," lies Chignik. Most archaeological investigations and explanations in the broader region have emphasized the overwhelming importance of resources derived from the sea. But at Chignik, evidence of a divergent facet of maritime adaptation has been...
Introducing "Envisioning and Re-envisioning Arctic Archaeology: The Enduring Legacies of J. Louis Giddings (1909-1964)" (2016)
J. Louis Giddings' (1909-1964) pioneering archaeological research in the Arctic integrated natural science perspectives with archaeological investigations, ethnographic and folkloric research, collaboration with indigenous communities, and experimentation with cutting-edge methods. He introduced dendrochronology and dendroclimatology to Arctic archaeology, developed the concept of "beach ridge archaeology"—using the sequential formation of maritime beach ridges to date relatively archaeological...
Inuit Sled Dogs in the Contact Landscape: An Isotopic Investigation of Dog Provisioning in 16th–19th Century Labrador, Canada (2018)
The 16th through 19th centuries witnessed increasing cross-cultural interactions between the Inuit of the Labrador coast and European explorers, traders, and missionaries. The effects of colonialism in this period have been studied with respect to Inuit identity, material culture, gender, and social organization, but the nature of Inuit-animal relationships has received comparatively less attention. In addition to occupying a prominent social role, the sled dog facilitated Inuit mobility and...
Investigating Organic Residues on Prehistoric Cooking Technologies in the Aleutian Islands (2018)
Stone bowls and griddle stones were in use in the Aleutian Islands for the past 9.000 years. People invested great time and effort into the manufacture and maintenance of these artefacts which insinuates their importance in prehistoric Aleutian food processing practices. A sudden increase in stone bowl occurrence around 3.500 years ago emphasizes their importance during this particular time. What was it that made these artefacts so important? We believe the answer to this question lies in their...
Invisible Women in a World of Men: The Textile Trade in the North Atlantic, AD 1000–1600 (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Social Archaeology in the North and North Atlantic (SANNA 3.0): Investigating the Social Lives of Northern Things" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Waterlogged or deeply buried deposits from medieval harbors in certain northern European towns have produced large and well-preserved textile assemblages that contain a surprising number of non-indigenous textiles. Some of these appear to have originated in the North...
Iron Production at Marginal Settlements in Northern Iceland (2018)
The environment of Iceland was rapidly and severely affected by the Norse Settlement, in particular by deforestation. In Iceland’s changing environment the production of iron, an essential material, became limited not by access to iron ore but by availability of wood to make charcoal fuel. The large-scale production of iron may be one of the primary processes that led to deforestation in Iceland due to the large need for charcoal. Investigations at Stekkjarborg on the farm of Keldudalur in...
The J. Louis Giddings Archive at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology (2016)
As the Haffenreffer Museum approaches the 60th anniversary of J. Louis Giddings' arrival as its first director, a concerted effort has been undertaken—over the past two years—to rehouse, organize, and describe the vast and rich archive that Giddings created during his long career. Giddings was a dedicated and organized record keeper, who left a great amount and variety of material at the Haffenreffer Museum upon his untimely death in late 1964. This collection in its entirely is related to...
Landscape Learning and Climate Change: A Perspective from South-Central Alaska (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology and Landscape Learning for a Climate-Changing World" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The circumpolar north is one of the most rapidly warming places on the planet, resulting in changing vegetation, precipitation, and fire regimes along with altered animal migration cycles. Combined these trends are transforming once familiar places into environments to which people are unaccustomed, perhaps even new...
Learning about a Place through Time: Kilusiktok Lake, North Slope, Alaska (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology and Landscape Learning for a Climate-Changing World" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper examines landscape learning through the lens of a particular landform near Kilusiktok Lake. The landform has been used by humans for at least 2,000 years, as evidenced by radiocarbon dates on a burnt bone layer, right up to the present, based on coffee cans, meat packages from the local store with expiration...
Learning by Doing: Past Foodways, Experimental Archaeology, and Collaborative Research (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Our broad goal is to share on-going research with diverse communities and learn more together about past foodways and food-related technologies. To achieve this, we facilitated several research and training workshops alongside Tribal, Alaska Native, and agency partners from Oregon and Alaska. Our intention was to pair Indigenous and archaeological...
The lessons of J.L. Giddings' early attempt at geophysical surveying in the western Arctic (2016)
Archaeologist J. Louis Giddings is known widely for his excavations of major sites in the western arctic from the 1940s until his untimely death in 1964. Giddings was also a notable innovator in archaeological science, integrating new techniques into his research almost immediately after they were developed. Very early on in his career, for example, Giddings made use of dendrochronology, establishing some of the earliest tree-ring chronologies in Alaska. This was immediately after dendro was...
Life Beyond Circumpolar Cosmologies: New Themes in the Archaeology of Arctic Human-Animal Relations (2017)
In Arctic Archaeology, human-animal relations have traditionally been studied in terms of ecology, optimality and adaptation; more recently, there has been growing interest in understanding how spiritual obligations affected treatment of circumpolar animals and their physical remains. Although these symbolic perspectives were initially useful, many tended to draw on ethnography, especially when using the concept of a single overarching ‘Circumpolar Cosmology; unfortunately, this can reduce...
"Like winning the Stanley Cup": The Discovery of Sir John Franklin's HMS Erebus in the Canadian Arctic (2016)
In September of 2014, the Prime Minister of Canada announced with great fanfare the discovery of one of the two lost ships of Sir John Franklin’s expedition that left England in 1845. The discovery in the Canadian Arctic of the ship eventually identified as HMS Erebus was the result of the most ambitious survey effort to locate Franklin’s vessels. Started in 2008, the search program, spearheaded by Parks Canada and the Government of Nunavut for underwater and terrestrial archaeology components...
Living with Reindeer in Arctic Siberia: the View from Arctic Yamal, Russia (2017)
Reindeer are an essential part of daily life and special events across a broad stretch of northern Eurasia, but their long term history with people has remained elusive. Ethnographers have characterized reindeer as living in ‘intermittent co-existence’ with humans, or as ‘semi-domesticates’, ‘pastoral herd animals’, and even ‘slaves’. Archaeology has struggled to characterize human-reindeer relationships, with even the geographical origins of modern domesticated deer remaining unclear. The Yamal...
Mapping Thermal Features at Quartz Lake, Alaska (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Few archaeological sites from the late Holocene Dene/Athabascan tradition have been extensively studied, leaving researchers with many questions about everyday practices. Specifically, the function and spatial distribution of thermal features has yet to be extensively evaluated. Despite the ubiquity of cooking in daily life and cooking features in the...
Marine Foragers at the Top of the World: Zooarchaeological Analysis of a Thule Period Small Site at Uivvaq, Alaska (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Thule period is significant as a predecessor to modern Iñupiat culture, and yet understanding Thule life remains partial to the selectiveness of archaeological investigations. Much of the Alaskan Thule period research has focused on large settlements along the northwest coast (e.g. Point Hope, Walakpa, and Utqiaġvik). Smaller sites, such as the Uivvaq...