Driftwood (Other Keyword)
1-2 (2 Records)
Giddings’ pioneering dendrochronology research in Alaska and his extensive and impressive sample collections were left mostly untouched since the 1960’s. For the last 10+ years, we have undertaken an effort to re-establish a library of dendrochronologies from live trees along the main driftwood-producing rivers in Alaska to re-initiate archaeological tree-ring research in Arctic coastal regions. We are now examining Giddings’ original samples, most of which were never measured. We believe these...
"Untangling the timbers": New Perspectives on Birnirk Architecture in Northwestern Alaska (2017)
Birnirk culture is well-known for driftwood structures that were repeatedly re-assembled to form low mounds. The structures were "hopeless tangle[s] of logs" to pioneering 1930s archaeologists whose reports lack details on construction techniques. Birnirk houses diverge from the preceding Old Bering Sea and later Thule single room houses with lengthy entrance tunnels. Our 2016 fieldwork "followed the wood," employing enhanced photography within two exceptionally preserved houses at Cape...