Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
The rich and dynamic culture histories of Arctic peoples have for many years been the focus of significant attention, ranging from community-based studies of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuit traditional knowledge) to archaeological research. Many of these efforts highlight resilience in the face of social and environmental change. In a similar vein, due in part to the relatively sensitive nature of its biogeography, the Arctic is often viewed as a region in which the effects of climatic change can be understood in new and profound ways. Even the ways in which Arctic archaeologists do their work are changing for the better. Close partnerships with Indigenous individuals and communities, as well as new theoretical perspectives and methodologies—including those adopted from other fields—are contributing to exciting inter-, multi-, and transdisciplinary research, from studies on materiality and the relationships between humans and nonhuman animals, to Indigenous-focused approaches centered on traditional knowledge. In this symposium, we present a diverse cross section of archaeological and related work currently being carried out across the Arctic that deals in some way with the idea of change.
Other Keywords
arctic •
Colonialism •
Indigenous •
digital archaeology •
Public and Community Archaeology •
Chronology •
Zooarchaeology •
Ethics •
Paleoethnobotany •
Climate Change
Geographic Keywords
Alberta (State / Territory) •
Yukon Territory (State / Territory) •
British Columbia (State / Territory) •
Alaska (State / Territory) •
Saskatchewan (State / Territory) •
Manitoba (State / Territory) •
Canada (Country) •
Northwest Territories (State / Territory) •
North America (Continent) •
North America: Arctic and Subarctic
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-12 of 12)
- Documents (12)
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Accountability in Arctic Archaeology: A Continuing Conversation for Change (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Within Arctic archaeology, we are encouraged by community-led and partnership projects to continuously rethink our research practices. These projects have demonstrated that change is possible, it can be done successfully, and it leads to rich holistic narratives of past lifeways. However, more attention needs to be given to how current practices...
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Anatomy of an Arctic Archaeobotanical Analysis: Insights about Ancestral Inuvialuit Plant Use at Agvik, Banks Island, NWT (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Despite extensive Inuit knowledge of and interest in plants, archaeobotanical studies are incredibly rare in the Arctic, representing a clear bias of archaeologists. The proliferation of community-engaged research in the north is helping to open an avenue to more archaeobotanical work. While fish and mammals certainly composed the bulk of the Inuit...
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#Arctic: Social Media and the Communication of Arctic Archaeological Knowledge (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Public outreach is an essential part of Arctic archaeology, and the range of platforms available for the dissemination of data has developed significantly over the last decade. To ensure ethical accountability to Indigenous communities, policy makers, and funding bodies, the relevance of archaeological research must be shared with the wider public....
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Avvajja (Abverdjar) Revisited: Reconstructing Tuniit (Dorset Paleo-Inuit) and Recent-Historic Inuit Life at an Iconic Site in Northern Foxe Basin, Nunavut, Canada (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Excavations in the early to mid-twentieth century at the multicomponent site Avvajja (Abverdjar) (NiHg-1), northern Foxe Basin, Nunavut, produced arguably some of the most iconic Tuniit (Late Dorset Paleo-Inuit) artifacts yet found in Inuit Nunangat (the traditional Inuit territories of Arctic Canada). Avvajja is also notable for being the site of the...
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The Birnirk to Thule Transition as Viewed from Two Adjacent Houses at Cape Espenberg (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The transformation of the Birnirk culture into the Thule culture remains central to the development of modern Inuit peoples across the Arctic. Nevertheless, its chronological definition remains imprecise and contentious despite a century of research since the discovery of the Birnirk site near Utqiagvik and the definition of the Thule culture in the...
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The Birnirk/Thule Migrations: Pushed from an Overpopulated Bering Strait Dominated by Old Bering Sea Culture (2021)
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This is an abstract from the "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A climate-driven eastward push of Thule migrants remains axiomatic to many arctic archaeologists, associated with presumed warming weather of the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), by tradition dated ca. AD 1000. Thule researchers implicated a rapid migration by rapacious “over-killing” seal-hunters and whalers entering unoccupied landscapes—increasingly...
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Marine Fish Zooarchaeological Data from Iceland and the Central North Atlantic Marine Historical Ecology Project (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper will discuss a new NSF-funded project, the Central North Atlantic Marine Historical Ecology Project (CAMHEP), as well as provide an overview of the current overall state of marine fish zooarchaeological data from Iceland. CAMHEP will utilize marine zooarchaeological data from Icelandic archaeological sites dating from the first settlement of...
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Perspectives from a Digital Season and New Opportunities of Knowledge Co-production for Arctic Archaeology (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Impact of the COVID-19 epidemic has been acute in the Arctic, where logistics and community collaborations are time sensitive. Having canceled our 2020 field season in Avanersuaq, Greenland, we decided to continue collaborative work online, while striving to bring Inughuit partners into the process of interpretation. In this paper, we present outcomes...
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Pitquhivut Ilihaqtaa: Learning about Our Culture (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeology in Inuit Nunangat (northern Canada) has a long and varied history of interactions between Inuit communities and "southern" researchers. This paper is about one long-standing example of a successful relationship between an Inuit organization, the Pitquhirnikkut Ilihautiniq / Kitikmeot Heritage Society (PI/KHS) of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, and...
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Putting the Past in Conversation with the Present: A Collaborative Archaeology of Colonialism in Old Harbor, Kodiak Island, Alaska (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Sugpiaq (also known as Alutiiq) people have a more than 7,500-year history on the Kodiak Archipelago and in the surrounding areas. Through that long history, they adapted and invented new technologies, grew from small and mobile communities to large, settled villages, fought and traded with their neighbors, and created a vibrant coastal society....
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Revisiting and Extending the Kobuk River Tree-Ring Master Chronology: A Unique Record for Paleo-climate and Archaeology in Northwestern Alaska (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The first and only millennial tree-ring chronology (AD 978–1941) in northwest Alaska was developed in the 1940s by archaeologist and dendrochronology pioneer J. L. Giddings. Constructed from living trees and archaeological samples from the Kobuk River valley, Giddings’s sequence established the chronology of the “Arctic Woodland Culture.” As Alaskan...
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The Use of Aerial Drones to Map, Monitor, and Analyze Inuit Sites in Northern Labrador (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A photogrammetric revolution has occurred in archaeology with the appearance of software that allows objects, features, sites, and landscapes to be finely rendered as automatically stitched photomosaics and navigable 3D models. The simultaneous emergence of reasonably priced remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs, or drones) that can produce suitably...