Using GIS to evaluate models of late Holocene settlement patterns in Northwest Alaska

Summary

Changing Arctic coastal settlement patterns are often linked to late Holocene environmental change. In northwest Alaska, archaeologists hypothesize that environmental variability was a major factor in both growing coastal population density between 1000 and 500 ya, and subsequent decreasing population density between 500 ya and the contact era. After 500 ya people dispersed to smaller settlements in coastal areas, and perhaps, upriver. This hypothesized pattern is based on older research that has not been evaluated with new archaeological data; the proposed geographic distribution of sites has not been examined. We use GIS to evaluate the evidence for a geographic redistribution of Arctic peoples during the Late Holocene. We draw on site location data and site attribute data including site type, number of houses, and average size of houses. These data are incorporated into a GIS database and then global and local Moran’s I and Getis-Ord Gi* spatial analyses are used to test whether redistribution occurred and if key settlement locations shifted after 500 ya. The results of this work build our understanding of regional settlement patterns during the late Holocene, and point to a GIS method that is applicable to other regions and temporal scales.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage