Did Tlingit and Haida eat sea otters during the pre-contact period? an issue of intellectual property and cultural heritage

Summary

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 implications for issues of contemporary wildlife and ecosystem management and sustainable harvesting by Alaska Natives. Sealaska Heritage Institute is sponsoring this study because it seeks to increase scientific knowledge and make it available to local resource users. Sealaska also aims to educate the larger public about the long-term relationships Tlingit people have maintained with sea otters and other wildlife.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Historical Ecology for Applied Archaeology: Climate Change, Resource Management, and Governance

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17674