Human Behavioral Ecology and the Complexities of Arctic Foodways

Summary

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 in the North Pacific Ocean. Paleodemography and climate reconstructions for this region suggest people experienced changes in resource availability through time, yet the zooarchaeological record demonstrates remarkable continuity. Therefore, we ask: how can we use behavioral ecological models to explain why this might be? We argue that the behavior of the seasons, people, and animals in northern maritime environments is such that the zooarchaeological correlates used to test HBE models are distinctive and must be assessed before these models can be accurately applied.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24163