Conceptualizing the Study of Wood Remains in Arctic Sites: A 20-Year Short Review and a Case Study

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Current Research and Challenges in Arctic and Subarctic Cultural Heritage Studies" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Analyses of wood remains and artifact assemblages, while remaining few, are nevertheless developing in many areas of the American Arctic and the North Atlantic, providing a rich, diverse database for site or regional comparisons. At the same time, research on changing driftwood circulation and provenance over time has made a comeback in recent years. The results of this work are helpful to archaeologists as they examine the contribution of human and environmental factors in the complex cycle of wood production, circulation, distribution, and use. Despite such tremendous progress, the importance of wood in past Arctic societies and the high quality of preserved wood remains, Arctic archaeologists still do not make wood sampling and analyses a priority, in the same way as they would for other, more traditionally studied remains. Moreover, there is a surprising lack of understanding of what dendrochronology, even on driftwood, can contribute to understanding archaeological sites when properly sampled and documented. In this paper, I describe the sampling strategy and recording of architectural, artifact, and other wood material remains implemented at the Rising Whale site in northwestern Alaska during the Cape Espenberg Birnirk project and how analysis of these remains improves understanding of site occupation and chronology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Current Research and Challenges in Arctic and Subarctic Cultural Heritage Studies   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38749.0