AA - Week 4: Alaska and the Bering Strait

- Alle stof uit de powerpoint van week 4

Why is the Western Arctic a complicated archaeological region

Evidence relies on marine-mammal bones

Who were the original people in Alaska?

Siberians (4500 - 5000 BP)

Denbigh Flint Complex period

3250 - 750 BC

Denbigh Flint Complex location

(Northern and Northwest) Alaska

Denbigh Flint Complex site environment

Arctic interior (lakes, rivers, caves and coasts)

Denbigh Flint Complex: Facts

direct ancestors of every Paleo-Inuit group / highly adapted to environments / highly mobile

Denbigh Flint Complex food

caribou / sometimes seals

Denbigh Flint Complex living

skin tents (s/w) / rudimentary semisubterranean winter houses

Denbigh Flint Complex typical artifacts

ASTt / obsidian tools

Old Whaling Culture period

1150 - 850 BC

Old Whaling Culture location

Cape Krusenstern

Old Whaling Culture living

oddly-shaped semisubterranean timber dwellings (w)

Old Whaling Culture typical artifacts

large lithic artifacts (whaling?) / whale cranium and vertebrae

Choris period

750 - 400 BC

Choris location

Choris Peninsula / Cape Krusenstern / Onion Portage

Choris: facts

developed from DFC / whalers / qulliq / pottery

Choris typical artifacts

pottery / microblades / burins

Choris food

seal / caribou

Choris living

ovoid communal houses with wooden supports

Norton period

500 BC - 800 AD

Norton location

Alaska

Norton food

salmon / marine mammals (?)

Norton: Facts

enormous village sites / choris similarities / polished slate!

Norton typical artefacts

Pottery / Lithic slate objects

Ipiutak: Facts

developed from Norton / qaggit (!) / Arctic metropolis / defined by negatives

Ipiutak period

1 - 800 AD

Ipiutak location

Point Hope (Bering Strait Coasts)

Qaggit

Dance houses

Ipiutak typical artifacts

Snow goggles / animism / arrowheads

Things lost in the transition from Norton to Ipiutak

Polished slate / qulliq / pottery / boating / whaling

Ipiutak food

marine mammals / caribou

Ipiutak burials

evidence of violence / warfare

The end of Ipiutak represented the end of…

Paleo-Inuit in the Western Arctic

Neo-Inuit Groups in the Western Arctic

Old Bering Sea / Punuk/Birnirk / Western Thule

Old Bering Sea period

250 BC - 1300 AD

Old Bering Sea location

Chukotka / Alaska

Old Bering Sea: Facts

sophisticated sea-mammal hunting and boating technology / art

Old Bering Sea food

seal / walrus / whales

Old Bering Sea burial

lots of them

Old Bering Sea evolved into….

Punuk culture

Birnirk and Punuk period

800 - 1300

Punuk food

whales

Punuk living

semisubterranian houses

Punuk typical artifacts

harpoon heads / ground slate tools / art

Birnirk site environment

coastal

Birnirk location

Western and Northern Alaska

Birnirk: Facts

Social-organizational focus / art NOT prominent

Birnirk / Punuk evolved into….

Western Thule

Birnirk and Punuk / Western Thule site locations

Walakpa and Birnirk

Western Thule period

1300 - 1750 AD

Western Thule: Facts

boating / birding / fishing technologies / dog sled travel / food secure

Neo-Inuit Technology: Boats

Qajait and Umiat

Qajait: facts

single-person / single-paddle / men ONLY

Umiat: facts

multi-person / multi-purpose / men, women and children

Western Thule living

Tents (s) / robust semisubterranean houses

Western Thule population

population pressure / slat armor / migration 1250 (?)

Western Thule typical artifacts

harpoon heads / nets, lures, hooks / bow, bola balls

Aleutiiq whale hunting

atlatl with multi-pronged (poison) darts

Aleutiiq hunting tradition

Human remains attached to blade/dart for luck

Social dynamics of whaling

Cosmology / talented ‘captain’ as group leader (umialiit)

Whale cult

Shamans define taboos / umialiit as the highest-ranking individual