ARCTIC EARLY
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The Geographic Division
- useful to divide Arctic into: (1) Western Arctic (Alaska), (2)
Eastern Arctic (Canada, Greenland)
- history of settlement in Alaska dates to Beringia, while Eastern or
Canadian Arctic only occupied since mid-Holocene
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Environment of the Far North
climate: fugheddaboutit
- actually quite variable; from cold, dry Arctic slope (north Alaska)
to milder, moist south coast of Alaska (more like Northwest Coast)
- generally cold climate creates permafrost, which makes excavation
difficult, but preservation is excellent
vegetation: true Arctic is tundra environment, treeless with low-growing sedges,
grasses, mosses, lichen
- in river valleys and farther south (south of permafrost), tundra
gives way to taiga, a boreal forest environment (Subarctic)
- tundra and taiga both poorly drained with thin soil mantles; farming
is impossible
fauna: surprisingly rich; caribou in both tundra and taiga
- tundra caribou once vary abundant and highly predictable in their
seasonal movements (more reliable than bison!)
- other terrestrial game: moose, elk, bear, variety of small
fur-bearers
- marine mammals also important: seals (fur, harp), whales (right,
beluga), sea lions, sea otters
- marine fish include: salmon , halibut, cod, char; also invertebrates
(crab)
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Ethnography of the Region
- remarkably homogeneous for such a large area (from Aleutians to
Greenland; from treeline almost to North Pole (yeah, Santa!)
- basic division is between Inuit (Eskimo) and Aleuts; but even these
two are linguistically closely related
- Inuit usually divided into “Western Eskimo” (Alaska), and “Eastern
Eskimo” (Canadian Arctic)
- Aleut were exclusively maritime, and by historic period, had
developed rank socieites; more complex than Inuit
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Paleoarctic Tradition (a.k.a. Denali, etc. etc...)
- dated 10,000-7/8,000 BP; restricted mainly to Alaska
- this term first applied in 1968 by D.D. Anderson to early components
(Akmak, Kobuk) at Onion Portage site, Kobuk River, western Alaska
- both Akmak and Kobuk contain wedge-shaped microblade cores and burins
burin: chipped stone tool characterized by transverse flake removal (ie.
blow to edge of tool), creating a
chisel-like tool
- resulting flake is “burin spall”
- burins thought to be used for working bone and antler
- first identified in Upper Paleolithic assemblages (diagnostic), then
in Alaska, then in various locations and time periods throuhgout North America
- chipped bifaces also part of assemblage
- assemblage strongly similar to Siberian collections, but different
from Paleoindian
- first applied to Arctic assemblages; later extended to Subarctic
assemblages that include microblades and burins
- Denali is probably local variant of Paleoarctic from central Alaska
- termination of Paleoarctic tradition still poorly understood
Onion Portage
- type site of Paleoarctic tradition, located on and below bluff
overlooking Kobuk R., near modern caribou crossing
- very deep deposit (+6 m) of thin cultural layers, separated by
natural sand layers; no mixing
- lowest layers (Akmak and Kobuk) were Paleoarctic, but succession of
later cultures found in upper strata
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Ocean Bay Tradition (6,000-3,000 BP)
- early maritime tradition found along Pacific (south) coast of Alaska
(D. Clark, 1960s), esp. Kodiak Island
- probably derived from Paleoarctic tradition (although there is
1,000-2,000 year hiatus)
- also thought to be closely related to Anangula on Aleutians because
of maritime focus
- early Ocean Bay (O.B.I) contained bifacially chipped points and
knives, microblade industry (blades
slotted laterally in bone shafts to form slender points, probably harpoons),
larger blades, and some ground stone tools
- Ocean Bay II, beginning ca. 4,000 BP) characterized by ground slate
points and knives (saw-and-snap technique), variety of types including long
lanceolate, and tanged points
- Ocean Bay II represents earliest developed ground slate industry in
northwestern North America; probably diffuses to northern NWC
- faunal remains: variety of shellfish, fish, and sea mammals,
including lots of sea otters and evidence for whaling
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Northern Archaic Tradition (6,500-ca. 1,000 BP)
- develops at about same time as Ocean Bay I, but in interior, probably
influenced by Archaic developments much farther south
- diagnositc is side-notched projectile point, but assemblage includes
several other point styles, and wide range of chipped stone tools, but, rarely,
microblades
- Northern Archaic best represented in middle layers at Onion Portage,
and in S. Yukon in Taye Lake phase
- adaptation was to taiga (boreal forest), spreading into tundra
regions; hunting of various species, including small-bodied mammals and fresh
water fishing
- origins of Northern Archaic: most people aceept Paleoarctic
tradition, although dating hiatus exists and several important technological
differences exist (absence of microblades)
- Northern Archaic probably develops seemlessly into prehistoric
Athapaskan cultures at ca. 1,000 BP
Cape Krusenstern
- located on Kotzebue Sound, N.W. Alaska
- series of +100 beach ridges that have “formed forward” through time
- first discovered by Giddings in 1958
- beach camp sites span last 4,200 years with earliest occupations
(beaches farthest from shoreline) associated with Denbigh Flint complex
- unique example of relative dating based on beach ridge formation
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Arctic Small Tool Tradition (4,500-1,000/500 BP)
- first identified (but not named) in the Denbigh Flint Complex
at Iyatayet site, N.W. Alaska by Giddings, 1948
- later formally named by W. Irving 1957
- first prehistoric tradition to span entire Arctic, western and
eastern (as far east as Greenland)
- characterized by great variety of well made, very small chipped stone
tools, including: microblades (put to variety of uses), several microcore
forms, several types of bifaces and points, burins, retouched burin spalls,
rectangular side blades, soapstone lamps
- where preservation permits, wide variety of bone, ivory and antler
tools, including several harpoon types (toggling and non-toggling)
- ASTt is thought to be antecdent to Norton culture (western Arctic)
and Dorset and Thule (Eastern Arctic) -- in fact ASTt generally includes Dorset
- ASTt thought to have developed in Bering Strait region, ca. 4500 BP,
and then spread very rapidly eastward across Arctic and into High Arctic
- in fact some of oldest existing dates for ASTt come from Eastern
Arctic
- R. McGhee has suggested Candian High Arctic origin, and westward
expansion
- in western Arctic, ASTt often appears as sharp replacement of
Northern Archaic (Inuit replacement of Indians?), but ASTt cannot be derived
from Northern Archaic
- D. Dumond has suggested ASTt derived from Paleoarctic tradition, but
two are separated by long time gap
- Dumond also suggests many similarities between ASTt and Siberian
Neolithic cultures (Bel=Kachinsk and Kamchatka Neolithic)
- ASTt could represent first wide distribution of “Eskimoes” across
North American Arctic