Arctic regions contain many archaeological sites with exceptional organic preservation is due to ... more Arctic regions contain many archaeological sites with exceptional organic preservation is due to the climate. Beyond the features and artifacts left by past humans, these sites archive the residues of human subsistence activities, as stratified layers, often spanning millennia, of the remains of animals and plants gathered from the surrounding area. These remains are archived samples from past ecosystems that cannot be replicated. These samples can be used to investigate issues well beyond traditional social science, in fields like biology or paleoclimatology. New techniques make it possible to examine factors such as trophic levels, changes in stock structure, population bottlenecks, and movements of animal populations across both space and time. It is possible not only to reconstruct ecosystems, but to see how they changed through time, and correlate those changes with possible drivers, such as climate change, changes in human exploitation, or natural catastrophes. This can provide critical information to those trying to manage fisheries or wildlife and to those whose food security depends on successful hunting and foraging. Arctic sites have been considered stable. However, the changing climate has altered the situation. As the ground warms, factors leading to decay of organic materials (bacteria, mold and chemical processes) all are active for longer periods of the year, at much higher intensity. At a certain point, this becomes a positive feedback loop. Coastal sites are particularly threatened. Erosion rates have increased tremendously, due to warming permafrost, sea ice retreat and longer ice-free seasons. Loss rates of 10s of meters per year have been recorded in some places. These valuable paleoecological archives are disappearing before our eyes.
This poster highlights two critical problems in Arctic regions:
1) Loss of key elements of cultu... more This poster highlights two critical problems in Arctic regions:
1) Loss of key elements of cultural heritage to environmental change 2) Loss of the rich paleoenvironmental records that form a “distributed long term observing network of the past”
In recent years archaeological sites with good organic preservation have been recognized as excellent paleoenvironmental archives which complement the proxy records recovered from ice sheets, bogs, lakes, and oceanic sediments. Data from archaeological sites can be used to address key questions in social science, conservation biology, oceanography, ecology, and climatology. It is possible not only to document human interactions with the environment, but also to see how they change through time, and then correlate those changes with possible drivers, such as climate change, patterns of human exploitation, natural catastrophes (volcanic eruptions, large-scale flooding, etc.). Archaeological deposits provide key data on changes in summer drift ice in the North Atlantic, of the distribution and population structure of sea mammals prior to modern industrial hunting, and the effects of large scale fishing prior to the disciplinary establishment of fisheries science.
The poster also covers emerging responses to this issue. The scale and urgency of the threat will require a large-scale response backed by significant sustained funding support. Existing structures for archaeological rescue and response are already overwhelmed, and conditions are worsening. It is clear that we cannot expect existing research-orientated local and national funding agencies to support the sort of response needed from already-strained social science budgets. New models for funding, education and recruitment of staff, engagement with the public and long term curation of rescued samples must be developed.
Using 14 proxy human population time series from around the North Pacific (Alaska, Hokkaido and t... more Using 14 proxy human population time series from around the North Pacific (Alaska, Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands), we evaluate the possibility that the North Pacific climate and marine ecosystem includes a millennial-scale regime shift cycle affecting subsistence and migration. We develop both visual and statistical methods for addressing questions about relative population growth and movement in the past. We introduce and explore the use of a Time Iterative Moran I (TIMI) spatial autocorrelation method to compare time series trends quantitatively – a method that could prove useful in other paleoecological analyses. Results reveal considerable population dynamism around the North Pacific in the last 5000 years and strengthen a previously reported inverse correlation between Northeast and Northwest Pacific proxy population indices. Visual and TIMI analyses suggest multiple, overlapping explanations for the variability, including the potential that oscillating ecological regime shift...
Living in remote places can strain the adaptive capacities of human settlers. It can also protect... more Living in remote places can strain the adaptive capacities of human settlers. It can also protect communities from external social, political and economic forces. In this paper, we present an archaeological population history of the Kuril Islands. This string of small volcanic islands on the margins of the Northwest Pacific was occupied by maritime hunting, fishing and gathering communities from the mid-Holocene to recent centuries. We bring together (1) 380 new and previously published archaeological radiocarbon dates, (2) a new paleodemographic model based on a radiocarbontimestamped temporal frequency distribution of archeological deposits, (3) recently published paleoclimate trends, and (4) recently published archaeological proxy evidence for changes in the extent of social networks. We demonstrate that, over the last two millennia, inhabitants of the Kuril Islands underwent dramatic demographic fluctuations. Explanations of these fluctuations are considered in the context of environmental hazards, social networks and the emergence of an East Asian "World System", elucidating the tension between local and external adaptative strategies to social and ecological uncertainty. Results suggest that population resilience to local climate and environmental variability was achieved by virtue of social networks that maintained non-local support in times of crisis. Conversely, the expansion of the East Asian political economy to neighbors on the southern margin of the Kuril Islands appears to have undermined the adaptive benefits of regional social networks, forcing a loss of connectivity and an increase in the vulnerability of Kuril populations to environmental fluctuations.
The Circumpolar North is generally recognized as a challenging environment to inhabit and yet, we... more The Circumpolar North is generally recognized as a challenging environment to inhabit and yet, we know relatively little about how people managed their welfare in these places. Here, we add to the understanding of maritime hunter-gatherers in the subarctic North Pacific through a comparative approach that synthesizes biogeographic and archaeological data from the Kuril Islands. We conclude that our faunal, ceramic and lithic evidence support biogeographical expectations as assemblages from low biodiversity and insular regions show limited diet breadth, more locally produced pottery and a conservation of lithic resources. However, we highlight that these ecological factors did not strictly determine the occupation history of the archipelago as radiocarbon data suggests all regions experienced similar demographic fluctuations regardless of their biogeography. These results imply additional pressures influenced the strategic use and settlement of the Kuril Islands and the need for increased chronological resolution to disentangle these complex historical factors. 1. Introduction Maritime hunter-gatherers can be broadly defined as those groups whose subsistence relies primarily on wild resources extracted from the sea. However, given that many northern regions have had only intermittent human presence (Hoffecker 2005; Friesen and Mason 2016) and have been less intensively studied, the archaeological record of Arctic and sub-Arctic maritime hunter-gatherers is often scant. This is unfortunate as the archaeology of northern foragers present valuable opportunities to study long-term interactions between humans and their environments. This is especially true given the challenging climates, inherent instability of highlatitude ecosystems and their reliance on local resources for survival (Damm et al. 2019). Here, our approach is to compare archaeological and radiocarbon evidence from maritime hunter-gatherers that inhabited a subarctic landscape: the Kuril Islands, an archipelago that stretches from the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido to the southern tip of the Kamchatka peninsula (see Fig 1). We start from the well-established premise that islands make good areas for studying historical hunter-gatherer relationships to ecological variability (Keegan
Geologic hazards associated with volcanism in the North Pacific have profound if usually temporar... more Geologic hazards associated with volcanism in the North Pacific have profound if usually temporary effects on the environment and human populations. Ash falls associated with these events are often preserved across large areas providing time specific markers. In the past century, volcanic activity and its effects in the North Pacific have been recorded, but much of the Holocene volcanic record in the Alaskan region is still being investigated. The Kodiak Archipelago, while not volcanic itself, is located near both Aleutian and Alaskan peninsula volcanoes. However, little has been published about the Holocene tephrochronology of the Kodiak region. This study focuses on the area around Tanginak Spring Site (KOD481). Located on Sitkalidak Island it is the earliest known human occupation in the Kodiak archipelago. We are documenting Holocene environmental changes on Sitkalidak Island and relating these changes to the archaeological record. As part of this work, we will establish a local...
We present new data on regional correction factor (ΔR) conducted for Chukotka, the Commander Isla... more We present new data on regional correction factor (ΔR) conducted for Chukotka, the Commander Islands, and the western Aleutian Islands and summarize data previously published for the other parts of the region. Paired radiocarbon dates of coeval marine and terrestrial materials from the archaeological site Kaniskak were obtained in Chukotka, and one such pair was analyzed from Shemya Island (western Aleutians). Three samples of sea otter (Enhydra lutris) bones of known collection date were used for the Commander Islands. In conjunction with previously published data, the new results showed that ΔR estimates conducted for the five regions of the northern Pacific do not differ statistically. ΔR assessments combined for archaeological sites resulted in probability density curves of the same shape as that of marine organisms. Comparison of ΔR estimates made with various species of marine animals showed that sea otters and small fishes residing within coastal waters throughout their life ...
The Kuril Islands are a relatively poorly known region of the North Pacific Rim between Hokkaido ... more The Kuril Islands are a relatively poorly known region of the North Pacific Rim between Hokkaido and Kamchatka. This article presents new information on the settlement history and human biogeography of the central and northern Kuril Islands resulting from a three-week, international survey and testing project in the summer of 2000. The paper introduces the Kuril chain (little known outside of Japan and Russia), presents a chronology of settlement based on new AMS radiocarbon dates, and examines the role of volcanic and tectonic forces on human prehistory and site preservation. The research results presented here add significantly to the record of Kuril archaeology and offer conclusions of broader applicability to the prehistory of the North Pacific and the archaeology of island chains.
This paper examines issues of ecological and social scale in the development and maintenance of i... more This paper examines issues of ecological and social scale in the development and maintenance of inequality in hunting and gathering societies. The archaeological history of emergent inequality in the Kodiak Archipelago, Alaska, is compared to the Kuril Islands, in the Russian Far East. It is argued that, by late Holocene times, inequalities were marked locally in the Kodiak case (and other North American Northwest Coast cases) but confined to limited areas by the socio-ecological redundancies over larger scales. Ecological instability in the Kurils limited emergent inequality locally but allowed the Kurils to be drawn into unequal economic relations with outside communities at larger scales. It is argued that this comparison provides a structural analogue for socio-economic inequality and resilience in our globally networked world today.
We present new marine reservoir ΔR correction terms for the central and northern Kuril Islands. W... more We present new marine reservoir ΔR correction terms for the central and northern Kuril Islands. We estimate ΔR from a series of archaeological charcoal-shell pairs from two archaeological sites using standard calibration procedures and Monte Carlo simulation. The combined ΔR estimate for all paired samples for the Kuril samples is 508±127 yr. In the context of available North Pacific Rim ΔR estimates, the new Kuril data support the interpretation of a well-mixed, 14C-depleted North Pacific Subarctic Gyre. For the broader subarctic North Pacific region, a ΔR estimate in the range of 440±127 yr is a reasonable correction for any coastal marine shell date, and may be applied to fish and marine mammal dates for taxa known to reside within these waters throughout their life-histories. This generalization fails as one moves south from Hokkaido along the East Asian coast. There, well-equilibrated subtropical water minimize the ΔR offset.
Research in the field of wound ballistics has identified three major types of penetrating trauma ... more Research in the field of wound ballistics has identified three major types of penetrating trauma injuries that will affect wound severity of a projectile point into hard or soft tissues: puncture, incised, and lacerated. In this study, we report on dual ballistics experiments conducted to better understand the wounding mechanisms of three prehistoric projectile point classes made respectfully of polished bone, bifacially flaked stone, and composite antler inset with microblades. Each class of projectiles was launched into ballistics gelatin and into the carcass of a reindeer to explore the relative performance characteristics of each class in terms of tool durability and wound infliction. Our methods of evaluation included a detailed measurement of projectile attributes before and after penetration of both gelatin and carcass that were then compared using tip-metrics, penetration depth, and total interior wound area. Our results strongly suggest that the wounding potential differed significantly between projectile point classes and in turn, strongly influenced wound severity. We suggest that point mechanics may implicate a "prey specific" hunting strategy and propose that such analyses can help us better understand prehistoric hunter-gather behavior and technological variability.
This chapter explores the antiquity and evolution of Subarctic maritime traditions in the Beringi... more This chapter explores the antiquity and evolution of Subarctic maritime traditions in the Beringian North Pacific—precursors of maritime cultures that ultimately pushed north and east across the Canadian and Greenlandic Arctic. Boat-based, maritime economies and settlement show up by the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the relatively warm Subarctic Northeast Pacific (Gulf of Alaska and Aleutians) but appear delayed by 5,000 or more years in the Northwest Pacific and Bering and Chukchi seas. Potential biases of preservation and research histories are examined and dismissed, and two environmental models are proposed to explain the delay (or disruption) of maritime settlement in the seasonally frozen Okhotsk, Bering, and Chukchi seas. Late Holocene maritime traditions intensify and converge in all regions of the Subarctic and Arctic Pacific over the past 2,000–3,000 years, forging a common ecological, economic, technological, and social orientation, where none had previously existed.
Twenty years ago, Lewis Binford published an article that revolutionized the study of hunter-gath... more Twenty years ago, Lewis Binford published an article that revolutionized the study of hunter-gatherer and land use. The article, Willow Smmoke and Dogs‘ Tails: Hunter-Gatherer Systems and Archeological Site Formation (Binford 1980), made the simple but elegant argument that seasonal or short-term hunter-gatherer mobility should be patterned in predictable ways with respect to spatial and temporal variation in resource availability. In the model, Binford distinguished residential mobility (the movement of all members oa a residential base from one locality to another) from logistical mobility (the movement of specially organized task groups on temporary excursions from a residential base). Based on these distinctions, Binford identified two basic subsistence-settlement systems: forager systems that are characterized by low logistical mobility and low residential mobility. According to Binford, the former systems are responses to environments where the distribution of important resources is spatially and/or temporally (seasonally) homogenous, whereas the latter systems are adapted to environments where the distributions of critical resources are spatially or temporally uneven.
... the Aleutians have received more investigation in the past decade, the Kurils present signifi... more ... the Aleutians have received more investigation in the past decade, the Kurils present significant la ... research in the Kurils has identified three general periods of prehistoric occupation: Jomon ... could also have contributed popula-tions to the Kurils throughout prehistory (see Chard ...
... paleoecological evidence have been identified that might be indicative of hunter-gatherer col... more ... paleoecological evidence have been identified that might be indicative of hunter-gatherer colonization in arctic ... of watercraft use, going back at least 50,000 years ago in Southeast Asia (eg, Bowdler ... 2002) and 10,000 years ago on the western coast of North America (Erlandson ...
... viii PREFACE The Sitkalidak Archaeological Survey crew between 1993 and 1995 included Lauren ... more ... viii PREFACE The Sitkalidak Archaeological Survey crew between 1993 and 1995 included Lauren Bigelow, Laada Bilaniuk, Jennifer Either, Donald Clark, William and Lynne Fitzhugh, Ken Kennerly, Nilcole Misarti, Megan Partlow, Libby Pontii-Euphemio, Deborah Robinson ...
Arctic regions contain many archaeological sites with exceptional organic preservation is due to ... more Arctic regions contain many archaeological sites with exceptional organic preservation is due to the climate. Beyond the features and artifacts left by past humans, these sites archive the residues of human subsistence activities, as stratified layers, often spanning millennia, of the remains of animals and plants gathered from the surrounding area. These remains are archived samples from past ecosystems that cannot be replicated. These samples can be used to investigate issues well beyond traditional social science, in fields like biology or paleoclimatology. New techniques make it possible to examine factors such as trophic levels, changes in stock structure, population bottlenecks, and movements of animal populations across both space and time. It is possible not only to reconstruct ecosystems, but to see how they changed through time, and correlate those changes with possible drivers, such as climate change, changes in human exploitation, or natural catastrophes. This can provide critical information to those trying to manage fisheries or wildlife and to those whose food security depends on successful hunting and foraging. Arctic sites have been considered stable. However, the changing climate has altered the situation. As the ground warms, factors leading to decay of organic materials (bacteria, mold and chemical processes) all are active for longer periods of the year, at much higher intensity. At a certain point, this becomes a positive feedback loop. Coastal sites are particularly threatened. Erosion rates have increased tremendously, due to warming permafrost, sea ice retreat and longer ice-free seasons. Loss rates of 10s of meters per year have been recorded in some places. These valuable paleoecological archives are disappearing before our eyes.
This poster highlights two critical problems in Arctic regions:
1) Loss of key elements of cultu... more This poster highlights two critical problems in Arctic regions:
1) Loss of key elements of cultural heritage to environmental change 2) Loss of the rich paleoenvironmental records that form a “distributed long term observing network of the past”
In recent years archaeological sites with good organic preservation have been recognized as excellent paleoenvironmental archives which complement the proxy records recovered from ice sheets, bogs, lakes, and oceanic sediments. Data from archaeological sites can be used to address key questions in social science, conservation biology, oceanography, ecology, and climatology. It is possible not only to document human interactions with the environment, but also to see how they change through time, and then correlate those changes with possible drivers, such as climate change, patterns of human exploitation, natural catastrophes (volcanic eruptions, large-scale flooding, etc.). Archaeological deposits provide key data on changes in summer drift ice in the North Atlantic, of the distribution and population structure of sea mammals prior to modern industrial hunting, and the effects of large scale fishing prior to the disciplinary establishment of fisheries science.
The poster also covers emerging responses to this issue. The scale and urgency of the threat will require a large-scale response backed by significant sustained funding support. Existing structures for archaeological rescue and response are already overwhelmed, and conditions are worsening. It is clear that we cannot expect existing research-orientated local and national funding agencies to support the sort of response needed from already-strained social science budgets. New models for funding, education and recruitment of staff, engagement with the public and long term curation of rescued samples must be developed.
Using 14 proxy human population time series from around the North Pacific (Alaska, Hokkaido and t... more Using 14 proxy human population time series from around the North Pacific (Alaska, Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands), we evaluate the possibility that the North Pacific climate and marine ecosystem includes a millennial-scale regime shift cycle affecting subsistence and migration. We develop both visual and statistical methods for addressing questions about relative population growth and movement in the past. We introduce and explore the use of a Time Iterative Moran I (TIMI) spatial autocorrelation method to compare time series trends quantitatively – a method that could prove useful in other paleoecological analyses. Results reveal considerable population dynamism around the North Pacific in the last 5000 years and strengthen a previously reported inverse correlation between Northeast and Northwest Pacific proxy population indices. Visual and TIMI analyses suggest multiple, overlapping explanations for the variability, including the potential that oscillating ecological regime shift...
Living in remote places can strain the adaptive capacities of human settlers. It can also protect... more Living in remote places can strain the adaptive capacities of human settlers. It can also protect communities from external social, political and economic forces. In this paper, we present an archaeological population history of the Kuril Islands. This string of small volcanic islands on the margins of the Northwest Pacific was occupied by maritime hunting, fishing and gathering communities from the mid-Holocene to recent centuries. We bring together (1) 380 new and previously published archaeological radiocarbon dates, (2) a new paleodemographic model based on a radiocarbontimestamped temporal frequency distribution of archeological deposits, (3) recently published paleoclimate trends, and (4) recently published archaeological proxy evidence for changes in the extent of social networks. We demonstrate that, over the last two millennia, inhabitants of the Kuril Islands underwent dramatic demographic fluctuations. Explanations of these fluctuations are considered in the context of environmental hazards, social networks and the emergence of an East Asian "World System", elucidating the tension between local and external adaptative strategies to social and ecological uncertainty. Results suggest that population resilience to local climate and environmental variability was achieved by virtue of social networks that maintained non-local support in times of crisis. Conversely, the expansion of the East Asian political economy to neighbors on the southern margin of the Kuril Islands appears to have undermined the adaptive benefits of regional social networks, forcing a loss of connectivity and an increase in the vulnerability of Kuril populations to environmental fluctuations.
The Circumpolar North is generally recognized as a challenging environment to inhabit and yet, we... more The Circumpolar North is generally recognized as a challenging environment to inhabit and yet, we know relatively little about how people managed their welfare in these places. Here, we add to the understanding of maritime hunter-gatherers in the subarctic North Pacific through a comparative approach that synthesizes biogeographic and archaeological data from the Kuril Islands. We conclude that our faunal, ceramic and lithic evidence support biogeographical expectations as assemblages from low biodiversity and insular regions show limited diet breadth, more locally produced pottery and a conservation of lithic resources. However, we highlight that these ecological factors did not strictly determine the occupation history of the archipelago as radiocarbon data suggests all regions experienced similar demographic fluctuations regardless of their biogeography. These results imply additional pressures influenced the strategic use and settlement of the Kuril Islands and the need for increased chronological resolution to disentangle these complex historical factors. 1. Introduction Maritime hunter-gatherers can be broadly defined as those groups whose subsistence relies primarily on wild resources extracted from the sea. However, given that many northern regions have had only intermittent human presence (Hoffecker 2005; Friesen and Mason 2016) and have been less intensively studied, the archaeological record of Arctic and sub-Arctic maritime hunter-gatherers is often scant. This is unfortunate as the archaeology of northern foragers present valuable opportunities to study long-term interactions between humans and their environments. This is especially true given the challenging climates, inherent instability of highlatitude ecosystems and their reliance on local resources for survival (Damm et al. 2019). Here, our approach is to compare archaeological and radiocarbon evidence from maritime hunter-gatherers that inhabited a subarctic landscape: the Kuril Islands, an archipelago that stretches from the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido to the southern tip of the Kamchatka peninsula (see Fig 1). We start from the well-established premise that islands make good areas for studying historical hunter-gatherer relationships to ecological variability (Keegan
Geologic hazards associated with volcanism in the North Pacific have profound if usually temporar... more Geologic hazards associated with volcanism in the North Pacific have profound if usually temporary effects on the environment and human populations. Ash falls associated with these events are often preserved across large areas providing time specific markers. In the past century, volcanic activity and its effects in the North Pacific have been recorded, but much of the Holocene volcanic record in the Alaskan region is still being investigated. The Kodiak Archipelago, while not volcanic itself, is located near both Aleutian and Alaskan peninsula volcanoes. However, little has been published about the Holocene tephrochronology of the Kodiak region. This study focuses on the area around Tanginak Spring Site (KOD481). Located on Sitkalidak Island it is the earliest known human occupation in the Kodiak archipelago. We are documenting Holocene environmental changes on Sitkalidak Island and relating these changes to the archaeological record. As part of this work, we will establish a local...
We present new data on regional correction factor (ΔR) conducted for Chukotka, the Commander Isla... more We present new data on regional correction factor (ΔR) conducted for Chukotka, the Commander Islands, and the western Aleutian Islands and summarize data previously published for the other parts of the region. Paired radiocarbon dates of coeval marine and terrestrial materials from the archaeological site Kaniskak were obtained in Chukotka, and one such pair was analyzed from Shemya Island (western Aleutians). Three samples of sea otter (Enhydra lutris) bones of known collection date were used for the Commander Islands. In conjunction with previously published data, the new results showed that ΔR estimates conducted for the five regions of the northern Pacific do not differ statistically. ΔR assessments combined for archaeological sites resulted in probability density curves of the same shape as that of marine organisms. Comparison of ΔR estimates made with various species of marine animals showed that sea otters and small fishes residing within coastal waters throughout their life ...
The Kuril Islands are a relatively poorly known region of the North Pacific Rim between Hokkaido ... more The Kuril Islands are a relatively poorly known region of the North Pacific Rim between Hokkaido and Kamchatka. This article presents new information on the settlement history and human biogeography of the central and northern Kuril Islands resulting from a three-week, international survey and testing project in the summer of 2000. The paper introduces the Kuril chain (little known outside of Japan and Russia), presents a chronology of settlement based on new AMS radiocarbon dates, and examines the role of volcanic and tectonic forces on human prehistory and site preservation. The research results presented here add significantly to the record of Kuril archaeology and offer conclusions of broader applicability to the prehistory of the North Pacific and the archaeology of island chains.
This paper examines issues of ecological and social scale in the development and maintenance of i... more This paper examines issues of ecological and social scale in the development and maintenance of inequality in hunting and gathering societies. The archaeological history of emergent inequality in the Kodiak Archipelago, Alaska, is compared to the Kuril Islands, in the Russian Far East. It is argued that, by late Holocene times, inequalities were marked locally in the Kodiak case (and other North American Northwest Coast cases) but confined to limited areas by the socio-ecological redundancies over larger scales. Ecological instability in the Kurils limited emergent inequality locally but allowed the Kurils to be drawn into unequal economic relations with outside communities at larger scales. It is argued that this comparison provides a structural analogue for socio-economic inequality and resilience in our globally networked world today.
We present new marine reservoir ΔR correction terms for the central and northern Kuril Islands. W... more We present new marine reservoir ΔR correction terms for the central and northern Kuril Islands. We estimate ΔR from a series of archaeological charcoal-shell pairs from two archaeological sites using standard calibration procedures and Monte Carlo simulation. The combined ΔR estimate for all paired samples for the Kuril samples is 508±127 yr. In the context of available North Pacific Rim ΔR estimates, the new Kuril data support the interpretation of a well-mixed, 14C-depleted North Pacific Subarctic Gyre. For the broader subarctic North Pacific region, a ΔR estimate in the range of 440±127 yr is a reasonable correction for any coastal marine shell date, and may be applied to fish and marine mammal dates for taxa known to reside within these waters throughout their life-histories. This generalization fails as one moves south from Hokkaido along the East Asian coast. There, well-equilibrated subtropical water minimize the ΔR offset.
Research in the field of wound ballistics has identified three major types of penetrating trauma ... more Research in the field of wound ballistics has identified three major types of penetrating trauma injuries that will affect wound severity of a projectile point into hard or soft tissues: puncture, incised, and lacerated. In this study, we report on dual ballistics experiments conducted to better understand the wounding mechanisms of three prehistoric projectile point classes made respectfully of polished bone, bifacially flaked stone, and composite antler inset with microblades. Each class of projectiles was launched into ballistics gelatin and into the carcass of a reindeer to explore the relative performance characteristics of each class in terms of tool durability and wound infliction. Our methods of evaluation included a detailed measurement of projectile attributes before and after penetration of both gelatin and carcass that were then compared using tip-metrics, penetration depth, and total interior wound area. Our results strongly suggest that the wounding potential differed significantly between projectile point classes and in turn, strongly influenced wound severity. We suggest that point mechanics may implicate a "prey specific" hunting strategy and propose that such analyses can help us better understand prehistoric hunter-gather behavior and technological variability.
This chapter explores the antiquity and evolution of Subarctic maritime traditions in the Beringi... more This chapter explores the antiquity and evolution of Subarctic maritime traditions in the Beringian North Pacific—precursors of maritime cultures that ultimately pushed north and east across the Canadian and Greenlandic Arctic. Boat-based, maritime economies and settlement show up by the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the relatively warm Subarctic Northeast Pacific (Gulf of Alaska and Aleutians) but appear delayed by 5,000 or more years in the Northwest Pacific and Bering and Chukchi seas. Potential biases of preservation and research histories are examined and dismissed, and two environmental models are proposed to explain the delay (or disruption) of maritime settlement in the seasonally frozen Okhotsk, Bering, and Chukchi seas. Late Holocene maritime traditions intensify and converge in all regions of the Subarctic and Arctic Pacific over the past 2,000–3,000 years, forging a common ecological, economic, technological, and social orientation, where none had previously existed.
Twenty years ago, Lewis Binford published an article that revolutionized the study of hunter-gath... more Twenty years ago, Lewis Binford published an article that revolutionized the study of hunter-gatherer and land use. The article, Willow Smmoke and Dogs‘ Tails: Hunter-Gatherer Systems and Archeological Site Formation (Binford 1980), made the simple but elegant argument that seasonal or short-term hunter-gatherer mobility should be patterned in predictable ways with respect to spatial and temporal variation in resource availability. In the model, Binford distinguished residential mobility (the movement of all members oa a residential base from one locality to another) from logistical mobility (the movement of specially organized task groups on temporary excursions from a residential base). Based on these distinctions, Binford identified two basic subsistence-settlement systems: forager systems that are characterized by low logistical mobility and low residential mobility. According to Binford, the former systems are responses to environments where the distribution of important resources is spatially and/or temporally (seasonally) homogenous, whereas the latter systems are adapted to environments where the distributions of critical resources are spatially or temporally uneven.
... the Aleutians have received more investigation in the past decade, the Kurils present signifi... more ... the Aleutians have received more investigation in the past decade, the Kurils present significant la ... research in the Kurils has identified three general periods of prehistoric occupation: Jomon ... could also have contributed popula-tions to the Kurils throughout prehistory (see Chard ...
... paleoecological evidence have been identified that might be indicative of hunter-gatherer col... more ... paleoecological evidence have been identified that might be indicative of hunter-gatherer colonization in arctic ... of watercraft use, going back at least 50,000 years ago in Southeast Asia (eg, Bowdler ... 2002) and 10,000 years ago on the western coast of North America (Erlandson ...
... viii PREFACE The Sitkalidak Archaeological Survey crew between 1993 and 1995 included Lauren ... more ... viii PREFACE The Sitkalidak Archaeological Survey crew between 1993 and 1995 included Lauren Bigelow, Laada Bilaniuk, Jennifer Either, Donald Clark, William and Lynne Fitzhugh, Ken Kennerly, Nilcole Misarti, Megan Partlow, Libby Pontii-Euphemio, Deborah Robinson ...
is a premier research organization dedicated to the creation, dissemination, and conservation of ... more is a premier research organization dedicated to the creation, dissemination, and conservation of archaeological knowledge and heritage. It is home to both the Interdepartmental Archaeology Graduate Program and the UCLA/ Getty Master's Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials. The Cotsen Institute provides a forum for innovative faculty research, graduate education, and public programs at UCLA in an effort to positively impact the academic, local and global communities. Established in 1973, the Cotsen Institute is at the forefront of archaeological research, education, conservation and publication and is an active contributor to interdisciplinary research at UCLA. The Cotsen Institute Press specializes in producing high-quality academic volumes in several different series, including Monographs, World Heritage and Monuments, Cotsen Advanced Seminars, and Ideas, Debates and Perspectives. The Press is committed to making the fruits of archaeological research accessible to professionals, scholars, students, and the general public. We are able to do this through the generosity of Lloyd E. Cotsen, longtime Institute volunteer and benefactor, who has provided an endowment that allows us to subsidize our publishing program and produce superb volumes at an affordable price. Publishing in nine different series, our award-winning archaeological publications receive critical acclaim in both the academic and popular communities.
"PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
(Saarbrücken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2011)
The notion o... more "PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
(Saarbrücken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2011)
The notion of evolution is not popular in contemporary Anthropology. Many researchers do not use it preferring to write about transformation,
transit, or change. Evolution for them is synonymous to dogmatic understanding of human history (Yoffee 2005; Pauketat 2008). However,
even critics of evolutionism do not appear to reject= the very fact of continuous social change. In prehistory people were hunters and gatherers and were integrated in small bands. Later some of them experienced sedentarization and transition to food production, began to found towns and invent complex tools. It would be ridiculous to reject such changes. Another point is that contemporary vision of cultural transformations differs greatly from the naïve ideas of the 19th century evolutionists (see, e.g., Earle 2002; Claessen 2000; Carneiro 2003, Marcus 2008; Hanks, Linduff 2009; Earle, Kristiansen 2010 etc.). Contemporary approaches are more flexible and are based on a much more considerable set of evidence. That is why it would be wrong to criticize the scholars of the past for their knowledge of something worse than ours. They ought to be estimated in comparison with their contemporaries. So, we believe that the notion of evolution has a right to exist, and for already several decades we have been elaborating the ideas that can be called “new wave evolutionism”, or multievolutionism (non-linear evolution theory).
The first edition of the present volume was published over ten years ago, in 2000, in two languages, English and Russian (under the Альтернативные пути к цивилизации [Alternative pathways to the civilization] title given by the publisher for commercial reasons). It was the response of the then young generation of post-Soviet anthropologists in league with prominent Western and Russian scholars to dogmatic Marxist interpretations of older, Soviet ethnologists and archaeologists (see also Korotayev, Chubarov 1991; Kradin, Lynsha 1995). Several other collective edited volumes (Bondarenko, Korotayev 2000; Kradin, Bondarenko, Barfield 2003; Grinin et al 2004; Bondarenko, Nemirovsky 2007; Grinin, Beliaev, Korotayev 2008 etc.), monographs (Korotayev 1995; 1996; 2003; Bondarenko 2001; 2006; Korotayev et al 2006; Kradin, Skrynnikova 2006; Grinin 2007; Kradin 2007; 2010; Grinin, Korotayev 2009) and journal articles (Beliaev, Bondarenko, Korotayev 2001; Kradin 2002; Bondarenko, Korotayev 2003; Bondarenko 2007a; 2007b) have appeared since then. Five “Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations” international conferences held in Moscow and St. Petersburg between 2000 and 2009 turned out very important for elaboration of the non-linear sociocultural evolution theory. The Social Evolution & History English-language journal published in Russia since 2002 has become a venue for discussion of the non-linear evolution theory, ideas and evidence related to it. In particular, besides an impressive number of separate articles, the following special issues and sections, among others, have been published in it: Exploring the Horizons of Big History (2005, Vol. 4, No 1), Thirty Years of Early State Research (2008, Vol. 7, No1), The Early State in Anthropological Theory (2009, Vol. 8, No 1), Analyses of Cultural Evolution (2009, Vol. 8, No 2), Urbanization, Regional Diversity and the Problem of State Formation in Europe (2010, Vol. 9, No 2). One more discussion, Chiefdoms in the process of social evolution: theory, problems and comparative studies, is to appear in
the Journal soon (was published in 2011 as Vol.10, Iss. 1. - D.B.).
Alternatives of Social Evolution consists of five parts. The first part includes theoretical studies of non-linear evolution. Articles on the alternative pathways of the prehistoric societies’ evolution form the volume’s second part. The evolutionary pathways of complex societies and state origins are the topics of the volume’s third and forth parts. The closing part is devoted to nomadic societies. We hope that the book has not lost its relevance and will remain in demand by readers."
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Talks by Ben Fitzhugh
These samples can be used to investigate issues well beyond traditional social science, in fields like biology or paleoclimatology. New techniques make it possible to examine factors such as trophic levels, changes in stock structure, population bottlenecks, and movements of animal populations across both space and time.
It is possible not only to reconstruct ecosystems, but to see how they changed through time, and correlate those changes with possible drivers, such as climate change, changes in human exploitation, or natural catastrophes. This can provide critical information to those trying to manage fisheries or wildlife and to those whose food security depends on successful hunting and foraging.
Arctic sites have been considered stable. However, the changing climate has altered the situation. As the ground warms, factors leading to decay of organic materials (bacteria, mold and chemical processes) all are active for longer periods of the year, at much higher intensity. At a certain point, this becomes a positive feedback loop. Coastal sites are particularly threatened. Erosion rates have increased tremendously, due to warming permafrost, sea ice retreat and longer ice-free seasons. Loss rates of 10s of meters per year have been recorded in some places. These valuable paleoecological archives are disappearing before our eyes.
1) Loss of key elements of cultural heritage to environmental change
2) Loss of the rich paleoenvironmental records that form a “distributed long term observing network of the past”
In recent years archaeological sites with good organic preservation have been recognized as excellent paleoenvironmental archives which complement the proxy records recovered from ice sheets, bogs, lakes, and oceanic sediments. Data from archaeological sites can be used to address key questions in social science, conservation biology, oceanography, ecology, and climatology. It is possible not only to document human interactions with the environment, but also to see how they change through time, and then correlate those changes with possible drivers, such as climate change, patterns of human exploitation, natural catastrophes (volcanic eruptions, large-scale flooding, etc.). Archaeological deposits provide key data on changes in summer drift ice in the North Atlantic, of the distribution and population structure of sea mammals prior to modern industrial hunting, and the effects of large scale fishing prior to the disciplinary establishment of fisheries science.
The poster also covers emerging responses to this issue. The scale and urgency of the threat will require a large-scale response backed by significant sustained funding support. Existing structures for archaeological rescue and response are already overwhelmed, and conditions are worsening. It is clear that we cannot expect existing research-orientated local and national funding agencies to support the sort of response needed from already-strained social science budgets. New models for funding, education and recruitment of staff, engagement with the public and long term curation of rescued samples must be developed.
Papers by Ben Fitzhugh
These samples can be used to investigate issues well beyond traditional social science, in fields like biology or paleoclimatology. New techniques make it possible to examine factors such as trophic levels, changes in stock structure, population bottlenecks, and movements of animal populations across both space and time.
It is possible not only to reconstruct ecosystems, but to see how they changed through time, and correlate those changes with possible drivers, such as climate change, changes in human exploitation, or natural catastrophes. This can provide critical information to those trying to manage fisheries or wildlife and to those whose food security depends on successful hunting and foraging.
Arctic sites have been considered stable. However, the changing climate has altered the situation. As the ground warms, factors leading to decay of organic materials (bacteria, mold and chemical processes) all are active for longer periods of the year, at much higher intensity. At a certain point, this becomes a positive feedback loop. Coastal sites are particularly threatened. Erosion rates have increased tremendously, due to warming permafrost, sea ice retreat and longer ice-free seasons. Loss rates of 10s of meters per year have been recorded in some places. These valuable paleoecological archives are disappearing before our eyes.
1) Loss of key elements of cultural heritage to environmental change
2) Loss of the rich paleoenvironmental records that form a “distributed long term observing network of the past”
In recent years archaeological sites with good organic preservation have been recognized as excellent paleoenvironmental archives which complement the proxy records recovered from ice sheets, bogs, lakes, and oceanic sediments. Data from archaeological sites can be used to address key questions in social science, conservation biology, oceanography, ecology, and climatology. It is possible not only to document human interactions with the environment, but also to see how they change through time, and then correlate those changes with possible drivers, such as climate change, patterns of human exploitation, natural catastrophes (volcanic eruptions, large-scale flooding, etc.). Archaeological deposits provide key data on changes in summer drift ice in the North Atlantic, of the distribution and population structure of sea mammals prior to modern industrial hunting, and the effects of large scale fishing prior to the disciplinary establishment of fisheries science.
The poster also covers emerging responses to this issue. The scale and urgency of the threat will require a large-scale response backed by significant sustained funding support. Existing structures for archaeological rescue and response are already overwhelmed, and conditions are worsening. It is clear that we cannot expect existing research-orientated local and national funding agencies to support the sort of response needed from already-strained social science budgets. New models for funding, education and recruitment of staff, engagement with the public and long term curation of rescued samples must be developed.
(Saarbrücken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2011)
The notion of evolution is not popular in contemporary Anthropology. Many researchers do not use it preferring to write about transformation,
transit, or change. Evolution for them is synonymous to dogmatic understanding of human history (Yoffee 2005; Pauketat 2008). However,
even critics of evolutionism do not appear to reject= the very fact of continuous social change. In prehistory people were hunters and gatherers and were integrated in small bands. Later some of them experienced sedentarization and transition to food production, began to found towns and invent complex tools. It would be ridiculous to reject such changes. Another point is that contemporary vision of cultural transformations differs greatly from the naïve ideas of the 19th century evolutionists (see, e.g., Earle 2002; Claessen 2000; Carneiro 2003, Marcus 2008; Hanks, Linduff 2009; Earle, Kristiansen 2010 etc.). Contemporary approaches are more flexible and are based on a much more considerable set of evidence. That is why it would be wrong to criticize the scholars of the past for their knowledge of something worse than ours. They ought to be estimated in comparison with their contemporaries. So, we believe that the notion of evolution has a right to exist, and for already several decades we have been elaborating the ideas that can be called “new wave evolutionism”, or multievolutionism (non-linear evolution theory).
The first edition of the present volume was published over ten years ago, in 2000, in two languages, English and Russian (under the Альтернативные пути к цивилизации [Alternative pathways to the civilization] title given by the publisher for commercial reasons). It was the response of the then young generation of post-Soviet anthropologists in league with prominent Western and Russian scholars to dogmatic Marxist interpretations of older, Soviet ethnologists and archaeologists (see also Korotayev, Chubarov 1991; Kradin, Lynsha 1995). Several other collective edited volumes (Bondarenko, Korotayev 2000; Kradin, Bondarenko, Barfield 2003; Grinin et al 2004; Bondarenko, Nemirovsky 2007; Grinin, Beliaev, Korotayev 2008 etc.), monographs (Korotayev 1995; 1996; 2003; Bondarenko 2001; 2006; Korotayev et al 2006; Kradin, Skrynnikova 2006; Grinin 2007; Kradin 2007; 2010; Grinin, Korotayev 2009) and journal articles (Beliaev, Bondarenko, Korotayev 2001; Kradin 2002; Bondarenko, Korotayev 2003; Bondarenko 2007a; 2007b) have appeared since then. Five “Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations” international conferences held in Moscow and St. Petersburg between 2000 and 2009 turned out very important for elaboration of the non-linear sociocultural evolution theory. The Social Evolution & History English-language journal published in Russia since 2002 has become a venue for discussion of the non-linear evolution theory, ideas and evidence related to it. In particular, besides an impressive number of separate articles, the following special issues and sections, among others, have been published in it: Exploring the Horizons of Big History (2005, Vol. 4, No 1), Thirty Years of Early State Research (2008, Vol. 7, No1), The Early State in Anthropological Theory (2009, Vol. 8, No 1), Analyses of Cultural Evolution (2009, Vol. 8, No 2), Urbanization, Regional Diversity and the Problem of State Formation in Europe (2010, Vol. 9, No 2). One more discussion, Chiefdoms in the process of social evolution: theory, problems and comparative studies, is to appear in
the Journal soon (was published in 2011 as Vol.10, Iss. 1. - D.B.).
Alternatives of Social Evolution consists of five parts. The first part includes theoretical studies of non-linear evolution. Articles on the alternative pathways of the prehistoric societies’ evolution form the volume’s second part. The evolutionary pathways of complex societies and state origins are the topics of the volume’s third and forth parts. The closing part is devoted to nomadic societies. We hope that the book has not lost its relevance and will remain in demand by readers."