Subarctic Archaeology Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

2025, The swiftness of lightning: The cultural and social dimensions of incised lines on archaeological arrows from alpine ice patches in Canada’s Northwest Territories

This paper examines the significance of incised sinuous lines, known as “lightning lines,” recently identified on two archaeological birch arrows recovered from melting alpine ice patches in Canada’s Subarctic. Ethnographic observations demonstrate that the practice of inscribing similar lines on arrows was widespread across Plains and southern Dene cultures. Archaeological evidence suggests that the trait may be associated with the arrival of a new cultural tradition within the American Southwest, western central Plains, and Great Basin regions in the precontact era, possibly affiliated with the Dene migration from the Subarctic to the Southwest circa AD 1200–1400. We hypothesize that the lightning lines may be a marker of Dene identity as groups arrived in the Great Basin and Southwest, and that the presence of the motif on the two arrows in the Subarctic may also represent a northward transmission of ideas and a continued long-distance axis of interaction of Dene peoples throughout much of western North America in the late precontact era.

2025, The swiftness of lightning: The cultural and social dimensions of incised lines on archaeological arrows from alpine ice patches in Canada’s Northwest Territories

2025

Anthropologists long believed that people did not live year round in the Hudson Bay Lowlands before the Hudson's Bay Company established posts there. They claimed that hunters would come to the coast to hunt geese and caribou in the summer but returned to the Shield for the rest of the year. Between 1981 and 1984, archaeological research was carried out along the Severn River in the traditional territory of the Wasaho Inninuwug. As a result, many archaeological sites were identified which demonstrate that people moved seasonally between the coastal zone and the inland zone, well within the Lowlands.

2025

Perhaps it is time to develop the remote "North" in Canada with a Trans-Siberian Rail-style system

2024, The Yellowknifer (9/11/2024)

This is the second half of a two-part series examining the NWT's 2024 wildfire season. The first installment appeared in the Sept. 6 edition of Yellowknifer. How we can prepare for a future Arctic aflame? James Hrynyshyn offers a sobering assessment. "The spectre of catastrophic local manifestations of climate change should force governments at the both nation and local levels to evaluate what's worth saving, and what isn't. "Any community that recent history and reasonable futures (based on sophisticated climate models) suggest could be flooded, burned to the ground, or otherwise rendered at least temporarily uninhabitable should be required to produce a contingency plan for the aftermath," says the longtime Northern News Service journalist and editor and owner of Class M Communications. For Yellowknife, whose mass evacuation remains a recent and traumatic memory, Hrynyshyn says "that would mean determining whether the territorial capital should be rebuilt or relocated, although none of the other communities south of the tree line in the NWT would likely present a more less-vulnerable profile when it comes to forest fires." Asks Hrynyshyn: "But how does the Canadian government justify spending the billions of dollars that would be required to rebuild the city should it be burned to a crisp?" He finds hope in the innovative, remote technologies that kept the economy running during the Covid-19 pandemic: "Thanks to the internet (and Elon Musk's Starlink network), the entire territory could be administered remotely, with only a skeleton crew of sorts living in the drastically scaled-back

2024, Human Factors

Between Two Worlds L kutcure &mcnt Ic choc rulturef qu ' cUc a r e p lorsqu U est venue Ctudicr &m Ic nuL Ehparh du p d d r son prupk et dcs ezph.anccs qu 5 h mtretient pour & fitur.

2024, Human Factors

Between Two Worlds L kutcure &mcnt Ic choc rulturef qu ' cUc a r e p lorsqu U est venue Ctudicr &m Ic nuL Ehparh du p d d r son prupk et dcs ezph.anccs qu 5 h mtretient pour & fitur.

2024, Drone Systems and Applications Volume 12

This study investigates the applicability of drone technology in examining Stracciacappe, a minor archaeological site through low-altitude aerial photography. Using multispectral and thermal sensors mounted on DJI Phantom Multispectral and DJI Mavic Enterprise Advanced drones, several flight missions were conducted in November 2020, May 2021, and April 2022. The effectiveness of analyzing multispectral and thermal raw images was limited by the area's irregular vegetation, which hindered the clear detection of archaeological anomalies. However, microtopographic analysis employing various visualization techniques revealed significant traces, aligning with the site's description found in numerous documentary sources. This includes the identification of two distinct areas within the castrum: the elevated cassarum and the burgus, along with potential traces of defensive structures within these areas. Drone analysis delineated a cassarum comprising a tower, palatium, and defensive walls, while the burgus seemed devoid of buildings, supporting the notion of a village primarily constructed with perishable materials. Thus, the study highlights the importance of using diverse sensor-based drone analyses to enhance archaeological investigations at minor sites.

2024, EXPLORE

This paper represents Youth's involvement in land-based learning in Indigenous culture camps (LLICP) in a powerful and innovative approach to addressing the pressing global issue of climate change. Following Indigenist and relational approaches, we (Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth and educators) explore the critical aspects of this initiative, highlighting its significance and potential impact. Indigenous communities have long held a deep connection with the land and possess traditional knowledge that is invaluable in combating climate change. The LLICP initiative involves organizing cultural camps designed for youth from diverse backgrounds to learn from Indigenous elders and community leaders about the vital relationship between the environment and Indigenous cultures. The LLICP provides a unique opportunity for young people to engage with Indigenous wisdom, traditional practices, and land-based teachings. Through Indigenous elders and knowledge-keepers guidelines, we learned a holistic understanding of sustainable living, biodiversity conservation, and the importance of preserving ecosystems. Our learning helped us, particularly our youths, to become proactive stewards of the environment and advocates for climate action. The LLICP fosters cross-cultural understanding and collaboration, encouraging a sense of unity among youths. The LLICP inspires innovative solutions to climate-related challenges and empowers youth to take leadership roles in their communities, advocating for sustainable policies and practices. The LLICP offers a powerful means of engaging young people in the fight against climate change while respecting and honoring Indigenous knowledge and heritage. It is a promising step towards a more sustainable and resilient future for all.

2024, Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems

2024, Master of Arts Thesis, McMaster University

The Hudson Bay Lowland—often referred to in fur trade records as the “low country”—has been the subject of much research within the natural sciences; however, research about the region’s human history is not as well advanced. This study... more

2024, Boreal Forest and Sub-Arctic Archaeology. Occasional Publications of the London Chapter, Ontario Archaeological Society Inc. Number 6

The history and nature of Indigenous occupation in the Hudson Bay Lowland of Ontario are not well known. Patterns of subsistence and group composition following European contact are unclear, as is the cultural-chronological sequence for... more

2023, Frontiers in sustainable food systems

Wild-caught foods including game and fish can be part of a local, sustainable food system. Beneficial environmental, personal health, and nutrition claims are often linked to locally-sourced foods. Yet, because many species of wild game and fish that are legal to hunt or catch do not have nutrient data in the USDA food composition database these claims, especially in the realm of nutrition, are not well substantiated. To address this gap, the Cornell research team collaborated with USDA scientists to address shortcomings in nutrition information for several wild game and fish species, in this case Ruffed Grouse. A wildlife biologist with the Ruffed Grouse Society collected bird samples according to USDA-determined collection protocols to obtain edible meat portions. Nutrient analysis was conducted on raw Ruffed Grouse breast meat samples at USDA-validated laboratories using approved quality assurance procedures. Analytical data were sent to NDL scientists, who reviewed and compiled the data into full nutrient profiles for Ruffed Grouse which were made available in the USDA food composition database. This new nutritional information supplements the already-well-appreciated epicurean qualities of the Ruffed Grouse and contributes to the complex social construction of the notion of hunted food as gourmet entrée.

2023, Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems

Tree canopy sampling is critical in many forestry-related applications, including ecophysiology, foliar nutrient diagnostics, remote sensing model development, genetic analysis, and biodiversity monitoring and conservation. Many of these applications require foliage samples that have been exposed to full sunlight. Unfortunately, current sampling techniques are severely limited in cases where site topography (e.g., rivers, cliffs, canyons) or tree height (i.e., branches located above 10 m) make it time-consuming, expensive, and possibly hazardous to collect samples. This paper reviews the recent developments related to unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based tree sampling and presents the DeLeaves tool, a new device that can be installed under a small UAV to efficiently sample small branches in the uppermost canopy (i.e., <25 mm stem diameter, <500 g total weight, any orientation). Four different sampling campaigns using the DeLeaves tool are presented to illustrate its real-life u...

2023, Radiocarbon

The Swan Point site in interior Alaska contains a significant multi-component archaeological record dating back to 14,200 cal BP. The site's radiocarbon (14 C) chronology has been presented in scattered publications that mostly focus on specific archaeological periods in Alaska, in particular its terminal Pleistocene components associated with the East Beringian tradition. This paper synthesizes the site's 14 C data and provides sequential Bayesian models for its cultural zones and subzones. The 14 C and archaeological record at Swan Point attests that the location was persistently used over the last 14,000 years, even though major changes are evident within regional vegetation and local faunal communities, reflecting long-term trends culminating in Dene-Athabascan history.

2023

El expediente de la adaptacion humana a las exigencias del ambiente de las Tierras Bajas de Hudson de Ontario septentrional se empezaron varios miles de anos atras. Durante este tiempo, el clima hemisferico ha experimentado muchos cambios a largo plazo, a diferencia de los descritos en la actualidad que son inducidos por los efectos del calentamiento del planeta, no obstante sobre marcos de un tiempo mas largo. Puede ser discutido que las variaciones estacionales que van desde el invierno intenso no muy diferentes a las experimentadas en el artico, a veces los veranos muy calientes eran un mayor desafio que las modificaciones de las temperaturas medio anuales, que solo se podian medir a lo largo de las generaciones. De hecho, la arqueologia indica que las variaciones estacionales en el clima dejaron una huella indeleble en el registro material de la region en lugar de cualquier temperatura de cambio mensurable

2023, Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

2023, ‘No longer solid’: perceived impacts of permafrost thaw in three Arctic communities

Permafrost characterizes ground conditions in most of the Arctic and is increasingly thawing. While environmental consequences of permafrost thaw are under intense scrutiny by natural and life sciences, social sciences' studies on local communities' perceptions of change is thus far limited. This hinders the development of targeted adaptation and mitigation measures. We present the results of a survey on communities' perceptions of permafrost thaw, with a focus on subsistence activities, carried out between 2019 and 2020 in Aklavik (Northwest Territories, Canada), Longyearbyen (Svalbard, Norway), and Qeqertarsuaq (Qeqertalik Municipality, Greenland). Results show that the majority of the 237 participants are well aware of the consequences of permafrost thaw on the landscape as well as the connection between increased air temperature and permafrost thaw. The majority perceive permafrost thaw negatively although they do not perceive it as a challenge in all life domains. Permafrost thaw is perceived as a major cause for challenges in subsistence activities, infrastructure, and the physical environment. Different perceptions within the three study communities suggests that perceptions of thaw are not solely determined by physical changes but also influenced by factors related to the societal context, including discourses of climate change, cultural background, and land use.

2023, Remote Sensing

Lichen woodlands (LW) are sparse forests that cover extensive areas in remote subarctic regions where warming due to climate change is fastest. They are difficult to study in situ or with airborne remote sensing due to their remoteness. We have tested a method for measuring individual tree heights and predicting basal area at tree and plot levels using WorldView-3 stereo images. Manual stereo measurements of tree heights were performed on short trees (2–12 m) of a LW region of Canada with a residual standard error of ≈0.9 m compared to accurate field or UAV height data. The number of detected trees significantly underestimated field counts, especially in peatlands in which the visual contrast between trees and ground cover was low. The heights measured from the WorldView-3 images were used to predict the basal area at individual tree level and summed up at plot level. In the best conditions (high contrast between trees and ground cover), the relationship to field basal area had a R2...

2022, Remote Sensing

LiDAR technology is finding uses in the forest sector, not only for surveys in producing forests but also as a tool to gain a deeper understanding of the importance of the three-dimensional component of forest environments. Developments of platforms and sensors in the last decades have highlighted the capacity of this technology to catch relevant details, even at finer scales. This drives its usage towards more ecological topics and applications for forest management. In recent years, nature protection policies have been focusing on deadwood as a key element for the health of forest ecosystems and wide-scale assessments are necessary for the planning process on a landscape scale. Initial studies showed promising results in the identification of bigger deadwood components (e.g., snags, logs, stumps), employing data not specifically collected for the purpose. Nevertheless, many efforts should still be made to transfer the available methodologies to an operational level. Newly availabl...

2022

In their chapter in Anthropology, Public Policy, and Natives Peoples in Canada, John O\u27Neil et al. state that anthropology has affected policy development in virtually every sector of northern community life except medicine (p. 216). Despite this observation, the book generally tends to stress Canadian anthropology\u27s overall difficulties in aboriginal policy-making. It examines some of anthropology\u27s most sensitive and difficult issues in this area critically, suggesting an ambivalent relationship towards the policy-making process. The book\u27s focus on anthropology\u27s problems in contributing to aboriginal public policy is established in the editors\u27 introduction, which examines several sources of these difficulties. A brief overview is also given of Canadian anthropology\u27s historic involvement in aboriginal policy-making, followed by a review of the modern period, beginning in the 1970s with anthropologists\u27 involvement in the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry...

2022, Journal of Food Composition and Analysis

Nutrient compositions of green leaves or roots from I8 different species ofwild plants used by native Indian people of Western British Columbia, Canada, are given. Proximate composition including ash, moisture, fat, and protein and values for total carbohydrate and approximate energy are computed. Neutral detergent fiber is also reported. Values are given for calcium, phosphorus, sodium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, and strontium and for the vitamin determinations for thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, ascorbate, carotene, and folate. This is the first comprehensive nutrient report for most of these species of greens and roots, and the first report of any nutrient data on the roots of Lupinus nootkatensis and Polypodium glyc.vrrhiza. Also presented are data for the inner bark of Populus trichocarpa and the fruit of Pyrus j&a. It is the first report of strontium, folate, and neutral detergent fiber for any species of wild plant greens or roots used by Indian people of Western British Columbia.

2022, The Far Northeast

The transition between the end of the Maritime Archaic and the so-called Intermediate Indian period on the island of Newfoundland and Labrador was marked by significant changes in just about all dimensions of life for First Nations peoples living in the region at the time: cemeteries stop being used, longhouses are no longer erected, an exquisite ground-stone-tool technological tradition comes to an end, long-distance exchange networks contract, and vast areas of the region are abandoned. These changes, which coincide with a relative reduction in the number of archaeological site components, a contraction in land-use area, a detrimental shift in settlement strategy, and a steep decline in radiocarbon dates suggest that a demographic collapse put an end to the Archaic period on the island of Newfoundland and Labrador.

2022, Canadian Journal of Forest Research

Climate-smart forestry (CSF) is an emerging branch of sustainable adaptive forest management aimed at enhancing the potential of forests to adapt to and mitigate climate change. It relies on much higher data requirements than traditional forestry. These data requirements can be met by new devices that support continuous, in situ monitoring of forest conditions in real time. We propose a comprehensive network of sensors, i.e., a wireless sensor network (WSN), that can be part of a worldwide network of interconnected uniquely addressable objects, an Internet of Things (IoT), which can make data available in near real time to multiple stakeholders, including scientists, foresters, and forest managers, and may partially motivate citizens to participate in big data collection. The use of in situ sources of monitoring data as ground-truthed training data for remotely sensed data can boost forest monitoring by increasing the spatial and temporal scales of the monitoring, leading to a bette...

2022, Blue Jay

Black Guillemots have been recor¬ ded in Manitoba approximately 10 times since they were first reported by Preble in 1900.' 2 3 With one exception, these records are for the summer and fall months, ranging from June 28 to October 10, or roughly the ice-free season for the Churchill area, where these sightings have been made. The only winter record for the province is a specimen that was found dead near Morris, Manitoba, on November 12, 1966. A description of the specimen, and a review of the previous literature on the occurrence of this species in the province has been published in the Blue Jay.3 On February 21 and 22, 1974, 200-300 guillemots were observed in the ice-pack approximately 45 to 80 miles offshore from the Churchill and Cape Churchill coastline during a Polar Bear survey by the Canadian Wildlife Service (H. P. L. Kiliaan and B. M. Knudsen, pers. comm.). The birds were seen in small Bocks of 15 to 40 birds in the large leads in the pack-ice. An additional sighting of a single bird was made by the author on March 21, 1974, again, some 40 to 50 miles northeast of Churchill.

2022, Landslides

Permafrost-dependent landslides occur in a range of sizes and are among the most dynamic landforms in the Arctic in the warming climate. Retrogressive thaw slumps (RTSs) are enlarging landslides triggered by thawing and release of excess water from permafrost ground ice, causing smaller or larger collapses of ground surface, which in turn exposes new permafrost to rapid thawing and collapse. In this study, a preliminary assessment of previous thaw slump activity in Nordenskiöld Land area of Svalbard is made based on remote sensing digitisation of 400 slump-scar features from aerial images from the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI). RTS properties and distribution are analysed with an emphasis on their implications for the preservation of the Svalbard’s cultural heritage (CH). Our analysis shows that the areas where RTS scars and CH co-exist in Nordenskiöld Land are, at present, limited and cover mainly areas distributed along north-west (Colesbukta, Grønfjorden, Kapp Starostin), north...

2022

In recent years, the frequency and severity of forest fire occurrence have increased, compelling the research communities to actively search for early forest fire detection and suppression methods....

2022, Provincial Archaeology Office 2019 Archaeology Review

2022, Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems

2022, Remote Sensing

Surveying of woody debris left over from harvesting operations on managed forests is an important step in monitoring site quality, managing the extraction of residues and reconciling differences in pre-harvest inventories and actual timber yields. Traditional methods for post-harvest survey involving manual assessment of debris on the ground over small sample plots are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and do not scale well to heterogeneous landscapes. In this paper, we propose and evaluate new automated methods for the collection and interpretation of high-resolution, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-borne imagery over post-harvested forests for estimating quantities of fine and coarse woody debris. Using high-resolution, geo-registered color mosaics generated from UAV-borne images, we develop manual and automated processing methods for detecting, segmenting and counting both fine and coarse woody debris, including tree stumps, exploiting state-of-the-art machine learning and image pro...

2021, ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences

Remotely sensed datasets offer a reliable means to precisely estimate biophysical characteristics of individual species sparsely distributed in open woodlands. Moreover, object-oriented classification has exhibited significant advantages over different classification methods for delineation of tree crowns and recognition of species in various types of ecosystems. However, it still is unclear if this widely-used classification method can have its advantages on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) digital images for mapping vegetation cover at single-tree levels. In this study, UAV orthoimagery was classified using object-oriented classification method for mapping a part of wild pistachio nature reserve in Zagros open woodlands, Fars Province, Iran. This research focused on recognizing two main species of the study area (i.e., wild pistachio and wild almond) and estimating their mean crown area. The orthoimage of study area was consisted of 1,076 images with spatial resolution of 3.47 cm whi...

2021, Monuments, territories and post-sedentism among the pre-historic hunter-gatherers of coastal northern Finland

This thesis considers the role of monuments in the social construction of landscape over a six-thousand-year period in northern Finland.
Using Cultural Virus Theory and a Resilience Theory (RT) framework, this study argues that large, lasting, and widespread artifacts such as monuments form systems with their own Adaptive Cycles, and that these artifacts change much more slowly than most systems that shape human behaviour. As a result, they become an important part of the selective environment over the long term.
From 6500 BP to 1500 BP the hunter-gatherers of northern Finland constructed stone monuments along the coast of the Bay of Bothnia. These monuments are associated with the productive paleo-estuaries from which the populations derived most of their resources. Because the coastline was moving westwards rapidly, due to isostatic rebound following the end of the last glaciation, new coastal monuments were periodically constructed as the older ones lost their association with the shoreline.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) were used to reconstruct six ancient shorelines for northwestern coastal Finland, creating five strips of land each corresponding to an area that emerged over a one-thousand-year period. The coastline was also divided into Northern, Middle, and Southern study regions. Using these two parameters, fifteen study areas were created. GIS was then used to show that the monuments in most of the study areas are distributed non-randomly with respect to two important features of the coastal landscape: major waterways and the edges of watershed basins. Mapping the spatial data also showed that monuments are associated with particular paleo-estuaries and that that association persists over time, with each construction renewing a well-defined ancestral landscape.
The work of previous archaeologists on the hunter-gatherers of the ancient Finnish coast has shown that, while the early occupants were culturally relatively homogenous, different parts of the coastline diverged over time. This is confirmed by the present study; however, persistent commonalities in the situation of monuments relative to resources are also observed. It is demonstrated that certain patterns of monumental location are repeated asynchronically across different regions of the coast as patterns of sedentism and social differentiation shift. As groups become more sedentary, monuments are constructed a few kilometers away from major waterways, bracketing the resources closely associated with the paleo-estuaries. As populations grow and social differentiation increases, more monuments are constructed, and the area they cover expands to include entire watersheds and other kinds of capital resources. All three study regions experience a fairly rapid collapse, though not at the same time, and in all three regions a similar pattern can be observed: post-sedentary hunter-gatherer groups build fewer monuments, but those that they do construct continue to mark parts of the coastline that were important in the previous millennia. This suggests that the human understanding of monuments, particularly regarding their placement in the landscape, is remarkably consistent across time and space, providing evidence of a shared history and ongoing interaction along the coast even as the study regions are drawn into different networks, subsistence strategies, and forms of social organization.

2020, Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems

Indigenous peoples of Canada’s North have long made use of boreal forest products, with wooden drift fences to direct caribou movement towards kill sites as unique examples. Caribou fences are of archaeological and ecological significance, yet sparsely distributed and increasingly at risk to wildfire. Costly remote field logistics requires efficient prior fence verification and rapid on-site documentation of structure and landscape context. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and very high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery were used for detailed site recording and detection of coarse woody debris (CWD) objects under challenging Subarctic alpine woodlands conditions. UAVs enabled discovery of previously unknown wooden structures and revealed extensive use of CWD (n = 1745, total length = 2682 m, total volume = 16.7 m3). The methodology detected CWD objects much smaller than previously reported in remote sensing literature (mean 1.5 m long, 0.09 m wide), substantiating a high spatial resolution requirement for detection. Structurally, the fences were not uniformly left on the landscape. Permafrost patterned ground combined with small CWD contributions at the pixel level complicated identification through VHR data sets. UAV outputs significantly enriched field techniques and supported a deeper understanding of caribou fences as a hunting technology, and they will aid ongoing archaeological interpretation and time-series comparisons of change agents.

2020, Bilan scientifique du DRASSM

2019, Terre crue : torchis, techniques de garnissage et de finition, mobilier façonné en terre. Echanges transdisciplinaires sur les constructions en terre crue, 4. Actes de la table-ronde internationale de Lattes (Hérault), 23-25 novembre 2016

La fouille récente d’un édifice en grand appareil dans l’établissement littoral de Saint-Martin-le-Bas, près de Narbonne, a permis d’étudier ses aménagements internes, constitués d’architectures en terre et bois assez bien conservées. Après une première phase d’occupation durant le Ier s. ap. J.-C., un réaménagement complet à l’époque flavienne conduit à une nouvelle répartition de l’espace, désormais subdivisé par des cloisons en torchis sur poteaux porteurs, en remplacement de cloisons en pan de bois hourdis d’adobes. La mise en évidence de l’utilisation simultanée dans une même architecture de matériaux aussi diversifiés que le torchis, la brique crue, le pan de bois, la chaux et la pierre constitue un acquis important pour la connaissance des techniques constructives. De manière plus générale, l’étude des architectures et des matériaux de construction de cet établissement souligne l’ampleur de l’utilisation de la terre crue durant l’époque romaine et la multiplicité de ses formes.

2018,

The Hudson Bay Lowlands is a vast region with a very unique set of environmental conditions which arise because of its proximity to Hudson Bay, and due to the consequences of post-glacial events. Until recently its ecological potential... more

2018, Heritage Matters

A short story about a favourite artifact.

2018

This thesis used a feminist archaeological theoretical framework to approach the analysis and presentation of the osseous tool collection from the Broken Mammoth site (XBD-131) in interior Alaska. The Broken Mammoth site dated to the Pleistocene/Holocene transition and has good organic preservation, which allowed for the recovery of seven formal osseous tools, which were available for physical analysis. Each tool was assessed for use and manufacture wear, and examined and photographed using a high-resolution scanner, digital micrograph, and standard digital camera. The tools were compared to a dataset of osseous tools from Western Beringia, Eastern Beringia, and North America compiled from previous research, in order to interpret the collection by function. The tools were interpreted as a combination of a projectile point or composite projectile pre-form cache, blunted projectiles, a foreshaft or projectile, and an eyed-needle. The feminist theoretical approach was used to develop a reflexive interrogation of the process of the tool analysis and to engender activity at the Broken Mammoth site.
The osseous tool collection was, in part, reflective of hunting strategies for small, fur bearing animals and of detailed or decorative sewing. I conducted a review of ethnographic literature from the Arctic and Subarctic, noting where men and/or women participated in the manufacture of clothing from raw material procurement through hunting to use of a completed garment. This analysis revealed the importance of women’s labor in this process.
The results of the ethnographic review were applied to previous research from the Broken Mammoth site, and the results of the osseous tool analysis, leading to the conclusion that women’s activities are visible at the Broken Mammoth site.

2017

Precolumbian archaeologists traditionally focus on periods of stability rather than change when constructing regional cultural chronologies. However, the advent of large databases of radiocarbon dates and the proliferation of open-source... more

2017

Fort Churchill or New Severn Post was constructed by the Hudson's Bay Company barely fifteen years after the company was incorporated, in 1670. The palisaded enclosure would remain standing for only five years. At that location, more than just European wares were exchanged for furs and vice versa. Two worlds came into contact and would be forever marked by the process. The brief period of occupation attested to at Gllw-1 illustrates some of the probing that was taking place between two distinct of life. Local Indigenous traders and their families learned about new technologies and tools, but also experimented with the properties of these new materials and objects, and incorporated them into their traditional, but changing, lifestyle. The English realized
that trading was not viewed by the Indigenous peoples as exclusively an economic equation, thus entering into social relationships with their Indigenous clients.

2017

Debates over meaningful archaeological units, typologies, or " technocomplexes " have a lengthy history in archaeology and the issue is particularly convoluted in eastern Beringia. Categorizing the early prehistoric tool industries of the Pleistocene/Holocene transition is pertinent to understanding the coloni-zation of eastern Beringia and ultimately the Americas. Yet, Alaska archaeologists continue to disagree on a unified culture history. The primary point of contention surrounds the presence or absence of microblade technology in central Alaska and the meaning of the Nenana and Denali complexes. While some interpret the former as a unique manifestation representing a separate migratory population, others disagree; and, the Denali complex has become a catchall category for a variety of artifact types leading to questions over its conceptual validity. This assessment tests specific questions pertinent to the relationship between prehistoric tool use and ecotones in an attempt to explain the presence or absence of particular artifact types and land use strategies through time. It also reflects on issues caused by repeated occupations, palimpsest assemblages, and other taphomonic processes that influence archaeological consensus. Results indicate separate phases in the initial colonization of Alaska and form a testable hypothesis based on functional land use properties associated with the Denali complex era in a way that distinguishes it from other early technologies in the region. The approach contributes to a longstanding discussion over subjectivity among archaeological categories and explains assemblage variability in eastern Beringia with widespread implications for interpreting the initial peopling of the Americas.

2016

This article is the first in the Alberta Lithic Reference Project series, the goal of which is to assist the identification of raw materials used for pre-contact stone tools in the province. Each article focuses on one raw material; the current article discusses a partially fused, glassy, vesicular rock that originates in Northwest Territories called Tertiary Hills Clinker (THC). THC appears in archaeological sites in northern and central Alberta. A suite of techniques indicates that it can be geochemically sourced much like obsidian. The accurate identification of THC can reveal significant relationships between occupants of Alberta and the Mackenzie Basin to the north.

2016

This study provides an ecological explanation for the distribution of Arctic Small Tool tradition (ASTt) settlements in Alaska and the origin of their arctic maritime adaptation. Theoretically grounded in the ideal free distribution (IFD) model, which predicts that higher ranked habitats will be occupied first and most continuously, we contend that the location of large mammals was a major factor influencing human dispersal and settlement decisions in the arctic and subarctic ecosystems of Alaska. We rank habitat suitabil-ity based on historic mammal population densities from wildlife ecology reports across predefined ecological zones in Alaska; we multiply densities by average animal weights per species to determine suitability rankings. Coastal habitats in Alaska are higher ranked than adjacent tundra habitats, but the interior boreal forest may have been the highest ranked, considering technological constraints of hunting aquatic species. The ASTt migration into Alaska created population pressure that promoted the coloniza-tion of the unoccupied Arctic coast and development of the dual, terrestrial-maritime economy. When pan-Alaska human populations declined around 3200–2500 years ago low ranked tundra ecoregions were abandoned. As human populations recovered Alaska coasts became the most densely populated habitats. The adaptive logic entailed in the IFD provides a consistent evolutionary interpretation for settlement patterns documented in this region. Published by Elsevier Inc.