Living on the Edge: Inughuit Women and Geography of Contact

The women of northwestern Greenland experienced contact with Euro-American men in multiple ways and in a variety of geographical contexts. Together the archaeological record and unpublished historical documents reveal the complexities of these situations and women’s responses to them. Archaeological and documentary data from two early 20th-century contact situations at Iita in northwestern Greenland and Floeberg Beach on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, highlight the varied nature of women’s responses to contact and the ways in which interaction with newcomers affected them individually and collectively. The women’s responses varied over time and across space. They responded to both the stresses and the opportunities of contact with resilience and resistance, acceptance and rejection, depending on circumstances.Les femmes du nord-ouest du Groenland sont entrées en contact avec les hommes euroaméricains de plusieurs manières et dans divers contextes géographiques. Ensemble, des dossiers archéologiques et des documents historiques inédits révèlent les complexités de ces situations et la réaction des femmes vis-à-vis de celles-ci. Les données archéologiques et documentaires de deux situations de contact datant du début du XXe siècle à Iita, dans le nord-ouest du Groenland et à Floeberg Beach sur l’île d’Ellesmere, au Nunavut jettent la lumière sur la nature variée des réactions des femmes face au contact et sur la façon dont l’interaction avec les nouveaux venus les ont touchées, individuellement et collectivement. La réaction des femmes variait en fonction du temps et de l’espace. Elles ont réagi au stress et aux opportunités avec résilience et résistance, acceptation et rejet, selon les circonstances

Recent Archaeological Investigations near the Native Village of Shaktoolik, Norton Sound, Alaska + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools)

Since the early 1950s, when J.L. Giddings completed his work at Cape Denbigh, archaeological investigations in the area of Shaktoolik, Alaska, have been limited. Here we report on renewed investigations in the region that have led to the identification of 134 house features, dating from AD 1100 to the early 1900s, at a site next to the village’s airport. This period spans one of continuity from the Nukleet archaeological culture to the ethnographic Yupiit, followed by a period of upheaval related to Russian trade and a smallpox epidemic that devastated the Indigenous population of the area. Inupiat from the north migrated to Shaktoolik and have occupied the area since the mid-1800s. Sixteen test units were excavated to understand the density of site occupation, extent of organic preservation, age of the deposits, and changes in subsistence over this 800-year period. The most recent Inupiat inhabitants built houses typical of mid 19th- to early 20th-century structures described for the northern Seward Peninsula, which were square, one-room structures with a single, long entrance tunnel. This house style replaced the previous Yup’ik-style multi-roomed structures replete with a labyrinth of tunnels used for defense and escape during inter-village conflict.Depuis le début des années 1950 quand J.L. Giddings a effectué ses travaux au cap Denbigh, les fouilles archéologiques dans la région de Shaktoolik, en Alaska, n’ont pas été volumineuses. Ici, nous présentons de nouvelles fouilles effectuées dans la région, fouilles qui ont permis de cerner 134 caractéristiques appartenant à des habitations datant de 1100 A.D. jusqu’au début des années 1900, à un emplacement situé près de l’aéroport du village. Cette période témoigne d’une continuité depuis la culture archéologique des Nukleets jusqu’à l’ethnographie des Yupiits, suivies par une période tumultueuse en raison du commerce russe et d’une épidémie de variole qui a décimé la population autochtone de la région. Les Inupiats du Nord ont migré pour s’installer à Shaktoolik et occupent l’endroit depuis le milieu des années 1800. Seize sondages ont été effectués afin de comprendre la densité d’occupation du site, l’ampleur de la préservation biologique, l’âge des dépôts et les changements en matière de subsistance pendant cette période de 800 ans. Les Inupiats les plus récents ont aménagé des maisons typiques des structures du milieu du XIXe siècle au début de XXe siècle, telles que décrites pour le nord de la péninsule Seward. Ces structures étaient carrées, comportaient une seule pièce et étaient dotées d’une longue entrée en forme de tunnel simple. Ce type d’habitation a remplacé les anciennes structures de style Yup’ik munies de plusieurs pièces et d’un labyrinthe de tunnels servant à se défendre et à s’évader en cas de conflits entre les villages

Data from: Using multiple markers to elucidate the ancient, historical, and modern relationships among North American Arctic dog breeds

Throughout most of the Americas, post-colonial dogs largely erased the genetic signatures of pre-historical dogs. However, the North American Arctic harbors dogs that are potentially descended from pre-historical ancestors, as well as those affected by post-colonial translocations and admixtures. In particular, Inuit dogs from Canada and Greenland are thought to descend from dogs associated with Thule peoples, who relied on them for transportation ca. 1000 years ago. Whether Thule dogs reflected an earlier colonization by Paleoeskimo dogs ca. 4500 years ago is unknown. During the Alaskan Gold Rush, additional sled dogs, possibly of post-colonial derivation, the Alaskan Husky, Malamute and Siberian Husky, were used in the Arctic. The genealogical relationships among and origins of these breeds are unknown. Here we use autosomal, paternal and maternal DNA markers to (1) test the hypothesis that Inuit dogs have retained their indigenous ancestry, (2) characterize their relationship to one another and to other Arctic breeds, and (3) estimate the age of North American indigenous matrilines and patrilines. On the basis of the agreement of all three markers we determined that Inuit dogs have maintained their indigenous nature, and that they likely derive from Thule dogs. In addition, we provide support for previous research that the Inuit dogs from Canada and Greenland dog should not be distinguished as two breeds. The Alaskan Husky displayed evidence of European introgression, in contrast to the Malamute and Siberian Husky, which appear to have maintained most of their ancient Siberian ancestry

Studying Pre-colonial Gendered Use of Space in the Arctic: Spatial Analysis of Ceramics in Northwestern Alaska

Activities and production among Iñupiaq peoples were primarily divided by gender. This gendered division of labor also extended to a spatial segregated pattern of the household in some Arctic cultures, while others had a gender-integrated spatial pattern. There are very few archaeological studies of gender, or studies of gendered space, in the Arctic. We study gendered use of space in pre-colonial Northwest Alaska through a spatial analysis of ceramic, and other gendered artifact, distributions in Thule-era houses from Cape Espenberg, Alaska. We used the HDBSCAN (Hierarchical Density Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise) algorithm in Python to analyze and compare distributions of gendered artifacts. We found no clear evidence for gender-segregated use of space, or for specific activity areas. This does not mean that gender-segregated use of space or activity areas did not exist, we simply found little evidence supporting these practices due, at least in part, to issues of sample size, house size, and the role of secondary and post-deposition processes in shaping the ceramic assemblage and distribution. Our analysis identified several interesting patterns of behavior, particularly related to site-formation processes. Further, this study illustrates the potential of Python for conducting archaeological spatial analysis

Marine Reservoir Effects in Seal (Phocidae) Bones in the Northern Bering and Chukchi Seas, Northwestern Alaska

We explore marine reservoir effects (MREs) in seal bones from the northern Bering and Chukchi Seas regions. Ringed and bearded seals have served as dietary staples in human populations along the coasts of Arctic northeast Asia and North America for several millennia. Radiocarbon (14C) dates on seal bones and terrestrial materials (caribou, plants seeds, wood, and wood charcoal) were compared from archaeological sites in the Bering Strait region of northwestern Alaska to assess MREs in these sea mammals over time. We also compared these results to 14C dates on modern seal specimens collected in AD 1932 and 1946 from the Bering Sea region. Our paired archaeological samples were recovered from late Holocene archaeological features, including floors from dwellings and cache pits, that date between 1600 and 130 cal BP. 14C dates on seal bones from the northern Bering and Chukchi Seas show differences [R(t)] of 800 ± 140 years from to their terrestrial counterparts, and deviations of 404 ± 112 years (ΔR) from the marine calibration curve