Anth 3511 Professor Gibbon

Early Arctic (and Sub-Arctic) Cultures

Map of Early Indian Tribes of Alaska

Approximate Starting Dates		Aleutians (Alaska)	Kodiak Area (Alaska)	Bering Strait Area (Alaska)	The Eastern Arctic	The Sub-Arctic
Today
1000 AD					Thule Tradition
1 AD				Thule Tradition	Dorset Tradition
1000 BC				Norton Tradition
2000 BC		Aleutian Tradition		Arctic Small Tool Tradition	Independence I & Pre-Dorset
3000 BC
4000 BC			Pacific Coastal Traditions: @ Ocean Bay, Kodiak, Koniag			Northern Archaic (Athabascan Indians)
5000 BC						Shield Archaic (Algonquian Indians)
c.5-8000 BC				Paleo-Arctic Tradition		Maritime Archaic (The Red Paint People)

Introduction.

A. In general, Aleuts and Eskimos exploited aquatic resources in the Arctic and along the Alaskan coast, while Indians (Algonquian- and Athabaskan speakers) fished and hunted caribou, elk, moose, and other land animals inland in the Sub-Arctic and along the Sub-Arctic Atlantic Coast.

Q: Where do the Aleuts live? A. The Aleutian Islands

Q: What resources do Aleuts and Eskimos eat? A. Aquatic resources like seals, fish, whales, walrus, etc.

Q: What did the Algonquian and Athabaskan Indians eat? A. Fish and land animals like caribou, elk and moose.

Q: Who lived in the Arctic and along the Alaskan Coast? A. The Aleuts and Eskimos.

B. There were two basic kinds of people in the Arctic, Aleuts and Eskimos, the most Asian of all native peoples of the Americas.

1) Aleut was spoken in the Aleutian Islands onto the Alaska Peninsula, and Eskimo hem about Kodiak Island around the coast all the way to Greenland.

2) Despite the stereotype for the Arctic of the fur-clad, happy Eskimos hunting seals in a flat, ice-covered landscape (Nanook of the North), there was a diverse mosaic of landscapes and societies throughout the Arctic.

C. Alaska and the Yukon are rugged areas crossed by mountain ranges enclosing rough, swampy lowlands.

1) Useful terms include: Arctic Slope; the Brooks, Alaska, and Aleutian ranges; Alaska Peninsula; Aleutian Island chain; the Yukon and Kuskokwin rivers; Bering Sea; Norton Sound; Kodiak Island. (See the Map above).

D. A great central lowland stretches eastward from the Yukon, with a large basin around Hudson Bay. Much of this area, such as the Canadian Shield, is rocky and devoid of much vegetation.

E. To the north of the mainland is the Canadian Arctic Archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, which is largely covered with permanent ice or is barren.

F. The Arctic roughly coincides with the treeless tundra and ice zone in the north and the Sub-Arctic with the boreal forests to the south. Winters in both areas are very cold, with a somewhat longer summer in the Sub-Arctic.

G. Caribou, musk-ox, hares, lemmings, arctic fox, wolves, bears, lots of nesting birds, and abundant aquatic resources (fish, seals, whales, walrus) occur to the north, while moose, woodland caribou and buffalo, migrating birds, and many smaller animals occur to the south.

Q: What environments roughly coincide with the Arctic? A. Treeless tundra and the ice zone with caribou, musk-ox, fox, bears, etc.

Q: What environments roughly coincide with the Sub-Arctic? A. Boreal forests with moose, caribou, bision, & birds.

2. The Paleo-Arctic Tradition (c.8000-5000 BC).

A. A hodge-podge of hunter-gatherer cultures in Early Holocene far northwestern North America during a period of increasing environmental diversity and change.

B. Since coastal sea mammal hunting base camps were buried by rising sea levels, the tradition is known mostly from small, inland hunting sites (at least this is an hypothesis). However, specialized sea mammal-hunting artifacts are not present.

C. Typical stone artifacts include microblades, wedge-shaped microcores, leafshaped bifaces, scrapers, and gravers. Organic material (bone) has not survived.

D. Well-known site is Anangula on the Aleutian Chain.

Q: What characterizes the Paleo-Arctic Tradition? A Sea coast Hunter-gatherer hodgepodge microblades leafshaped bifaces Anangula site in the Aleutians

3. Coastal Adaptations on the Pacific Coast (c.4000 BC - AD 1000)

A. Once sea levels stabilized c. 4000 BC, sea coastal adaptations (ocean fish and marine mammals like sea otters, hair and fur seals, and whales). Area of greatest concentration is in the area of Kodiak and Unimak islands.

B. Both Aleuts and Pacific Eskimos involved. Although there are differences between them, they shared two-person skin kayaks for open water hunting, and multi-barbed harpoons for taking large sea mammals.

C. Three archaeological traditions have been identified:

1) Ocean Bay tradition (4000 BC - AD 1000). Marine mammal hunters in the Kodiak Island area.

2) Kodiak tradition (4000 BC - AD 1000). A more southern derivative of Ocean Bay composed of sea mammal hunting, salmon fishing, and caribou hunting Eskimos. Known for its slate tools, such as the ulu. In its latest stage (Kachemak, c. 500 BC - AD 1000), there is a greater variety of bone and slate artifacts (e.g., net weights, stone lamps), greater site densities and midden accumulation (i.e., more people), and more elaborate mortuary rituals (i.e., greater social complexity).

3) Koniag culture (AD 1000-historic), which becomes the historic Eskimo along the Pacific Coast.

Q: What characterizes the Pacific Coastal Adaptations? Ate fish and sea mammals like otters, seals and whales Kayaks and multi-barbed harpoons Both Aleuts and Eskimos Ocean Bay, Kodiak, and Koniag traditions

4. Aleutian Tradition (c.2500 BC - AD 1800).

A. The main archaeological tradition on the Aleutian islands. This were sea mammal hunting and fishing Aleuts.

B. A core and flake tradition, with bifacial projectile points and knives, adzes and ulu blades, chisels, and awls (etc.), that remained fairly stable throughout the life of the tradition. There are also elaborate bone harpoon heads, and bone and ivory ornaments, whose shifting styles help date sites. A well-known site is Chaluka on Umnak island.

Q: What characterizes the Aleutian Tradition? Fish and sea mammals Flakes, adzes, ulu blades Bone harpoons The Chaluka Site

5. Arctic Small Tool Tradition in the West (c.2000-800 BC)

A. Most likely an intrusive ancestral Eskimo sea mammal and caribou hunting, and salmon fishing, culture from Siberia that spread along the Alaskan coast from the Alaska Peninsula in the south to the Brooks Range in the north, as seen at the Onion Portage (upper Naknek Drainage) and Iyatayet (Cape Denbigh) sites

B. A new toolkit of microblades (for multi-component tools); also scrapers, gravers, adze blades, etc.). Organics are poorly known. These people introduced the bow and arrow into the Americas.

C. Sites include small camps and larger base camps with semi-subterranean, sod roofed houses.

D. The Arctic Small Tool tradition people mingled with other people along the coast and probably eventually pushed them back into the inland forests.

Q: What characterizes the Arctic Small Tool Tradition? A. From Siberia sea mammal, salmon, caribou hunters microblades, bow and arrow, adzes sod-roofed houses, base camps

6. Settlement of the Eastern Arctic (c. 2000 BC)

A. Arctic Small Tool tradition folks were also the first people to push eastward across the Arctic to the coast of Greenland. They have been separated into two phases whose interrelationship remains unclear.

B.Independence I (2000-1700 BC).

Very mobile hunters in the High Arctic who subsisted mainly on musk ox, but also on birds, fish, seals (etc.). They probably consisted of tiny hunting bands of 4-6 people who lived in musk-ox hide covered tents, for stone rings are found at some sites.

1) A large summer surplus of food was probably stored for the long winter.

2) Besides typical Arctic Small Tool tradition stone artifacts, they also had bone needles, arrowheads, and non-toggling harpoons.

C. Pre-Dorset (1700-900/600 BC).

Arctic Small Tool tradition people who moved eastward south of Independence I people. They were concentrated in the Hudson Strait and Fore Basin region.

1) west of Hudson Bay, they were mainly inland land hunters and fisher folk, who only occasionally hunted on the coast. In the Hudson Bay region and to the east, they were sea mammal hunters and ocean fishers who also hunted musk ox, caribou, polar bear, and smaller mammals.

Q: What characterizes the Independence I Tradition? Mobile, tiny, musk-ox tents, non-toggling harpoons.

Q: What characterizes the Pre-Dorsets Hudson Bay area, inland sea and land mammal hunters

7. Archaic Hunter-Gatherers in the Sub-Arctic (c. 5000 BC-historic)

A. As glacial ice retreated northward, plants, animals, and people spread northward. At least three major groups were involved.

B. Northern Archaic 9c.4000 BC-historic).

Athabascans who were adapting to the changing Holocene environment in inland areas for the most part in far northwestern North America (e.g., Alaska, Yukon). They hunted caribou and waterfowl with side-notched projectile points.

Q: What characterizes the Northern Archaic tradition? Athabascan Indians Inland caribou and birds side-notched points

C. Shield Archaic (c.5000 BC-historic).

A basic northern Algonquian-speaking forest culture centered on the Canadian Shield that fished and hunted caribou in the north and elk, moose, and deer in the south. Some lived along the tree line to take advantage of both environments. They had lanceolate projectile points, bifacial knives, scrapers, adzes, etc.

Q: What characterizes the Shield Archaic? Algonquians Caribou hunters (north) elk, moose, deer (south) lanceolate points

D. Maritime Archaic (c.7000 BC-historic).

More socially complex Algonquian speaking hunter-gatherer-fishers who lived along the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Labrador. They had a seasonal subsistence cycle that exploited sea mammals along the coast in the summer and inland land resources (elk, moose, caribou, etc.) in the winter.

1) Their higher degree of social complexity is apparent in numerous rich graves covered with red ocher (thus the Red Paint people). Included as grave offerings were elaborate bone points, foreshafts, and socketed toggling harpoons, shell bead ornaments, and antler, bone, and ivory daggers. Some people were buried in earthen mounds that date to c.6000 BC.

2) Longhouses were built at some sites late in the tradition. Port aux Choir in Newfoundland is a famous sea mammal hunting base camp. 3) These people were probably pushed southward after c. 1000 BC by PreDorset and Dorset Eskimos who were moving southward from the Arctic.

Q: What characterizes the Maritime Archaics The Red Paint People used ocher in earthen mounds Lived Labrador to Maine along the Atlantic socketed toggling harpoons Longhouses, Port aux Choir, Newfoundland Pushed south by the Dorset Eskimos