Allen P. McCartney

Bowhead whale bones and Thule Eskimo subsistence–settlement patterns in the central Canadian Arctic

Bowhead whale bones in prehistoric Thule Eskimo contexts have been examined since 1975 in the central Canadian Arctic. Approximately 10,500 bones, representing almost 1000 animals, have been counted on the shores of six adjacent islands. Comparisons of Thule-derived bowhead samples with live Beaufort Sea samples and Early Holocene samples indicate that Thule Eskimo hunters selected yearlings and two- to three-year-old subadults, to the almost complete exclusion of calves and adults. Almost all bowheads found at Thule sites measure 7–10 m in length, estimated by regression analyses based on Alaskan bowhead skeletons of known size. Archaeological bowhead bones represent several stages of past hunting and processing behavior, including selective hunting, beach flensing and meal/blubber caching, winter house construction, and bone re-use from house ruins. The availability and abundance of bowheads were primary determinants of Thule subsistence-settlement patterns in this region. Archaeological whale bones arc a nonrenewable cultural resource of the New World Arctic that deserve study and protection.

Aleutian Island prehistory: Living in insular extremes

Peoples of the Aleutian Islands lived under a number of stressful environmental constraints, including extreme isolation, volcanic eruptions, seismic activity (including tsunamis), frequent storms, rough seas, gale-force winds, frequent fog and precipitation, and an exclusive marine diet. Nevertheless, the Aleutian Islands supported a large maritime population during late prehistoric times. Cultural adaptations to these conditions included the use of relatively large coastal settlements, semisubterranean houses, tailored warm and waterproof clothing, sophisticated skin boats for hunting, fishing, and traveling, broad species utilization of food and raw materials, food storage, fuel for heating and cooking, and refuge rocks or islets for protection against raids.

Thule Eskimo bowhead whale interception strategies

Abstract Mortality profiles of bowhead whales at prehistoric Thule Eskimo villages (c. 1000–400 BP) in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago are shown to closely track their presumed migration route. Specifically, yearling sizes at an individual site correspond very closely to that sites location on the annual bowhead migration route. Population size, whaling success, and bowhead size selection at individual villages or village clusters were all apparently dependent to a considerable extent on the position along the migration route, with ‘early’ intercept positions being the most advantageous.

Russian Exploitation of Aleuts and Fur Seals: The Archaeology of Eighteenth- and Early-Nineteenth-Century Settlements in the Pribilof Islands, Alaska

Shortly after Russian fur hunters found the uninhabited Pribilof Islands of St. Paul and St. George in the late 1780s, they began forcing Aleut men from the Aleutian Islands and Alaska Peninsula to travel there seasonally to provide labor for the profitable commercial harvest of northern fur seals. Recent archaeological surveys of the earliest Aleut and Russian work camps that were established on the islands show them to be unusual in many respects when compared to contemporary sites in the Aleutian Islands region. These include the absence of precontact site components, their relatively narrow period of occupation, their occupancy by an exclusively or nearly exclusively male population, and their potential as multiethnic settlements to reveal differences between the lives of Russian overseers and Aleut laborers.

Glass Trade Beads from Reese Bay, Unalaska Island: Spatial and Temporal Patterns

Unalaska History and Archaeology Project researchers excavated several thousand glass trade beads from an Aleutian longhouse at the Reese Bay site on Unalaska Island, Alaska. This paper provides a description of the beads, a discussion of their use by Russian explorers and Alaska Natives, and an analysis of the horizontal and vertical distribution of the beads within the longhouse. Comparison to other Alaskan sites revealed that the composition of the Reese Bay trade bead assemblage is consistent with occupation during the early Russian period. Several factors, both behavioral and depositional, created and affected the spatial patterning of the beads within the site: roof fall from the dismantling of the longhouse superstructure; periodic housecleaning by the residents of the longhouse; bead working techniques and location preferences; and changing status relationships within the longhouse. The spatial and temporal patterning of the glass trade beads from the Reese Bay site provides insight into the lives of the inhabitants.