Joan B. Townsend

MERCANTILISM AND SOCIETAL CHANGE: AN ETHNOHISTORIC EXAMINATION OF SOME ESSENTIAL VARIABLES

Ethnohistoric data are used to examine aspects of Russian-American Company mercantilism in Alaska and implications tor socio-cultural change .*;tlldies. I or example, use of numbers of trade goods in contact archaeological sites as an index of the degree of contact change is questioned. Trade goods data and information involvint relations}lips of the Company, middlemen, and Indians, derived from ethno}listorical siourcesi, are applied to a nineteenth century Athapaskan village eiite tor broader interpretations. I:our propositions are suggested of more general applicability tor interpretations of contact, archaeologically and ethnohistorically, in both Alaskan alld non-Alaskan situation.S.

Ethnoarchaeology in Nineteenth Century Southern and Western Alaska: An Interpretive Mode

An ethnoarchaeological model for the interpretation of nineteenth century archaeological sites in southern and western Alaska is generated from socio-cultural models for egalitarian society, ranked society and reciprocity systems. In conjunction with ethnohistorical sources and informant data, the hypothesized model is used to re-evaluate previously reported archaeological phenomena. The results indicate a broadened range of applications in archaeological interpretation.