T. Max Friesen

The genetic prehistory of the New World Arctic

Introduction Humans first peopled the North American Arctic (northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland) around 6000 years ago, leaving behind a complex archaeological record that consisted of different cultural units and distinct ways of life, including the Early Paleo-Eskimos (Pre-Dorset/Saqqaq), the Late Paleo-Eskimos (Early Dorset, Middle Dorset, and Late Dorset), and the Thule cultures. Genetic origins of Paleo-Eskimos and Neo-Eskimos. All Paleo-Eskimos represent a single migration pulse from Siberia into the Americas, independent of the Neo-Eskimo Thule people (ancestors of modern-day Inuit) and the related extinct Sadlermiut population. The Siberian Birnirk people were likely cultural and genetic ancestors of modern-day Inuit. We also show ancient admixture between the Paleo- and Neo-Eskimo lineages, occurring at least 4000 years ago. Rationale We addressed the genetic origins and relationships of the various New World Arctic cultures to each other and to modern-day populations in the region. We obtained 26 genome-wide sequences and 169 mitochondrial DNA sequences from ancient human bone, teeth, and hair samples from Arctic Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland, and high-coverage genomes of two present-day Greenlandic Inuit, two Siberian Nivkhs, one Aleutian Islander, and two Athabascan Native Americans. Twenty-seven ancient samples were radiocarbon dated for accurate cultural assignment, of which 25 were corrected for marine reservoir effect to account for the dominant marine component in these individuals’ diets. Results Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA data unequivocally show that the Paleo-Eskimos are closer to each other than to any other present-day population. The Thule culture represents a distinct people that are genetic and cultural ancestors of modern-day Inuit. We additionally find the Siberian Birnirk culture (6th to 7th century CE) as likely cultural and genetic ancestors of the Thule. The extinct Sadlermiut people from the Hudson Bay region (15th to 19th century CE), considered to be Dorset remnants, are genetically closely related to Thule/Inuit, rather than the Paleo-Eskimos. Moreover, there is no evidence of matrilineal gene flow between Dorset or Thule groups with neighboring Norse (Vikings) populations settling in the Arctic around 1000 years ago. However, we do detect gene flow between the Paleo-Eskimo and Neo-Eskimo lineages, dating back to at least 4000 years. Conclusion Our study has a number of important implications: Paleo-Eskimos likely represent a single migration pulse into the Americas from Siberia, separate from the ones giving rise to the Inuit and other Native Americans, including Athabascan speakers. Paleo-Eskimos, despite showing cultural differences across time and space, constituted a single population displaying genetic continuity for more than 4000 years. On the contrary, the Thule people, ancestors of contemporary Inuit, represent a population replacement of the Paleo-Eskimos that occurred less than 700 years ago. The long-term genetic continuity of the Paleo-Eskimo gene pool and lack of evidence of Native American admixture suggest that the Saqqaq and Dorset people were largely living in genetic isolation after entering the New World. Thus, the Paleo-Eskimo technological innovations and changes through time, as evident from the archaeological record, seem to have occurred solely by movement of ideas within a single resident population. This suggests that cultural similarities and differences are not solid proxies for population movements and migrations into new and dramatically different environments, as is often assumed. Arctic genetics comes in from the cold Despite a well-characterized archaeological record, the genetics of the people who inhabit the Arctic have been unexplored. Raghavan et al. sequenced ancient and modern genomes of individuals from the North American Arctic (see the Perspective by Park). Analyses of these genomes indicate that the Arctic was colonized 6000 years ago by a migration separate from the one that gave rise to other Native American populations. Furthermore, the original paleo-inhabitants of the Arctic appear to have been completely replaced approximately 700 years ago. Science, this issue 10.1126/science.1255832; see also p. 1004 Early Arctic humans differed from both present-day Inuit and Native Americans. [Also see Perspective by Park] The New World Arctic, the last region of the Americas to be populated by humans, has a relatively well-researched archaeology, but an understanding of its genetic history is lacking. We present genome-wide sequence data from ancient and present-day humans from Greenland, Arctic Canada, Alaska, Aleutian Islands, and Siberia. We show that Paleo-Eskimos (~3000 BCE to 1300 CE) represent a migration pulse into the Americas independent of both Native American and Inuit expansions. Furthermore, the genetic continuity characterizing the Paleo-Eskimo period was interrupted by the arrival of a new population, representing the ancestors of present-day Inuit, with evidence of past gene flow between these lineages. Despite periodic abandonment of major Arctic regions, a single Paleo-Eskimo metapopulation likely survived in near-isolation for more than 4000 years, only to vanish around 700 years ago.

Resource structure, scalar stress, and the development of Inuit social organization

Abstract This paper contrasts Inuit socio‐economic organization in two regions: coastal north Alaska and the Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories. Peoples of both regions relied on rich and highly seasonal marine mammal resources, and both of their settlement patterns incorporated relatively large and long‐term aggregations. However, their respective patterns of social organization contrasted in a number of ways, most notably in terms of the organization of labour and the scale and physical structure of the household. I argue that these differences can be attributed in large part to the interplay of two factors: scalar stress and resource structure. Scalar stress refers to the stresses inherent in large population aggregations, which must be reduced through strategies as diverse as increasingly hierarchical social organization, group fission, and increasing incidence of group ritual (Johnson 1982). Resource structure refers to aspects of the physiology and behaviour of exploited species which affect the...

A zooarchaeological signature for meat storage: re-thinking the drying utility index.

Although the practice of food storage is important to many questions addressed by archaeologists, demonstrating its presence in archaeological contexts can be difficult or impossible. One potentially useful approach to meat storage is the concept of the Drying Utility Index, introduced by Lewis Binford (1978) to predict which carcass portions, with attached bone, will be selected for storage by drying. However, this index has not been widely used by zooarchaeologists, at least in part because the calculations involved in its derivation are extremely complex. This paper presents a new, simplified index, the Meat Drying Index, which is easier to calculate and more transparent than the Drying Utility Index, yet which retains all of its key attributes. This new index is applied to caribou bone samples from two regions: Binfords (1978) Nunamiut data from northern Alaska, and the contents of three caches from the Barren Grounds of Canada, near Baker Lake, Nunavut. In both cases, the Meat Drying Index correlates with the observed element frequencies as well as, or better than, the original Drying Utility Index. As a result, the new index may prove applicable to element distributions from a wide range of archaeological contexts in which storage of meat by drying is suspected.

Hearth rows, hierarchies and Arctic hunter-gatherers: the construction of equality in the Late Dorset period

Abstract Around 1000 years ago, the eastern North American Arctic was occupied by people known to archaeologists as Late Dorset, who exhibited a high degree of sedentism, reliance on storage and in some regions a relatively high population density. At the same time, the Late Dorset archaeological record has yielded evidence for a well-developed artistic tradition, construction of elaborate communal structures in many regions and a widespread trade network. This package of traits is often associated with inegalitarian ‘complex hunter-gatherers’, a category represented in its most extreme form by recent First Nations of the Northwest Coast of North America. In the Late Dorset case, however, a number of attributes appear to be more consistent with egalitarian social relations. Most importantly, prominent communal structures in many Late Dorset regions known as ‘longhouses’ and ‘hearth rows’ are best interpreted as overt symbols of equality and homogeneity among Late Dorset individuals and groups. In attempting to understand why Late Dorset groups would invest so much labour in reinforcing a message of equality, a key contrast can be seen between the ‘core’ of the Late Dorset world, in Foxe Basin, and other regions to the west, north and east. The core does not contain longhouses and hearth rows, but does contain apparently high population densities and at least the beginning of a tradition of formal burials; in other regions, population densities are probably lower, longhouses and hearth rows are ubiquitous and burials are virtually unknown. Thus, the prominent egalitarian symbols in peripheral regions may have developed not simply as a reflection of existing social relations, but rather as a form of resistance to, or masking of, increasing social complexity in Late Dorset society as a whole.Abstract Around 1000 years ago, the eastern North American Arctic was occupied by people known to archaeologists as Late Dorset, who exhibited a high degree of sedentism, reliance on storage and in some regions a relatively high population density. At the same time, the Late Dorset archaeological record has yielded evidence for a well-developed artistic tradition, construction of elaborate communal structures in many regions and a widespread trade network. This package of traits is often associated with inegalitarian ‘complex hunter-gatherers’, a category represented in its most extreme form by recent First Nations of the Northwest Coast of North America. In the Late Dorset case, however, a number of attributes appear to be more consistent with egalitarian social relations. Most importantly, prominent communal structures in many Late Dorset regions known as ‘longhouses’ and ‘hearth rows’ are best interpreted as overt symbols of equality and homogeneity among Late Dorset individuals and groups. In attempti...

Dynamic Inuit Social Strategies in Changing Environments: A Long-Term Perspective

Abstract Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):215–225, 2010 This paper presents an overview of the International Polar Year (IPY) research programme Dynamic Inuit Social Strategies in Changing Environments: A Long-Term Perspective. For this project, research teams from six separate multi-year subprojects performed fieldwork across much of the Canadian Arctic. Fieldwork and analysis revolved around two primary processes critical to the understanding of Inuit history: first, is the migration from Alaska to the east by the earliest Inuit, known as ‘Thule’, an apparently rapid event which replaced populations of the earlier, and culturally very different Dorset tradition; second, is the transformation of Thule Inuit into their more diverse recent cultural forms, involving abandonment of some regions, combined with major changes in settlement patterns, artifact form, architecture, economy, and social organization. The ultimate goal of the project is to understand the variable roles of climate change and social structures on the culture change which can be observed during the past 800 years of Inuit history.

Kitigaaryuit: A Portrait of the Mackenzie Inuit in the 1890s, Based on the Journals of Isaac O. Stringer

In the nineteenth century, the village of Kitigaaryuit was the most important settlement of the Mackenzie Inuit, who inhabited the Beaufort Sea coast in northwesternmost Canada. However, the nature of Mackenzie Inuit life at Kitigaaryuit is poorly understood, due to the brevity and rarity of relevant ethnohistoric and ethnographic accounts. This paper presents a summary and interpretation of the previously unpublished journals and letters of the Anglican missionary Isaac O. Stringer. Beginning in 1892, Stringer visited Kitigaaryuit nine times, usually arriving during the all-important beluga whale hunting season in early August. Although not a trained ethnographer, he recorded detailed information relating to many subjects, including the annual cycle of the Mackenzie Inuit, the beluga whale hunt, demography, social organization, and the nature of culture change during this period. In their entirety, Stringer’s writings provide a vivid and unique portrait of a crucial time and place in arctic history.

An Early Inupiaq Occupation: Observations on a Thule House From Cape Espenberg, Alaska

Abstract This paper describes and interprets a well-preserved early Thule semi-subterranean dwelling from Cape Espenberg, Alaska. The house architecture is similar in many respects to other early Thule dwellings with a sub-rectangular main room, long sunken entrance tunnel, and associated kitchen area. However, the presence of narrow side benches and associated flooring differences adds significantly to the variability present in Thule house form. Radiocarbon dates indicate occupations spanning 1300 to 1450 cal CE. Wood analysis suggests that the house underwent at least one rebuilding episode, which seems to have extended the house occupation into the early 15th century. People acquired mostly small seals for their subsistence, but supplemented their diets in the spring and fall with migrating birds, fish, terrestrial mammals, and other marine mammals. This house represents a fairly typical early Thule coastal winter occupation, but careful excavation of a well-preserved house reveals interesting details in house form, wood use, and subsistence patterns.

To freeze or to dry: Seasonal variability in caribou processing and storage in the barrenlands of Northern Canada

ABSTRACT This paper presents description and interpretation of 20 caribou bone assemblages from Inuit sites on the Kazan River in northern Canada. A diversity of features including caches, disposal areas, and surface scatters, are quantified in order to understand aspects of butchery, transport, and storage of caribou carcasses. Element distributions are compared to four published indices which quantify bone density, food utility, meat drying, and marrow, in order to understand which factors played important roles in decision-making by Inuit in the region. While several factors are identified as having affected these assemblages, by far the most important factor relates to the season during which the caribou were hunted. During warm seasons, the drying of meat dictated relatively complex division of the carcass for processing and storage. During colder seasons, on the other hand, rapid freezing of meat allowed for greater flexibility, which often simply meant that entire articulated carcasses were cached after skinning and gutting.

Climate change and the deteriorating archaeological and environmental archives of the Arctic

Abstract The cold, wet climate of the Arctic has led to the extraordinary preservation of archaeological sites and materials that offer important contributions to the understanding of our common cultural and ecological history. This potential, however, is quickly disappearing due to climate-related variables, including the intensification of permafrost thaw and coastal erosion, which are damaging and destroying a wide range of cultural and environmental archives around the Arctic. In providing an overview of the most important effects of climate change in this region and on archaeological sites, the authors propose the next generation of research and response strategies, and suggest how to capitalise on existing successful connections among research communities and between researchers and the public.

Tracing hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype B5 (formerly B6) evolutionary history in the circumpolar Arctic through phylogeographic modelling

Background Indigenous populations of the circumpolar Arctic are considered to be endemically infected (>2% prevalence) with hepatitis B virus (HBV), with subgenotype B5 (formerly B6) unique to these populations. The distinctive properties of HBV/B5, including high nucleotide diversity yet no significant liver disease, suggest virus adaptation through long-term host-pathogen association. Methods To investigate the origin and evolutionary spread of HBV/B5 into the circumpolar Arctic, fifty-seven partial and full genome sequences from Alaska, Canada and Greenland, having known location and sampling dates spanning 40 years, were phylogeographically investigated by Bayesian analysis (BEAST 2) using a reversible-jump-based substitution model and a clock rate estimated at 4.1 × 10−5 substitutions/site/year. Results Following an initial divergence from an Asian viral ancestor approximately 1954 years before present (YBP; 95% highest probability density interval [1188, 2901]), HBV/B5 coalescence occurred almost 1000 years later. Surprisingly, the HBV/B5 ancestor appears to locate first to Greenland in a rapid coastal route progression based on the landscape aware geographic model, with subsequent B5 evolution and spread westward. Bayesian skyline plot analysis demonstrated an HBV/B5 population expansion occurring approximately 400 YBP, coinciding with the disruption of the Neo-Eskimo Thule culture into more heterogeneous and regionally distinct Inuit populations throughout the North American Arctic. Discussion HBV/B5 origin and spread appears to occur coincident with the movement of Neo-Eskimo (Inuit) populations within the past 1000 years, further supporting the hypothesis of HBV/host co-expansion, and illustrating the concept of host-pathogen adaptation and balance.