Plants and Subsistence during the Fluted-Point Period of the Northeast

The role of plant foods during the fluted-point period (FPP) of North America is contested. Central to this debate is whether the scarcity of FPP macrobotanical materials stems from poor preservation of archaeological features and the macrobotanical remains they might contain or from the limited use of plants during the FPP. Employing summed probability distributions of radiocarbon date frequencies in northeastern North America, we find that FPP hearths are as common as expected, given the small number of well-dated FPP sites in the region. A second comparison shows that northeastern FPP hearths contain macrobotanical remains at a higher frequency than hearths from a region with better preservation and where small seeds formed a part of the diet. The macrobotanical materials so far recovered from FPP hearths in the Northeast show that plant foods contributed to diets during the FPP but that the plant diet breadth was relatively narrow, consistent with a specialized caribou hunting lifeway.

A Layered Approach for the Discovery and Mapping of Prehistoric Sites Beneath Lake Huron

For much of modern human history (roughly the last 200,000 years), global sea levels have been lower than present. As such, it is hardly surprising that archaeologists increasingly are looking to submarine environments to address some of their most pressing questions. While underwater archaeology is most commonly associated with shipwrecks, the search for submerged prehistoric sites presents an entirely different set of challenges, even though many of the same technologies are used. For Great Lakes archaeologists, the problem is how best to adapt the range of available seafloor mapping and testing techniques to the problem of identifying prehistoric sites, while operating with smaller vessels and the limited budgets available to “normal” archaeology. In this paper, we briefly describe the approach we have developed at the University of Michigan for identifying 9,000-year-old caribou hunting sites beneath Lake Huron. The research employs a layered research design integrating sonars, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and scuba divers at progressively finer scales to discover and investigate these important new archaeological sites.

Seasonal timeline for snow-covered sea ice processes in Nunavik's Deception Bay from TerraSAR-X and time-lapse photography

Inuit have reported greater inter-annual variability in seasonal sea ice conditions. For Deception Bay (Nunavik), an area prized for seal and caribou hunting, an increase in solid precipitation and a shorter snow cover period is expected in the near future. In this context, and considering ice-breaking transport in the fjord by mining companies, we monitored sea ice in the area for three seasons of ice between 2015 and 2018. This article presents a case study for the combined use of TerraSAR- X and time-lapse photography time-series in order to monitor snow-covered sea ice seasonal processes. The X-band median backscattering is shown to reproduce the seasonal evolution expected from C-band data. Two different freeze-up and breakup processes are characterized. New X-band backscattering values from newly formed ice types are reported. The monitoring approach presented in this article has the potential to be applied in other remote locations, and processes outlined here may inform our understanding of other fjords or bays where ice-breakers transit.

The Precontact History of Subarctic Northwest Canada

This chapter provides an overview of precontact hunter-gatherer land use in the Subarctic region of northwest Canada. The earliest evidence of human presence in this region is found in the unglaciated areas of Yukon Territory at Bluefish Caves and the Little John Site. The role of an ice-free corridor in the Mackenzie Valley in the dispersal of early peoples remains unclear. Caribou-hunting strategies are used as a theme to explore regional histories between 7,000 B.P. and the beginning of the historic period. Migratory tundra caribou were a focal resource for many hunter-gatherer societies in this region. The emerging archaeological record of alpine ice patches provides a unique view of hunter-gatherer land use in alpine regions. The archaeological record of the Mackenzie Valley is one of the poorest known in all of North America. Throughout, the chapter highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the Subarctic archaeological record for interpreting precontact land use.

Archaeology of the Late Western Thule/Iñupiat in North Alaska (. 1300–1750)

This chapter covers the Late Western Thule (LWT) and precontact Iñupiat of Northern Alaska, the most recent archaeological manifestation of the Northern Maritime tradition. From a maritime-adapted, whale-hunting culture living in semisubterranean sod-covered houses, this culture expanded to include inland settlements along rivers and in caribou hunting regions. The chronology of the LWT period is refined, based on recent advances in dating and many new dates. Other topics covered include settlement patterns and demography, technology, trade, architecture, social relations, mortuary practices, and the history and effects of contact with Euro-Americans. Several unresolved questions, including climate-change effects, the existence and nature of resource stress, and factors governing interior occupation are highlighted.