Athabascan

Dinjii Zhuh K’yàa Yahdii / Yahdii in the Native Tradition: A Gwich’in (Dene) Star Chart is a product of more than a decade of research with Gwich’in traditional knowledge bearers and the first-ever star chart for a Northern Dene language. As a whole-sky constellation, the chart depicts the spirit of the ancient Gwich’in Traveler-Transformer figure, Ch’iteehàawkaii, arched over Earth as a teacher, protector, ally, and the embodiment of the world who continues to travel overhead on his snow-packed Milky Way trail.

A 27 x 39 inch poster printed on glossy cardstock. Copies available at the Alaska Native Language Center:
https://epay.alaska.edu/C21563_ustores/web/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=5956&SINGLESTORE=true

The purpose of this study was to conduct a first approximation of explorations and excavations throughout the White Mountain and Steese Conservation areas during the summer field seasons of 2010 and 2011 in the Yukon Tanana Uplands, central Alaska. An analysis of the lithic artifacts from five site excavations (the Big Bend, Bachelor Creek, Bear Creek, US Creek and Cripple Creek) was then undertaken. These assemblages were then examined and modeled using risk-assessments, optimal resource use, and behavioral processes in order to explore the interdependence of environment, ecology, and material culture that drove prehistoric subsistence cycles in this area. This archaeological research will supplement ethnographies to indicate patterns of change and constants in landscape value, trade networks, and local economic strategies.

This study explores the shifting anthropological constructs of identity for the Middle Tanana people through time. It first summarizes this theme through contemporary regional Native American internal and external influences. A discussion is then given on how these constructs became formed through historical processes. Next, it provides an in-depth look into how identity became shaped prior to the Euro-American influence through an ethnographic reconstruction. These are framed in a way to form relevant hypotheses to study the regional prehistoric archaeological record. The Historical Linguistics analytical approach used here confirms that there is very little, if any, evidence in the languages of the Tanana Valley from any non-Dene or other hypothetical pre-existing linguistic group. Language forms an integral unit of community identity. This study also frames the linguistic argument for deep regional cultural antiquity and identity through an extensive survey of traditional place names. A brief comparative study of the processes and effects of the incursion of the Indo-European languages into traditional Dene territory is discussed to demonstrate this argument. Next, the research explores the middle and later Holocene archaeological record of the Shaw Creek basin, located deep within the Middle Tanana homelands, using innovative approaches framing traditional Optimal Foraging theory arguments through the lens of Complexity theory. It focuses on the household archaeology and spatial artifact analysis of two archaeological sites, Swan Point (three Holocene components) and Pickupsticks (one Holocene component). In these case studies, cultural identity analogs, social structure, and agency are discussed using the material cultural record as a proxy. Finally, a dynamic, seasonal, ecological landscape-use model informed by predator/prey interactions is used to inform hypothetical human foraging movements. It models decision-making and risk-mitigation processes through resource shortfalls, predicting raw materials' movements from their source locations to their discard locations at these two archaeological sites. The conclusions support the theory that Dene presence in the Middle Tanana Valley is an ancient phenomenon that has at least early Holocene roots. Further, the period between 2,000 and 1,000 years ago appears to have been a critical period of additional cultural intensification processes. The processes leading to the development of the Athabascan archaeological tradition are considered to be the result of demographic expansion, increased territoriality, and a critical reinterpretation of the roles of kinship and non-related partnerships.

This paper explores the roles that caribou played in the prehistoric cultural history of eastern Knik Arm, the western Chugach Mountains, and the Anchorage Lowlands. The Anchorage Lowlands, located between the Elmendorf Moraine and Turnagain Arm, represent a unique geographic feature that constricts the overland movement of animals and humans between the Matanuska and Susitna River drainages to the north and the Kenai Peninsula to the south. The lowlands were sparsely populated by human groups prior to the expansion of the prehistoric Dena’ina people, and the populations of past faunal species is largely unknown. The finding of a naturally shed caribou (Rangifer tarandus)
antler from a tributary of Ship Creek is presented within the context of the local prehistoric record of the area. Direct evidence of prehistoric caribou use in the Anchorage Lowlands is almost entirely absent; therefore, a review of the ethnographic and historical records is provided to present a picture of the role that large game procurement may have played for pre-Euroamerican inhabitants. Caribou were a valued and actively sought-after resource by the Dena’ina on the eastern shore of Knik Arm. Informants from these bands, who typically traveled seasonally into the Talkeetna Mountains to procure caribou, also reported their presence in the upper Ship Creek area.

Try the TTS for Quechua at http://hinantin.com/tts/

""We have implemented a Text-to-Speech System for Quechua using the Festival Speech Synthesis System with the Cluster Unit Selection Method.
We have reused the annotated data we had to implement another Text-to-Speech System for Quechua using the Festival Speech Synthesis System and the HMM-based Speech Synthesis System (HTS).
We have improved the LTS rules of both systems to make them work with two Quechuan writing standards, Spanish loan words and foreign words."

Try the Text-To-System for Quechua at http://hinantin.com/tts/"

The purpose of this study was to conduct a first approximation of explorations and excavations throughout the White Mountain and Steese Conservation areas during the summer field seasons of 2010 and 2011 in the Yukon Tanana Uplands, central Alaska. An analysis of the lithic artifacts from five site excavations (the Big Bend, Bachelor Creek, Bear Creek, US Creek and Cripple Creek) was then undertaken. These assemblages were then examined and modeled using risk-assessments, optimal resource use, and behavioral processes in order to explore the interdependence of environment, ecology, and material culture that drove prehistoric subsistence cycles in this area. This archaeological research will supplement ethnographies to indicate patterns of change and constants in landscape value, trade networks, and local economic strategies.