Maritime adaptations

We review the dynamic late-Pleistocene environment and hydrology of the New England-Maritimes region and the inception of the Champlain Sea. Thereafter, we briefly summarize previous investigations of site patterning data relative to the Champlain Sea and present several recent discoveries predicated upon the application of a revised model of the Champlain Sea shoreline at its maximum. After a broad overview of Early and Middle Paleoindian site patterning across the basin we briefly explore the implications of the Champlain Sea and the sites associated with it for understanding Paleoindian lifeways in northeastern North America.

Zooarchaeology has the potential to make significant contributions to knowledge of pinniped biogeography of import to both archaeologists and environmental scientists. We analyzed northern fur seal remains found in three archaeological sites located along the outer coast of the Northeast Pacific Ocean: Cape Addington Rockshelter in southeast Alaska, Ts’ishaa on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and the Netarts Sandspit site on the Oregon Coast. These three sites occur along an 850 km stretch of coastline between 45◦ to 55◦ N. and 123◦ to 134◦ W., far southeast of the primary breeding area for northern fur seals today, located on the Pribilof Islands at 57◦ N. 170◦ W. We use ancient DNA (aDNA) and carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes to investigate whether northern fur seal remains from these archaeological sites originated with migratory Pribilof Islands populations. For sites located in Oregon and points north, the isotope values are not distinct from those of the Pribilof fur seals. Although aDNA was recovered from three pinniped species (northern fur seal, Steller sea lion, and Guadalupe fur seal), the paucity of published genetic data from modern northern fur seals prevents us from distinguishing the archaeological specimens from modern Pribilof seals.

"El abandono de las formas indígenas y tradicionales de relacionarse con el entorno y aprovechar el medio ambiente se vincula históricamente a la imposición, desde la época de la conquista, de modelos de desarrollo que responden a exigencias foráneas. Los estudios sociales han integrado el concepto de desarrollo en sus análisis con diferentes enfoques y aplicaciones, pese a que persiste la tendencia a vincular esta noción exclusivamente al crecimiento económico, desligándola del progreso social. Desde una perspectiva crítica, esta investigación busca discutir los vínculos teóricos de una aproximación ecológica a la recuperación de las tecnologías indígenas en el área andina, a través de un análisis de estudios de caso localizados en Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador y Perú. El objetivo es aprender de los errores del pasado, a la vez que replantear la recuperación de tecnologías indígenas como una estrategia efectiva para articular propuestas viables que sirvan de alternativas a las comunidades de la región en los campos agrícola, pastoril y agroforestal.


The abandonment of indigenous and traditional ways of relating to the landscape and making use of the environment are historically tied, since the epoch of conquest, to the imposition of development models that respond to foreign demands. Social scientists have variously integrated the concept of development as an analytical tool, with differing foci and applications, despite a broader and persistent tendency to relate the idea chiefy to economic growth and eschew social progress. This paper critically addresses the theoretical implications of an ecological approach to the recovery of indigenous technologies in the Andean area, on the basis of experiences in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. Its objective is to learn from past mistakes and recast the recovery of indigenous technologies as an effective strategy to articulate viable alternatives for local communities in the fields of agriculture, herding and agroforestry."

The goal of this project is to understand the influence of population size on human adaptation processes and culture change during the Mid to Late Holocene in Western Alaska. We use a database of 1180 radiocarbon dates ranging from 6000 to 1000 14 C years BP and drawn from 805 archaeological components in Alaska to construct a proxy record for relative change in regional and Alaskan metapopulation sizes over time. Our analysis indicates that a major population crash coincided with the disappearance of the Arctic Small Tool tradition (ASTt) and the subsequent emergence of the Norton tradition. The ASTt population began to decline around 3600 cal BP, and by 3500 cal BP it had disappeared almost completely from northern tundra habitats, though it persisted in coastal areas in Northwest and Southwest Alaska for another 500 years. The reduction in human population across Alaska after 3600 cal BP appears linked to a reduced carrying capacity that was perhaps driven by a caribou population crash. Such a shock would have increased population pressure and fostered increased reliance on marine resources, precipitating cultural changes associated with an increasingly complex maritime economy. The sharp decline in ASTt population size reduced the number of cultural role models for this population, resulting in the loss of some of the tradition's characteristic cultural traits, while the influence of neighboring populations in southern Alaska and across the Bering Strait apparently increased, counteracting this attrition of cultural traits. Holistic explanations of the ASTt-Norton transition must take into account population size, ecological adaptation, and cultural transmission processes, as is true for cultural change more generally.