The Archaeology of Cape Nome, Alaska, by John Bockstoce

REVIEWS 855 and his own earlier description of the Port Clar- of nineteenth-century Kotzebue Sound Eskimo ence Collection (VanStone, 1976). These de- material culture. It is clear from VanStone’s dis- scriptions are cross-referenced to the 49 black cussion of Bruce’s presumed collecting and white photographic plates contained in the methods, the lack of adequate documentation Appendix. The plates themselves represent 282 and the nature of the collection itself that the of the 684 catalogue entries or fully 40% of the material described is far from representative. extant collection. Overall, the quality of the VanStone, however, is aware of these dificul- photographs is good. Inseveral instances, excel- ties and forewarns the reader of the “definite lent line-drawings supplement the written de- limitations” of his approach (p.75). scriptions and plates. Both the plates and line- VanStone is to be commended for his con- drawings incorporate catalogue numbers allow- tinuing efforts to publish little known but signifi- ing the reader to cross-check with the complete cant collections of ethnographic materials. It catalogue listing also included in the Appendix. may behoped that this excellent monograph will Missing from the descriptive chapter is any stimulate other institutions or individuals with graphic summary of the collection as a whole. To access to important but unpublished collections get a grasp of the quantitative aspect of the col- to make their material public as well lection the reader is forced to grapple with the REFERENCES raw data contained in the Appendix. A simple table representing the eleven use categories, the NELSON, E.W. 1899. The Eskimo about Ber- various classes of implements and their relative ing Strait. Eighteenth annual report, Bureau frequency of occurrence would have alleviated of American Ethnology, Pt. 1. Washington, this problem. D.C. In his third chapter VanStone focuses on the OSWALT, WENDELL H. 1972. The Eskimos potential of the Bruce Collection for assessing of western Alaska. In: Oswalt, Wendell H. the degree of influence of Euro-American con- (ed.). Alaskan Native Material Culture. Uni- tact on Alaskan Eskimo material culture. Fol- versity of Alaska, Fairbanks. lowing Oswalt (1972) he divides the Kotzebue -. 1976. An anthropological analysis of Sound material into four categories, or “clusters food-getting technology. New York: John of material objects” that reflect “the presence or Wiiey and Sons. absence of historical introductions in collections VANSTONE, JAMES, W. 1972. The first Peary of Eskimo material culture and thus serve as a collection of Polar Eskimo material culture. rough measure of technological change” (p.71). Fieldiana: Anthropology 63(2). These categories include items of traditional -. 1976. The Bruce collection of Eskimo Eskimo culture; Eskimo-derived forms manu- material culture from Port Clarence, Alaska. factured on indigenous patterns from imported Fieldiana: Anthropology 67. materials; Westem-derived forms manufactured from local materials but modelling implements James W. Helmer of foreign origin; and direct Western imports. Department of Archaeology The sizable number of western-derived forms University of Calgary found in the Kotzebue Sound Collection leads Calgary, Alberta VanStone to the conclusion that “the process of T2N IN4 material culture change was already well ad- vanced 50 years after the first sustained contact THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF CAPE NOME, in western and northwestern Alaska” (p.73). ALASKA. By JOHNBOCKSTOCE, Philadelphia: The University Museum, 1979. Includes four The author also attempts to assess the relative “technological complexity” of the Bruce Col- appendices. $14.00 U.S. lection. Using Oswalt’s (1976) concepts of “sub- Just east of Nome, Alaska on the Seward sistants” and “technounits”, Vanstone calcu- Peninsula coast lies Cape Nome, a significant lates an index of “complexity” which compares archaeological area with both beach ridge and favourably with the results of a similar analysis middendeposits. Cape Nome sites include mate- conducted on thePort Clarence Collection but is rial from Denbigh Flint Complex-related, Nor- significantly lower than the indexes computed ton, Birnirk, Cape Nome, and modern phases. for other easternand central Eskimo groups, the The Archaeology of Cape Nome, Alaska is a tradi- Caribou Eskimo excepted (Oswalt, 1976). Com- tional monograph that reports excavations by parable results are reported for a comparative author John Bockstoce. Based on Bockstoce’s analysis of ice-hunting harpoons alone. doctoral dissertation work at Oxford, this mono- Chapter Three is perhaps the least satisfactory graph presents data that will interest all students part of this book. The problems that VanStone of Alaskan prehistory. addresses assume that the sample of items con- Summarizing his work in the Preface, Bock- tained in the Bruce Collection is representative stoce notes that although research over thepast 856 REVIEWS 40 years has told us a great deal about cultural economy focused on three resources: salmon, sequences in the Bering Strait region, it has told caribou, and small sea mammals. By the late part us little about what caused these changes and of the Norton phase, between 100and 300 A.D., what the effects of the changes were during diffe- however, salmon probably were no longer avail- rent phases. Three events in particular in- able because cooling climatic conditions had terested Bockstoce: (1) the disappearance of pushed their spawning area farthersouth. When Norton and Ipiutak from the western Alaska inland caribou resources also declined, an coast, (2) the appearance of Birnirk on the Amer- alreadystressed Norton culture disappeared ican side of Bering Strait, and (3) the post- from Cape Nome. Although Norton and Birnirk Birnirk development of three basic economic usually occupied different ecological settings, patterns - general coastal hunting and fishing, the position of Cape Nome between the two large sea mammal hunting, and interior hunting different areas meant that both groups might and fishing. Bockstoce attempts to explain these settle here. Birnirk people came to Cape Nome events in terms of (1) biological and climatolo- between 500 and 700 A.D. Despite the narrowed gical factors, (2) technological innovation, and resource base, they were able to survive because (3) change in hunting strategy and organization. they possessed specialized sea mammal hunting Chapter I introduces the Bering Strait area. technology, particularly dragfloats, that the Bockstoce briefly summarizes the area’s contact Norton people did not have. Later, after lo00 history, but devotes most of the chapter to a A.D. when the resource base again broadened to useful synopsis of previous archaeological work include not only sea mammals, but also caribou, in the area. Chapter I1 focuses more closely on and in some areas, salmon, the Cape Nome peo- Cape Nome, the circumstances that led Bock- ple repopulated the area and used these re- stoce to choose that area for his work, and the sources. In some locations, the broadly-based issues that hewants to address. Bockstoce economy supported large enough populations chose Cape Nome because it is located between and sufficient surplus accumulated so that spe- Bering Strait andNorton Sound, two areaswith cialized, intensive activities suchas whaling different biotic and physical characteristics, so could be successful. that Cape Nome’s archaeological record should The monograph concludes with four appen- reflect human response to change in both areas. dices summarizing the geology of the Cape In excavating at Cape Nome, Bockstoce was Nome-Safety Lagoon area (by David Hopkins), asking three questions: (I) How was Norton describing local raw material sources for lithic adapted to local conditions? (2) How has Norton and ceramic manufacture, listing implements changed over time? (3) Why did it disappear from the sites, anddefining the termsused in the around Bering Strait? The rest of the chapter monograph. In all, Bockstoce’s work is well- describes Seward Peninsula in greater detail, organized and clearly written. Although I found discusses the structureof beach ridge sites mak- a few typographical errors and I would have ing some interesting comparisons to Point Hope preferred a simpler map style, in general the and Cape Krusenstern, and concludes with de- editing and typography are competent and the scriptions of flora, fauna, andethnohistorically graphics are attractive and useful. known settlement locations and house types. Bockstoce’s monograph makes a valuable substantive contribution to Alaskan archaeolo- Chapter 111 constitutes thebulk of the report. gy. If it had been written 20 or 30 years ago, some It begins with a discussion of the different de- researchers undoubtedly would have viewed it posits found at the Cape Nome sites and thefield as an outstanding piece of research. But from a work conducted there between 1969 and 1976. 1980 perspective, it suffers badly from the Rip Following an extremely brief discussion of Van Winklesyndrome; the major recent theore- analytical methods, the rest of the chapter de- tical and methodological developments in scribes the features, organic remains, dating, archaeology have had little impact on Bock- and artifacts for each phase. The descriptions stoce’s work, and as a result, Bockstoce’s re- are well done with appropriate tables, illustra- search does not fulfill its potential. Instead of tions, and references to comparable material. just presenting

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