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URI [dataset] UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Centre for Maritime Archaeology OPEN PASSAGE: ETHNO-ARCHAEOLOGY OF SKIN BOATS AND INDIGENEOUS MARITIME MOBILITY OF NORTH-AMERICAN ARCTIC by Evguenia V. Anichtchenko Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2016 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Archaeology Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy OPEN PASSAGE: ETHNO-ARCHAEOLOGY OF SKIN BOATS AND INDIGENEOUS MARITIME MOBILITY OF NORTH-AMERICAN ARCTIC Evguenia V. Anichtchenko This thesis is an examination of prehistoric maritime mobility in the Arctic regions of North America through the ethno-archaeological analysis of skin boats. Covering over 100,000 km of coastline, the skin boat traditions of the Arctic and Subarctic zones are arguably among the most expansive watercraft technologies in the world, dating back at least 10,000 years. Despite the considerable material record generated by this geographically and chronologically extended use, and the potential this record contains for understanding Arctic maritime mobility, skin boat datasets are rarely considered in scholarly discussions on prehistoric exchanges and population movement. This study aims at closing this gap by focusing on the skin boat record as a key dataset for assessing the scale, nature and significance of maritime mobility in the North-American Arctic. The analysis of particular regional trends and cross-regional patterns is based on review of three case studies. Moving west to east this review starts in the Bering Strait region with a particular focus on the Kukulik site on St. Lawrence Island. Maritime mobility in the Chukchi Sea region is assessed through the archaeological assembly of the Birnirk site near Point Barrow, Alaska. The third case study is focused on the Qariaraqyuk site on Somerset Island, extending the geography of the research to the Central Canadian Arctic. Individual boat parts and the information they provide for reconstructing complete watercraft are analyzed along with the boat fragment frequency and spatial distribution. This provides understanding of the statistical and social makeup of seafaring in Arctic North America, of the logistics of maritime mobility, of the larger scale cross-regional and chronological patterns of skin boat design and use, and, ultimately, of the role of seafaring in constructing cultural landscapes of the prehistoric Arctic. Table of Contents Table of Contents i List of Tables v List of Figures vii DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP.......................................................................................xv Acknowledgements........................................................................................................xvii Definitions and Abbreviations.........................................................................................xix Chapter 1: Introduction. Arctic maritime mobility and skin boats ............................1 1.1. Arctic maritime mobility.........................................................................................1 1.2. Skin boats: definition and terminology.................................................................4 1.3. Boats as proxy for the study of Arctic mobility and central research questions....................................................................................8 1.4. Thesis organization .............................................................................................11 Chapter 2: Environmental and cultural settings ..................................................... 15 2.1. Defining the North-American Arctic......................................................................15 2.2. Arctic Ocean..........................................................................................................18 2.3. Fauna and Flora.....................................................................................................21 2.4. Climate history and paleogeography: last glacial maximum to present...............27 2.5. Cultural chronology overview...............................................................................29 Chapter 3: Consider the skin boat: review of literature and previous research........35 3.1. Overview of ethnographic research.....................................................................35 3.2. Archaeological inquiry.........................................................................................43 3.3. Skin boat research: themes and trends................................................................51 3.3.1. Typology.....................................................................................................52 3.3.2. Origins and evolution.................................................................................58 3.4. Beyond typology and diffusion............................................................................64 Chapter 4: Theory and methodology......................................................................67 4.1 The scholarly record and indigenous narratives..................................................67 4.2 Moving through space: mobility, environment, cognition..................................68 4.3. Moving in a skin boat...........................................................................................78 i 4.4. Research strategies and case studied definitions................................................83 4.5. Working with archaeological dataset..................................................................86 4.6. Working with ethnographic dataset....................................................................93 Chapter 5: Skin boat practices of the North-American Arctic..................................97 5.1 Skin boat use and ownership...............................................................................97 5.2. Material procurement and construction............................................................100 5.3. Performance, maintenance, storage, recycling..................................................110 5.4. Journeys..............................................................................................................114 5.5. Ceremonialism....................................................................................................115 5.6. Meaning of boats................................................................................................121 Chapter 6: Bering Strait case study, St. Lawrence Island: range of seafaring ........123 6.1. Bering Strait region and inter-continental maritime mobility.............................123 6.2. Ethnographic horizon..........................................................................................127 6.3. Archaeological horizon........................................................................................139 6.4. Kukulik site excavation history...........................................................................148 6.5. Site description and dating................................................................................151 6.6. Boat data spatial distribution............................................................................154 6. 7. Kukulik miniatures.............................................................................................156 6.8. Kukulik paddles..................................................................................................163 6.9. St. Lawrence Island umiaks according to archaeological data..........................165 6.10. St. Lawrence kayaks based on archaeological data...........................................174 6.11. Conclusion..........................................................................................................185 Chapter 7: Chukchi Sea case study, Birnirk: skin boat technology and territorial expansion ............................................................................187 7.1. Chukchi Sea in the context of the North American Arctic...................................187 7.2. Ethnographic horizon..........................................................................................189 7.3. Archaeological horizon........................................................................................204 7.4. Birnirk site excavation history.............................................................................209 7.5. Site description....................................................................................................210 7.6. Boat data spatial distribution..............................................................................211