| NSF Org: |
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 25, 2013 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 25, 2013 |
| Award Number: | 1343147 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Anna Kerttula de Echave
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | July 1, 2013 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2015 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $180,968.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $180,968.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1 PROSPECT ST PROVIDENCE RI US 02912-9100 (401)863-2777 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
providence RI US 02912-9093 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | ASSP-Arctic Social Science |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.078 |
ABSTRACT
This is a RAPID award to complete the research project begun in 2010 to investigate the development of trading relationships among Alaskan Inupiat villages occupied in the late 17th/early 18th century, a time period of particular interest because it straddles the historic/prehistoric occupation boundary. The project concentrates on excavations at the village site of Igliqtiqsiugvigruaq, which was occupied when European explorers first arrived in the region. Importantly, the project will include recovery and analysis of human remains, originally uncovered in 2011 but left unexcavated pending completion of consultations with local Alaska Native communities, as agreed to in the Section 106 Memorandum of Agreement between the National Park Service, the National Science Foundation, and the region's Alaska Native traditional councils and communities and as required under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).
This site is one of the only known proto-historic sites in Northwest Alaska where the preservation and access provides an opportunity to learn about the lifeways of people in the region on the eve of Western contact, a period when European trade items first appeared prior to the arrival of Europeans themselves. In addition, the fact that human remains were present in one of the houses adds additional interest for researchers and local communities. At the request of local Alaska Native communities, the analysis of the human remains will include a paleodietary study by Dr. Peter Ditchfield of the Stable Isotope Laboratory in the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Oxford University Oxford (England) to determine if starvation or nutritional status contributed to the causes of death. Also at the request of local Alaska Native communities, Dr. Dennis O'Rourke, University of Utah, will conduct a DNA analysis of the human remains from the house as part of his larger study of the ancient and modern genetic history of the peoples of Arctic Alaska. The project will complete the geophysical mapping of the area to determine the relationships between the various structures at the site, a study that promises to contribute new technologies and methodologies for conducting non-destructive research of buried human activities. Finally, the project will continue oral historic research on the genealogical and social history of the living descendants associated with the site, a contribution toward developing new methodologies for integrating archaeological and oral historic findings to resolve questions of local interest and historical importance.
This research project is an important opportunity for a scientific team to collaborate with Alaskan Native people to investigate the genetic relationships between their ancestral and descendant families, a collaboration that is unprecedented in Northwest Alaska and has the potential to provide a model for Alaska Native-Scientist-State and Federal Agency cooperation in the future. In addition, working closely with the local communities in the Kobuk Valley region promises to provide a model for how the scientific community can assist Native Village Elders in their on-going attempts to construct local histories that can be passed on to their future generations.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The project examined the lifeways of an Alaskan Eskimo (Inupiat) village at the crucial moment of European contact in the early years of the 19th century. Located in the lower Kobuk River Valley, northwestern Alaska about 60 miles from the coast where Russian explorer Otto von Kotzebue first arrived in 1816, the village of “Swift River” (Igliqtiqsiugvigruaq) was experiencing a period of hunger at the time that appears to have resulted in the death of at least one family. Remains of three individuals, an adult male, an adult female, and a child, were located in the floor of one of the excavated house ruins. These have been the subject of isotopic paleodiet and DNA analyses which indicates that the individuals were members of an American Arctic population (mtDNA haplogroup A2) and, as determined by unusually high levels of nitrogen stable isotopes extracted from the human bone, undergoing severe nutritional stress which, in the absence of available land mammal resources, resulted in a nearly exclusive dependence on fish. The faunal remains support the paleodiet findings in indicating a predominance of fish bones and a near absence of bones of caribou (normally, the primary land mammal resource) in proportions quite unusual in prehistoric and historic sites of the region.
Interestingly, the presence of glass beads and some metal objects clearly shows that the late 18th and early 19th century villagers were already engaged in European or Asian trade networks, likely via cross Bering Strait – even before the arrival of Europeans. This supports historic accounts of the importance of ancient inter-strait trade between native Alaskans, native Asians (especially Chukchi) and Russians, which have heretofore been difficult to demonstrate “on the ground.”
Our archaeological research also included the use of several innovative geophysical survey techniques, which resulted in identifying the presence of otherwise “invisible” features like a large “dog yard” and of an earlier village that had been buried in silts by subsequent river flooding. The technology demonstrates the increasing importance in the use of nondestructive research methods for archaeological research.
Oral historic and ethnographic accounts used to test some of the unusual archaeological findings, such as the presence of underground tunnels connecting many of the ancient houses, greatly enhanced the final interpretive results of the project. The combined use of oral historic and archeological methodologies demonstrates the fruitfulness of such integration.
An additional important result of the research process was an unusually successful degree of cooperation obtained between the U.S. National Park Service, which has jurisdiction over the site within environs of the Kobuk Valley National Park, the Native Traditional Village of Kiana whose ancestors came from the ancient village, and the scientific community which excavated 2 of the ancient houses and recovered the human remains. This cooperation demonstrates that carefully observing Native sensibilities and allowing the Natives to participate fully in setting the research agenda can produce excellent scientific results to the benefit of all.
Last Modified: 08/25/2015
Modified by: Douglas D Anderson
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