Living in remote places can strain the adaptive capacities of human settlers. It can also protect communities from external social, political and economic forces. In this paper, we present an archaeological population history of the Kuril Islands. This string of small volcanic islands on the margins of the Northwest Pacific was occupied by maritime hunting, fishing and gathering communities from the mid-Holocene to recent centuries. We bring together (1) 380 new and previously published archaeological radiocarbon dates, (2) a new paleodemographic model based on a radiocarbon-timestamped temporal frequency distribution of archaeological deposits, (3) recently published paleoclimate trends, and (4) recently published archaeological proxy evidence for changes in the extent of social networks. We demonstrate that, over the last two millennia, inhabitants of the Kuril Islands underwent dramatic demographic fluctuations. Explanations of these fluctuations are considered in the context of environmental hazards, social networks and the emergence of an East Asian “World System”, elucidating the tension between local and external adaptive strategies to social and ecological uncertainty. Results suggest that population resilience to local climate and environmental variability was achieved by virtue of social networks that maintained non-local support in times of crisis. Conversely, the expansion of the East Asian political economy into neighboring regions of the southern margin of the Kuril Islands perhaps in conjunction with exposure to epidemic diseases appears to have undermined the adaptive strategies, resulting in an increase in the vulnerability of Kuril populations to environmental fluctuations.
Fuelwood harvesting is an integral part of the subsistence regime for many Arctic and subarctic peoples. Despite the relative paucity of woody resources in the northern tundra, charred wood fragments recovered from archaeological sites reveal a harvesting practice that is thousands of years old. Indeed, fuelwood gathering is a strategic behaviour involving a complex set of decisions beyond merely harvesting by proximity, as some have proposed. In this research, fuelwood harvesting is modeled within an economic framework. A fuel value index (FVI) is established to quantify the energetic returns of different wood species, and ethnographic interviews with Kodiak Island residents demonstrate the knowledge context that surrounds firewood acquisition. Archaeological charcoal from Kodiak Archipelago sites showcases a flexible, though increasingly selective strategy of fuelwood use by early inhabitants. For 7,500 years, maritime hunter-gatherers in the Gulf of Alaska took advantage of wood patchiness; they used a combination of exotic coniferous species in the form of driftwood and native deciduous trees such as alder to fuel their steam baths, smokehouses, and homes.Le ramassage du bois de feu fait partie intégrante de la subsistance de nombreux peuples arctiques et subarctiques. Malgré la relative rareté des ressources en bois dans la toundra nordique, les fragments de charbon de bois découverts dans des sites archéologiques révèlent que la pratique du ramassage remonte à plusieurs milliers d’années. De fait, le ramassage du bois de feu est un comportement stratégique impliquant un ensemble complexe de décisions allant au-delà de la simple récolte de proximité, comme certains l’ont suggéré. Dans cette recherche, le ramassage du bois de feu est intégré à un modèle économique. Nous avons élaboré un index de valeur énergétique quantifiant différents types de bois, et mené des entrevues ethnographiques avec des résidents de l’archipel de Kodiak, qui montrent le contexte de connaissances relatives à l’acquisition du bois de feu. Les charbons provenant des sites archéologiques de l’archipel de Kodiak illustrent une stratégie d’usage du bois de feu flexible, quoique de plus en plus sélective, par les premiers habitants. Pendant 7500 ans, les chasseurs-cueilleurs maritimes du golfe de l’Alaska ont tiré parti de la distribution irrégulière du bois; ils combinaient des conifères exotiques sous la forme du bois flotté et les feuillus locaux tels que l’aulne pour leurs bains de vapeur, leurs fumoirs et leurs maisons
Toad bones, sometimes occurring in great numbers in pit features and other contexts in Native American village and mound sites in the Appalachian Summit, have been interpreted as evidence that toads were consumed, used for their purportedly hallucinogenic toad venom, placed as ritual deposits, or naturally entrapped/intrusive. A paucity or lack of bones of the head in some contexts is suggestive of decapitation and consumption of toads. Alternatively, bones of the head may be less preservable, recoverable, or identifiable. This study examines toad remains on Appalachian Summit late precontact and contact period sites, reviews previous experimentation, and presents a new experimental study undertaken to identify agencies of accumulation. We propose that toads were regularly consumed and possibly as part of ritualized events associated with village and mound construction. The temporal and geographic restriction of this practice to the Pisgah and Qualla phases of the Appalachian Summit suggests subsistence ethnicity as alluded to in historical accounts.
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