An Early Inupiaq Occupation: Observations on a Thule House From Cape Espenberg, Alaska

Abstract

This paper describes and interprets a well-preserved early Thule semi-subterranean dwelling from Cape Espenberg, Alaska. The house architecture is similar in many respects to other early Thule dwellings with a sub-rectangular main room, long sunken entrance tunnel, and associated kitchen area. However, the presence of narrow side benches and associated flooring differences adds significantly to the variability present in Thule house form. Radiocarbon dates indicate occupations spanning 1300 to 1450 cal CE. Wood analysis suggests that the house underwent at least one rebuilding episode, which seems to have extended the house occupation into the early 15th century. People acquired mostly small seals for their subsistence, but supplemented their diets in the spring and fall with migrating birds, fish, terrestrial mammals, and other marine mammals. This house represents a fairly typical early Thule coastal winter occupation, but careful excavation of a well-preserved house reveals interesting details in house form, wood use, and subsistence patterns.

Comparing fill and floor: A taphonomic framework for understanding depositional histories in a semi‐subterranean house in north‐west Alaska

“…The faunal evidence for the floor suggests rapid burial, with low rates of weathering and fragmentation. Wall and roof fall directly above bench and floors, and the presence of all architectural elements supports the interpretation of a rapid burial (Norman et al, , p. 21), as the collapsed house protected the floor material from most taphonomic and post‐depositional processes. The limited evidence for weathering, root etching, fragmentation, rodent bones, and rodent burrows on the floor all support rapid burial and rapid incorporation into the permafrost.…”

“…Seasonality of occupation might be responsible for the lack of fish, a greater number of birds and furbearers, and a smaller percentage of small seals in the fill. The floor material is part of a large semi‐subterranean house assemblage that has evidence for occupation during the cold season (Norman et al, , p. 44). The presence of fish, and evidence for fish cranial and post‐cranial elements, supports the argument that people used the house in the cold season when fish were frozen and brought back whole (Burch, , p. 146).…”

“…This square provides a minimum sample size for comparison of the two contexts (fill n = 886; floor n = 549). The floor assemblage was the focus of other analyses (Norman, ; Norman, Friesen, Alix, O'Rourke, & Mason, ); identifying the entire fill assemblage is beyond the scope of this preliminary research. Future work will be necessary to analyse the horizontal spatial patterns of fill at this feature and compare it with the entire floor assemblage.…”

“…Floor material comes from typical early Thule Inuit structure (also called Point Barrow; Slaughter, ), with a large main room, a long sunken entrance tunnel that works as a cold trap, and an associated kitchen off a front corner (Norman et al, , p. 23). People likely occupied the house during the cold season, although they may have altered the structure to use it in the spring and fall (Norman et al, , p. 28). The floor material remains come from the thin layer between the wall fall and the bench planks and below the bench planks to the floor.…”

“…Radiocarbon assays on caribou bone, deciduous charcoal, and the outer rings of logs place the entire occupation of the Feature 87 depression between 1277 and 1445 calAD (Bronk Ramsey, van der Plicht, & Weninger, ; Norman et al, , p. 21–22). The two dates on caribou bone from the fill fall within this time range and overlap with the seven floor dates.…”