The Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic

Edited by T. Max Friesen and Owen K. Mason

Oxford Handbooks

The most comprehensive overview and synthesis ever assembled for the archaeology of the North American Arctic
The only source with detailed coverage of the entire region, including eastern Chukotka, Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland, for all periods
Features over 100 illustrations and maps

The Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic

Edited by T. Max Friesen and Owen K. Mason

Description

The North American Arctic was one of the last regions on Earth to be settled by humans, due to its extreme climate, limited range of resources, and remoteness from populated areas. Despite these factors, it holds a complex and lengthy history relating to Inuit, Iñupiat, Inuvialuit, Yup'ik and Aleut peoples and their ancestors. The artifacts, dwellings, and food remains of these ancient peoples are remarkably well-preserved due to cold temperatures and permafrost, allowing archaeologists to reconstruct their lifeways with great accuracy. Furthermore, the combination of modern Elders' traditional knowledge with the region's high resolution ethnographic record allows past peoples' lives to be reconstructed to a level simply not possible elsewhere. Combined, these factors yield an archaeological record of global significance—the Arctic provides ideal case studies relating to issues as diverse as the impacts of climate change on human societies, the complex process of interaction between indigenous peoples and Europeans, and the dynamic relationships between environment, economy, social organization, and ideology in hunter-gatherer societies.

In the The Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic, each arctic cultural tradition is described in detail, with up-to-date coverage of recent interpretations of all aspects of their lifeways. Additional chapters cover broad themes applicable to the full range of arctic cultures, such as trade, stone tool technology, ancient DNA research, and the relationship between archaeology and modern arctic communities. The resulting volume, written by the region's leading researchers, contains by far the most comprehensive coverage of arctic archaeology ever assembled.

The Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic

Edited by T. Max Friesen and Owen K. Mason

Oxford Handbooks

The Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic
Edited by T. Max Friesen and Owen K. Mason
Archaeology of the North American Arctic: Introduction…T. Max Friesen and Owen K. Mason
Cross-Cutting Themes
Molecular Genetic Evidence for the Origins of North American Populations…Rohina C. Rubicz and Michael H. Crawford
Ancient DNA and Stable Isotopes: Windows on Arctic Prehistory…Justin Tackney, Joan Coltrain, Jennifer Raff, and Dennis O'Rourke
Zooarchaeology and the Reconstruction of Ancient Human-Animal Relationships in the Arctic…Matthew W. Betts
A Critical Resource: Wood Use and Technology in the North American Arctic…Claire Alix
Archaeological Evidence for Transport, Trade and Exchange in the North American Arctic…Jeffrey T. Rasic
Palaeoeskimo Lithic Technology…Pierre M. Desrosiers and Mikkel Sørensen
Arctic Archaeometallurgy…H. Kory Cooper
Archaeology and Native Northerners: The Rise of Community-Based Practice Across the North American Arctic…Natasha Lyons
Western Arctic
First Traces: Late Pleistocene Human Settlement of the Arctic…Ted Goebel and Ben A. Potter
The Origins and Development of Arctic Maritime Adaptations in the Pacific Subarctic…Ben Fitzhugh
First Maritime Cultures of the Aleutians…Richard Davis, Richard Knecht, and Jason Rogers
Maritime Economies of the Central Gulf of Alaska after 4,000 BP…Amy Steffian, Patrick Saltonstall, and Linda Finn Yarborough
Archaeology of the Eastern Aleut Region…Herbert D. G. Maschner
The Denbigh Flint Complex of Northern Alaska…Andrew H. Tremayne and Jeffrey T. Rasic
The Enigmatic Choris and Old Whaling Cultures of the Western Arctic…Christyann M. Darwent and John Darwent
Norton Hunters and Fisherfolk of Southern Alaska…Don E. Dumond
The Old Bering Sea Florescence about Bering Strait…Owen K. Mason
From the Norton Culture to the Ipiutak Cult in northwest Alaska…Owen K. Mason
Ancient Eskimo Cultures of Chukotka…Mikhail M. Bronshtein, Kirill A. Dneprovsky, and Arkady B. Savinetsky
Thule Origins in the Old Bering Sea culture: The Inter-relationship of Punuk and Birnirk cultures…Owen K. Mason
Archaeology of the Late Western Thule/Inupiat in North Alaska (AD 1300-1750)…Anne M. Jensen
Holocene Prehistory of the Northwestern Subarctic…Ben A. Potter
The Precontact History of Subarctic Northwest Canada…Glen MacKay and Thomas D. Andrews
Development of Mackenzie Inuit Culture…Charles Arnold
The Aleutian Tradition: The Last 4000 years…Debra Corbett and Michael Yarborough
Contact and Post-Contact Iñupiat Ethnohistory…Anne M. Jensen and Glenn W. Sheehan
Eastern Arctic
Reconstructing Middle and Late Holocene Paleoclimates of the Eastern Arctic and Greenland…Sarah A. Finkelstein
Pan-Arctic Population Movements: The Early Paleo-Inuit and Thule Inuit Migrations…T. Max Friesen
Pre-Dorset culture…S. Brooke Milne and Robert W. Park
Independence I and Saqqaq: The First Greenlanders…Bjarne Grønnow
Greenlandic Dorset…Jens Fog Jensen
The 'Dorset Problem' Revisited - the Transitional and Early and Middle Dorset Periods in the Eastern Arctic…Karen Ryan
Late Dorset…Martin Appelt, Eric Damkjar, and T. Max Friesen
The Dorset-Thule Transition…Robert W. Park
Classic Thule [Classic Precontact Inuit]…Peter Whitridge
Labrador Inuit: thriving on the periphery of the Inuit world…Susan A. Kaplan and James M. Woollett
Development of Polar Inughuit Culture in the Smith Sound Region…Genevieve M. LeMoine and Christyann M. Darwent
Inuit-European Interactions in Greenland…Hans Christian Gulløv
Thule-Inuit succession in the Central Arctic…Peter Dawson
Archaeology of the Inuit of Southern Labrador and the Quebec Lower North Shore…William W. Fitzhugh

The Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic

Edited by T. Max Friesen and Owen K. Mason

Oxford Handbooks

Author Information

Edited by T. Max Friesen, Professor of Anthropology, University of Toronto, and Edited by Owen K. Mason, Research Affiliate, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research

T. Max Friesen is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto.

Owen K. Mason is a Research Affiliate at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.

Contributors:

Claire Alix, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Thomas D. Andrews, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife
Martin Appelt, National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen
Charles Arnold, Arctic Institute of North America, Calgary
Matthew W. Betts, Canadian Museum of History, Ottawa
Mikhail M. Bronshtein, State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow
Joan Coltrain, University of Utah, Salt Lake City
H. Kory Cooper, Purdue University, West Lafayette
Debra Corbett, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage
Michael H. Crawford, University of Kansas, Lawrence
Eric Damkjar, Alberta Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Edmonton
Christyann M. Darwent, University of California, Davis
John Darwent, University of California, Davis
Richard Davis, Bryn Mawr College
Peter Dawson, University of Calgary
Pierre M. Desrosiers, Avataq Cultural Institute, Montreal
Kirill A. Dneprovsky, State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow
Don E. Dumond, University of Oregon, Eugene
Sarah A. Finkelstein, University of Toronto
Ben Fitzhugh, University of Washington, Seattle
William W. Fitzhugh, Smithsonian Institution, Washington
T. Max Friesen, University of Toronto
Ted Goebel, Texas A&M University, College Station
Bjarne Grønnow, National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen
Hans Christian Gulløv, National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen
Anne M. Jensen, Ukpea?vik Iñupiat Corporation LLC, Barrow
Jens Fog Jensen, National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen
Susan A. Kaplan, Bowdoin College, Brunswick
Richard Knecht, University of Aberdeen
Genevieve M. LeMoine, Bowdoin College, Brunswick
Natasha Lyons, Ursus Heritage Consulting, Coldstream
Glen MacKay, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife
Herbert D. G. Maschner, Idaho State University, Pocatello
Owen K. Mason, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder
S. Brooke Milne, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg
Dennis O'Rourke, University of Kansas, Lawrence
Robert W. Park, University of Waterloo
Ben A. Potter, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Jeffrey T. Rasic, National Park Service, Fairbanks
Jennifer Raff, University of Kansas, Lawrence
Jason Rogers, Northern Land Use Research Alaska LLC, Fairbanks
Rohina C. Rubicz, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle
Karen Ryan, Canadian Museum of History, Ottawa
Patrick Saltonstall, Alutiiq Museum, Kodiak
Arkady B. Savinetsky, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Glenn W. Sheehan, Barrow Arctic Science Consortium
Mikkel Sørensen, University of Copenhagen
Amy Steffian, Alutiiq Museum, Kodiak
Justin Tackney, University of Utah, Salt Lake City
Andrew H. Tremayne, National Park Service, Anchorage
Peter Whitridge, Memorial University, St. John's
James M. Woollett, Université Laval, Québec
Linda Finn Yarborough, Cultural Resource Consultants LLC, Anchorage
Michael Yarborough, Cultural Resource Consultants LLC, Anchorage

The Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic

Edited by T. Max Friesen and Owen K. Mason

Oxford Handbooks

Reviews and Awards

"The Handbook deserves to become an essential reference for twenty-first-century archaeologists; it belongs in the personal library of any serious scholar of the North American Arctic past and in the libraries of most universities." - Erica Hill, Alaska Journal of Anthropology