Open passage ethno-archaeology of skin boats and indigeneous maritime mobility of North-American Arctic
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
Anichtchenko, Evguenia V.
Open passage ethno-archaeology of skin boats and indigeneous maritime mobility of North-American Arctic. 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
open passage ethno archaeology skin boat maritime mobility north_american arctic examination prehistoric maritime mobility arctic region north_america ethno archaeological_analysis skin boat coastline skin boat tradition arctic zone arguably among expansive watercraft technology world date despite considerable material_record generate geographically chronologically extend use potential record contain arctic maritime mobility skin boat datasets rarely_consider scholarly discussion prehistoric exchange population_movement study aim close gap focus skin boat record key dataset assess scale nature_significance maritime mobility north_american arctic analysis particular regional trend cross regional_pattern base review three_case_study moving west_east review start region particular_focus site lawrence island maritime mobility sea region assess archaeological assembly site near