Dating and Digging Stratified Archaeology in Circumpolar North America: A View from Nunalleq, Southwestern Alaska
Through the case study of the Thule-era village site of Nunalleq (GDN-248), this paper presents 14C dating results and perspectives on the issues associated with radiocarbon dating stratified archaeological sites in circumpolar North America. The objective was to investigate relative variation in th...
Published in: | ARCTIC |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
The Arctic Institute of North America
2016
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic4599 http://arctic.journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/arctic/index.php/arctic/article/viewFile/4599/4804 |
id |
crarcticinstna:10.14430/arctic4599 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crarcticinstna:10.14430/arctic4599 2024-06-09T07:42:07+00:00 Dating and Digging Stratified Archaeology in Circumpolar North America: A View from Nunalleq, Southwestern Alaska Ledger, Paul M. Forbes, Véronique Masson-MacLean, Edouard Knecht, Richard A. 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic4599 http://arctic.journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/arctic/index.php/arctic/article/viewFile/4599/4804 unknown The Arctic Institute of North America https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ARCTIC volume 69, issue 4, page 378 ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 journal-article 2016 crarcticinstna https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4599 2024-05-14T12:53:42Z Through the case study of the Thule-era village site of Nunalleq (GDN-248), this paper presents 14C dating results and perspectives on the issues associated with radiocarbon dating stratified archaeological sites in circumpolar North America. The objective was to investigate relative variation in the 14C age of ecofacts with the aim of establishing a hierarchy of dating suitability for Nunalleq that could more widely inform 14C sample selection on archaeological sites across the North American sub-Arctic and Arctic and Greenland. Owing to the complexities associated with interpreting and establishing the relative chronology of the deeply stratified sod deposits at Nunalleq, we adopted open-area excavation and single-context recording methods. This approach, we suggest, allowed us to eliminate stratigraphic complexity as a source of variation in 14C measurements and to assess the taphonomic issues associated with dating different ecofacts. In total, 16 samples were submitted for dating, comprising two sets of eight different ecofacts, one from each of two stratigraphically contemporary but spatially discrete contexts. In most instances, the 14C ages of ecofacts were statistically indistinguishable between the two contexts and support the relative chronological relationships established by excavation. Only Elymus arenarius (grass) manufactures and Heleomyzidae (fly) puparia produced different ages in the two contexts, variations that suggest that these items are unreliable dating materials. As noted in previous studies, Phoca sp. (seal) and Oncorhynchus sp. (salmon) bone collagen demonstrated a strong marine reservoir effect (c. 700 14C yr.). Picea sp. (wood chips) were marginally older than seeds from edible berries (Rubus chamaemorus and Empetrum nigrum) and caribou (Rangifer tarandus) bone collagen, which provided the most consistent ages. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Empetrum nigrum Greenland Rangifer tarandus Rubus chamaemorus Thule Alaska Arctic Institute of North America Arctic Greenland ARCTIC 69 4 378 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Arctic Institute of North America |
op_collection_id |
crarcticinstna |
language |
unknown |
description |
Through the case study of the Thule-era village site of Nunalleq (GDN-248), this paper presents 14C dating results and perspectives on the issues associated with radiocarbon dating stratified archaeological sites in circumpolar North America. The objective was to investigate relative variation in the 14C age of ecofacts with the aim of establishing a hierarchy of dating suitability for Nunalleq that could more widely inform 14C sample selection on archaeological sites across the North American sub-Arctic and Arctic and Greenland. Owing to the complexities associated with interpreting and establishing the relative chronology of the deeply stratified sod deposits at Nunalleq, we adopted open-area excavation and single-context recording methods. This approach, we suggest, allowed us to eliminate stratigraphic complexity as a source of variation in 14C measurements and to assess the taphonomic issues associated with dating different ecofacts. In total, 16 samples were submitted for dating, comprising two sets of eight different ecofacts, one from each of two stratigraphically contemporary but spatially discrete contexts. In most instances, the 14C ages of ecofacts were statistically indistinguishable between the two contexts and support the relative chronological relationships established by excavation. Only Elymus arenarius (grass) manufactures and Heleomyzidae (fly) puparia produced different ages in the two contexts, variations that suggest that these items are unreliable dating materials. As noted in previous studies, Phoca sp. (seal) and Oncorhynchus sp. (salmon) bone collagen demonstrated a strong marine reservoir effect (c. 700 14C yr.). Picea sp. (wood chips) were marginally older than seeds from edible berries (Rubus chamaemorus and Empetrum nigrum) and caribou (Rangifer tarandus) bone collagen, which provided the most consistent ages. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ledger, Paul M. Forbes, Véronique Masson-MacLean, Edouard Knecht, Richard A. |
spellingShingle |
Ledger, Paul M. Forbes, Véronique Masson-MacLean, Edouard Knecht, Richard A. Dating and Digging Stratified Archaeology in Circumpolar North America: A View from Nunalleq, Southwestern Alaska |
author_facet |
Ledger, Paul M. Forbes, Véronique Masson-MacLean, Edouard Knecht, Richard A. |
author_sort |
Ledger, Paul M. |
title |
Dating and Digging Stratified Archaeology in Circumpolar North America: A View from Nunalleq, Southwestern Alaska |
title_short |
Dating and Digging Stratified Archaeology in Circumpolar North America: A View from Nunalleq, Southwestern Alaska |
title_full |
Dating and Digging Stratified Archaeology in Circumpolar North America: A View from Nunalleq, Southwestern Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Dating and Digging Stratified Archaeology in Circumpolar North America: A View from Nunalleq, Southwestern Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dating and Digging Stratified Archaeology in Circumpolar North America: A View from Nunalleq, Southwestern Alaska |
title_sort |
dating and digging stratified archaeology in circumpolar north america: a view from nunalleq, southwestern alaska |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic4599 http://arctic.journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/arctic/index.php/arctic/article/viewFile/4599/4804 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Empetrum nigrum Greenland Rangifer tarandus Rubus chamaemorus Thule Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Empetrum nigrum Greenland Rangifer tarandus Rubus chamaemorus Thule Alaska |
op_source |
ARCTIC volume 69, issue 4, page 378 ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4599 |
container_title |
ARCTIC |
container_volume |
69 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
378 |
_version_ |
1801371030689677312 |