Ancient canids of the Aleutian Islands (new archaeological discoveries from the Islands of Four Mountains)
Abstract We discuss the cultural roles of dog and red fox recovered from Carlisle Island, Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska, within the context of Aleutian ethnographic and zooarchaeological records. Three dog bones were recovered from the Ulyagan archaeological site, Unit 5, in levels that date to...
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/qua.2019.2 2024-09-15T17:36:25+00:00 Ancient canids of the Aleutian Islands (new archaeological discoveries from the Islands of Four Mountains) Vasyukov, Dmitry D. Krylovich, Olga A. West, Dixie L. Hatfield, Virginia Savinetsky, Arkady B. 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/qua.2019.2 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589419000024 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Quaternary Research volume 91, issue 03, page 1028-1044 ISSN 0033-5894 1096-0287 journal-article 2019 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2019.2 2024-07-24T04:02:38Z Abstract We discuss the cultural roles of dog and red fox recovered from Carlisle Island, Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska, within the context of Aleutian ethnographic and zooarchaeological records. Three dog bones were recovered from the Ulyagan archaeological site, Unit 5, in levels that date to AD 1450–1645. Three red fox bones come from the Ulyagan site, Unit 4, in levels that date 460 BC–AD 95. Our analyses show that both red fox and domestic dog date earlier than the contact with Russians and that these canids do not extend west of the Islands of Four Mountains archipelago. Given the rich history of human intervention on the Aleutians ecosystems over the last 250 years, we argue that indigenous red fox inhabited the Islands of the Four Mountains region prior to western contact; however, foxes did not have a pronounced cultural role for prehistoric Aleuts. Domestic dogs accompanied humans in the Aleutians after AD 950, suggesting that these canids might be linked with the Neo-Aleut culture. In the light of Arctic and oceanic cases of human use of dogs considered in the paper, we suggest that dogs might have served as reserve food sources during long trips for people migrating west. Article in Journal/Newspaper aleut Archipelago Alaska Aleutian Islands Cambridge University Press Quaternary Research 91 03 1028 1044 |
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Cambridge University Press |
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English |
description |
Abstract We discuss the cultural roles of dog and red fox recovered from Carlisle Island, Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska, within the context of Aleutian ethnographic and zooarchaeological records. Three dog bones were recovered from the Ulyagan archaeological site, Unit 5, in levels that date to AD 1450–1645. Three red fox bones come from the Ulyagan site, Unit 4, in levels that date 460 BC–AD 95. Our analyses show that both red fox and domestic dog date earlier than the contact with Russians and that these canids do not extend west of the Islands of Four Mountains archipelago. Given the rich history of human intervention on the Aleutians ecosystems over the last 250 years, we argue that indigenous red fox inhabited the Islands of the Four Mountains region prior to western contact; however, foxes did not have a pronounced cultural role for prehistoric Aleuts. Domestic dogs accompanied humans in the Aleutians after AD 950, suggesting that these canids might be linked with the Neo-Aleut culture. In the light of Arctic and oceanic cases of human use of dogs considered in the paper, we suggest that dogs might have served as reserve food sources during long trips for people migrating west. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Vasyukov, Dmitry D. Krylovich, Olga A. West, Dixie L. Hatfield, Virginia Savinetsky, Arkady B. |
spellingShingle |
Vasyukov, Dmitry D. Krylovich, Olga A. West, Dixie L. Hatfield, Virginia Savinetsky, Arkady B. Ancient canids of the Aleutian Islands (new archaeological discoveries from the Islands of Four Mountains) |
author_facet |
Vasyukov, Dmitry D. Krylovich, Olga A. West, Dixie L. Hatfield, Virginia Savinetsky, Arkady B. |
author_sort |
Vasyukov, Dmitry D. |
title |
Ancient canids of the Aleutian Islands (new archaeological discoveries from the Islands of Four Mountains) |
title_short |
Ancient canids of the Aleutian Islands (new archaeological discoveries from the Islands of Four Mountains) |
title_full |
Ancient canids of the Aleutian Islands (new archaeological discoveries from the Islands of Four Mountains) |
title_fullStr |
Ancient canids of the Aleutian Islands (new archaeological discoveries from the Islands of Four Mountains) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ancient canids of the Aleutian Islands (new archaeological discoveries from the Islands of Four Mountains) |
title_sort |
ancient canids of the aleutian islands (new archaeological discoveries from the islands of four mountains) |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/qua.2019.2 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589419000024 |
genre |
aleut Archipelago Alaska Aleutian Islands |
genre_facet |
aleut Archipelago Alaska Aleutian Islands |
op_source |
Quaternary Research volume 91, issue 03, page 1028-1044 ISSN 0033-5894 1096-0287 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2019.2 |
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Quaternary Research |
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91 |
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03 |
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1028 |
op_container_end_page |
1044 |
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1810489474947219456 |