At the Foot of the Smoking Mountains: The 2014 Scientific Investigations in the Islands of the Four Mountains

• Main Authors: Hatfield, Virginia, Bruner, Kale, West, Dixie, Savinetsky, Arkady, Krylovich, Olga, Khasanov, Bulat, Vasyukov, Dmitry, Antipushina, Zhanna, Okuno, Mitsuru, Crockford, Susan, Nicolaysen, Kirsten, MacInnes, Breanyn T., Persico, Lyman, Izbekov, Pavel, Bartlett, Thomas, III, Loopesko, Lydia, Fulton, Anne
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: ScholarWorks@CWU 2016
• Subjects: Islands of the Four Mountains; alaska; geology; archaeology; biology; interdisciplinary; Archaeological Anthropology; Unangan; Alaska
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/geological_sciences/139; http://ezp.lib.cwu.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=123067061&site=ehost-live

An interdisciplinary research team conducted archaeological, geological, and biological investigations in the Islands of the Four Mountains, Alaska during the summer of 2014 as part of a three-year project to study long-term geological and ecological patterns and processes with respect to human settlement. Researchers investigated three archaeological sites on Chuginadak Island (SAM-0014, SAM-0016 and SAM-0047) and two archaeological sites on Carlisle Island (AMK-0003 and SAM-0034) as well as peat, tephra, and lava deposition on those islands. These investigations resulted in the delineation of archaeological sites, documentation of geological and cultural stratigraphy, excavation of house-pit features, visual characterization and sampling of potential lithic sources, and documentation of Unangan occupation in the Islands of the Four Mountains from roughly 3,800 years ago to Russian contact.