Ethnoarchaeological investigation of the Yup´ik seal poke storage

• Main Author: Frink, Liam
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: NSF Arctic Data Center 2016
• Subjects: Alaska; Arctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18739/a22f7jr5t; https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A22F7JR5T

This proposal seeks funding to conduct ethnoarchaeological research of the Native Alaskan seal poke storage system. The seal poke storage system is a highly innovative and efficient subsistence technique and yet no scholarly research has been devoted it. The primary goal of this study is to document how the pokes and storing facilities are manufactured and used and the health implications of changes in the storage of traditional foods. This is important to better identify and model storage facilities in the archaeological record as well as potential health implications of contemporary storage techniques. Though one of the most important aspects of adaptation in the Arctic is food storage, little attention has been paid to 1) how people store their foods 2) how and why storage techniques and materials change over time, and 3) the health implications of changed storage practices and technology. The seal poke system was an ingenious storage technology whole seal skins wherein dried fish were stored and seal fat was rendered into oil. However, today coastal people often store their oil in plastic buckets. This research will document how the pokes are made and used and the possible effects that traditional storing and processing methods in this region may have had on the quality of foods. To address these issues, this project uses a broad-based methodology, a proven research approach the PI has implemented in Yup´ik communities in southwestern Alaska since 1996, which integrates the collection of field data and in this study medical anthropology and laboratory food analysis. Data will be drawn from research in Tununak, Alaska with Yup´ik women and men who have used this storage system in their lifetimes as a critical subsistence strategy that will be lost after this elder generation. This project will record the building of a seal poke storage facility, 2 seal pokes, monitor the use and contents of the pokes over a 2 year period, and will collect qualitative interview data about the system. The quantitative nutritional evaluation of the seal poke oil will be compared with samples from 3 families who will keep their oil in plastic buckets.