Three generations under one roof? Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon data from Nunalleq, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

• Published in: American Antiquity
• Main Authors: Ledger, P., Forbes, V., Masson-Maclean, E., Hillerdal, C., Hamilton, W., McManus-Fry, E., Jorge, A., Britton, K., Knecht, R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Arctic; Yukon; Kuskokwim; Subarctic; Yup'ik; Alaska
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0001-AF32-2

This article presents the results of a program of radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modeling from the precontact Yup'ik site of Nunalleq (GDN-248) in subarctic southwestern Alaska. Nunalleq is deeply stratified, presenting a robust relative chronological framework of well-defined individual house floors abundant in ecofacts suitable for radiocarbon dating. Capitalizing on this potential, we present the results of one of the first applications of Bayesian statistical modeling of radiocarbon data from an archaeological site in the North American Arctic. Using these methods, we demonstrate that it is possible to generate robust, high-resolution chronological models from Arctic archaeology. Radiocarbon dates, procured prior to the program of dating and modeling presented here, suggested an approximately three-century duration of occupation at the site. The results of Bayesian modeling nuance this interpretation. While it is possible that there may have been activity for almost three centuries (beginning in the late fourteenth century), occupation of the dwelling complex, which dominates the site, was more likely to have endured for no more than a century. The results presented here suggest that the occupation of Nunalleq likely encompassed three generations beginning cal AD 1570–1630 before being curtailed by conflict around cal AD 1645–1675., En este artículo se presentan los resultados de un programa de datación radiocarbónica y modelización bayesiana del sitio de Nunalleq, un yacimiento Yup'ik pre-contacto en el sudoeste sub-ártico de Alaska. Nunalleq es un yacimiento fuertemente estratificado que presenta una secuencia ocupacional compleja consistente en una serie de pisos de habitación individualizados, todos ellos contenientes abundantes ecofactos susceptibles de ser datados por radiocarbono. Explotando ese potencial, presentamos los resultados de una de las primeras aplicaciones de la modelización estadística bayesiana sobre datos radiocarbónicos para un yacimiento arqueológico del Ártico norteamericano. A ...