| Summary: | Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2013 This research explores the effects of climate change throughout the Holocene by investigating a multi-component site at Butte Lake, Alaska. This research combines expectations generated from ethnographic models to evaluate site use conditioned by environmental constraints within the theoretical framework of human behavioral ecology. Analysis of lithic materials, faunal remains, and site structure are evaluated to determine site type by occupational component. The results of this research show that a period of low effective moisture during the early Holocene (9000 to 5000 cal BP), as well as a period of both low temperature and increased effective moisture associated with the Neoglacial (3500 to 1500 cal BP) had considerable impacts on the habitability of the site. This research also shows that a period of relatively abundant productivity associated with the Medieval Optimum (1500 to 750 cal BP) may have resulted in extensive trade with, and/or local occupation by Eskimo (Ipiutak/Norton) inhabitants. Most importantly, analysis has shown a sharp distinction between site use associated with the early and middle Holocene occupations, and the specialized and discrete activity loci associated with caribou processing during the late Holocene occupations, likely affected by both climate and water levels at Butte Lake during these respective periods.
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