Faunal Analysis of Togiak Archaeological and Paleoecological Project: How Ecology Affects Indigenous Subsistence Practices in the Arctic Wetlands

• Main Author: Skinner, Dougless
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: ScholarWorks at University of Montana 2016
• Subjects: Arctic; Sockeye; Togiak Archaeological and Paleoecological project; Yup'ik; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/umcur/2016/326/4; https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/umcur/article/1514/type/native/viewcontent/Faunal_Analysis_of_Togiak_Archaeological_and_Paleoecological_Project_Presentation.pptx

The Togiak Archeological and Paleoecological Project (TAPP) is an initiative to learn about the ancient life-ways of the Yup'ik indigenous peoples of Togiak, Alaska. TAPP is a collaborative project driven by the Togiak community and their interests in understanding and documenting their own past lifeways at the Old Togiak Village. Thirty-five core samples were collected from a series of pre-colonial house structures at the Old Togiak Site in the summer of 2015 and analyzed at the University of Montana. Faunal remains recovered from the cores were examined during this time along with stone tools, botanical remains, pollen, and a variety of other data. The fauna represent just one aspect of the relationship between indigenous tradition subsistence use of animal resources and ecological setting. My research will be based on a combination of faunal analysis and localized Yup'ik perspective. The fauna at the Old Togiak Site range from shellfish; including blue mussel and native little neck clam, to fish; such as char and sockeye salmon, to birds; including snowy owls and mergansers, and mammals; including lemmings and river otters. Analysis includes identification of species, modification such as cooking, cutting, weathering (exposure to surface elements), establishing association with the radiocarbon (14C) dates as well as spatial distribution across the village and the 69 identified semi-subterranean houses. I will use the faunal analysis to create a picture of past environmental possibilities at the Togiak Village over the last thousand years, and seek to understand interactions between the land use and environment. This research is vital to increasing the understanding of indigenous life-ways a in a dynamic ecological environment.