Using wood on King Island, Alaska
International audience Ugiuvak, or King Island, off the coast of the Seward Peninsula in the Bering Strait, is among the few Arctic villages with stilt houses in an environment where wood is essentially lacking. In 1899, Edward W. Nelson, describing the island’s architecture, noted that wood was abu...
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ftunivparis1:oai:HAL:hal-01841876v1 2024-04-28T08:10:46+00:00 Using wood on King Island, Alaska Alix, Claire Archéologie des Amériques (ArchAm) Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 2012 https://hal.science/hal-01841876 https://doi.org/10.7202/1015955ar en eng HAL CCSD Universite Laval info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.7202/1015955ar hal-01841876 https://hal.science/hal-01841876 doi:10.7202/1015955ar ISSN: 0701-1008 EISSN: 1708-5268 Etudes inuit. Inuit studies https://hal.science/hal-01841876 Etudes inuit. Inuit studies, 2012, 36 (1), pp.89-112. ⟨10.7202/1015955ar⟩ [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2012 ftunivparis1 https://doi.org/10.7202/1015955ar 2024-04-04T17:27:08Z International audience Ugiuvak, or King Island, off the coast of the Seward Peninsula in the Bering Strait, is among the few Arctic villages with stilt houses in an environment where wood is essentially lacking. In 1899, Edward W. Nelson, describing the island’s architecture, noted that wood was abundant. Today, the contrast is striking between the bareness and steepness of the coast and the extensive use of wood in the village. This article presents information about wood procurement and use as building material on Ugiuvak in the last 300 years based on literature review, on-site observations, and discussions with members of the King Island community. It briefly reviews the origin, circulation, and deposition of driftwood in the Bering Strait region. It then explores the possibility of a relationship in the 19th century between an increase in driftwood availability and the development of stilt architecture on the island, taking into account other wood sources that became available at the time. The last 150 years of occupation of the village were marked by a transition from a solely driftwood-based economy to one where driftwood was first supplemented and then largely replaced by lumber. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Bering Strait Seward Peninsula Alaska Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne: HAL Études/Inuit/Studies 36 1 89 112 |
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Open Polar |
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Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne: HAL |
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ftunivparis1 |
language |
English |
topic |
[SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory |
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[SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory Alix, Claire Using wood on King Island, Alaska |
topic_facet |
[SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory |
description |
International audience Ugiuvak, or King Island, off the coast of the Seward Peninsula in the Bering Strait, is among the few Arctic villages with stilt houses in an environment where wood is essentially lacking. In 1899, Edward W. Nelson, describing the island’s architecture, noted that wood was abundant. Today, the contrast is striking between the bareness and steepness of the coast and the extensive use of wood in the village. This article presents information about wood procurement and use as building material on Ugiuvak in the last 300 years based on literature review, on-site observations, and discussions with members of the King Island community. It briefly reviews the origin, circulation, and deposition of driftwood in the Bering Strait region. It then explores the possibility of a relationship in the 19th century between an increase in driftwood availability and the development of stilt architecture on the island, taking into account other wood sources that became available at the time. The last 150 years of occupation of the village were marked by a transition from a solely driftwood-based economy to one where driftwood was first supplemented and then largely replaced by lumber. |
author2 |
Archéologie des Amériques (ArchAm) Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Alix, Claire |
author_facet |
Alix, Claire |
author_sort |
Alix, Claire |
title |
Using wood on King Island, Alaska |
title_short |
Using wood on King Island, Alaska |
title_full |
Using wood on King Island, Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Using wood on King Island, Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Using wood on King Island, Alaska |
title_sort |
using wood on king island, alaska |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-01841876 https://doi.org/10.7202/1015955ar |
genre |
Arctic Bering Strait Seward Peninsula Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Bering Strait Seward Peninsula Alaska |
op_source |
ISSN: 0701-1008 EISSN: 1708-5268 Etudes inuit. Inuit studies https://hal.science/hal-01841876 Etudes inuit. Inuit studies, 2012, 36 (1), pp.89-112. ⟨10.7202/1015955ar⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.7202/1015955ar hal-01841876 https://hal.science/hal-01841876 doi:10.7202/1015955ar |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7202/1015955ar |
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Études/Inuit/Studies |
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36 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
89 |
op_container_end_page |
112 |
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1797578483422986240 |