Specialized Processing of Aquatic Resources in Prehistoric Alaskan Pottery? A Lipid-Residue Analysis of Ceramic Sherds from the Thule-Period Site of Nunalleq, Alaska
| Autor: | Peter Jordan, Kevin Gibbs, Ana Jorge, Rick Knecht, Kate Britton, Thomas F G Farrell, Oliver E. Craig, Alexandre Lucquin, Karine Taché |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Arctic and Antarctic studies |
| Rok vydání: | 2014 |
| Předmět: |
Cultural Studies
FATTY-ACID OXIDATION ARCHAEOLOGICAL ORIGIN IDENTIFICATION Ecology CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY Aquatic resources Subsistence agriculture Context (language use) COOKING POT Archaeology Subarctic climate COMMODITIES PRODUCTS Prehistory Geography Arctic VESSELS Anthropology Period (geology) ORGANIC RESIDUES Pottery |
| Zdroj: | Arctic Anthropology, 51(1), 86-100. UNIV WISCONSIN PRESS |
| ISSN: | 1933-8139 0066-6939 |
| DOI: | 10.3368/aa.51.1.86 |
| Popis: | Largely missing from the debate surrounding the use of pottery among arctic and sub-arctic hunter-gatherers are site-based biomolecular studies of vessel contents. This study used lipid-residue analysis to elucidate vessel function at Nunalleq (GDN-248), a late Thule-period coastal village site in the Yup’ik area of Western Alaska. In total, 31 pottery sherds and five soil samples were analyzed using gas chromatography and/or gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The ubiquitous presence of aquatic biomarkers in all the pottery sherds suggests that pottery function at the site was directly linked to the use of aquatic resources. This indication of relatively specialized use of pottery at Nunalleq is particularly interesting when considered within the context of the site’s broader subsistence strategies, which included use of both aquatic and terrestrial resources. These findings appear to support a more general association between higher-latitude pottery traditions and the use of aquatic resources, though this topic requires further research. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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