PALEOENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION IN THE KODIAK ARCHIPELAGO: AN APPLICATION FROM ARCTIC ARCHAEOLOGY

The archaeological record in the Kodiak archipelago, Alaska reveals a 7500-year occupation by hunter-gatherer groups, which became increasingly socially and politically complex through time. Researchers working with artifacts, settlement patterns, and faunal remains have made explanations about this culture change based on climate; however, the climate record for the archipelago and larger Gulf of Alaska is generally understood in broad terms. This preliminary study makes use of the oxygen isotope record in Saxidomus gigantea shells, which were recovered from archaeological sites around the archipelago and date from 4000-200 BP. We conducted sequential geochemical analysis on the shells, producing an oxygen record with biweekly resolution. The results are consistent with seasonal changes in fresh water runoff, which have been normalized to test for changes in amplitude through time. The resulting dataset is arrayed against zooarchaeological and regional paleoenvironmental data to clarify localized changes in paleoenvironment that may have influenced prehistoric hunter-gatherer activity.