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This article presents the results of a programme of investigation into the enclosed settlements/forts and promontory forts of north-east Scotland, undertaken as part of the Northern Picts project. Reconnaissance excavations are reported on for nine sites: Crathie Point and Durn Hill, northern Aberdeenshire (Banffshire); Barmkyn of North Keig, Hill of Keir, Hill of Christ’s Kirk and Cnoc Cailliche (Wheedlemont), central Aberdeenshire; and Doune of Relugas, Knock of Alves and Wester Tulloch, Moray. Targeted excavation was undertaken at all examples and in the majority of cases produced a basic chronology for key phases of occupation/enclosure at the sites in question. Thirty-two new radiocarbon dates are presented, with a number of sites producing Iron Age dates, but a smaller number also revealing early medieval phases of occupation and use. Canmore ID 17947 Canmore ID 17973 Canmore ID 17701 Canmore ID 19341 Canmore ID 18141 Canmore ID 17215 Canmore ID 15755 Canmore ID 16214 Canmore ID 15766

More than two thousand archaeological grass artifacts dating from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century have been recovered from Nunalleq (GDN-248), an archaeological site located near the village of Quinhagak, southwest Alaska, in eight seasons of fieldwork at the site. This growing collection of basketry and cordage provides unprecedented insights on the use of grass artifacts in precontact Yup’ik households. Permafrost soils have preserved this assemblage astonishingly well, with objects made from grass blades and roots. Here we present the results of a preliminary study of these rarely encountered artifacts, based on the data recorded in the course of conservation work., Plus de 2000 artefacts archéologiques en herbe datant du XVe au XVIIe siècle ont été retrouvés à Nunalleq (GDN-248), un site archéologique situé à proximité du village de Quinhagak, au sud-ouest de l’Alaska, au cours de huit saisons de fouilles archéologiques. Cette collection grandissante de vanneries et cordage apporte un éclairage inédit sur l’utilisation d’artefacts en herbe en contexte domestique pour la période Yup’ik précontact. Le pergélisol a assuré une excellente et incroyable préservation de cet assemblage, contenant des objets fabriqués à partir de brins d’herbe et de racines. Nous présentons ici les résultats d’une étude préliminaire de ces artefacts rarement rencontrés, effectuée à partir des données acquises au cours du travail de conservation.

Birds have been an integral part of traditional Yup’ik lifeways in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, southwest Alaska, both economically and symbolically. From a subsistence point of view, the rich ethnographic record for the region highlights the importance of this resource as a critical seasonal food and a source of raw materials for clothing and tools. Little is known of bird exploitation in precontact Yup’ik society, however, as a result of limited archaeological research in the region, which thus constrains our ability to understand subsistence strategies prior to Euro-American contact. Recent excavations at the Nunalleq site (sixteenth to seventeenth century AD) have yielded a well-preserved avian assemblage that provides the opportunity to explore the use of birds during the late prehistoric period in the region. In this paper, we present the results of our preliminary zooarchaeological and technological analyses of this material. These new data demonstrate that a relatively wide range of taxa were harvested by precontact Yupiit, reflecting their multiple uses of birds. People not only exploited birds for their meat but also targeted specific taxa for the qualities of their skins for making parkas, their feathers as adornments or for fletching arrows, and their bones for making needles and other tools. Though this study shows a certain degree of continuity between precontact and historic Yup’ik subsistence practices, it also highlights a gradual decline in the non-dietary use of birds and the gradual increase in the intake of birds primarily targeted as sources of food in more recent times., Les oiseaux ont été une partie intégrante des modes de vie traditionnels yup’ik dans le Delta du Yukon-Kuskokwim et le sud-ouest de l’Alaska, autant économiquement que symboliquement. Du point de vue de la subsistance, les riches données ethnographiques pour la région montrent l’importance de cette ressource comme un aliment critique saisonnier et une source de matériaux bruts pour la fabrication de vêtements et d’outils. L’exploitation aviaire dans la société yup’ik precontact est cependant peu connue en raison du manque de recherches archéologiques dans la région, ce qui limite notre aptitude à comprendre les stratégies de subsistance avant le contact euro-américain. Des fouilles récentes sur le site de Nunalleq (XVIe-XVIIe siècles après J.C.) ont mis au jour un assemblage aviaire bien préservé procurant l’opportunité d’explorer l’utilisation des oiseaux pendant la période préhistorique tardive dans la région. Dans cet article, nous présentons les résultats de nos analyses archéozoologique et technique préliminaires de ce matériel. Ces nouvelles données indiquent qu’une relativement grande variété d’oiseaux était exploitée par les Yupiit precontacts, reflétant ainsi l’usage diversifié qu’ils en faisaient. Les oiseaux étaient non seulement exploités pour leur viande mais certains taxons étaient également chassés pour la qualité de leurs peaux dans la fabrication de parkas, de leurs plumes comme parure ou pour l’empennage de flèches, ainsi que de leurs os pour la production d’aiguilles et autres outils. Bien que cette étude montre un certain degré de continuité entre les pratiques de subsistance des Yupiit précontact et historiques, elle souligne un déclin graduel dans l’utilisation non-carnée des oiseaux et une croissance progressive, plus récemment, de l’exploitation d’espèces principalement chassées pour la consommation.

Dunnicaer, Aberdeenshire, a now isolated sea stack, is the findspot of five Pictish symbol stones discovered in the nineteenth century. Excavations from 2015 to 2017 have revealed a Roman Iron Age ...

International audience; The reconstruction of diet, subsistence strategies and human-animal relationships are integral to understanding past human societies, adaptations and resilience - especially in the circumpolar Arctic. Even in relatively recent periods, climatic excursions may have posed specific challenges for hunter-gatherer groups living at latitudinal and climatic extremes, and archaeological research in Arctic North America is increasingly looking to better understand the impact of past climate change on human groups. Here, through a unique multi-proxy approach (zooarchaeology, bone technology and stable isotope analysis), we explore human subsistence strategies, adaptation and resilience at Nunalleq, a recently excavated pre-contact Yup'ik coastal site in southwest Alaska. The main phase of occupation of the site (16th-17th centuries AD) corresponds with one of the coolest periods of the Little Ice Age – a climatic interval from the early 14th century through the mid-19th associated with global and more localised cooling events. The analyses reveal a subsistence strategy centred around the exploitation of three major resources, including salmon, marine mammals and caribou, supplemented by secondary resources such as birds and medium-sized mammals. This tripartite resource base (salmon, marine mammals, caribou) is similar to that seen at other Thule-era sites in Alaska and likely permitted a flexibility in resource use in the face of changes in resource availability (and competition over resources) during the Little Ice Age. Comparison of the different datasets, however, reveals variability and nuance in the use of animals for both dietary and broader subsistence needs. While caribou represent a vital and heavily-exploited resource at Nunalleq (evident from both the zooarchaeology and the bone technology), they did not represent a key dietary resource (indicated by stable isotope data). Instead, caribou played an integral and key part as a major source of raw material, especially antler, in order to manufacture the necessary acquisition technology to exploit primary coastal resources.

This article presents the results of a program of radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modeling from the precontact Yup'ik site of Nunalleq (GDN-248) in subarctic southwestern Alaska. Nunalleq is deeply stratified, presenting a robust relative chronological framework of well-defined individual house floors abundant in ecofacts suitable for radiocarbon dating. Capitalizing on this potential, we present the results of one of the first applications of Bayesian statistical modeling of radiocarbon data from an archaeological site in the North American Arctic. Using these methods, we demonstrate that it is possible to generate robust, high-resolution chronological models from Arctic archaeology. Radiocarbon dates, procured prior to the program of dating and modeling presented here, suggested an approximately three-century duration of occupation at the site. The results of Bayesian modeling nuance this interpretation. While it is possible that there may have been activity for almost three centuries (beginning in the late fourteenth century), occupation of the dwelling complex, which dominates the site, was more likely to have endured for no more than a century. The results presented here suggest that the occupation of Nunalleq likely encompassed three generations beginning cal AD 1570–1630 before being curtailed by conflict around cal AD 1645–1675.

Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit adopted local Palaeo-Inuit dogs or introduced a new dog population to the region remains unknown. To test these hypotheses, we generated mitochondrial DNA and geometric morphometric data of skull and dental elements from a total of 922 North American Arctic dogs and wolves spanning over 4500 years. Our analyses revealed that dogs from Inuit sites dating from 2000 BP possess morphological and genetic signatures that distinguish them from earlier Palaeo-Inuit dogs, and identified a novel mitochondrial clade in eastern Siberia and Alaska. The genetic legacy of these Inuit dogs survives today in modern Arctic sledge dogs despite phenotypic differences between archaeological and modern Arctic dogs. Together, our data reveal that Inuit dogs derive from a secondary pre-contact migration of dogs distinct from Palaeo-Inuit dogs, and probably aided the Inuit expansion across the North American Arctic beginning around 1000 BP. Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit adopted local Palaeo-Inuit dogs or introduced a new dog population to the region remains unknown. To test these hypotheses, we generated mitochondrial DNA and geometric morphometric data of skull and dental elements from a total of 922 North American Arctic dogs and wolves spanning over 4500 years. Our analyses revealed that dogs from Inuit sites dating from 2000 BP possess morphological and genetic signatures that distinguish them from earlier Palaeo-Inuit dogs, and identified a novel mitochondrial clade in eastern Siberia and Alaska. The genetic legacy of these Inuit dogs survives today in modern Arctic sledge dogs despite phenotypic differences between archaeological and modern Arctic dogs. Together, our data reveal that Inuit dogs derive from a secondary pre-contact migration of dogs distinct from Palaeo-Inuit dogs, and probably aided the Inuit expansion across the North American Arctic beginning around 1000 BP.

Archaeoentomological research at the precontact site of Nunalleq (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries AD), Southwest Alaska, has identified hundreds of lice and fleas that infested both the human inhabitants of the site and their canine companions. As lice are host specific, staying attached to the host’s hair or fur during the totality of their lifecycle, they are generally considered excellent indicators of activity areas. Fleas, however, are relatively less common in archaeological contexts and, since they are mobile and able to infest several different host species, their potential use in the spatial reconstruction of activities is more limited. At Nunalleq, the study of insects from the most recent archaeological contexts produced very different spatial distribution patterns for human lice, fleas, and dog lice. This article compares these archaeoentomological data with other datasets available for the site (carrion-feeding flies, human hair, fur, coprolites, projectile points, and pieces of clothing) with the aim of establishing the phenomena that produced the distinct spatial distributions observed., À Nunalleq, un site yup’ik précontact (XVIe et XVIIe siècles après J.C.) du sud-ouest de l’Alaska, des centaines de poux et de puces ayant infesté les habitants du site ainsi que leurs chiens ont pu être identifiés. Puisque les poux sont spécifiques à leur hôte, demeurant attachés aux poils ou à la fourrure de celui-ci pendant la totalité de leur cycle de vie, ils sont généralement considérés comme d’excellents indicateurs d’aires d’activités. Les puces sont relativement plus rares en contexte archéologique. Mobiles et capables d’infester plusieurs espèces-hôtes différentes, leur potentiel dans la reconstitution spatiale des activités semble, a priori, plus limité. Or, à Nunalleq, les résultats de l’étude des insectes provenant des contextes archéologiques les plus récents ont produit des schémas de distribution spatiale très différents entre les poux et les puces de l’Homme et également les poux du chien. Cet article compare ces données archéoentomologiques avec d’autres corpus de données disponibles à Nunalleq (mouches nécrophages, cheveux humains, fourrure, coprolithes, pointes lithiques, pièces vestimentaires) dans l’objectif de reconstituer les phénomènes à l’origine de ces distributions spatiales distinctes.