Who Lived in this House? : A Study of Koyukuk River Semisubterranean Houses : Koyukon, Athapaskan, Athabascan, Dene, Inupiat, Eskimo

The Northwestern Interior Of Alaska Is One Of The Few Areas Where Inuit And Indian Cultures Interacted Amicably And Shared Many Cultural Traits. Until Comparatively Recent Times, Both The Inupiat Eskimos And The Koyukon Athapaskan Indians Spent The Winter In Wooden Semisubterranean Houses. For The Archaeologist Who Excavates One Of These Structures, The Shared Traditions Pose A Difficult Question: Who Lived In This House? Three Such House Excavations In The Koyukuk River Valley Provide The Basis For This Fascinating Study Of Ethnic Identity And Ethnoarchaeology Along The Inupiat-koyukon Cultural Interface.--book Jacket. By A. Mcfadyen Clark. Based On The Author's Thesis (ph. D.)--university Of Wisconsin-madison, 1995. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [222]-236). Abstract In French. This publication presents findings of an ethnoarchaeological investigation of three 19th-century semi-subterranean houses which occupied three small winter village sites near the Arctic Circle in an Athapaskan/Inupiat interface region of the Koyukuk River in Alaska. Comprehensive information is provided on house construction, with an analysis of contents & their locations on the living floors, as well as of human behaviours associated with the construction, occupation, & utilization of space within the houses. A comparison of these houses with those from other regions of Alaska & the Yukon demonstrates what they have in common with late prehistoric Kobuk houses. Faunal remains from the sites are also reviewed as possible indicators of differences in the ethnicity of house residents