article
A northern Athapaskan environment system in diachronic perspective
western Canadian journal of anthropology • 5 (3-4) • Published In 1975 • Pages: 92-124
By: Holmes, Charles E..
Abstract
Holmes uses a systems theory approach to resconstruct the prehistoric survival strategies of the Athapaskans in the Tanana River drainage in the Alaskan interior. He does this by examining the modern day ecosystem and reviewing the ethnographic data on the Athapaskans in the Tanana River drainage. He then describes several sites in the area, one of which, the Dry Creek site, dates to older than 9000 B.C. In the Tanana River drainage there is a hiatus of several thousand years where it appears people may not have inhabited the valley until the modern biological subsystem became established and the valley reforested. Holmes points out an oddity about the Tanana Valley in that microblade technology persisted there until around A.D. 1000 while it had disappeared around 2500 B.C. elsewhere in Alaska and Canada. Holmes believes the Athapaskan tradition began about 1000 B.C. and lasted until about A.D. 1850.
- Region
- North America
- Sub Region
- Arctic and Subarctic
- Document Type
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- Notes
- Charles E. Holmes
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 119-124)
- LCCN
- 81039011
- LCSH
- Athapaskan Indians--Antiquities