article

A northern Athapaskan environment system in diachronic perspective

western Canadian journal of anthropology5 (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.
Subjects
Identification
Reviews and critiques
Location
Fauna
Flora
Lithic industries
Weapons
General tools
Chronologies and culture sequences
Cultural stratigraphy
tradition
Proto-Athapaskans
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