kodiak island's prehistoric fisheries: human dietary response to climate change and resource...

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Kodiak Island's Prehistoric Fisheries:Human Dietary Response to ClimateChange and Resource AvailabilityCatherine Foster West aa Department of Anthropology , University of Washington ,Seattle, Washington, USAPublished online: 24 Sep 2009.

To cite this article: Catherine Foster West (2009) Kodiak Island's Prehistoric Fisheries: HumanDietary Response to Climate Change and Resource Availability, The Journal of Island and CoastalArchaeology, 4:2, 223-239, DOI: 10.1080/15564890903178432

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Journal of Island & Coastal Archaeology, 4:223–239, 2009Copyright © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1556-4894 print / 1556-1828 onlineDOI: 10.1080/15564890903178432

Kodiak Island’s PrehistoricFisheries: Human DietaryResponse to ClimateChange and ResourceAvailabilityCatherine Foster WestDepartment of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle,

Washington, USA

ABSTRACT

Here I assess the effects of climate change and fluctuating resourceabundanceonprehistoricfisheries in theGulfofAlaskausingzooarchae-ological remains, stable isotope analysis, and salmon abundance data.These lines of evidence are used in the context of foraging theory to testwhether people accommodated climate change and resource fluctuationby transitioning from a riverine to a marine environment. Based oncomparison of these datasets, there is real change in the fishing strategythrough time, but this change cannot be explained by variations in localclimate change or salmon abundance.

Keywords zooarchaeology, stable isotopes, foraging theory, salmon, Alaska

INTRODUCTION

The northeastern Pacific Rim, from northernCalifornia to the Aleutian Islands, has beendescribed as a “Garden of Eden” whereresources were abundant and where hunter-gatherers had unlimited access to this bountyfor thousands of years (Aigner 1976; Erland-son 1994; Fladmark 1975; Laughlin 1975).Such abundance, it was thought, led to the

Received 1 April 2008; accepted 24 June 2009.Address correspondence to Catherine Foster West, Department of Anthropology, University ofWashington, Box 353100, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

development of an intensive fish harvest,large human populations, social complexity,and other features that characterize hunter-gatherers of this region (Fladmark 1975;Laughlin 1975; Matson 1992).

The concept of a Garden of Eden, or astable marine environment, has now beenrefuted, and others have argued that this ideaof superabundance is an oversimplification(Ames 2003; Erlandson 2001; Schalk 1977;

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Catherine Foster West

Suttles 1968; Yesner 1992). Resources in thisregion are known to fluctuate through spaceand time in response to a variety of factors.It has been argued that the abundance andavailability of such resources have reflectedhuman harvest pressure, climate change,oceanic conditions, and a suite of otherinfluences (e.g., Bovy 2007; Butler 2000;Finney et al. 2002).

Most recently, archaeologists have ap-plied foraging theory toassert that thehunter-gatherers in this region would have had toadapt their foraging strategies to changesin resource availability (Butler 2000; Kop-perl 2003; West 2009). Increasingly, zooar-chaeologists employ foraging models drawnfrom evolutionary ecology to examine theeffects of changing resource availability onprehistorichumansubsistence (e.g.,Grayson2001). These models have been used to arguethat both people and climate change havecontributed to changing faunal abundancesin the archaeological record around theworld(Bayham1979;Broughton2002;Butler2000; Cannon 2000; Grayson 2001; Graysonand Delpech 2003; Janetski 1997; Keegan1989; Nagaoka 2002).

While the conclusions drawn from thesestudies are well supported, they can be weak-enedbytwoproblems:1)generally, instudiesofhuman-causedresourcedepression,broad-scale, regional environmental data are usedto eliminate climate as a possible cause ofresourcedepression; and,2) there is agenerallack of information about animal abundanceindependent of the archaeological record.

Here, Alaska’s Kodiak Archipelago isused as a case study to test models of humanforaging using detailed environmental dataand independent evidence of animal abun-dance. In this paper, I use faunal and isotopeanalyses to test the hypothesis that as climateaffected resource availability, people livingin the coastal margin of this region alteredtheir foraging strategies. More specifically, Iaddress the question of whether people inthe Kodiak Archipelago altered their fishingstrategies as fish populations responded tochanges in Late Holocene climate. The studyof prehistoric human foraging strategies is afamiliar theme in both island and continentalarchaeological research, and the effect of

changing resource abundance and climateon these strategies is of wide interest. Whilethe data presented here come from the Ko-diak Archipelago, the models and techniquesdescribed are broadly applicable in variousgeographical contexts where these variablesare thought to have influenced prehistoricsubsistence.

BACKGROUND

Fish played an important economic role inprehistoric cultures along the northeasternPacific Rim and have long been the focus ofanthropological researchinthis region(Ames2003; Butler and Campbell 2004; Cannon1991; Kopperl 2003; Partlow 2000; Suttles1951; West 2009; Yarborough 2000). Pacificsalmon (Oncorhynchus spp.), in particular,have been considered a significant resourcebecause of the large size of salmon runsthat return annually to their natal rivers, therelative ease of harvesting great quantitiesof salmon in the confines of a river usingnets and weirs, their storability and highnutritional value, and their wide availabil-ity. Citing these characteristics, researchershave argued that intense harvest of thisresource was related to the development ofsubsistence and settlement patterns, socialstructure, resource ownership, ritual, andtrade (Ames 2003; Fitzhugh 2003; Matson1992).

Although salmon runs are often large andpredictable, theyfluctuate insizeandproduc-tivity, both temporally and geographically(Beamish et al. 1999; Butler and Campbell2004; Finney et al. 2002; Hare and Francis1995).Historical records for theNorthPacificOcean show significant changes in Pacificsalmon species’ abundance that correlatewith climate change over the last 50 years(Beamish et al. 1999; Francis et al. 1998; Fran-cis and Sibley 1991; Hare and Francis 1995).Finney et al. (2002) have now extendedknowledge of these fluctuations to the last2,200 years using stable isotope records(δ15N) and diatom remains from sediments inAlaskan lakes as proxies for sockeye salmon(Oncorhynchus nerka) abundance (Schmidtet al. 1998; Figure 1). Given the modern

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Kodiak Island’s Prehistoric Fisheries

Figure 1. Fluctuating salmon abundance (δ15N) in Karluk Lake on Kodiak Island. Redrawn fromdata provided by B. Finney (personal communication). For datasets collected in otherKodiak Lakes, see Finney et al. (2002) and Mann et al. (1998).

relationship between climate change andsalmon abundance, and the similarity ofbroad-scale trends among species, this mea-sure is extrapolated for all Pacific salmon.

The prehistoric salmon abundancerecord generated by Finney et al. (2002)strongly suggests that the prehistoric fisherywas faced with substantial shortages (Figure1). Because salmon were often the mostvaluedandutilizedfishwhere theywereavail-able, people had to be able to adapt the focusof the fishery to accommodate these fluctua-tions.Here, Iemployoptimal foragingmodelsto examine the hypothesis that as salmonbecame less available, prehistoric fishersbuffered against this depletion by alteringtheir fishing strategy. I predict that peoplewouldhavechangedtheirprimefishing focusfrom the highly ranked riverine environmentwhere salmon were caught en masse, to afishing strategy that included greater relianceon individually captured fish found in themarineenvironment. If thishypothesiscanbesupported over a significant period of time,

then it can be demonstrated that prehistoricpeople adapted to fluctuations in resourceavailability by switching from a riverine to amarine fishery.

STUDY AREA: THE KODIAKARCHIPELAGO

The Kodiak Archipelago is a series of moun-tainous islands located south of the AlaskaPeninsula in the Gulf of Alaska (Figure 2),andhasaprehistoriccultural sequencebegin-ning about 7500 cal BP and extending untilRussian contact in the eighteenth centuryAD. Kodiak’s prehistoric population devel-oped from small groups of maritime orientedhunter-gatherers in the Ocean Bay phase tosocially complex hunter-gatherers who livedin large, well-established villages during thelaterKachemakandKoniagphases from3500cal BP to Russian contact (Clark 1994, 1997,1998; Fitzhugh 2003).

JOURNAL OF ISLAND & COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY 225

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Karluk River

Kodiak I.

Gulf of Alaska

AlaskaPeninsula

N

Shelik

of Stra

it

Karluk-1

0 10 20 30 40 50 km

Kodiak Archipelago

Alaska

Pacific Ocean

Russia

Bering Sea

Figure 2. Map of the Kodiak Archipelago, showing locations mentioned in the text. Map courtesy ofJennie Deo Shaw and the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository.

As in other areas of the northeasternPacific Rim, fishing was an important part ofKodiak’s prehistoric economy. Nets, weirs,and deep sea fishing gear are found in

archaeological assemblages throughout thisregion, and the presence of smoking pits,storage structures, and upriver settlementsprovide secure evidence for the importance

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of fishing and fish storage (Clark 1997;Saltonstall and Steffian 2006; Steffian et al.2006). Intensive use of fish on Kodiak Is-land began approximately 3500 cal BP andcontinued through the historic period (Clark1970, 1998; Kopperl 2003; Partlow 2000;Saltonstall and Steffian 2006; Steffian et al.2006; West 2009). While a number of ar-chaeologists have argued that there musthave been fluctuations in fish abundance, andtherefore fishing intensity, there have beenno empirical tests of this argument (Fitzhugh2003; Knecht 1995; Kopperl 2003; but seeWest 2009).

METHODS

To test the hypothesis that prehistoric fishersaltered their fishing strategy in responseto changes in salmon abundance and cli-mate change, I employ a combination ofzooarchaeological data, paleoenvironmentalreconstruction generated from the analysis ofarchaeological fish otoliths, and prehistoricsalmon abundance data. These datasets havebeen collected from the Karluk River systemon southwest Kodiak Island (Figure 2). TheKarluk iswellknownfor its largesalmonruns,which have been commercially exploitedsince the early nineteenth century (Roppel1986).

Archaeological Predictions

The faunal data used to test the proposedhypotheses come from the Karluk-1 site atthe mouth of the Karluk River, which wasexcavated in the 1980s by a team from BrynMawr College (note that other publicationsrefer variously to KAR-001, KAR-1, KarlukOne, or New Karluk [Knecht 1995:129]).The deposits at Karluk-1 accumulated over a500-year period, from approximately 550 to500 cal BP until after Russian contact in theeighteenthcentury (Table1).The four-meter-deep excavation at Karluk-1 uncovered aseries of 10 stratified house floors and mid-dens that contained an extraordinary array oforganic artifacts and faunal remains (Jordanand Knecht 1988; Knecht 1995). Field school

students collected the faunal remains asbulk samples from each house floor andmidden. These samples were processed over1/8” mesh, and the fish were identified tothe most specific taxonomic level possible.The results are quantified using the Numberof Identified Specimens (NISP), followingGrayson (1984).

Using the identified fish remains, I haveused optimal foraging models to test forchanges in fishing efficiency based on theenvironments and prey types people choseto exploit through time at Karluk-1 (Kelly1995; Smith 1991; Stephens and Krebs 1986).For prehistoric people living along Kodiak’scoastline and at the Karluk-1 site, there weregenerally two sources of fish: riverine andmarine. Species of Pacific salmon were thefocus of fishing in many northeastern PacificRim rivers, where people used nets or weirsand spears to mass harvest the anadromousfish while they swam up river (Hrdlicka1944). In Kodiak’s marine environment, incontrast, fish were generally taken individ-ually, or two to three at a time (Hrdlicka1944; Knecht 1995). These fish were har-vested on the open water from boats, usinglines and hooks to capture individual Pacificcod (Gadus macrocephalus) and halibut(Hippoglossus stenolepis), as well as walleyepollock (Theragra chalcogramma), green-ling (family Hexagrammidae), sole and floun-der (family Pleuronectidae), sculpin (familyCottidae) and other smaller near-shore fish(Hrdlicka 1944; Kopperl 2003; Mecklenburget al. 2002; Partlow 2000; West 2009).

In the model presented here, the riverinepatch is highest ranked in this environmentbecause salmon were caught in rivers enmasse using nets and weirs (Grayson andCannon 1999; Jones 2004, 2006; Madsenand Schmitt 1998; Smith 1991; Ugan 2005).While individual salmon species cannot beidentified based on their skeletal morphology(Butler 2000:654), Pacific salmon in thisregion average 15 kilograms in weight andseasonal runs can number in the millions(Mecklenburg et al. 2002; Roppel 1986). Themarine patch is ranked second to the riverinepatch because large-bodied, highly rankedfish in the marine patch—Pacific halibutand cod species—were caught in smaller


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numbers and offer less overall return thanmass-harvested salmon. While Pacific codaverage more than 5 kg each, and halibut asmuch as 220 kg, these fish are available onan individual basis and there is no evidencethat nets were used in the open ocean in thisregion (Hrdlicka 1944, 1945; Mecklenburgetal.2002).Throughtime, therefore,aswitchof focus from the riverine to the marineenvironment signals a decrease in foragingefficiency.

For decades, ecologists have used simplequantitative indices to show that the relativeabundance of higher ranked prey to lowerranked prey in an organism’s diet couldindicate the quality of the foraging environ-ment (Wilson1976).These indiceshavebeenmodified by archaeologists for use in analysesof past human foraging efficiency (Bayham1979; Broughton 2002; Butler 2000; Nagaoka2002). To examine changes in riverine andmarine patch use, I employ such an index toassess the relative abundance of riverine tomarine fish through time.

To rank the fish available, identified fishremains were classified by riverine or marineenvironment. The family Salmonidae, whichincludes the Pacific salmon species, is theonly riverine taxonrepresented in theKarluk-1 collection. A variety of marine taxa wereidentified, but most of these are cod speciesof the family Gadidae (Figure 3). The indexused here quantifies the relative abundanceof the family Salmonidae to marine fish ineach stratigraphic layer, and will be referredto as the Salmon Index:

� NISP Salmonidae / (� NISPSalmonidae + � NISP Marine Fish)

The greater the ratio (i.e., as the SalmonIndex approaches 1.0), the greater the con-tribution of higher-ranked, riverine fish to thearchaeological assemblage.

Salmon History

My goal was to test whether changesin this index, or fishing strategy, are drivenby fluctuations in salmon abundance, which

are driven by climate change. Studies offish abundance rarely extend into prehistory,but recent work has employed limnologicaldata to establish salmon abundance estimatesfor the last 2200 years (Finney et al. 2002;Figure 1). Sockeye salmon depend on lakesfor reproduction, and salmon-derived nutri-ents (SDN) accumulate in lake sedimentsas fish carcasses are deposited after spawn-ing. Greater amounts of SDN correspond tohigher δ15N and more zooplankton biomassin these lake sediments, measures of whichare used as a proxy for sockeye salmonabundance in several Alaskan lakes, includ-ing Karluk Lake on Kodiak Island (Finneyet al. 2002; Schmidt et al. 1998). Temporalchanges in these proxies suggest that salmonabundance has fluctuated dramatically overthe past 2,200 years. These fluctuations areinterpretedasa response toclimatechange inthe northeastern Pacific Ocean and the intro-duction of commercial fishing (Finney et al.2002).

Climate History

In the Gulf of Alaska, a variety of paleoen-vironmental reconstructions are available forthe last 500 years, the period when Karluk-1was occupied (Mann et al. 1998). A synthesisof these reconstructions indicates the entireregion was in the depths of the Little IceAge (LIA) during this time. This cooling phe-nomenon is characterized by colder temper-atures, glacial advance, and longer winters(Grove 1988). Based on paleoenvironmentaldata generated around the Gulf of Alaska,however, it is clear that the effects of broad-scale climate and environmental changeshave dramatically different localized effectswithin this region (Calkin et al. 2001; Mannet al. 1998; Wiles et al. 1996). Thus, usinggeneralized or non-local paleoenvironmentalreconstructions in archaeological research inthe Gulf of Alaska is potentially problematic.

Because few paleoenvironmental recon-structions exist for the Kodiak Archipelago,a more fine-grained and localized climaterecord can be produced by sampling sta-ble oxygen isotopes in archaeological fishotoliths or “ear stones” (Devreux 1967).


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Figure 3. NISP of each fish family identified in the Karluk-1 site.

Otoliths are composed of calcium carbonate(CaCO3) in the form of aragonite and grow inseasonally incrementalbands.Theratioof sta-ble oxygen isotopes in otoliths is depositedin equilibrium with the surrounding waterdepending on temperature, and δ18O pro-vides a proxy for environmental conditionsat the time a fish was alive. It is importantto note that other factors—including salin-ity changes and glacial activity—may alsoinfluence the ratio of stable oxygen isotopespresent in ocean waters, although the effectsof these forces on ancient temperature recon-struction are poorly understood (Campana1999). Nevertheless, determining the δ18O ofindividual archaeological otoliths provides adirect connection with the fish populationsand the marine habitats where they lived.

Pacific cod otoliths preserved in the ar-chaeological deposits at Karluk-1 were usedfor this study. Otoliths were identified usingmethods outlined by Morrow (1979). Pacificcod live on or near the ocean bottom, andthey migrate from the nearshore environ-ment to the edge of the continental shelfduring their brief winter migration. BecausePacific cod move only as far as the edgeof the narrow continental shelf during thismigration, their otoliths provide a relativelylocal measure of coastal conditions throughtime (ADFG 1985; Mecklenburg et al. 2002).

In fact, recent tagging data indicate thatPacific cod living off Kodiak Island likely livenear the coast year-round (Dan Urban, per-sonal communication). While Pacific cod willmove in response to environmental changes,they will tolerate temperatures between 2.5and 8.5◦C (ADFG 1985).

One to three otoliths were selected perhouse floor and midden, based on availabilityand condition; 15 otoliths were sampledfor this analysis. The selected otoliths werecleaned in Type II de-ionized, distilled waterin an ultra-violet sonicator, and immersed inCrystal Bond 509 to secure the otoliths toslides (protocol follows Secor et al. 1991;Steve Wischniowski personal communica-tion). Each otolith was sectioned using aBuehler diamond saw fit with a 3.5

′ ′blade,

and summer and winter growth rings wereidentified using the protocol outlined byKimura and Anderl (2005) (Figure 4). Boththe individual summer growth rings andtransects across growth rings were sampledby the author at the Woods Hole Oceano-graphic Institute (WHOI) using a Merchantekmicromilling device with a Leica GZ6 mi-croscope. The carbonate samples were pro-cessed at the WHOI Micropaleontology MassSpecFacility inaFinniganMAT253massspec-trometer system with a Kiel III CarbonateDevice (Ostermann and Curry 2000).

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Figure 4. Cross-section of a magnified Pacific cod (G. macrocephalus) otolith. Dots designate annuli,line represents sampled transect. Photo by C. Johnston and C. F. West.

Figure 5. Salmon Index by stratigraphic layer at Karluk-1 (NISP = 18,762); HF10B is the oldest layerand HF1 is the youngest.


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Figure 6. Results of the otolith analysis (δ18O values) compared to the Salmon Index through timeat Karluk-1. Black diamonds represent Salmon Index and gray squares represent the δ18Ovalues.

RESULTS

As seen in Figure 5, there are several highsand lows in salmon relative abundance in thearchaeological assemblage: after a slight in-crease550–500calBP inhousefloor10, thereis agradualdecrease in salmonthroughhousefloor 8 (520–330 cal BP). After approximately400 cal BP, salmon relative abundance gener-ally increases until the historic period, whenthe record ends. Taphonomic analyses of theKarluk-1 fauna are discussed in detail else-where (West 2009), and sample size, density-mediated destruction, and fragmentation donot appear to be influencing this collectionor changes in the Salmon Index. There is,however, a loose relationship between depo-sitional context (house floor or midden) andthe relative abundance of salmon remains,though salmon relative abundance increasesthrough time in both types of deposits (West2009).

Similarly, the results of the otolith anal-ysis indicate that there have been changesin the marine environment over the last 500

years. The data presented here are based ontransects taken across the growth rings ofeach otolith, and the δ18OVPDB values indicatethe otoliths recorded variable environmentalconditions over this time period. As shown inFigure6, the δ18Ovalues range from0.78� to1.48�, and in three house floors δ18O valuesare higher, meaning ocean conditions wererelatively cooler: house floor 10B at 550–500cal BP (cal AD 1400–1450), house floor 8 at520–330 cal BP (cal AD 1430–1620), and inhouse floor 1 after 280 cal BP (cal AD 1670).There is a potentially warmer period in housefloor 4 at 460–300 cal BP (cal AD 1490–1650).

To assess whether changes seen in theotolith record represent local variations oflarger, broad-scale trends, these data werecompared to glacier and tree ring recordsfrom the Gulf of Alaska based on the cali-brated dates’ median probability (Figure 7;Table 1). As expected, the otolith dataset isslightly different from the other records, butit does correspond to overall cooling andwarming phases during the last 600 years(Barclay et al. 1999; Calkin et al. 2001; Wiles

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Figure 7. Tree ring and glacial chronology for the northern Gulf of Alaska compared to the otolithδ18O values. Hatch marks represent complex glacial advance and retreat record for thesouthern Kenai Mountains. Redrawn from Barclay et al. (1999), Calkin et al. (2001), andMann et al. (1998).

et al. 1996). As shown in Figure 7, glaciersadvanced in the southern Kenai mountainsfrom cal AD 1390 to 1520 (560–430 cal BP)and cooler conditions were recorded by treerings in Prince William Sound approximatelycal AD 1400 (550 cal BP). This is reflected inthe otolith record, which produced relativelyhigher δ18O values during this period. Theotoliths sampled fromtheperiodbetweencalAD 1500 and 1680 (450–270 cal BP) in housefloors 3–7 show slightly lower δ18O values,and a warm period is seen in the Sheridan,Columbia, and western Prince William Soundglacial records before approximately cal AD1600 (350 cal BP). These slightly warmer con-ditions are reflected in the tree ring record

just after cal AD 1600 (350 cal BP). Finally,the Columbia Glacier, Sheridan Glacier, andPrince William Sound and southern KenaiMountains glaciers advanced between cal AD1700 and 1800 (250–150 cal BP) indicatingincreasingly cooler conditions that match thehigh δ18O values seen in the otoliths after calAD 1730 (220 cal BP).

Data Analysis

The expectation is that as climatechanged and salmon abundance fluctuatedduring the Late Holocene, prehistoric fishers


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Figure 8. Comparison of the salmon abundance data (δ15N) and the Salmon Index through time.δ15N values provided by B. Finney (personal communication). Datasets were coordinatedbased on calibrated radiocarbon dates provided by B. Finney (personal communication)and the median calibrated AMS dates produced for the archaeological remains (Table 1).

adapted to these changes by altering theirfishing strategy. I predict that as salmonbecame less available, people would havemoved the focus of the fishery from a riverineto a marine environment. As I have noted,Finney et al. (2002) have inferred chang-ing salmon abundances from δ15N valuesin the Karluk Lake sediments. If δ15N is aproxy for salmon abundance in the Karluksystem, and the Karluk-1 Salmon Index wasdriven by changing salmon abundances, thenthe two measures should be positively andsignificantly correlated. However, as seenin Figures 8 and 9, there is both a weakgraphical andstatistical relationshipbetweenthese datasets (r = 0.37, p > .23), so it doesnot appear that salmon abundance is drivingthe Salmon Index. Combined with a lackof change in δ15N during the time Karluk-1was occupied (Figure 8), there is no supportfor the hypothesis that salmon abundanceinfluenced fishing strategies at Karluk-1.

As described above, changes in localclimate can be interpreted from the ratio ofoxygen isotopes, or δ18O, in fish otoliths.If local climate change influenced fishingstrategy at Karluk-1, then changes in the

isotope values should also be significantlycorrelated with changes in the Salmon Index.A poor linear relationship exists betweenthe two measures (r = 0.03, p > .94),and it is not obvious that environmentalconditionsreflected in theotolithsaredrivingfishing strategies at the site (Figures 6 and10).

Despite the lack of correlation with thesalmon abundance record and paleoenviron-mental data, chi-square (χ2) tests indicatethat there is a significant difference in theproportion of salmon to cod in all adjacenthouse floors (P(χ2 > 4118.5) = 0.001; West2009).Thisstatisticaldifference implies thereis real change through time in the fish re-mainsatKarluk-1basedonzooarchaeologicalanalysis, but these have not been explainedby salmon abundance or local environmentalchange.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The Late Holocene was a period of rapidclimate change in the northeastern PacificOcean, which influenced the abundance

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Figure 9. Regression comparing the Salmon Index to salmon abundance (δ15N). R = 0.37, p > .23indicates an insignificant relationship.

of salmon in the Gulf of Alaska (Finneyet al. 2002; Mann et al. 1998). The goalof my research was to test whether humanfishing strategies were influenced by these

changes, using zooarchaeological remainsand stable isotopic analysis of fish otolithscollected from the Karluk River system onKodiak Island. The results indicate that while

Figure 10. Regression comparing the Salmon Index to the otolith data (δ18O). R = 0.03, p > .94indicates an insignificant relationship.


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changes in fishing strategies through time arereflected in the archaeological deposits at theKarluk-1site, thetypesoffishcaughtwerenotinfluenced by the abundance of salmon in theKarluk River or by local marine conditions.

There are several possible methodolog-ical explanations relevant to faunal and for-aging studies in island environments thatshould be explored in future research. Forexample, the foraging model presented herepredicts that people on Kodiak respondedto changes in climate and salmon availabilityby turning to marine fish resources. Thisprediction was not met, and it is possible thatpeople turned to non-fish resources, such assea mammals, that were not included in thismodel (e.g., Nagaoka 2002). The model maybe complicated by the use of relative valuesin the Salmon Index as well (Grayson 1984).Given that salmon abundance in the KarlukRiver was consistent during the LIA (Finneyet al. 2002) and the poor correlation betweensalmon abundance and the Salmon Index,this relative measure may mask variability inthe other fish taxa and should be explored(Grayson 1984). Lastly, while the Pacific codotoliths recorded prehistoric marine condi-tions, this paleotemperature measure—liketree rings or glacial records—is a proxymeasure for the environmental conditionsexperienced by Pacific salmon and may notbe adequate for explaining in detail howsalmon respond to climate changes.

In addition to methodological consid-erations, cultural changes may explain thevariation in fish relative abundance seen atKarluk-1. Given that neither climate changenor resource abundance influenced fishingstrategy in this case, the data presentedhere reinforce the complexity of prehistoricforaging activities on islands and in other en-vironmental contexts. Dietary preferences,the role of marine fishing late in prehistory,and developments in fishing technology andstorage could contribute to the results seenhere and in other foraging studies. Finally,changes late intheKarluk-1 faunal recordmaybe due to Russian settlement in the KodiakArchipelago, and such changes are poten-tially useful for understanding the social andeconomiceffectsofEuropeanexpansion intoisland environments.

In the future, the results presented herewill be examined more carefully in thecontext of cultural changes in the late phaseof Kodiak prehistory, including the role ofthe cod fishery and fish storage, the influenceof Russian contact on Alutiiq fishing strate-gies, and comparisons with other relevantfaunal and paleoenvironmental datasets fromKodiak and the greater Gulf of Alaska.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank Donald Grayson, Christina Giovas,Michelle LeFebvre, Kristine Bovy, and ananonymous reviewer for their comments.This research is supported by the PrinceWilliam Sound Oil Spill Recovery Insti-tute and the National Science Foundation.Thanks also to Bruce Finney, Koniag, Inc.,the Alutiiq Museum and ArchaeologicalRepository, the University of WisconsinZoologicalMuseum, theUniversityofWash-ington Fish Collection, the National OceanSciences AMS facility, the Woods HoleOceanographic Institute Micropaleontol-ogy Mass Spec Facility, Chris Johnston ofthe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-ministration,andSteveWischniowskiof theInternational Pacific Halibut Commission.

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kodiak island's prehistoric fisheries: human dietary response to climate change and resource...

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