Late Prehistoric Cultural Dynamics and Parameters of Subsistence at Wales, Alaska

University Of Alaska Anchorage Campus, Anchorage AK

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal by Dr. Roger Harritt of the University of Alaska, ENRI, is to complete the excavations of the multiple sites at Wales, Alaska. These sites have been severely damaged by subsistence digging and erosion. The proposed project is multifaceted in using history, ethnography, archaeology and faunal analysis to get a complete picture of pre-contact Inuit life-ways from 1700-200 BP. In addition, the research hopes to shed light on the prehistoric cultural complexes of the region. The PI has done outreach into the community and has strong community support, including hiring Wales residents to build community out reach project, as well as including Wales students and other residents in the actual research analyses and the excavations of the sites in their community.