Yakutat Tlingit Sealing Camps: Investigating the Relationship among Language, Indigenous Knowledge, and Glacial Movement

Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The research will use an interdisciplinary approach to 1) establish a chronology of origin for indigenous toponyms (place names) at Yakutat/Disenchantment Bay, Alaska; 2) examine Tlingit linguistic encoding of environmental history; and 3) integrate indigenous and scientific knowledge. Archaeological and geological data will be used to construct a chronological framework for Tlingit toponyms and related oral accounts that refer to seal hunting camps which were occupied in succession during the 900-year retreat of Hubbard Glacier from its late Holocene maximum at the mouth of Yakutat Bay. The camps were used in spring to hunt harbor seals that congregate on glacial floes, and positions of the camps were shifted over time to maintain proximity to the receding glacial front. Toponym(s) referring to each seal camp would have originated at the time of its establishment, a date that can be determined by relocating the camp and conducting archaeological testing and radiocarbon dating. Knowing the ages of these Tlingit toponyms will enhance understanding of their complex linguistic dimensions, which include the incorporation of lexemes denoting environmental processes and the generation of related names (assemblages) to designate proximate geographic features. Seal camp names and other Tlingit toponyms have multiple cultural dimensions, including incorporation into local clan histories. During this exploratory phase of the research, investigators will conduct interviews with knowledgeable Yakutat elders to elicit linguistic, cultural and environmental information related to sealing camps of different ages. Based on locational information from the interviews and preexisting historical and archaeological records they will attempt to relocate all or most of the camps. Few have ever been identified as archaeological sites due to seismic uplift in 1899 that substantially altered shorelines around the bay. Investigators will conduct archaeological testing at rediscovered camps to collect artifact samples and organic material for radiocarbon dating. Should this field reconnaissance prove successful, a full-scale project will be proposed to locate additional camps and to undertake more extensive excavations. Preliminary oral and linguistic data will be assessed, and an expanded effort will be designed.