No description available.

Zugl.: Dresden, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2007 u.d.T.: Olsthoorn, Theodora: Kommunikation mit Menschen einer nicht-schriftlichen Kultur

This dissertation explores the inter-relatedness of lithic technology and human mobility in the ancient central North American Arctic. Palaeo-Eskimo populations inhabited southeastern Victoria Island, Nunavut, discontinuously for over three thousand years. During this time, Palaeo-Eskimo lifeways are believed to have changed significantly in regards to subsistence economy, settlement patterns, interaction patterns, and mobility. One of the most significant changes is a marked decrease in the scale and frequency of human mobility and an increase in the re-occupation of seasonal camps. Palaeo-Eskimo material culture is observed to undergo important changes at the same time; consequently, one wonders what influence(s) mobility may have effected on the form and nature of Palaeo-Eskimo material culture. This work examines the potential influence of human mobility on lithic technology in the Pre-Dorset, Early Dorset, and Middle Dorset periods as evidenced by lithic assemblages from nine archaeological sites and site components in the Iqaluktuuq (Ekalluk River) region of Victoria Island. Over 800 formal tools and 30000 pieces of debitage were examined and analyzed according to two interpretive frameworks: one technological and the other mobility-related. The technological analyses demonstrate that significant changes took place in lithic production and maintenance processes during the Palaeo-Eskimo period. The mobility-related analyses demonstrate that, while many of the changes to lithic technological organization are consistent with expected trends resulting from a decrease in human mobility, not all aspects of Palaeo-Eskimo lithic tool production, maintenance and use appear to have been similarly influenced by this change in mobility.

This dissertation explores the inter-relatedness of lithic technology and human mobility in the ancient central North American Arctic. Palaeo-Eskimo populations inhabited southeastern Victoria Island, Nunavut, discontinuously for over three thousand years. During this time, Palaeo-Eskimo lifeways are believed to have changed significantly in regards to subsistence economy, settlement patterns, interaction patterns, and mobility. One of the most significant changes is a marked decrease in the scale and frequency of human mobility and an increase in the re-occupation of seasonal camps. Palaeo-Eskimo material culture is observed to undergo important changes at the same time; consequently, one wonders what influence(s) mobility may have effected on the form and nature of Palaeo-Eskimo material culture. This work examines the potential influence of human mobility on lithic technology in the Pre-Dorset, Early Dorset, and Middle Dorset periods as evidenced by lithic assemblages from nine archaeological sites and site components in the Iqaluktuuq (Ekalluk River) region of Victoria Island. Over 800 formal tools and 30000 pieces of debitage were examined and analyzed according to two interpretive frameworks: one technological and the other mobility-related. The technological analyses demonstrate that significant changes took place in lithic production and maintenance processes during the Palaeo-Eskimo period. The mobility-related analyses demonstrate that, while many of the changes to lithic technological organization are consistent with expected trends resulting from a decrease in human mobility, not all aspects of Palaeo-Eskimo lithic tool production, maintenance and use appear to have been similarly influenced by this change in mobility.

Western aesthetic convention represents an accrual of inherited societal perspectives on the artist, the artifact and its consumer. A review of its history and the etymology of its terminology discloses a twofold problem. The first aspect concerns the separation of the manufacture of aesthetic objects from their economic raison d'etre. The second involves the categorization of these artifacts into art or craft. This problem is compounded when considering Western judgements on non-Western aesthetics. Inuit handicraft provides an appropriate model to illustrate the fact that present convention and nomenclature prove inadequate in addressing both intra and especially extra-cultural concerns. A broader and more inclusive orientation is needed.

No description available.

No description available.

Den här uppsatsen behandlar gammal DNA från 32 människor från den prehistoriska byn Ekwen belägen in nordöst Asien. Proverna har blivit masskopierade med hjälp av PCR och sekvenserad med FLX pyrosekvensering. Autentiska sekvenser har blivit bedömt genom användningen av PhyloNet och c-statistik och senare anpassad och jämförd med en referens sekvens (CRS). Tydliga C-T, T-C och A-G skador har upptäckts vid nukleotidpositioner vilket visar sig vara utmärkande för just den här populationen.

Free and open source geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial data are readily available to use in spatial-archaeological problem solving. Greater accessibility allows more frequent experimentation with archaeological GIS methodologies. The least cost path (LCP) analysis has been a frequently used method in archaeological GIS. Showing potential mobility patterns between archaeological sites or between sites and resources has been the LCP’s primary objective. The LCP’s major flaw is that is must be calculated between two designated points. A recent terrain analysis of southern Baffin Island has been unable to overcome this flaw, because of the size of the study area and the inability to assume any two points are directly related. Thus, a new GIS method using a ‘watershed’ function has been manipulated to incorporate the cost-surface element of the LCP into a mobility model by generating pathway networks instead of narrow A to B paths. The product is a multitude of potential pathways linking archaeologically dense coastal and interior areas. Portions of these pathways correlate with historic geographic descriptions of Inuit travel routes and with areas where chert toolstone is accessible. Generated with no material cost, this analysis has produced a predictive model to help in future research.

Unangam Tunuu has been recorded since the early days of contact in the mid 1700s; it is the sole representative of the 'Aleut' branch in the Eskimo-Aleut language family, and though it shares certain features with Yupik, Inuktitut and other Eskimo languages, it is distinct and employs a host of unique strategies to convey meaning. In this paper I will give an overview of the language, Unangam Tunuu, and background of the Indigenous people who speak it. I will also give a brief overview of the grammatical category of mood, discuss how mood is traditionally understood to function in European languages, and how it is represented in Unangam Tunuu. I will argue that the category of mood in Unangam Tunuu and the markers which have been glossed as such show many irregularities from what has been traditionally considered mood, and argue that this category needs to be critically re-examined. I will also suggest elicitation plans to assist in testing for mood-marking, specifically the indicative, as well as subjunctive-like or irrealis inflections.