The proposed research is to develop a methodology for studying continuity and change in northwestern Alaskan Inupiat culture in response to fluctuations in environment. The study will focus on a comparative analysis of ethnographic and archaeological patterns of subsistence and land-use practices in the Kotzebue Sound region. Climatic analysis will be based in large part on tree-ring studies in the region. The long-range goal is to identify and interpret the archaeological past when conditions were very different from the present. This approach provides insight into the variability of subsistence practices and human adaptation in the Arctic.
