Landscape and Environment in the Organization of Aleut Society: Behavioral Responses to Catastrophic Change in Coastal Regions
The lower Alaska Peninsula is one of the most dynamic landscapes on earth. Recent research has resulted in a nearly continuous record of prehistoric Aleut settlement spanning the last 6000 years. Regional changes in the organization of villages, households, economy, and material culture reflect relationships between a dynamic and evolving landscape, climate change, and culture change. This diachronic and synchronic archaeological research on the relationship between catastrophic changes in coastal ecosystems and human responses to those changes includes an excavation program for selected villages on the Morzhovoi Bay/Morzhovoi Lake area of the lower Alaska Peninsula. The data will be used to test a number of hypotheses about the relationships between catastrophic environmental changes on the one hand, and the structure of marine-based economies, social organization, and regional interaction
