Kodiak Island: The later cultures

Archaeological fieldwork began on Kodiak Island in the 1930s under the ausp ices of the Smithsonian Institution and continues today at an accelerated p ace under local Native organization and other sponsorship. The sequence of several cultural traditions as presently known spans approximately 7000 yea rs and it is anticipated that earlier occupation will be discovered in the islands. The prehistory of Kodiak is delimited by its obligate commitment t o a maritime hunting subsistence economy, accompanied by marine fishing and shore-based harvesting of salmon that enter numerous streams on the island s to spawn, Throughout time there were common economic adjustments to this biotic base and to the temperate but very stormy environment of the region, especially in terms of subsistence and probably also travel and housing. A lthough technology and styles in the several traditions are highly contrast ive, all appear to be outgrowths of their antecedents, except in the case o f the last, the Koniag tradition, for which strong outside influences and p ossible small-scale population movements are proposed. Historically, the 80 00 or more inhabitants of the Kodiak Archipelago were Eskimos, today called Alutiiqs, particularly as defined on the basis of their language; but cult urally they were more a North Pacific entity than stereotypical Eskimos.