THE CONTEST BETWEEN THE IPIUTAK, OLD BERING SEA, AND BIRNIRK POLITIESAND THE ORIGIN OF WHALING DURING THE FIRST MILLENNIUM AD ALONG BERINGSTRAIT

Warfare, whaling, and participation in long distance trade intensified in the Bering Strait region 600-1000 A.D. The development of complex social organization involved the control of resource hot spots from co astal promontories and access to iron from distant East Asian centers. Stylistic similarities, recognized as early as the 1920's, provide th e basis to recognize peer polity interaction. Despite >800 excavated b urials from Point Hope, St. Lawrence Island and East Cape (Siberia), o nly a variable data base is available for establishing contemporaneity , the extent of interaction, the functioning of societies and the inte nsity of warfare. Burials do show pronounced internal status differenc es at Point Hope and Ekven/Uelen at East Cape. Radiocarbon ages reveal a disjunct pattern in settlement histories; Cape Krusenstern settled most densely at 400-650 A.D., Point Hope at 400-900 A.D., while Ekven peaked between 800-1200 A.D. and at NW Cape, St. Lawrence Island, popu lation was greatest between 1000 and 1200 A.D. The relationship of Eas t Cape to Point Hope suggests a close alliance that dominated the Beri ng Strait region and controlled access to metal and technological inno vations from East Asia. Physical evidence of warfare in burials is gre ater in the NW Care area, but the extent and contemporaneity of confli ct is uncertain. The Birnirk culture controlled only marginal location s, often in very close proximity to Ipiutak sites. The development of whaling is sporadically documented but appears associated with technol ogical innovations in Old Bering Sea and Birnirk polities while the in fluence of Ipiutak was achieved without a reliance on whaling. (C) 199 8 Academic Press.