Technological development and culture change on St. Lawrence Island: A functional typology of toggle harpoon heads

Dissertation (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1995Our understanding of the culture history of the Bering Strait region is based on the chronology of St. Lawrence Island toggle harpoon heads proposed by Henry Collins in 1937. Subsequent attempts to develop harpoon head typologies from other parts of the Bering Strait are built on Collins' stylistic classification, which does not account for the full range of variation in St. Lawrence Island harpoon heads. The resulting confusion of harpoon head categories has clouded the interpretation of patterns in the material remains and has perpetuated a unilineal theory of culture change in Bering Strait Eskimo groups. This dissertation critically examines previous investigations and interpretations of archeological sites on St. Lawrence Island and Punuk Island. A contextual analysis of radiocarbon dates from these sites serves to evaluate the currently accepted chronology of occupation. The typology of St. Lawrence Island toggle harpoon heads proposed is based on a structural analysis of the raw materials and a functional analysis of the components of the harpoon head. The concept of functional strategies explains variation in harpoon head styles and gives meaning to the statistical analysis of attribute associations. A series of dendrochronological dates from the Kukulik site is compared with radiocarbon dates from other sites and combined with the harpoon head typology to develop a chronology of St. Lawrence Island occupations. The harpoon head typology reveals the presence of two distinct culture groups co-resident on St. Lawrence Island and the Bering Strait region from approximately 1600 to 1000 cal C-14 B.P. The Old Bering Sea/Birnirk group, associated with a generalized Eskimo subsistence adaptation, was present from 1600 to 1300 cal C-14 B.P. The Okvik/Ipiutak group, focused on sea mammal and whale hunting, is undated on St. Lawrence Island. Based on comparison with date ranges in other Bering Strait sites, the Okvik/Ipiutak group is assumed to be roughly contemporaneous with the Old Bering Sea/Birnirk group. The interaction of these two groups on St. Lawrence Island, interpreted by Collins as the Punuk culture, was present from 1300 to 1000 cal C-14 B.P