ARCHEOLOGY AND ECOLOGY OF ALASKA — SOLECKI 493 



CONCLUSIONS 



We have briefly explored the relationship of archeology to ecology 

 on the northern slope of Arctic Alaska. The total of the archeolo- 

 gical sites recorded amounted to 217, all of which, with the exception 

 of 17 noted by Thompson ( 1948) , were recorded by the writer (Solecki, 

 1950a, 1950b). This shows that the Arctic interior region is not a 

 barren area for archeological research. The foothills area of the 

 Brooks Kange was especially prolific. There were 75 other occupa- 

 tional features — recent Eskimo hunting sites and other isolated man- 

 made works, such as windbreaks and stone traps. Evidence seems 

 to point to the fact that this region was on the migratory route of 

 Early Man or Paleo-Indian and of mammalian life from Asia into 

 North America in glacial and postglacial times. Counting from the 

 earliest horizons, we have at least four cultures chronologically repre- 

 sented on the north slope: (1) The Folsom or Paleo-Indian cultures, 

 comparatively the oldest known; (2) the polyhedral flint-core and 

 lamellar-flake people (''Mesolithic culture"), represented by finds on 

 two sites; (3) a prehistoric inland culture, presumably Eskimo, which 

 blends into the last of our series ; (4) the historic inland Nunatagmiut 

 Eskimos. There is only one small band of inland north-slope Eskimos 

 left. These are the Killiks, who are faced with possible extinction. 



In following the archeology through a time depth in the inland 

 Arctic, we thread through the ecological enviromnent of the region, 

 embracing related aspects of biological and earth sciences. Con- 

 sidered from an archeological angle, any ecological study must be a 

 dynamic one. In terms of the simplicity of habitat, the Arctic is 

 one of the few places where it is possible to approximate a complete 

 ecological synthesis. In order that the natives might subsist in this 

 region, they had to be hunter-foragers, with a dependence upon her- 

 bivorous prey. The latter were dependent upon the availability of 

 fodder suitable to them, which, in turn, depended upon climatic 

 fluctuations. 



It is hoped that the programs of future archeological research in 

 this region will include in their scope an awareness of the various leads 

 of ecology that we have attempted to utilize. As a problem area, 

 its prehistory is long and challenging, and the understanding of it 

 requires not only a knowledge of man and his works, but his relation- 

 ship to animals, plants, and climate. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

 Baeth, Fbedrik. 



1950. Ecological adaptation and cultural change in archaeology. Amer. 

 Antiquity, vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 338-339. 

 Benedict, Ruth. 



1934. Patterns of culture. New York. 



