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New Insights from the Dorset Type Site at Alarniq, Northern Foxe Basin, Arctic Canada: Beach Level Chronology and Site Use

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2019

Lesley Howse Open the ORCID record for Lesley Howse [Opens in a new window] ,
James M. Savelle  and
Arthur S. Dyke
Lesley Howse*
Affiliation:
Archaeology Center, University of Toronto, 19 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S2, Canada
James M. Savelle
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, McGill University, 855 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Québec H3A 2T7, Canada
Arthur S. Dyke
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, McGill University, 855 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Québec H3A 2T7, Canada; Department of Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2Canada
*
(lesley.howse@me.com, corresponding author)
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Abstract

In 2008, four decades since Meldgaard's work at Alarniq—the type site for Dorset culture—Savelle and Dyke returned to resurvey the site. Archaeological investigations continued in 2015 and 2017 as part of the Foxe Basin Archaeological Project, when Howse conducted further surveys, excavated six semi-subterranean dwellings and two associated middens, and tested five additional features. The new site map and radiocarbon sequence have significantly changed our understanding of site use and beach-level chronology at Alarniq. The number of dwellings varies across the beach ridges, suggesting populations fluctuated throughout the site's use (2,700–800 cal BP). However, the new radiocarbon analyses also indicate that dwellings between 14.5 and 21.5 m above sea level are the same general age and that paleodemography at Alarniq is less straightforward than suggested by the number of features per beach ridge. It appears that ideal house construction location is a stronger indicator of the placement of winter houses at the site than proximity to the shoreline. We suggest this is largely related to site seasonality. These new data have significant implications for our understanding of current Dorset artifact typologies that have largely been developed using the material Meldgaard recovered at the site.

En nous appuyant sur les précédentes recherches paléodémographiques régionales dans l'aire centrale du bassin de Foxe, nous présentons ici les données des niveaux d'occupation dorsétiens du site-clé d'Alarniq. Le site a de nouveau été prospecté en 2015 et en 2017. Six habitations semi-souterraines et deux dépotoirs associés ont été fouillés et d'autres éléments ont été sondés. L'occupation dorsétienne s’étend sur 5,5 km à travers une succession de paléoplages localisées entre 8 et 24 mètres au-dessus du niveau de la mer. Elle est presque exclusivement composée d'habitations semi-souterraines qui furent vraisemblablement occupées durant la saison froide. La variation quantitative des occupations selon les paléoplages à différentes élévations semblait indiquer jusqu’à maintenant des fluctuations dans l'utilisation du site à travers le temps. Cependant, de nouvelles datations radiométriques indiquent plutôt que les habitations entre 14,5 et 21,5 mètres d'altitude sont en fait approximativement du même âge. Ainsi l'interprétation paléodémographique d'Alarniq n'est pas aussi simple que ce qui avait été suggéré auparavant en calculant le nombre de structures par paléoplages. Nous présentons ici une nouvelle série de dates radiométriques pour Alarniq et discutons du fait que la proximité du rivage comme critère pour l'emplacement idéal de construction ne prédomine pas lorsqu'il s'agit d'occupations hivernales.

Keywords

beach level chronologyDorsetpre-InuitArcticsite useradiocarbonFoxe BasinpaléoplagesDorsétienpré-InuitArctiquel’utilisation du sitedatations radiométriquesdu bassin de Foxe
Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 84 , Issue 3 , July 2019 , pp. 531 - 548
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by the Society for American Archaeology 

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