A Reexamination of Eskimo-Aleut Prehistory
Don E. Dumond,
Don E. Dumond
University of Oregon
Don E. Dumond is Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403.
Search for more papers by this author
Don E. Dumond,
Don E. Dumond
University of Oregon
Don E. Dumond is Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403.
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Linguistic, biological, and archeological data are reconciled to suggest the following: Northeast Asian peoples, Eskimo-Aleuts, and most Northwest Coast Indians are related through post-Pleistocene ancestors, some of whom were present in the New World before 8000 B.C. Speakers of ancestral Eskimo-Aleut languages probably began to appear in the New World only around 2500 B. C. Entering as two waves that were separated in time, they divided themselves between the present zones of Aleut and Eskimo speech, within each of which later internal population movements created the cultural and linguistic uniformity known historically.
References Cited
- Ackerman, Robert E. 1984 Prehistory of the Asian Eskimo Zone. In Arctic David Damas, ed. Pp. 106–118. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 5. W. T. Sturtevant, gen. ed. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
- Aigner, Jean S. 1978 Activity Zonation in a 4000 Year Old Aleut House. Chaluka Village, Umnak Island, Alaska. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska 19(1): 11–25.
- Aigner, Jean S. 1983a Idaliuk Bay Camp, Umnak Island, Alaska, Circa 4200 B.P. North American Archaeologist 4(2): 89–125.
10.2190/3BUK-QVM2-C1QJ-MHWR Google Scholar
- Aigner, Jean S. 1983b Sandy Beach Bay, Umnak Island, Alaska: A Mid-Holocene Aleut Village Site on the Bering Sea. Alaska Historical Commission, Studies in History, 134 (microfiche). Anchorage: Arctic Environmental Information and Data Center, University of Alaska.
- Aigner, Jean S., William S. Laughlin, and Robert F. Black 1971 Early Racial and Cultural Identifications in Southwestern Alaska. Science 171: 87–88.
- Anderson, Douglas D. 1980 Continuity and Change in the Prehistoric Record from North Alaska. In Alaska Native Culture and History. Y. Kotani and W. B. Workman, eds. Pp. 233–252. Senri Ethnological Series 4. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.
- Anderson, Douglas D. 1984 Prehistory of North Alaska. In Arctic David Damas, ed. Pp. 80–93. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 5. W. T. Sturtevant, gen. ed. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
- Befu, Harumi, and Chester S. Chard 1964 A Prehistoric Maritime Culture of the Okhotsk Sea. American Antiquity 30: 1–18.
- Bergsland, Knut 1959 Aleut Dialects of Atka and Attu. American Philosophical Society, Transactions (n.s.) 49(3).
- Bergsland, Knut 1986 Comparative Eskimo-Aleut Phonology and Lexicon. Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Aikakauskirja (Journal de la Societe Finno-Ougrienne) 80: 65–137.
- Black, Lydia T. 1983 Some Problems in Interpretation of Aleut Prehistory. Arctic Anthropology 29(1): 49–78.
- Brennan, Matthew J., and W. W. Howells 1976 A Craniometric and Linguistic Grouping of Selected North American and Asian Peoples. Manuscript prepared for Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 2. W. T. Sturtevant, gen. ed..
- Carlson, Roy L. 1970 Excavations at Helen Point on Mayne Island. B. C. Studies 6–7: 113–135.
- Clark, Donald W. 1974 The Earliest Prehistoric Cultures of Kodiak Island, Alaska: 1971 Field Work, Preliminary Report. Arctic Anthropology 11(1): 41–46.
- Clark, Donald W. 1979 Ocean Bay: An Early North Pacific Maritime Culture. National Museum of Man (Mercury Series), Archaeological Survey of Canada, Paper 86.
- Clark, Donald W. 1984 Prehistory of the Pacific Eskimo Region. In Arctic David Damas, ed. Pp. 136–148. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 5. W. T. Sturtevant, gen. ed. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
- Collins, Henry B., Jr. 1945 Review of The Anthropology of Kodiak Island and The Aleutian and Commander Islands and Their Inhabitants, by Ales Hrdlička. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 3(4): 355–361.
10.1002/ajpa.1330030411 Google Scholar
- Collins, Henry B., Jr. 1954 Comment on Time Depths of American Linguistic Groupings by Morris Swadesh. American Anthropologist 56(3): 364–372.
- Coxe, William 1780 The Russian Discoveries between Asia and America. London: J. Nichols.
10.5962/bhl.title.6815 Google Scholar
- Crawford, Michael H., and Victoria Bach Enciso Coxe, William 1982 Population Structure of Circumpolar Groups of Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. In Current Developments in Anthropological Genetics, Vol. 2, Ecology and Population Structure. M. H. Crawford and J. H. Mielke, eds. Pp. 51–91. New York: Plenum Press.
10.1007/978-1-4615-6769-1_3 Google Scholar
- Crawford, Michael H., et al. 1981 Population Structure of Alaskan and Siberian Indigenous Communities. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 55: 167–185.
- David Damas, ed. 1984 Arctic. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 5. W. T. Sturtevant, gen. ed. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
- Dumond, Don E. 1965 On Eskaleutian Linguistics, Archaeology, and Prehistory. American Anthropologist 67: 1231–1257.
- Dumond, Don E. 1970 Eskimos and Aleuts. Proceedings of the 8th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences 3: 102–107.
- Dumond, Don E. 1975 Coastal Adaptation and Cultural Change in Alaskan Eskimo Prehistory. In Prehistoric Maritime Adaptations of the Circumpolar Zone. W. Fitzhugh, ed. Pp. 167–180. The Hague: Mouton.
- Dumond, Don E. 1977 The Eskimos and Aleuts. London: Thames and Hudson.
- Dumond, Don E. 1980a The Archeology of Alaska and the Peopling of America. Science 209: 984–991.
- Dumond, Don E. 1980b A Chronology of Native Alaskan Subsistence Systems. In Alaska Native Culture and History. Y. Kotani and W. B. Workman, eds. Pp. 23–48. Senri Ethnological Series 4. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.
- Dumond, Don E. 1981 Archaeology on the Alaska Peninsula: The Naknek Region, 1960–1975. University of Oregon Anthropological Papers, 21.
- Dumond, Don E. 1982 Trends and Traditions in Alaskan Prehistory: The Place of Norton Culture. Arctic Anthropology 19(2): 39–51.
- Dumond, Don E. 1983 Alaska and the Northwest Coast. In Ancient North Americans. J. D. Jennings, ed. Pp. 69–110. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.
- Dumond, Don E. 1984 Prehistory of the Bering Sea Region. In Arctic. David Damas, ed. Pp. 94–105. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 5. W. T. Sturtevant, gen. ed. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
- Dumond, Don E. 1986 Trends and Traditions in Alaskan Prehistory: A New Look at an Old View of the Neo-Eskimo. In Late Prehistoric Development of Alaska's Native People. R. D. Shaw, R. K. Harritt, and D. E. Dumond, eds. Pp. 28–43. Alaska Historical Commission, Studies in History, 190. Anchorage.
10.1016/S0197-0070(86)80091-2 Google Scholar
- Ferrell, Robert E., et al. 1981 The St. Lawrence Island Eskimos: Genetic Variation and Genetic Distance. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 55: 351–358.
- Finnegan, Michael 1974 A Migration Model for Northwest North America. In International Conference on the Prehistory and Paleoecology of Western North American Arctic and Subarctic. S. Raymond and P. Schledermann, eds. Calgary: University of Calgary Archaeological Association.
- Fitzhugh, William W. 1986 Persistence and Change in Art and Ideology in Western Alaskan Eskimo Cultures. In Late Prehistoric Development of Alaska's Native People. R. D. Shaw, R. K. Harritt, D. E. Dumond, eds. Pp. 124–165. Alaska Historical Commission, Studies in History, 190. Anchorage.
- Greenburg, J. H., C. G. Turner II, and S. L. Zegura 1985 Convergence of Evidence for the Peopling of the Americas. Collegium Antropologicum 9(1): 33–42. Zagreb.
- Harp, Elmer, Jr., and David R. Hughes 1968 Five Prehistoric Burials from Port aux Choix, Newfoundland. Polar Notes 8: 1–47.
- Harper, A. B. 1980 Origins and Divergence of Aleuts, Eskimos, and American Indians. Annals of Human Biology 7(6): 547–554.
- Harper, Albert B., and William S. Laughlin 1982 Inquiries into the Peopling of the New World: Development of Ideas and Recent Advances. In A History of American Physical Anthropology. F. Spencer, ed. Pp. 281–304. New York: Academic Press.
- Hrdlička, Aleš 1930 Anthropological Survey in Alaska. Bureau of American Ethnology, 46th Annual Report, 1928–1929. Pp. 19–374. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
- Hrdlička, Aleš 1944 The Anthropology of Kodiak Island. Philadelphia: Wistar Institute.
- Hrdlička, Aleš 1945 The Aleutian and Commander Islands and Their Inhabitants. Philadelphia: Wistar Institute.
- Jordan, Richard H., and Richard A. Knecht 1986 Archaeological Research on Western Kodiak Island, Alaska: The Development of Koniag Culture. In Late Prehistoric Development of Alaska's Native People. R. D. Shaw, R. K. Harritt, D. E. Dumond, eds. Pp. 356–453. Anchorage.
- Krauss, Michael E. 1973 Eskimo-Aleut. In Linguistics in North America. Pp. 796–902. Current Trends in Linguistics, Vol. 10. T. A. Sebeok, ed. The Hague: Mouton.
- Krauss, Michael E. 1979 Na-Dene and Eskimo-Aleut. In The Languages of Native America. L. Campbell and M. Mithun, eds. Pp. 803–901. Austin: University of Texas Press.
- Kruskal, J. B. 1964 Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling: A Numerical Method. Psychometrika 29: 28–42.
10.1007/BF02289694 Google Scholar
- Laughlin, William S. 1951 The Alaska Gateway Viewed from the Aleutian Islands. In Papers on the Physical Anthropology of the American Indian. W. S. Laughlin, ed. Pp. 98–126. New York: Viking Fund.
- Laughlin, William S. 1952 The Aleut-Eskimo Community. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska 1(1): 25–46.
- Laughlin, William S. 1962 Bering Strait to Puget Sound: Dichotomy and Affinity between Eskimo-Aleuts and American Indians. Arctic Institute of North America, Technical Paper 11: 113–125.
- Laughlin, William S. 1963 Eskimos and Aleuts: Their Origins and Evolution. Science 142: 633–644.
- Laughlin, William S. 1975 Aleuts: Ecosystem, Holocene History, and Siberian Origin. Science 189: 507–515.
- Laughlin, William S. 1980 Aleuts: Survivors of the Bering Land Bridge. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
- Laughlin, William S., and W. G. Reeder 1962 Revision of Aleutian Prehistory. Science 137: 856–857.
- Mathiassen, Therkel 1927 Archaeology of the Central Eskimos. Report of the Fifth Thule Expedition, 1921–1924, Vol. 4(1–2). Copenhagen.
- McCartney, Allen P. 1971 A Proposed Western Aleutian Phase in the Near Islands, Alaska. Arctic Anthropology 8(2): 92–142.
- McCartney, Allen P. 1984 Prehistory of the Aleutian Region. In Arctic. David Damas, ed. Pp. 119–135. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 5. W. T. Sturtevant, gen. ed. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
- McGhee, Robert 1976 Parsimony Isn't Everything: An Alternative View of Eskaleutian Linguistics and Prehistory. Canadian Archaeological Association Bulletin 8: 62–81.
- McGhee, Robert 1984 Thule Prehistory of Canada. In Arctic. David Damas, ed. Pp. 369–376. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 5. W. T. Sturtevant, gen. ed. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
- Neumann, Georg K. 1952 Archeology and Race in the American Indian. In Archeology of Eastern United States. J. B. Griffin, ed. Pp. 13–34. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Okada, Hiroaki 1980 Prehistory of the Alaska Peninsula as Seen from the Hot Springs Site, Port Moller. Senri Ethnological Studies 4: 103–112.Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.
- Okada, Hiroaki, et al. 1984 Preliminary Report of the 1980 and 1982 Excavations at Port Moller, Alaska. In The Qaluyarmiut 2. H. Okada, et al. Pp. 1–52. Sapporo: Hokkaido University Department of Behavioral Science.
10.7219/jjses.3.1 Google Scholar
- Oschinsky, Lawrence 1964 The Most Ancient Eskimos: The Eskimo Affinities of Dorset Culture Skeletal Remains. Ottawa: University of Ottawa, Canadian Research Centre for Anthropology.
- Oswalt, Wendell H. 1979 Eskimos and Explorers. San Francisco: Chandler and Sharp.
- Ray, Dorothy Jean 1975 The Eskimos of Bering Strait, 1650–1898. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
- Shaw, Robert D. 1983 The Archaeology of the Manokinak Site: A Study of the Cultural Transition between Late Norton Tradition and Historic Eskimo. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Washington State University. University Microfilms.
- Spuhler, James N. 1979 Genetic Distances, Trees, and Maps of North American Indians. In The First Americans: Origins, Affinities, and Adaptations. W. S. Laughlin and A. B. Harper, eds. Pp. 135–183. New York: Gustav Fischer.
- Swadesh, Morris 1962 Linguistic Relations across Bering Strait. American Anthropologist 64: 1262–1291.
- Swadesh, Morris 1964 Linguistic Overview. In Prehistoric Man in the New World. J.D. Jennings and E. Norbeck, eds. Pp. 527–556. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Swadesh, Morris 1968 Eskimo-Aleut Languages: Encyclopedia Britannica 8: 706–707.
- Szathmary, Emöke J. E. 1981 Genetic Markers in Siberian and Northern North American Populations. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, Yearbook Series 24: 37–93.
10.1002/ajpa.1330240503 Google Scholar
- Szathmary, Emöke J. E., and Nancy S. Ossenberg 1978 Are the Biological Differences between North American Indians and Eskimos Truly Profound Current Anthropology 19: 673–701.
- Turner, Christy G., II 1967 The Dentition of Arctic People. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison. University Microfilms 67–12, 162.
- Turner, Christy G., II 1983 Dental Evidence for the Peopling of the Americas. In Early Man in the New World. R. Shutler, ed. Pp. 147–157. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.
10.1016/0009-2509(83)80145-6 Google Scholar
- Turner, Christy G., II 1985 The Dental Search for Native American Origins. In Out of Asia. R. Kirk and E. Szathmary, eds. Pp. 31–78. Canberra: The Journal of Pacific History.
- Turner, Christy G., II 1986 Dentochronological Separation Estimates for Pacific Rim Populations. Science 232: 1140–1142.
- Voegelin, C. F., and F. M. Voegelin 1966 Map of North American Indian Languages. Publications of the American Ethnological Society, 20.
- West, Frederick Hadleigh 1981 The Archaeology of Beringia. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Woodbury, Anthony C. 1984 Eskimo and Aleut Languages. In Arctic. David Damas, ed. Pp. 49–63. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 5. W. T. Sturtevant, gen. ed. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
- Workman, William B. 1980 Continuity and Change in the Prehistoric Record from Southern Alaska. Senri Ethnological Studies 4: 49–102.Osaka.
- Workman, William B. 1982 Beyond the Southern Frontier: The Norton Culture and the Western Kenai Peninsula. Arctic Anthropology 19(2): 101–122.
- Zegura, Stephen L. 1975 Taxonomic Congruence in Eskimoid Populations. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 43: 271–284.
