Ethnoarchaeological investigation of the Yup'ik seal poke storage system in southwestern Alaska

这是一项关于海豹突击存储系统的民族考古学调查，该系统自史前时代以来就被北极人民用来存储生存资源。海豹突刺储存系统是一种高度创新和高效的生存技术，在整个北极地区都在使用，直到最近才被阿拉斯加西南部沿海的尤皮克人使用。女性会熟练地用海豹的整个皮肤来建造密封的储存容器。他们会把鲸脂、其他鱼和绿色蔬菜放进容器里，然后把容器放进冷水坑里。在里面，鲸脂将变成油，其他内容物将被腌制，并可以成功储存长达五年。然而，今天阿拉斯加当地人将石油储存在塑料桶中，在夏天的炎热中，塑料桶可能会腐烂。这项研究将记录POG是如何制作和使用的，以及该地区传统的储存和加工方法可能对食品质量产生的影响。此外，长期的粮食储存系统是增加人口的一个关键因素，这反过来又可能导致更复杂的社会制度。PI自1996年以来一直在阿拉斯加海岸的村庄工作，并将与尤普尼克年长的妇女和男子(知道如何建造尖刺的最后一代人)合作，重建两个海豹尖刺，并以传统方式储存它们。在两年的时间里，该项目将把海豹戳油的营养成分与那些将油保存在塑料桶中的家庭的样本进行比较。这个项目？现场分析和实验室分析的结合将有助于更好地了解自给食品、健康和改变的技术。关于传统做法和现代做法之间的营养和毒物差异的数据可能会对该地区(和其他地方)的健康和做法产生重大影响，并有望使阿拉斯加土著人民受益。这项调查不仅将提供有关人们如何构建这一特定储存系统的民族考古信息，而且最终将提供可应用于考古记录的信息，并为北极社会复杂性的演变提供洞察。

This is an ethnoarchaelogical investigation into the seal poke storage system that was utilized for storing subsistence resources by Arctic peoples since prehistoric times. The seal poke storage system was a highly innovative and efficient subsistence technique that was used across the Arctic and until just recently by the Yup?ik people of coastal southwestern Alaska. Women would expertly construct the airtight storage container from the whole skin of seals. Inside they would put the blubber, other fish, and greens and place the containers in pits of cool water. Inside the blubber would render into oil and the other contents would marinate and could be successfully stored for up to five years. Today however AlaskaNative people store their oil in plastic buckets, which can go rancid in the summer heat. This research will document how the pokes are made and used and the possible effects that traditional storing and processing methods in this region may have had on the quality of foods. In addition, long term food storage systems are a key element to increasing populations, which in turn can lead to more complex social systems. The PI has worked in villages along the Alaskan coast since 1996 and will collaborate with Yup?ik elder women and men (the last generation to know how to construct the pokes) to reconstruct two seal pokes and store them in the traditional manner. Over a two year period the project will compare the nutritional composition of the seal poke oil with samples from families who will keep their oil in plastic buckets. This projects? combination of field and laboratory analysis will contribute to a finer understanding of subsistence foods, health, and changed technology. The data generated on the nutritional and toxicological differences between traditional and contemporary practices may have significant impact on health and practice in this region (and elsewhere) and promises to benefit Alaskan Native people. This investigation will not only provide ethnoarchaeological information on how people constructed this specific storage system but ultimately information that can be applied to the archaeological record and provide insights into the evolution of social complexity in the Arctic.