Whale Hunting Societies of the Western Arctic: A Regional Integration

该项目致力于生物、生态、社会和气候数据的区域整合，以更好地了解本土捕鲸的起源、发展和动态，以及捕鲸社区如何组织起来应对鲸鱼产品的丰饶，而当捕鲸失败时，鲸鱼产品的匮乏。该项目将解决四个相互关联的总体目标：1)重建过去两千年的气候波动与鲸鱼物种及其数量的关系；2)通过对考古鲸鱼骨骼、最近登陆的鲸鱼和鲸鱼种群特征的研究，确定本地鲸鱼的种类和大小选择；3)捕鲸和社区组织的社会文化变异性研究；4)集中考察史前西伯利亚和阿拉斯加在白令海峡附近的捕鲸团体之间的关系。这项研究考虑到了濒临灭绝的鲸鱼，受到威胁和破坏的考古遗址，以及对历史捕鲸有着最丰富的长期知识的年长的本土捕鲸者。弓头鲸由于数量有限而受到联邦政府的保护，含有鲸骨的沿海考古遗址和捕鲸技术正在迅速受到侵蚀，爱斯基摩人的老年人往往没有机会记录他们对捕鲸及其社会层面的第一手和长期了解。

ABSTRACT OPP-9807051, 9806516 MCCARTNEY, HARRITT UNIV. ARKANSAS, UNIV. ALASKA This project addresses the regional integration of biological, ecological, social, and climatic data for better understanding the origins, development, and dynamics of native whaling and how whaling communities organize themselves to deal with the abundance of whale products when available and their scarcity when whale hunting fails. The project will address four overarching interrelated goals: 1) reconstruction of climate fluctuations over the past two millennia with linkages to whale species and their numbers; 2) determination of native whale selection by species and size through the study of archeological whale bones, recently landed whales, and whale stock characteristics; 3) study of sociocultural variability of whaling and community organization; and 4) a focused examination of relations between prehistoric Siberian and Alaskan whale hunting groups around the Bering Strait. This research takes into account the endangered nature of whales, threatened and damaged archeological sites, and elderly native whalers who have the greatest long-term knowledge about historic whaling. Bowhead whales are federally protected due to their limited numbers, coastal archeological sites that contain whale bones and whale hunting technology are eroding at a rapid rate, and Eskimo elders often die of old age without having an opportunity to record their firsthand and long-term acquaintance with whaling and its social dimensions.