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

这是一个民族考古学调查海豹戳存储系统，用于存储生存资源的北极人民自史前时代。 密封戳存储系统是一种高度创新和有效的生存技术，在整个北极地区使用，直到最近的Yup？阿拉斯加西南部沿海的伊克人。女人们会熟练地用海豹的整个皮肤来建造密封的储存容器。在里面，他们会把鲸脂，其他鱼，和绿色，并把容器放在坑的冷水。鲸脂内部会变成油，其他内容物会被浸泡，可以成功地储存长达五年。然而，今天阿拉斯加土著人把油储存在塑料桶里，在夏天的高温下会变臭。这项研究将记录戳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人口增长的关键因素，这反过来又会导致更复杂的社会系统。 PI自1996年以来一直在阿拉斯加海岸沿着的村庄工作，并将与Yup？我的老年妇女和男子（最后一代知道如何构建戳）重建两个印章戳，并以传统的方式储存它们。在两年的时间里，该项目将把海豹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。这些项目？实地分析和实验室分析相结合将有助于更好地了解生存食品、健康和技术的变化。关于传统和现代做法之间营养和毒理学差异的数据可能对该地区（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种特定存储系统的民族考古学信息，而且最终将提供可应用于考古记录的信息，并提供对北极社会复杂性演变的见解。

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.