Yakutat Tlingit Sealing Camps: Investigating the Relationship among Language, Indigenous Knowledge, and Glacial Movement

这项研究将采用跨学科方法，以便：（1）建立阿拉斯加Yakutat/Disenchantment Bay土著地名（地名）的起源年表;（2）研究环境历史的Tlingit语言编码;（3）整合土著知识和科学知识。考古和地质数据将被用来构建一个时间框架的Tlingit地名和相关的口头帐户，是指海豹狩猎营地，在900年的退缩哈伯德冰川从其晚全新世最大的雅库塔特湾口连续占领。这些营地在春天被用来捕猎聚集在冰川浮冰上的海豹，营地的位置随着时间的推移而改变，以保持接近消退的冰川前沿。每个海豹营地的地名都是在营地建立时产生的，这一日期可以通过迁移营地、进行考古测试和放射性碳年代测定来确定。了解这些特林吉特地名的年代将有助于了解其复杂的语言层面，其中包括纳入表示环境过程的词素和产生相关名称（组合），以表示最近的地理特征。海豹营地名称和其他特林吉特地名具有多个文化层面，包括融入当地氏族历史。在研究的探索阶段，调查人员将与知识渊博的雅库特长老进行访谈，以获取与不同年龄的海豹营地有关的语言，文化和环境信息。根据访谈中获得的地点信息以及先前存在的历史和考古记录，他们将试图重新安置所有或大部分营地。由于1899年的地震隆起，海湾周围的海岸线发生了重大变化，很少有考古遗址被确定为考古遗址。调查人员将在重新发现的营地进行考古测试，收集人工制品样本和有机材料进行放射性碳测年。如果这一实地勘察证明是成功的，将提出一个全面项目，以确定更多营地的位置，并进行更广泛的挖掘。将对初步的口头和语言数据进行评估，并将设计扩大的努力。

The research will use an interdisciplinary approach to 1) establish a chronology of origin for indigenous toponyms (place names) at Yakutat/Disenchantment Bay, Alaska; 2) examine Tlingit linguistic encoding of environmental history; and 3) integrate indigenous and scientific knowledge. Archaeological and geological data will be used to construct a chronological framework for Tlingit toponyms and related oral accounts that refer to seal hunting camps which were occupied in succession during the 900-year retreat of Hubbard Glacier from its late Holocene maximum at the mouth of Yakutat Bay. The camps were used in spring to hunt harbor seals that congregate on glacial floes, and positions of the camps were shifted over time to maintain proximity to the receding glacial front. Toponym(s) referring to each seal camp would have originated at the time of its establishment, a date that can be determined by relocating the camp and conducting archaeological testing and radiocarbon dating. Knowing the ages of these Tlingit toponyms will enhance understanding of their complex linguistic dimensions, which include the incorporation of lexemes denoting environmental processes and the generation of related names (assemblages) to designate proximate geographic features. Seal camp names and other Tlingit toponyms have multiple cultural dimensions, including incorporation into local clan histories.During this exploratory phase of the research, investigators will conduct interviews with knowledgeable Yakutat elders to elicit linguistic, cultural and environmental information related to sealing camps of different ages. Based on locational information from the interviews and preexisting historical and archaeological records they will attempt to relocate all or most of the camps. Few have ever been identified as archaeological sites due to seismic uplift in 1899 that substantially altered shorelines around the bay. Investigators will conduct archaeological testing at rediscovered camps to collect artifact samples and organic material for radiocarbon dating. Should this field reconnaissance prove successful, a full-scale project will be proposed to locate additional camps and to undertake more extensive excavations. Preliminary oral and linguistic data will be assessed, and an expanded effort will be designed.