Doctoral Dissertation Research: Uncovering Native-Lived Colonialism in Old Harbor, Alaska

本论文研究了阿拉斯加科迪亚克群岛的土著Sugpiaq人(即Alutiiq人)在18世纪80年代至19世纪60年代与俄罗斯殖民者和皮毛商人的接触。殖民主义给Sugpiaq社区带来了前所未有的挑战，包括暴力、流行病、强迫劳动、重新安置和宗教皈依。该项目汇集了两个殖民时期Sugpiaq村遗址的考古挖掘和分析数据，以及口头历史和档案记录，以更全面地了解Sugpiaq在俄罗斯殖民时期的生活。该项目涉及与老港口的现代Sugpiaq社区合作，共同制作关于过去的知识，通过实习计划、考古夏令营和与老港口学校的课程开发，为研究生和老港口青年提供考古实地和实验室培训。这些举措将增加阿拉斯加土著学生对考古的参与，并加强老港口社区记录和保护其文化遗产的能力。这项工作将促进对殖民时期阿拉斯加原住民生活的考古知识，并探索以社区为基础的实践在人类学研究中的潜力。该项目使用档案、考古学和人种学方法重建19世纪Sugpiaq人的生活方式。档案研究的重点是俄美公司的文件，这些文件提供了贸易和人口统计数据。在Ing‘yug和Nuniaq两个地点的有限挖掘将重点放在助产士和房屋上，这是在PI团队之前的研究基础上进行的。遗址组成部分将使用历史珠子和陶瓷进行年代测定；人工制品、动植物和动物将被分析，以重建家庭活动和社会组织。最后，对老港湾长老的半结构化民族志访谈将提供关于长期使用景观的信息，包括生存实践。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This dissertation research examines how the Indigenous Sugpiaq (i.e., Alutiiq) people of the Kodiak archipelago, Alaska, experienced contact with Russian colonists and fur traders from the 1780s to 1860s. Colonialism brought unprecedented challenges to Sugpiaq communities, including violence, epidemic disease, forced labor, resettlement and religious conversion. This project brings together data from archaeological excavation and analysis of two colonial-period Sugpiaq village sites with oral history and archival records to produce a fuller picture of Sugpiaq life during the Russian colonial period. The project involves collaboration with the modern Sugpiaq community in Old Harbor to co-produce knowledge about the past, providing archaeological field and laboratory training for graduate students and Old Harbor youth through an internship program, an archaeology camp, and curriculum development with the Old Harbor school. These initiatives will increase the participation of Alaska Native students in archaeology and enhance the Old Harbor community’s capacity to document and care for their cultural heritage. The work will advance archaeological knowledge of Alaska Native lives during the colonial period and explore the potential of community-based practices in anthropological research.This project employs archival, archaeological, and ethnographic methods to reconstruct nineteenth-century Sugpiaq lifeways. Archival research focuses on Russian American Company documents, which provide data on trade and demography. Limited excavation at two sites—Ing’yug and Nuniaq—will focus on middens and houses, building upon previous research by the PI team. Site components will be dated using historic beads and ceramics; artifacts, flora, and fauna will be analyzed to reconstruct household activities and social organization. Finally, semi-structured ethnographic interviews with Old Harbor Elders will provide information on long-term use of the landscape, including subsistence practices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.