The late prehistory of the Alutiiq people: Culture change on the Kodiak Archipelago from 1200-1750 A.D

The Karluk One site, located near the modern village of Karluk, Alaska, was continuously occupied by Alutiiq people between A.D. 1200 and the 18th century. As a wet site, preservation at Karluk One was excellent and more than 5,000 artifacts made from wood and other organic materials were recovered. Various theories have been advanced to explain the transition from the Kachemak tradition to the Koniag tradition sometime after 1000 A.D., ranging from migration and population replacement to a gradual fusion of influences from neighboring societies. Analysis of the Karluk One data indicated that the change from Kachemak to Koniag was in situ, beginning around 1200 AD. The house forms, settlement patterns, and artifacts that define the Koniag tradition came into being shortly after 1400 A.D. High population densities at salmon streams, use of large multiple room houses, the rise in social ranking, and changes in material culture also take place at this time. It is argued that these changes are linked to the onset of a period of climatic cooling known in the northern hemisphere as the Little Ice Age.