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Site Description
Artifact assemblage
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The Hot Springs Village site consists of approximately 250 identifiable house depressions covering an area of 60,000 square meters. Excavation has revealed additional depressions beneath the surface, and the final number of houses cannot be estimated. These depressions are organized on either side of the natural hot springs flowing into Port Moller from which the name of the site is derived. Two major geographic areas have been referred to throughout the study of the village site: the highland area located east of the hot springs along the bluff edge, and the lowland area to the west. Two additional areas, the north beach and the southwest shore, have also been distinguished based on the distribution of house depressions and midden deposits in those areas.
This site, as is the case with most large-scale villages, is notable for its complex stratigraphy. Two broad deposits have been identified through the course of field research at this location: an ‘upper shell layer’ dating between the first millennium AD and AD 850 covers most of the site and consists primarily of cockles and other species common to silted or sandy intertidal zones (Maschner in press [a] :5). A second layer contained in the lower deposits is distinguishable from other deposits due to the abundance of crushed blue mussel shell and species common to rocky, intertidal environments that suggest changes in the site’s general environment (Kotani 1979:3 8). The midden deposits and underlying layers are deep and complicated, and have been mixed and truncated over the years by house construction, human burials, storage pits and other features. Nevertheless, organic preservation for the site as a whole is remarkable, allowing for the recovery of finely crafted art work and bone implements, evidence of subsistence, and charcoal materials from which reliable radiocarbon dates have been obtained.
Throughout the history of research at Hot Springs, debate has surrounded the cultural affinities of its prehistoric inhabitants. The area in which this site is located occurs within the traditional boundary separating the Aleut-speaking inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands and lower Alaska Peninsula from the Eskimo-speaking people inhabiting the upper Peninsula and Bering Sea region. It has been a matter of debate regarding the location and extent of this boundary, however, and questions regarding an Aleut or Eskimo occupation of this site have figured prominently in research at Hot Springs. Research into 19th century Russian accounts of ethnic population distribution are vague with regard to this ethnic boundary, in large part due to ambiguities in Russian designations of native ethnic groups (McCartney 1984:119). Despite the fact that the Eskimo and Aleut languages are related, linguistic analysis indicates that the separation of the two families occurred as early as 6000 B.P., and the modem form of both languages are mutually unintelligible (Dumond et al. 1975). A pronounced linguistic boundary therefore augmented the cultural boundary separating these two ethnic groups, though Dumond notes that “...it is a mistake to expect to find that any material cultural boundary between Eskimos and Aleuts has ever been as sharp as the cleavage between their languages” (Dumond et al. 1975:68).
In the absence of more tangible data, research into this matter has traditionally fallen back to analysis of the Hot Springs tool assemblage, and the results have remained somewhat mixed. McCartney’s analysis of bone tool assemblages from Port Moller and Unalaska Bay suggested that the similarities between the two areas are not substantial, indicating an Eskimo occupation of the site (McCartney 1969). Elsewhere, Dumond’s analyses of bone technology led him to believe that there was no reason to reject the belief that the westernmost boundary of Eskimo settlements lay east of Port Moller, indicating an Aleut affinity (Dumond et al. 1975). Workman’s analysis of the materials generated by the 1960 University of Wisconsin and Meiji University archaeological excavations at the site indicate similarities with materials recovered from sites in the eastern Aleutians, and that the strongest affinities lie to the west (Workman 1966:145). He does however note that the location between areas of Aleut and southern Eskimo influence indicates that the people of the Hot Springs site must have received ideas from several directions (Workman 1966:145).
Maschner suggests that many of the arguments surrounding the Eskimo-Aleut boundary with respect to the materials at Port Moller have been tempered by a lack of hard data (Maschner in press [a]). Though this site has been well known to archaeologists since the early part of the 20th century, the remainder of the peninsula was largely unexplored when these arguments were formed. Starting in the late 1970s and continuing through 2004, a systematic study was undertaken by a number of individuals in an effort to understand the nature of peninsular prehistory (Dumond 1974,1987, 2003; Hoffman 2001; Holland 1992; Maschner 1999; Maschner and Jordan n.d.; Maschner et al. 1997; Maschner and Reedy-Maschner 1998; USBIA 1991; McCartney 1969, 1974, 1984; Workman 1969; Yarborough n.d.). By 2000, this region was in better standing with regard to its prehistoric record, allowing for further contextualization of the Hot Springs materials. Based on the growing body of data from archaeological research, there is a strong indication that the inhabitants of Port Moller shared affinities with the inhabitants of the eastern Aleutians and Western Alaska Peninsula. Chronological sequences of the regional prehistory have incorporated this site accordingly (Maschner 1999; Maschner in press [b]), for the material relationship between this site and those to the west is without debate given a current understanding of the archaeology. Nevertheless, many of the materials recovered at the Hot Springs village site remain without parallel regardless of where one would place this site with respect to the Eskimo-Aleut cultural boundary. Workman’s point is reiterated therefore, because the location between traditional Aleut and Eskimo areas, and the resulting confluence of ideas and technology from several directions have played a significant role in the development of Hot Springs, and represents an important key to understanding this site.
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