VANLANDEGHEM , Marine

At Cape Espenberg, large burned areas are found associated with Birnirk/Thule features (AD XIth-XVth c.), raising questions about the functions of burnt areas - domestic (cooking, boiling, heating, lighting) or specialized hearth (ceramic baking). To test hypotheses on fire activities and fuel economy, we are conducting fire experiments under...

We present a study regarding fuel availability at the sites of Cape Espenberg in northwestern Alaska, based on data from post-AD1000 archaeological sites. Our long-term goal is to explore fuel management patterns in a wood-poor arctic environment. Birnirk and Thule inhabitants at Cape Espenberg (AD XIth-XVth centuries) used driftwood as fuel,...

This anthracological study addresses the issue of the availability of wood fuel to the inhabitants of the archaeological sites of Cape Espenberg in north-western Alaska during the second millennium AD. We focus specifically on the mechanisms for firewood collection and management in a tundra environment that is poor in wood resources. In this...

International audience

In Northwest Alaska, human societies have adapted their subsistence strategies to extreme conditions. At the coastal Cape Espenberg site, excellent conservation conditions have allowed the preservation of many cultural features (architecture, hearths, middens) within a series of aggrading beach ridges. Remains of semi­subterranean houses and...

International audience

International audience