Evaluating the Social and Environmental Process of the Dene/Athabascan Migration from the Subarctic

Abstract

Approximately 1,500 years ago, Dene/Athabascans radically altered their lifestyle in central Alaska and Yukon, and many ultimately left this region entirely. In my dissertation, I evaluate the causes of this drastic transition using a multiscalar archaeological dataset that draws from excavation, geospatial, and ethnographic data. Specifically, I consider whether either a massive volcanic eruption or population change led to a sudden, wide-scale shift in Subarctic technology, diet, and trade, and an ultimate southward migration. The results of technological, isotopic, and geospatial analysis presented here strongly suggest that Dene/Athabascans responded to a regional population increase, likely driven by a shift in group organization predicated by the Dene/Athabascan kinship structure. In response, Dene/Athabascans became increasingly specialized and territorial until some Dene/Athabascans began a southward migration that finally terminated in the American Southwest over 500 years ago. The diachronic nature of my multiscalar research allows me to model this transition as a process, rather than an event, that can be compared to similar cultural processes to provide a comprehensive understanding of resilience, adaptation, and migration at different periods of history and around the world.