Agayadan Village: Household Archaeology on Unimak, Island, Alaska

Abstract

The large communal dwelling is one of the hallmarks of the culturally complex, huntergatherer societies of NW North America. Many archaeologists link the transition to multifamily dwellings in this region, ca. A.C. 500–1500, with dramatic social transformations, including the emergence of residential corporate groups and social ranking. Understanding the organization of these multi-family houses is critical to understanding the evolution of social complexity in the north Pacific. Excavations at Agayadan Village on Unimak Island, Alaska provide important new data on the organization of late prehistoric multi-family houses in the eastern Aleutian region. Analysis of the spatial distribution of fire hearths, roasting pits, storage pits, and other interior features demonstrates that some aspects of the household economy operated on a corporate, or communal level, while in other aspects the families within each house maintained their economic independence.