Hunting Impacts on the Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris) Population in Clam Lagoon (Adak Island, Aleutian Islands) 7,000 Years Ago? Results of Preliminary Stable Isotopes Analysis

Abstract

Archaeological site ADK-171 is situatedalong the precipitous coast of the almostclosed “Clam Lagoon” on Adak Island, inthe Aleutian Islands (Figure 1). The sitewas excavated by members of the CentralAleutian Archaeological and PaleobiologicalProject(CAAPP).Theexcavatedmiddenhasclear stratigraphy with two discrete layers.Radiocarbon dates show that the culturalmidden at ADK-171 was formed approxi-mately 7,000 years ago during a relativelyshort time period of about 100–200 years(Savinetskyetal.2010).ThesedatesconfirmthatADK-171istheoldestsiteintheAleutian