Paleoeskimo Variability: The Early Arctic Small-Tool Tradition in the Central Canadian Arctic

Abstract

Research conducted since the 1976 publication of Society for American Archaeology Memoir 31, Paleoeskimo Problems (Maxwell 1976a) indicates that variability in the early Arctic Small-Tool tradition (ASTt) is greater than described previously. Three questions dominate the interpretation of early ASTt remains in the central Canadian Arctic: Are the remains affiliated with the Independence I or the Pre-Dorset variants? What are the affects of seasonal mobility on the Paleoeskimo archaeological record? Does the core-area model have any remaining utility? Evidence from six Arctic Island locations indicates that Pre-Dorset and Independence I are not clearly separated temporally and stylistically. Functional analyses that consider the meaning of relevant attributes are required. Sources of variability include seasonality, local physiography and climate, and postabandonment processes. The complexity of the early ASTt record is not explained through pure historical particularism.