Abstract
Tree-ring analyses of 23 bark-stripped trees, mostly Thuja plicata (western red cedar) but also Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (yellow cedar) and Picea sitchensis (Sitka spruce), help describe traditional Native tree-bark exploitation at a site north of Ketchikan in southeast Alaska, USA. Tree-ring samples exposed 36 cultural scars dating from between a.d. 1718 and 1912, showing that Natives landed on this hazardous stretch of Clarence Strait to take tree bark in 29 (about 15%) of the 195 years spanned by the sample. One-third of these culturally modified trees had multiple scars indicating repeated use of individual trees. The most intensive forest use occurred between 1852 and 1895, while the lack of bark scars after 1912 marks a decline in traditional Native craft. A burst of bark-stripping between 1779 and 1787 may be associated with the legendary last battle between the Stikine Tlingit of Alaska and the Tsimshian of British Columbia. The sample is compared with dated samples from British Columbia (Canada) and Washington State, USA.
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Acknowledgments
The Ship Island research was funded by Alaska Humanities Forum Grant 36-96 and conducted with permission of the landowner, Sealaska Corporation. Boat transportation and a steady chain-saw hand were contributed by Jay Sipe of Ketchikan, Alaska. We’re grateful to those who have reviewed drafts of this paper.
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Communicated by F. Bittmann.
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Mobley, C.M., Lewis, M. Tree-ring analysis of traditional native bark-stripping at Ship Island, Southeast Alaska, USA. Veget Hist Archaeobot 18, 261–268 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-008-0204-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-008-0204-4