Variations on a Theme: Comparison of Precolonial Iñupiaq Cultural Landscapes Through Subsistence Strategies at Cape Espenberg, Alaska

Animals are key actors in Inuit lifeways and provide insights into cultural landscape use. We present the analysis of faunal assemblages at one site at Cape Espenberg to compare the use of animal resources from two adjacent house features occupied within 10 to 80 years by occupants of two cultural groups, the Birnirk and the Thule. Using a social zooarchaeological framework, we assess site formation processes, taphonomic factors, modification frequencies, taxonomic composition, and elemental survivorship to interpret the use of animals around 800 to 700 years ago. Although their subsistence resources are broadly similar due to low faunal biodiversity, the two groups focused on different procurement strategies, with Birnirk people acquiring whales, while the Thule people relied on local marine resources such as small seals and walrus. Acknowledging that other houses participated in both communities, we situate these results within the larger cultural landscapes to conclude that these two groups employed social interactions in different ways, leading to differential acquisition of faunal resources. These results provide the first analysis of animal use for Birnirk people in over 40 years, providing new interpretations of human-environment interactions for ancestral Inuit/Iñupiat groups.