Koyukon Athapaskan Houses As Seen Through Oral Tradition and Through Archaeology

Abstract

The construction of protohistoric or early historic Koyukon Athapaskan semisubterranean winter houses is illustrated by excavations at three sites on tributaries of the Koyukuk River, Alaska. Ethnographic descriptions of this type of house, which generally has not been occupied since approximately 1900, were obtained from native informants at Allakaket in 1961 and 1968. These data are discussed along with the nature and distribution of the contents of the archaeologic houses. Although the archaeologic and ethnographic approaches complement one another for some elements of the complex considered, the description of the houses would stand as reasonably accurate even if it had been obtained from informants alone. This paper presents a description of the Koyukuk Koyukon Athapaskan winter house using the methodologies of archaeology and ethnography. The nature and distribution of the house contents and space utilization also are noted, and in conclusion comments are made regarding the approach employed. The archaeologic and ethnographic methods of ethnohistory are seen here to be both supplementary and complementary, and further, as a field methodology, the one expedites the aims of the other.