Tikchik village: a nineteenth century riverine community in ... - Cluster

344 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 56area and perhaps also indicate whatever differences might exist betweena strictly riverine settlement and one that conceivably couldhave had a stronger inland orientation and permanency of residence.In Nushagak Bay, the precise location of Alexandrovski Redoubt hasnot yet been determined with certainty. Should a further examinationof the Nushagak site reveal the exact whereabouts of the post,it would almost certainly repay excavation and present a further opportunityto obtain, and possibly even isolate in a stratigraphic context,Russian trade goods. In short, it would seem that a fairlyextended program of historical archaeology might be carried out inthe Nushagak River region and increase our knowledge of a changingmaterial culture to the point where certain generalities about thenature of change in the area could be advanced and supported witha reasonable amount of data.Quite apart from the problems and difficulties presented by thewhole concept of historical archaeology, ethnography, and history inthe Nushagak River region, there are certain interpretive problemsthat arise specifically in connection with the Tikchik site and its inhabitants.One of the most puzzling of these concerns the preciseidentity of the people who inhabited the settlement from the timeit was first established, presumably early in the nineteenth century,until it was finally abandoned in 1900.We have previously noted that Tikchik is located within the areathat in late prehistoric times, at any rate, was thought to have beenoccupied by the Kiatagmiut, one of the subgroups of Yupik speakers.They were, it will be remembered, distinguished from the Aglegmiutwho lived along the shore of Bristol Bay and southwest along thenorth shore of the Alaska Peninsula.This basic sub-cultural distinctionbetween a coastal and inland people was recognized by the earliestexplorers and today, in spite of many population changes, peopleare, in a general way, aware of the difference. Although the mixtureof population in this area undoubtedly preceded the period of historiccontact, we also know that the newly established AlexandrovskiRedoubt served as an attraction to peoples both from the south andnorth (DRHA, vol. 4, pp. 243-244). In 1829, Father Veniaminovwrote that not only Aglegmiut, but also people from the Kuskokwimand various points on the Alaska Peninsula could be seen at the redoubt(Barsukov, 1897-1901, vol. 1, p. 14). Apparently Aleuts, too,occasionally visited Nushagak and in 1878, some of these, along withKuskokwim Eskimos and Tanaina Indians, were living in the areaunder the jurisdiction of the Nushagak mission (DRHA, vol. 2,