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

VANSTONE: TIKCHIK VILLAGE 219tact between Eskimos and Europeans, these materials provide a firmfoundation for the consideration of contemporary Nushagak Eskimoculture.During the summer of 1964, 1 conducted an archaeological surveyalong the Nushagak River and three of its major tributaries, theWood, Nuyakuk, and lower Mulchatna rivers (Fig. 2). A total of45 sites belonging to the period of historic contact were located andmany of them were mapped. My familiarity with historical sourcematerials for the area made it possible for me to know the names andlocations of many sites prior to the beginning of the survey. Thenames of others, together with some population estimates and muchethnographic information, were obtained from informants at the present-dayvillages of New Koliganek, Ekwok, and New Stuyahok andat various bay locations. Additional ethnographic data and informationon nineteenth century settlements were obtained from informantsat New Koliganek and Dillingham after the completion of archaeologicalwork during the summer of 1965. The material fromhistoric sources and the ethnographic data form the basis of a recentlypublished monograph on the ethnohistory of the NushagakRiver region (VanStone, 1967). I also intend to prepare a detailedreport on nineteenth and early twentieth century settlement patternsthroughout the river system, but this study will require additionalfield work.The archaeological survey of the Nushagak and Nuyakuk (whichrivers in 1964 revealed two centers ofincluded the lower Tikchik)population during the period of historic contact; an upper and amiddle river center. Nushagak Bay, of course, constituted a thirdand somewhat more populous center. As a result of the survey, itwas decided to begin intensive excavations in the region with one ofthe upriver sites and then continue with the excavation of one or moremiddle river settlements and one on Nushagak Bay. Of the severalupriver sites, only two were considered large and important enoughto warrant extensive excavation; the Old Koliganek site near themouth of the Nuyakuk River and Tikchik located approximately twokilometers above the mouth of the river of that name. Old Koli-in the historical sources and it seemsganek is mentioned frequentlylikely that it was occupied in the 1840's and perhaps earlier. Itwas as large as Tikchik but had the disadvantage, from the standpointof my interests,of not having been totally abandoned untilFig. 1.Map of Alaska showing places mentioned in the text.