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

VANSTONE: TIKCHIK VILLAGE 221around 1940. The Tikchik site, on the other hand, while being justas old or older, although not mentioned as frequently in the historicalsources, was abandoned at the turn of the century. Thus, it couldbe expected to represent a segment of a period of rapid change, onewhich is increasingly difficult for informants to bring to mind. It isnearly as large as any site in the interior region and the survey appearedto indicate that it represented a continuous, relatively uncomplicatedoccupation. Small test pits put down in the summer of 1964showed that midden deposits, except in one or two places, were thinand that there would probably be no preservation of organic material.It was not expected, however, that frozen sites would be encounteredin this area. Most important of all, perhaps, was theavailability of a single informant, resident at New Koliganek, whohad been born in the village and a number of other elderly peoplewho might be able to provide data about the site and its dwellers.Excavations at the Tikchik site were begun on June 17, 1965 andcompleted on August 17. In retrospect, there were both advantagesand disadvantages in selecting this site. It proved to be less rich inrecovered materials than had originally been hoped and, most disappointingof all, no clearly separate levels representative of Russianand American influences were established. This latter problem hadbeen encountered before in the excavation of an historic site in southwesternAlaska and it may be that such an ideal stratigraphic separationand the consequent isolation of short term exotic influences isnot possible in this area (Oswalt and VanStone, 1967, pp. 101-102).However, the Tikchik site proved to be extremely rich in informationconcerning house and kashgee construction and informants providedmuch valuable information about the period of occupation.Although the artifact collection from Tikchik is not extensive, itis sufficiently varied, particularly in trade goods, to provide valuabledata about the immediate effects of material change in a small communitywhen the agents of change are from a technologically advancedwestern society. The Tikchik excavations constitute a usefulbase line for future excavations along the Nushagak River andin Nushagak Bay. They also provide valuable data for comparisonwith recovered materials from the growing number of historical sitesbeing excavated in various parts of Alaska and particularly in southwesternAlaska. The time is rapidly approaching when it may bepossible, with the aid of archaeological, historical, and ethnographicdata, to make broad generalizations about the mutual impact ofwhites and Eskimos upon each other during the early contact period.