Owen K Mason
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 196195 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Owen K Mason |
| NOMBRES | Owen K |
| APELLIDO | Mason |
| FIRMA | MASON O K |
| AFILIACIONES | Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1558-3184 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 32 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 98 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 32 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1987 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 6 |
Variations on a Theme
International audience
The Birnirk to Thule Transition as Viewed from Radiocarbon and Tree-Ring Dating within Two Adjacent Houses at Cape Espenberg, Northwest Alaska
The transformation of the Birnirk culture into the Thule culture is essential in reconstructing the emergence of modern Inuit across Alaska and the larger Bering Strait. To this end, two adjacent semi-subterranean houses of late Birnirk and early Thule affiliation, respectively, at the Rising Whale (KTZ-304) site at Cape Espenberg were recently excavated and dated by radiocarbon and tree-ring measurements. We present the Bayesian analysis of the …
Formation processes of archaeobotanical assemblages of an early Thule Iñupiaq dwelling at Cape Espenberg, northwest Alaska
Arctic. • Archaeobotany. • Formation process. • Inuit. • Plant use. Archaeobotany remains an underdeveloped discipline in the Arctic, with comparatively little known about the processes involved in the formation of plant assemblages in ancestral Inuit sites. Archaeobotanical records from seasonal forager sites at high latitudes present several peculiarities: 1) excellent preservation; 2) lack of domesticated species prior to contact with European…
Genetic Analysis of Birnirk Inuit from the Alaskan North Slope
Archaeological evidence indicates that Birnirk peoples (AD 650 – 1300) are the proposed genetic ancestors of the Thule Inuit (AD 950 – 1400) and are potentially an intermediary population between the Thule Inuit and earlier Old Bering Sea people (AD 1 – 1000). We sequenced the first hypervariable region of the mitochondrial DNA of 22 clearly associated Birnirk individuals from the Piġniq (Birnirk), Kugok, Kugusugaruk, and Nunavak sites on the Nor…
Marine Reservoir Effects in Seal (Phocidae) Bones in the Northern Bering and Chukchi Seas, Northwestern Alaska
We explore marine reservoir effects (MREs) in seal bones from the northern Bering and Chukchi Seas regions. Ringed and bearded seals have served as dietary staples in human populations along the coasts of Arctic northeast Asia and North America for several millennia. Radiocarbon ( 14 C) dates on seal bones and terrestrial materials (caribou, plants seeds, wood, and wood charcoal) were compared from archaeological sites in the Bering Strait region…
The Thule Migrations as an Analog for the Early Peopling of the Americas
Coastal migration is linear and transport-reliant so that pre-Clovis coastal migration should be anticipated from its origin, as in the Thule migration, not its destination. Thule historiography, like Clovis, implicated a rapid, climate-forced migration by rapacious “over-killing” seal-hunters and whalers venturing into unoccupied high arctic landscapes—a model now insupportable. Thule datasets, from middens and numerous burials, include wood, iv…
Heightened early medieval storminess across the Chukchi Sea, AD 400–1100
Studying pre-colonial gendered use of space in the Arctic
Walrusing, whaling and the origins of the Old Bering Sea culture
For a century, archaeologists have puzzled over the enigma of successful whaling unfolding with no predecessors prior to the last two millennia. The emergence of social complexity is linked with the appearance of the Old Bering Sea (OBS) aesthetic engraved on walrus ivory implements found in sites with large cemeteries and thick middens. Significantly, many OBS sites co-occur with major haulout locations for Pacific walrus, whose procurement enge…
The spread of metal and metal production technology in the Far Northeast and Alaska over the second millennium BC to the first millennium AD
Findings and traces of early metallurgical production in the Far Northeast of Asia and Alaska show that the spread of bronze and iron metallurgy took place mainly along the Lena River towards of the Far Northeast, as well as to Taimyr. Spread of metallurgical technology is confirmed by the casting mould for a burin or awl, which was discovered in Eastern Chukotka on the Amguema River. However, metals in Chukotka were obviously too rare to trade u…
An Early Inupiaq Occupation
This paper describes and interprets a well-preserved early Thule semi-subterranean dwelling from Cape Espenberg, Alaska. The house architecture is similar in many respects to other early Thule dwellings with a sub-rectangular main room, long sunken entrance tunnel, and associated kitchen area. However, the presence of narrow side benches and associated flooring differences adds significantly to the variability present in Thule house form. Radioca…
The Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic
The North American Arctic was one of the last regions on Earth to be settled by humans, due to its extreme climate, limited range of resources, and remoteness from populated areas. Despite these factors, it holds a rich and complex history relating to Inuit, Iñupiat, Inuvialuit, Yupik, and Aleut peoples and their ancestors. The artifacts, dwellings, and food remains of these ancient peoples are remarkably well preserved due to cold temperatures a…
Evidence of Eurasian metal alloys on the Alaskan coast in prehistory
The Old Bering Sea Florescence about Bering Strait
Dependent on whaling, a series of complex, sedentary societies termed Old Bering Sea arose around Bering Strait at proximity to resource hot spots, ca. 250 B.C. to A.D. 400, thrived between A.D. 600 and 800 and with influences as late as A.D. 1300. Old Bering Sea developed adjacent to walrus haul-outs and was associated with the most elaborate aesthetic system known in the Arctic. Virtually every artifact was overlain with formalized motifs, as f…
Pre-Dorset Culture
This chapter summarizes our current understanding of the widespread and diverse Pre-Dorset culture, known from the central and eastern parts of the Canadian Arctic between 4500 and 2700 B.P. The Pre-Dorset were mobile foragers, moving across the landscape to exploit seasonally available land and sea mammals in different locales, although the extent of their movements varied considerably. The lithic component of their technology has been more inte…
Arctic Archaeology and Prehistory
Archéologie du Cap Espenberg où la question du Birnirk et de l’origine du Thulé dans le nord-ouest de l’Alaska
Le cap Espenberg est une flèche littorale au large de la mer des Tchouktches dans le nord-ouest de l’Alaska contenant les vestiges de 4000 ans d’occupations humaines et de changements climatiques. Les recherches archéologiques et paléo-environnementales, menées depuis 2009 dans le cadre d’un projet pluridisciplinaire, apportent des informations nouvelles sur la chronologie des occupations du dernier millénaire et documentent l’émergence de la cul…
Lipid biomarkers and compound specific δ13C analysis indicate early development of a dual-economic system for the Arctic Small Tool tradition in northern Alaska
The Ipiutak cult of shamans and its warrior protectors
A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
The Bow and Arrow in Northern North America
There were at least four waves of bow and arrow use in northern North America. These occurred at 12000, 4500, 2400, and after about 1300 years ago. But to understand the role of the bow and arrow in the north, one must begin in the eighteenth century, when the Russians first arrived in the Aleutian Islands. At that time, the Aleut were using both the atlatl and dart and the bow and arrow (Fig. ). This is significant for two particular and importa…
Years of House Change at Cape Espenberg, Alaska
Cape Espenberg is on the farthest southwestern extent of Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, just above the Arctic Circle, and is a peninsula composed of a series of dune-covered beach ridges. As part of a larger research initiative, extensive mapping to record all cultural features and characterize the topography of approximately 1 km2on the southeastern terminus of the cape was undertaken in 2007 and 2010. The primary purpose of this mapping was to explore…
Memories of Warfare
Owen K. Mason Owen K. Mason, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research University of Colorado Boulder 80309–0450; owen.mason{at}colorado.edu Geoarch Alaska, PO Box 91554 Anchorage, AK 99509; geoarch85{at}gmail.com
Beach Ridge Geomorphology at Cape Grinnell, northern Greenland
Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):337–355, 2010 In northern Greenland, the Cape Grinnell beach ridge plain offers a 9,000year multi-proxy record for isostatic recovery, storm history, and the hydrological changes related to precipitation and slope evolution. The chronology of uplifted beach ridges is constrained by ten geological 14C ages on shell and sea mammal bones and eleven upper limiting ages from archaeological sites…
“The Multiplication of Forms
The Crucible of Early to Mid-Holocene Climate in Northern Alaska
The Archaic stage was defined as a cultural response to post-Pleistocene landscapes dominated by trees. The Early Holocene produced an open landscape susceptible to colluviation, flooding, and gullying thus placing severe constraints on archaeological site preservation. The paleo-environment surrounding the development of the Northern Archaic can be reconstructed from pan-Alaska proxy records of flooding, loess fall, and soil formation at Onion P…
Lipid biomarkers and compound specific δ13C analysis indicate early development of a dual-economic system for the Arctic Small Tool tradition in northern Alaska
Walrusing, whaling and the origins of the Old Bering Sea culture
For a century, archaeologists have puzzled over the enigma of successful whaling unfolding with no predecessors prior to the last two millennia. The emergence of social complexity is linked with the appearance of the Old Bering Sea (OBS) aesthetic engraved on walrus ivory implements found in sites with large cemeteries and thick middens. Significantly, many OBS sites co-occur with major haulout locations for Pacific walrus, whose procurement enge…
Evidence of Eurasian metal alloys on the Alaskan coast in prehistory
The spread of metal and metal production technology in the Far Northeast and Alaska over the second millennium BC to the first millennium AD
Findings and traces of early metallurgical production in the Far Northeast of Asia and Alaska show that the spread of bronze and iron metallurgy took place mainly along the Lena River towards of the Far Northeast, as well as to Taimyr. Spread of metallurgical technology is confirmed by the casting mould for a burin or awl, which was discovered in Eastern Chukotka on the Amguema River. However, metals in Chukotka were obviously too rare to trade u…
Age, Extent and Climatic Significance of the c. 3400 BP Aniakchak Tephra, Western Alaska, USA
Tephra deposits at Whitefish Lake and Cape Espenberg on the northernmost Seward Peninsula of western Alaska were derived from the Aniakchak Caldera on the Alaska Peninsula more than 1500 km to the south. Radiocarbon dates on the climactic, caldera-forming Aniakchak eruption and on proximal and distal tephra indicate the Aniakchak tephra was deposited about 3435 ± 40 BP (3614-3815 cal. BP), and forms an isochronous marker horizon across much of we…
An Early Inupiaq Occupation
This paper describes and interprets a well-preserved early Thule semi-subterranean dwelling from Cape Espenberg, Alaska. The house architecture is similar in many respects to other early Thule dwellings with a sub-rectangular main room, long sunken entrance tunnel, and associated kitchen area. However, the presence of narrow side benches and associated flooring differences adds significantly to the variability present in Thule house form. Radioca…
Memories of Warfare
Owen K. Mason Owen K. Mason, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research University of Colorado Boulder 80309–0450; owen.mason{at}colorado.edu Geoarch Alaska, PO Box 91554 Anchorage, AK 99509; geoarch85{at}gmail.com
Pre-Dorset Culture
This chapter summarizes our current understanding of the widespread and diverse Pre-Dorset culture, known from the central and eastern parts of the Canadian Arctic between 4500 and 2700 B.P. The Pre-Dorset were mobile foragers, moving across the landscape to exploit seasonally available land and sea mammals in different locales, although the extent of their movements varied considerably. The lithic component of their technology has been more inte…
Years of House Change at Cape Espenberg, Alaska
Cape Espenberg is on the farthest southwestern extent of Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, just above the Arctic Circle, and is a peninsula composed of a series of dune-covered beach ridges. As part of a larger research initiative, extensive mapping to record all cultural features and characterize the topography of approximately 1 km2on the southeastern terminus of the cape was undertaken in 2007 and 2010. The primary purpose of this mapping was to explore…
Beach Ridge Geomorphology at Cape Grinnell, northern Greenland
Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):337–355, 2010 In northern Greenland, the Cape Grinnell beach ridge plain offers a 9,000year multi-proxy record for isostatic recovery, storm history, and the hydrological changes related to precipitation and slope evolution. The chronology of uplifted beach ridges is constrained by ten geological 14C ages on shell and sea mammal bones and eleven upper limiting ages from archaeological sites…
Geological and Cultural Context of the Nogahabara I Site
Interpretation of the Nogahabara I assemblage as a Late Pleistocene abandoned toolkit rests primarily on the premise of a single brief occupation at the site. The limited contextual data presented do not discount a palimpsest of noncontemporaneous assemblages in secondary contexts associated with a lag deposit. Spatial patterning, lithic assemblage patterning, artifact surface alteration, and disparate radiocarbon dates at the site, as well as ge…
Marine Reservoir Effects in Seal (Phocidae) Bones in the Northern Bering and Chukchi Seas, Northwestern Alaska
We explore marine reservoir effects (MREs) in seal bones from the northern Bering and Chukchi Seas regions. Ringed and bearded seals have served as dietary staples in human populations along the coasts of Arctic northeast Asia and North America for several millennia. Radiocarbon ( 14 C) dates on seal bones and terrestrial materials (caribou, plants seeds, wood, and wood charcoal) were compared from archaeological sites in the Bering Strait region…
The Crucible of Early to Mid-Holocene Climate in Northern Alaska
The Archaic stage was defined as a cultural response to post-Pleistocene landscapes dominated by trees. The Early Holocene produced an open landscape susceptible to colluviation, flooding, and gullying thus placing severe constraints on archaeological site preservation. The paleo-environment surrounding the development of the Northern Archaic can be reconstructed from pan-Alaska proxy records of flooding, loess fall, and soil formation at Onion P…
Resurrecting beach ridge archaeology
Archaeological sites on gravel beach ridge plains offer a treacherously facile method of reconstructing cultural chronology based on the assumption that settlements were preferentially situated nearest the sea. the initial phase of beach ridge methodology in Alaska dates from its 1930s use by Henry Collins at St. Lawrence Island and its 1950s use by Louis Giddings in Kotzebue Sound. Numerous questions of cultural and depositional chronology remai…
The Birnirk to Thule Transition as Viewed from Radiocarbon and Tree-Ring Dating within Two Adjacent Houses at Cape Espenberg, Northwest Alaska
The transformation of the Birnirk culture into the Thule culture is essential in reconstructing the emergence of modern Inuit across Alaska and the larger Bering Strait. To this end, two adjacent semi-subterranean houses of late Birnirk and early Thule affiliation, respectively, at the Rising Whale (KTZ-304) site at Cape Espenberg were recently excavated and dated by radiocarbon and tree-ring measurements. We present the Bayesian analysis of the …
Petrographic Analysis of Basalt Artifacts from Three Aleutian Sites
By comparing thin sections of basalt artifacts from three early and middle Holocene Aleutian sites with geological samples, we can infer the location of the artifactual rock source or sources. Contrary to the sources, the comparison shows that the basalt artifacts came from a single flow or closely related flows 15-30 km from all three sites. This finding suggests we should reassess the role of cultural continuity, trade, and exchange in the earl…
Resurrecting beach ridge archaeology
Archaeological sites on gravel beach ridge plains offer a treacherously facile method of reconstructing cultural chronology based on the assumption that settlements were preferentially situated nearest the sea. the initial phase of beach ridge methodology in Alaska dates from its 1930s use by Henry Collins at St. Lawrence Island and its 1950s use by Louis Giddings in Kotzebue Sound. Numerous questions of cultural and depositional chronology remai…
Age, Extent and Climatic Significance of the c. 3400 BP Aniakchak Tephra, Western Alaska, USA
Tephra deposits at Whitefish Lake and Cape Espenberg on the northernmost Seward Peninsula of western Alaska were derived from the Aniakchak Caldera on the Alaska Peninsula more than 1500 km to the south. Radiocarbon dates on the climactic, caldera-forming Aniakchak eruption and on proximal and distal tephra indicate the Aniakchak tephra was deposited about 3435 ± 40 BP (3614-3815 cal. BP), and forms an isochronous marker horizon across much of we…
Heightened North Pacific Storminess during Synchronous Late Holocene Erosion of Northwest Alaska Beach Ridges
A progradational regime of falling sea level and/or high sediment input has produced extensive beach ridge plains in northwest Alaska during the last 4000 yr. Eleven Chukchi Sea beach ridge complexes, oriented at various angles to wind fetch, provide a cumulative history of longshore transport and erosion. Archaeological and geological upper limiting radiocarbon ages ( n = 59) allow correlations between depositional units on seven beach ridge com…
The Contest between the Ipiutak, Old Bering Sea, and Birnirk Polities and the Origin of Whaling during the First Millennium A.D. along Bering Strait
Late Pliocene to late Pleistocene environments preserved at the Palisades Site, central Yukon River, Alaska
The Palisades Site is an extensive silt-loam bluff complex on the central Yukon River preserving a nearly continuous record of the last 2 myr. Volcanic ash deposits present include the Old Crow (OCt; 140,000 yr), Sheep Creek (SCt; 190,000 yr), PA (2.02 myr), EC (ca. 2 myr), and Mining Camp (ca. 2 myr) tephras. Two new tephras, PAL and PAU, are geochemically similar to the PA and EC tephras and appear to be comagmatic. The PA tephra occurs in ice-…
The Crucible of Early to Mid-Holocene Climate in Northern Alaska
The Archaic stage was defined as a cultural response to post-Pleistocene landscapes dominated by trees. The Early Holocene produced an open landscape susceptible to colluviation, flooding, and gullying thus placing severe constraints on archaeological site preservation. The paleo-environment surrounding the development of the Northern Archaic can be reconstructed from pan-Alaska proxy records of flooding, loess fall, and soil formation at Onion P…
Geological and Cultural Context of the Nogahabara I Site
Interpretation of the Nogahabara I assemblage as a Late Pleistocene abandoned toolkit rests primarily on the premise of a single brief occupation at the site. The limited contextual data presented do not discount a palimpsest of noncontemporaneous assemblages in secondary contexts associated with a lag deposit. Spatial patterning, lithic assemblage patterning, artifact surface alteration, and disparate radiocarbon dates at the site, as well as ge…
“The Multiplication of Forms
Beach Ridge Geomorphology at Cape Grinnell, northern Greenland
Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):337–355, 2010 In northern Greenland, the Cape Grinnell beach ridge plain offers a 9,000year multi-proxy record for isostatic recovery, storm history, and the hydrological changes related to precipitation and slope evolution. The chronology of uplifted beach ridges is constrained by ten geological 14C ages on shell and sea mammal bones and eleven upper limiting ages from archaeological sites…
Memories of Warfare
Owen K. Mason Owen K. Mason, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research University of Colorado Boulder 80309–0450; owen.mason{at}colorado.edu Geoarch Alaska, PO Box 91554 Anchorage, AK 99509; geoarch85{at}gmail.com
The Bow and Arrow in Northern North America
There were at least four waves of bow and arrow use in northern North America. These occurred at 12000, 4500, 2400, and after about 1300 years ago. But to understand the role of the bow and arrow in the north, one must begin in the eighteenth century, when the Russians first arrived in the Aleutian Islands. At that time, the Aleut were using both the atlatl and dart and the bow and arrow (Fig. ). This is significant for two particular and importa…
Years of House Change at Cape Espenberg, Alaska
Cape Espenberg is on the farthest southwestern extent of Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, just above the Arctic Circle, and is a peninsula composed of a series of dune-covered beach ridges. As part of a larger research initiative, extensive mapping to record all cultural features and characterize the topography of approximately 1 km2on the southeastern terminus of the cape was undertaken in 2007 and 2010. The primary purpose of this mapping was to explore…
The Ipiutak cult of shamans and its warrior protectors
A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Arctic Archaeology and Prehistory
Archéologie du Cap Espenberg où la question du Birnirk et de l’origine du Thulé dans le nord-ouest de l’Alaska
Le cap Espenberg est une flèche littorale au large de la mer des Tchouktches dans le nord-ouest de l’Alaska contenant les vestiges de 4000 ans d’occupations humaines et de changements climatiques. Les recherches archéologiques et paléo-environnementales, menées depuis 2009 dans le cadre d’un projet pluridisciplinaire, apportent des informations nouvelles sur la chronologie des occupations du dernier millénaire et documentent l’émergence de la cul…
Lipid biomarkers and compound specific δ13C analysis indicate early development of a dual-economic system for the Arctic Small Tool tradition in northern Alaska
The Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic
The North American Arctic was one of the last regions on Earth to be settled by humans, due to its extreme climate, limited range of resources, and remoteness from populated areas. Despite these factors, it holds a rich and complex history relating to Inuit, Iñupiat, Inuvialuit, Yupik, and Aleut peoples and their ancestors. The artifacts, dwellings, and food remains of these ancient peoples are remarkably well preserved due to cold temperatures a…
Evidence of Eurasian metal alloys on the Alaskan coast in prehistory
The Old Bering Sea Florescence about Bering Strait
Dependent on whaling, a series of complex, sedentary societies termed Old Bering Sea arose around Bering Strait at proximity to resource hot spots, ca. 250 B.C. to A.D. 400, thrived between A.D. 600 and 800 and with influences as late as A.D. 1300. Old Bering Sea developed adjacent to walrus haul-outs and was associated with the most elaborate aesthetic system known in the Arctic. Virtually every artifact was overlain with formalized motifs, as f…
Pre-Dorset Culture
This chapter summarizes our current understanding of the widespread and diverse Pre-Dorset culture, known from the central and eastern parts of the Canadian Arctic between 4500 and 2700 B.P. The Pre-Dorset were mobile foragers, moving across the landscape to exploit seasonally available land and sea mammals in different locales, although the extent of their movements varied considerably. The lithic component of their technology has been more inte…
An Early Inupiaq Occupation
This paper describes and interprets a well-preserved early Thule semi-subterranean dwelling from Cape Espenberg, Alaska. The house architecture is similar in many respects to other early Thule dwellings with a sub-rectangular main room, long sunken entrance tunnel, and associated kitchen area. However, the presence of narrow side benches and associated flooring differences adds significantly to the variability present in Thule house form. Radioca…
Walrusing, whaling and the origins of the Old Bering Sea culture
For a century, archaeologists have puzzled over the enigma of successful whaling unfolding with no predecessors prior to the last two millennia. The emergence of social complexity is linked with the appearance of the Old Bering Sea (OBS) aesthetic engraved on walrus ivory implements found in sites with large cemeteries and thick middens. Significantly, many OBS sites co-occur with major haulout locations for Pacific walrus, whose procurement enge…
The spread of metal and metal production technology in the Far Northeast and Alaska over the second millennium BC to the first millennium AD
Findings and traces of early metallurgical production in the Far Northeast of Asia and Alaska show that the spread of bronze and iron metallurgy took place mainly along the Lena River towards of the Far Northeast, as well as to Taimyr. Spread of metallurgical technology is confirmed by the casting mould for a burin or awl, which was discovered in Eastern Chukotka on the Amguema River. However, metals in Chukotka were obviously too rare to trade u…
The Thule Migrations as an Analog for the Early Peopling of the Americas
Coastal migration is linear and transport-reliant so that pre-Clovis coastal migration should be anticipated from its origin, as in the Thule migration, not its destination. Thule historiography, like Clovis, implicated a rapid, climate-forced migration by rapacious “over-killing” seal-hunters and whalers venturing into unoccupied high arctic landscapes—a model now insupportable. Thule datasets, from middens and numerous burials, include wood, iv…
Geography (28 obras) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (27 obras) · Archaeology (26 obras) · Indigenous Studies and Ecology (19 obras) · Geology (17 obras) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (17 obras) · Arctic (13 obras) · Geology (13 obras) · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research (13 obras) · Oceanography (13 obras)