Time, oral tradiation and archaeology at Xakwnoowú, a Little Ice Age fort in southeastern Alaska

• Published in: American antiquity 2013-01, Vol.78, p.3-23
• Main Authors: Crowell, Aron L, Howell, Wayne K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0002-7316

As a linguistic medium, oral tradition conveys rich and specific detail about past events but is also subject to alteration in the course of transmission between generations. As a source for indigenous history, spoken heritage is characteristically specific in geographic attribution and thus definitive of cultural landscapes, but it is temporally under-defined because it is unconstrained by calendrical dates. We consider these qualities in relation to Tlingit oral accounts that refer to Xakwnoowu, an 850-year-old fort in the Glacier Bay region of southeastern Alaska. The site is narratively linked to the origins of Tlingit warfare and of the Kaagwaantaan clan, and remains a landmark of historical consciousness for contemporary descendants. We apply archaeological and geological evidence to date and verify key oral narratives, finding substantial convergence with scientific data and a complementarity of perspective that potentiates fuller understandings of both Tlingit history and environmental change during the Little Ice Age. We conclude that the historicity of oral tradition--a topic of wide current debate--is clearly demonstrated at Xakwnoowu, although instances of chronological compression are revealed by the analysis. [Publication Abstract]