Tree-ring analysis of traditional native bark-stripping at Ship Island, Southeast Alaska, USA |
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Authors: | Charles M Mobley Michael Lewis |
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Institution: | (1) 200 W 34th Avenue 534, Anchorage, AK 99503, USA;(2) 1190 7th Avenue 5, Santa Cruz, CA 95062, USA |
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Abstract: | Tree-ring analyses of 23 bark-stripped trees, mostly Thuja plicata (western red cedar) but also Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (yellow cedar) and Picea sitchensis (Sitka spruce), help describe traditional Native tree-bark exploitation at a site north of Ketchikan in southeast Alaska,
USA. Tree-ring samples exposed 36 cultural scars dating from between a.d. 1718 and 1912, showing that Natives landed on this hazardous stretch of Clarence Strait to take tree bark in 29 (about 15%)
of the 195 years spanned by the sample. One-third of these culturally modified trees had multiple scars indicating repeated
use of individual trees. The most intensive forest use occurred between 1852 and 1895, while the lack of bark scars after
1912 marks a decline in traditional Native craft. A burst of bark-stripping between 1779 and 1787 may be associated with the
legendary last battle between the Stikine Tlingit of Alaska and the Tsimshian of British Columbia. The sample is compared
with dated samples from British Columbia (Canada) and Washington State, USA. |
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Keywords: | Alaska Native Forestry Bark-peeling Culturally modified tree CMT |
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