Specimen 1 - S2000-5670 - CD2000-159-002
Exhibit Specimen 1
(CMCC NiVk-1:84.3A)

This refit portion of a late Arctic Small Tool tradition vessel was recovered from the Engigstciak Site (NiVk-1) near the mouth of the Firth River in the Yukon Coastal Plain in 1959 by Richard S. MacNeish, then with the National Museum of Canada. It likely relates to the Norton Culture (Norton Check-Stamped Ware) which is found predominantly in the coastal reaches of northern Alaska. Although dating from the last few centuries B.C., this vessel is part of a ceramic making tradition which began in Alaska more than 3500 years ago and was inspired if not imported from Siberia.

Further Reading

Griffin, James B. and Roscoe H. Wilmeth, Jr.
1964 Appendix I: The Ceramic Complexes at Itayatayet. In The Archaeology of Cape Denbigh, by J.L. Giddings. Brown University Press, Providence:271-303.

Stimmell, Carole
1994 Going to Pot: A Technological Overview of North American Arctic Ceramics. In Threads of Arctic Prehistory: Papers in Honour of William E. Taylor, Jr., edited by D. Morrison and J.-L. Pilon. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Archaeological Survey of Canada Mercury Series Paper 149.

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