Anthropology Presentation - The Archaeology of a Potlatch
by Green & Gold News |
Join the Department of Anthropology, Friday, Feb. 16 in Beatrice McDonald Hall, Room 119 from 2-3:15 p.m. for a presentation by Gerad Smith on the archaeological work at the 900-year-old Pickupsticks Site in the Middle Tanana Valley, Alaska. Using models of household maintenance and Dene social structure, we identified the remains of a structure used for a single dual-sided ceremony and then abandoned. We put forth that these remains reflect the Northwest Coast potlatch ceremony and constitute one of the oldest documented instances of potlatching in North America.