Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Anthropological Archaeology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaa Demographicfuctuationsandtheemergenceofarcticmaritimeadaptations Shelby L. Anderson a, ⁎ , Thomas Brown b , Justin Junge a , Jonathan Duelks b a Portland State University, Department of Anthropology, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR 97207, United States b Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, 6303 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Demography Radiocarbon analysis Aquatic adaptations Arctic ABSTRACT Our goal is to study the role of demographic change in the development and spread of maritime adaptations in the North American Arctic over the last 6000years. We compile and analyze a regional radiocarbon database (n=935) for northern Alaska, using Oxcal to analyze demographic patterns in summed probability distribu- tions. We fnd that northern Alaskan populations grew signifcantly over the last 4500years, although growth was punctuated by three periods of decline from approximately 3700 to 3125cal BP, 1000cal BP, and 600cal BP. We assess possible alternative explanations for the observed demographic patterns (e.g. calibration and taphonomicefects,investigatorbias).Region-wideerosionandcalibrationefectslikelycontributetothedearth of radiocarbon dates around 1000cal BP, and sampling bias may contribute to the post-600cal BP decline. However, we conclude that the overall pattern refects regional population growth, decline, and recovery. Population growth predates intensifcation of marine resource procurement by at least 1200years; we hy- pothesize that population growth was a possible driver for late Holocene marine intensifcation in the Arctic. Thesefndingshave furtherimplicationsforunderstandingtheprocessofintensifcationandthedevelopmentof complexity in coastal hunter-gatherer societies. 1. Introduction Archaeologists studying the emergence of maritime adaptations in hunter-gatherers consider the interplay of several variables, including subsistence abundance and distribution (Ames, 1994, 2005; Butler and Campbell, 2004; Kennett and Kennett, 2000; Lepofsky et al., 2005; Matson, 1992), population size and density (Binford, 2001; Cohen, 1977; Kelly, 1995), territoriality (Kelly 1995), and environmental variability(Cashdan,1989;Yesner,1998).IntheArctic,theemergence andexpansionofmaritimeadaptationsduringthemid-lateHoloceneis associated with increased population density and increased sedentism (Mason, 1998). The evolution of Arctic maritime traditions parallels similar developments in other maritime hunter-gatherer groups (Ames, 1994; Arnold, 1996; Erlandson, 2001; Fitzhugh, 2003; Mason, 1998; Yesner, 1998). Yet, despite decades of research on the origins of mar- itime adaptations in the north (e.g. Ackerman, 1998; Collins, 1940; Dumond, 1998; Ford, 1959; Larsen and Rainey, 1948), many questions remain about precisely when, how, and why Arctic peoples developed the complex social organization and technological expertise centered on marine mammal hunting that was well established by the 1800s in coastal northern Alaska (e.g. Burch, 1998, 2005, 2006; Ray, 1975). In this paper we focus on one variable in the development and spread of Arctic maritime traditions, demographic shifts, through analysis of an updated regional radiocarbon database for northern Alaska (Fig. 1). 2. Background 2.1. The development and spread of Arctic maritime adaptations Early research on Arctic maritime traditions was directed at estab- lishing Arctic culture history and tracing the origins of North American Arctic peoples (e.g. Collins, 1940, Ford, 1959). Subsequent research fo- cused on the role of environmental change and shifting resource dis- tribution (Mason, 1998; Mason and Barber, 2003; Mason and Gerlach, 1995a, 1995b; Sheehan, 1985, 1997) driving the emergence and spread of maritime adaptations across the North American Arctic. The timing and nature of major mid-late Holocene environmental shifts may have caused changing resource abundance and distribution; subsequent con- centration of people around good marine hunting grounds provided opportunities for both cooperation (Grier, 1999; Hill, 2011; Savelle, 2002) and competition (Mason, 1998). Cooperation or competition around hunting, processing, and distribution of surplus generated by procurement of large marine mammals (i.e. walrus and whales) may have driven the emergence of Arctic social complexity. Issues of https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2019.101100 Received 21 November 2018; Received in revised form 28 August 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: ashelby@pdx.edu (S.L. Anderson). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 56 (2019) 101100 0278-4165/ © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. T