Continuity and Change in Indigenous Copper Technologies of the Arctic and Central Subarctic

A dissertation examining technological diversity in Indigenous copper metallurgy of the North American Arctic and Central Subarctic. Variation in technological diversity is assessed cross-culturally, chronologically, and geographically. This is accomplished using diversity statistics to characterize Richness and Evenness of spatiotemporal archaeological assemblages of copper artifacts, performing regression analysis to examine the relationship to the results of a GIS Path Distance analysis that models the cost of acquisition of raw or modified copper, and performing chi-square tests of independence to compare assemblages inter-regionally and temporally. Portable X-Ray Fluorescence was utilized to discriminate geologically pure copper from smelted trade copper and a comprehensive typology of copper artifacts was created using a compiled database of known copper artifacts from across the North American Arctic and central Subarctic. Inter-regional, chronological, and cross-cultural differences in technological diversity were identified and implications for Arctic and Subarctic archaeology and technological innovation are discussed.