Remote shores: Shellfish gathering in the Kodiak Archipelago, Gulf of Alaska

Geographic isolation, local ecology, and cultural context mediate shellfish use in the Gulf of Alaska. Chirikof Island, located at the southwest end of the Kodiak Archipelago in the central Gulf of Alaska, provides an excellent example of subsistence in a place of extreme isolation and exposure. Previous archaeological survey has suggested that Alutiiq and possibly Unangax̂ peoples lived on Chirikof for short periods over the past 4500 years, where they came to hunt local fauna. We examine how extreme ecological factors influenced sensitive intertidal resource availability and use zooarchaeological methods to explore the role of shellfish in ancestral subsistence at four sites. A comparison with regional shellfish trends shows the Chirikof Island shell assemblages are different from other North Pacific island groups because of coastal exposure and resulting habitat availability while demonstrating deep Indigenous knowledge and successful use of intertidal resources to support remote hunting expeditions.