enPolished Projectile Points from the Nunalleq site (Agaligmiut village), Southwest Alaska: A New Approach to the Yupiit Bow-and-Arrow Wars
The excavation of the Nunalleq site (GDN-248), located in Yup’ik territory, revealed a succession of at least three phases ranging from c. A.D. 1570-1630 to c. A.D. 1645-1675 corresponding to several phases of construction and habitation of a sod dwelling dating from the pre-contact period of the historical village known as Agaligmiut. The occupation of the site takes place during the Bow-and-Arrow Wars, and the last phase actually corresponds to the destruction and abandonment of the village after a raid by an outside group. This study focuses on stone tools, and more specifically on projectile points. The objective is therefore to study this period of conflicts through one of the types of tools having served precisely to this conflict: the arrow points (end-blades). The study of these artifacts helped to better understand the course of the attack that led to the destruction and abandonment of the village, as well as some aspects of the period of the Bow-and-Arrow Wars, which remains relatively unknown from an archaeological point of view.