SOMETHING FISHY: FISH REMAINS AT THE KLEIN SITE (XBD-362) QUARTZ LAKE, ALASKA.

Today, fish are an important part of Alaska subsistence, valued by communities across the region. Coastal fishing practices have long been a focus of both contemporary and past research, but the historic relationship between people and fish in the Interior is less clear. Recent archaeological work has begun to establish the long history of fishing in central Alaska and led to a greater understanding of the role of fish. How central Alaskans selected and processed fish in more recent periods, such as the late Holocene, remains uncertain due in part to collection, preservation, and research bias. This study of late Holocene fish remains from the Klein Site on Quartz Lake adds to our knowledge of fishing during this period. It demonstrates the importance of a variety of non-anadromous fish species and indicates that these fish may have been harvested using mass capture technology such as nets or weirs. Changes in excavation protocol and unique investigations of lakeside archaeological sites expand our understanding of fishing throughout the past. The ecological data embedded in these archaeological sites can also aid researchers in reconstructing past environments so that we may better understand how high-latitude fisheries are changing in the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]