Abstract

The Neoglacial was a period of cold climate that lasted from ca. 4700 to 2500 BP. We present evidence that the Neoglacial substantially altered the distribution of Bering Sea marine mammals, using faunal remains recovered from the Amaknak Bridge site on Unalaska Island (occupied ca. 3,500 - 2,500 RCYBP, uncorrected). Archaeozoological analysis indicates that spring pack ice reached a more southerly position during the Neoglacial than it does today and persisted much longer. We infer from this evidence that sea-ice must also have engulfed the Pribilof Islands until early summer and blocked the Bering Strait virtually year round, preventing fur seals from using the Pribilofs as a breeding rookery and whales from making summer migrations into the arctic, as they do today. We suggest Neoglacial sea-ice expansion in the Bering Sea pushed fur seals south along the Northwest Coast and explains the timing of Inuit arrival into the Western Arctic.