This paper presents the results of a pilot study that incorporates archaeoentomology in the investigation of a scene of indigenous conflict. At Nunalleq, a pre-contact Yup’ik site in southwestern Alaska, excavations revealed the remains of a large sod village that was abandoned following an attack. The final occupation layers are overlain by charred roof sods strewn with projectile points and shafts and associated with these deposits are the remains of some of the conflict victims. Although Yup’ik oral history contains numerous tales and legends associated with a period of intense violence, referred to as the ‘Bow-and-Arrow-Wars’, Nunalleq is the only site where evidence of this conflict has been extensively excavated. Archaeoenvironmental samples collected from archaeological layers contemporary with the attack produced hundreds of human and dog lice, fleas, as well as blowfly puparia. In an attempt to reconstruct the timing (seasonality), spatiality and sequence of events that characterised the attack on Nunalleq, we integrate the results of archaeoentomological analyses with other bioarchaeological (e.g. human hair, fur, coprolites) and artefactual (projectile points, pieces of clothing) data. Our results demonstrate how, by incorporating innovative methods in archaeological investigations of past violence, it is possible to reconstruct detailed, engaging and historically accurate narratives of past conflict based on physical evidence.

Discoloured lead-rich glazes on phosphatic porcelain sherds from the sites of the Bartlam (Cain Hoy, SC),Bonnin & Morris (Philadelphia, PA) and Chelsea (London, UK) factory sites record the effects of alteration after two centuries of burial. The alteration presents as a dark brown to black scale on most samples.  Backscattered-electron images of this material show the development of Liesegang rings. Compared with their fresh counterparts, the altered glazes are variably but in some instances massively ( >90%) depleted in SiO₂ and alkalis, and enriched in P₂O₅, CaO, PbO, and various trace elements, notably V. Some of the Bonnin & Morris samples have had bone ash components – especially CaO - leached from the now-porous phosphatic paste, so their CaO/P₂O₅ (molecular proportions) ratios (~2) are much lower than the relatively fresh Bonnin & Morris samples (3.1-3.5). The ceramic body is not, however the source of phosphate enriched in the altered glazes because phosphate enrichment characterizes glaze alteration even where there is no evidence of bone ash dissolution.  Glaze alteration is interpreted in terms of leaching (de-alkalization) and silica-network dissolution in the presence of subsurface alkaline aqueous fluids (pH >9).

Ancient environmental DNA (eDNA) preserved in disseminated materials (e.g. sediments, soils, ice, and palaeofaeces) has been shown to be a viable target for reconstructing a wide taxonomic breadth of ancient ecosystems in diverse depositional contexts. This is most remarkably true even in the total absence of surviving primary tissues from those organisms. Canadian archaeological sites are, on average, well suited to analyses of this kind with low mean annual temperatures facilitating ancient DNA preservation—being contingent, of course, on microclimatic conditions in the burial environment such as water/oxygen content, pH, and microbial communities. Ecologists are increasingly utilizing eDNA to monitor shifting contemporary ecosystems to mitigate the need for logistically burdensome ground surveys. For archaeologists, the systematic collection of environmental samples from sites at risk or from those being excavated has the potential to substantially increase our taxonomic resolution of ancient human ecosystems. However, these ancient biomolecules are not themselves impervious to degradation from shifting environments. Permafrost is particularly vulnerable in the Canadian north not only from thaw slump placing infrastructure and heritage sites at risk, but also for degrading the Quaternary molecular archives of exceptionally well-preserved ancient DNA therein. Here, I discuss how the collection of environmental samples for future analyses with ancient DNA techniques may help mitigate some degree of the information loss expected from ‘heritage at risk’ sites. As well as discussing a forthcoming lake sediment investigation as an example of the increasing analytic power of sedimentary ancient DNA methods.