A01=Gerad M. Smith
A19=Evelynn Combs
A23=Charles E. Holmes
Age Group_Uncategorized
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Alaska Native
Author_Gerad M. Smith
automatic-update
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=HD
Category=JHMC
Category=NK
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
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eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Ethnoarchaeology
Household Archaeology
Language_English
Native American prehistory
PA=Available
Potlatch
Price_€50 to €100
PS=Active
Social Complexity
softlaunch
Product details
- ISBN 9781793654762
- Weight: 676g
- Dimensions: 159 x 228mm
- Publication Date: 11 Feb 2022
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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The Middle Tanana Valley in Alaska remains one of the most important regions of the continent for archaeological research. In The Gift of the Middle Tanana: Dene Pre-Colonial History in the Alaskan Interior, Gerad Smith explores the history, ethnography, and archaeological record of the Native people in this region during the late Holocene. Smith creates an interpretive framework informed by Alaskan Native traditions, focusing on traditional place names and the deep-play rituals of reciprocity. Smith sets forth the case that the local themes and oral traditions of the potlatch are better understood not as singular ceremonial events but as a mechanism of regional social cohesion that dictated everyday life. The Gift of the Middle Tanana illustrates how the role of reciprocal deep-play shaped a traditional society that has lasted over a thousand years.
Gerad M. Smith is affiliate researcher in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
