Springer Maritime Prehistory of Northeast Asia: With a Foreword by Dr. William W. Fitzhugh: 6 (The Archaeology of Asia-Pacific Navigation, 6)

From the Back Cover This book addresses a void in the synthetic archaeological knowledge of the North Pacific by enabling a more informed evaluation of North Pacific Rim seafaring hypotheses. It answers questions about intra- and inter-regional relationships in the evolution of maritime adaptations throughout the region. The authors collectively address evidence of aquatic activities during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene in the Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk and adjacent coastal areas of Korea, Japan, Sakhalin Island, the Kurile Islands and the Russian Far East with syntheses placing the region into a larger North Pacific context. This examination provides essential data on human modes of terrestrial adaptation and the transition to maritime lifeways over the last 40,000 years. It also provides a much-needed foundation to better understand the peopling of the New World 17,000 years ago, either by a pedestrian transit or through the use of watercraft, or more likely a combination of the two. As one of the first publications on the prehistory of the maritime region of Northeast Asia provided in English, with contributions by leading Korean, Japanese, Russian, Canadian, European and US-based researchers of the region, this volume presents a means for archaeologists to assess proposed hypotheses pertaining to late Pleistocene and Holocene seafaring around the North Pacific Rim. With a Foreword by Dr William W. Fitzhugh, this book is an essential read for specialists in history, archaeology, behavioural ecology and maritime evolution. About the Author Jim Cassidy completed a Ph.D. at the University of California Santa Barbara in 2004 with a dissertation focusing on the maritime region of the Russian Far East. He has taught classes in Anthropological Archaeology at university level institutions, and was employed as a Cultural Resources Regional Program Manager for the US Navy, retiring in 2011. Since then, he has been an associate with the Maritime Museum of San Diego in various capacities. Dr Cassidy has extensive experience in archaeological survey and excavations projects. His geographic areas of research interest include maritime societies across the north Pacific rim, with particular emphasis on the Russian Far East and the California Channel Islands. His theoretical perspectives are focused on cultural and behavioral ecology, as well as prehistoric maritime technological innovations, and methodological skills include stone tool analysis and reduction processes, and ceramics fatty acid residue analysis. He is also trained in geographic information systems (GIS). He has an extensive publication history, including in American Antiquity, British Archaeological Record International Series, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology Report, Journal of North Pacific Prehistory, as well as a volume entitled California Maritime Archaeology, the Maritime Museum of San Diego's Journal Mains'l Haul, and numerous articles published by the Russian Academy of Sciences, Far Eastern Branch. Irina Ponkratova is a Leading Researcher and Associate Professor in archaeology at the Northeastern State University, in Magadan, Russia. Her research interests include the Stone Age of the Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia) from the end of the Pleistocene to the late Holocene. She is the Director of excavations at the world famous Ushki site in Kamchatka, where numerous important discoveries have been made in recent years. These include new evidence of the use of paints dating to about 13,000 years ago, discovery of the earliest ceramics for this region, evidence of the possible use of domestic dogs as an innovation for transport technology dating to about 9000 years ago and evidence relating associated with migrations across the North Pacific Rim about 13,000 years ago. In addition, she is a recognized scholar of the ancient ceramics of Northeast Asia. Her recent research includes evidence of the origin and functions of the earliest tatto