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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Aron Crowell

Archaeologist (Arctic Studies Center)
Department / Division
Anthropology
Education
  • M.A., George Washington University
  • Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Research Interests

Arctic archaeology and anthropology, museum anthropology.

Publications
Book
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2024. Laaxaayík, Near the Glacier: Indigenous History and Ecology at Yakutat Fiord, Alaska. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. In Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, 55. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.25420687.
  • Krupnik, Igor and Crowell, Aron, editors. 2020. Arctic Crashes: People and Animals in the Changing North. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
  • Shutt, Lauren, Biddison, Dawn, and Crowell, Aron L. 2014. Listen and Learn: St. Lawrence Island Yupik Language and Culture Video Lessons, Crowell, Aron L. and Biddison, Dawn, editors. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
  • Shutt, Lauren, Biddison, Dawn, and Crowell, Aron L. 2014. Listen and Learn: Iñupiaq Language and Culture Video Lessons, Crowell, Aron L. and Biddison, Dawn, editors. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
  • Crowell, Aron L., Howell, Wayne K., Mann, Daniel H., and Streveler, Gregory. 2013. The Hoonah Tlingit Cultural Landscape in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Gustavus, AK: National Park Service.
  • Crowell, Aron L., Worl, Rosita, Ongtooguk, Paul C., and Biddison, Dawn D. , editors. 2010. Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books.
  • Crowell, Aron L., Worl, Rosita, Ongtooguk, Paul, and Biddison, Dawn D. , editors. 2010. Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.
  • Crowell, Aron L., Worl, Rosita, Ongtooguk, Paul C., and Biddison, Dawn D. . 2010. Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska. Washington DC: Smithsonian Books.
  • Hollowell, Julie and Crowell, Aron L., editors. 2009. Gifts From the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories From Bering Strait. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University.
  • Hutchinson, Ian and Crowell, Aron L. 2006. Great Earthquakes and Tsunamis at the Alaska Subduction Zone: Geoarchaeological Evidence of Recurrence and Extent. Washington, DC: National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program.
  • Crowell, Aron L., Steffian, Amy F., and Pullar, Gordon L. 2001. Looking Both Ways: Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq People. University of Alaska Press.
  • Crowell, Aron L. and Mann, D. H. 1998. Archaeology and Coastal Dynamics of Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska. National Park Service.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 1997. Archaeology and the Capitalist World System: A Study from Russian America. Plenum Press.
Journal Article
  • Crowell, Aron L. and Arimitsu, Mayumi. 2023. "Climate Change and Pulse Migration: Intermittent Chugach Inuit Occupation of Glacial Fiords on the Kenai Coast, Alaska." Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, 2, (1145220) 01–27. https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2023.1145220.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2021. "Whaling and Whale Spirits in the Western Arctic: Notes from the Fifth Thule Expedition." Alaska Journal of Anthropology, 19, (1-2) 108–126.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2021. "Preface: A Western Arctic Perspective on the Fifth Thule Expedition." Alaska Journal of Anthropology, 19, (1-2) 3–5.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2020. "Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: An Alaska Native Exhibition as Indigenous Knowledge Nexus." Alaska Journal of Anthropology, 18, (1) 4–22.
  • Hitchcock, Robert K., Crowell, Aron L., Brooks, Alison S., Yellen, John E., Ebert, James I., and Osborn, Alan J. 2019. "The Ethnoarchaeology of Ambush Hunting: A Case Study of ǂGi Pan, Western Ngamiland, Botswana." African Archaeological Review, 36, (1) 119–144. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-018-9319-x.
  • Maio, Christopher V., Crowell, Aron L., Sullivan, Richard M., Buzard, Richard M., Whitley, Matthew A., Bogardus, Reyce C., and Wit, Cary W. de. 2019. "Examining Coastal Dynamics and Archaeological Site Evidence at a Drowned Cirque Basin Influenced by Earthquakes and Little Ice Age Glaciation." Journal of Coastal Research, 814–834. https://doi.org/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-18-00074.1.
  • Helser, Thomas, Kastelle, Craig, Crowell, Aron L., Ushikubo, Takayuki, Orland, Ian J., Kozdon, Reinhard, and Valley, John W. 2018. "A 200-year archaeozoological record of Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) life history as revealed through ion microprobe oxygen isotope ratios in otoliths." Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 21 1236–1246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.06.037.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2017. "Ice, Seals, and Guns: Late 19th Century Commercial Sealing in Southeast Alaska." Arctic Anthropology, 53, (2). https://doi.org/10.3368/aa.53.2.11.
  • Crowell, Aron L. and Howell, Wayne K. 2013. "Time, Oral Tradition, and Archaeology at Xakwnoowú, A Little Ice Age Fort in Southeastern Alaska." American Antiquity, 78, (1) 2–23.
  • Crowell, Aron L., Liddle, Joseph, and Matson, Mark. 2013. "Spatial Correlation of Archaeological Sites and Subsistence Resources in the Gulf of Alaska." Alaska Park Science, 11, (2) 4–9.
  • Anichtchenko, Evgenia and Crowell, Aron L. 2010. "Baidary Tikhookeanskikh Eskimosov po Dannym Arkheologogii i Etnographii." Sbornik Museja Antropologii y Etnographii, 56 198–227.
  • Crowell, Aron L., Yesner, David R., Eagle, Rita, and Hanson, Diane K. 2008. "A Historic alutiiq Village on the Outer Kenai Coast: Subsistence and Trade in the Early Russian Contact Period." Alaska Journal of Anthropology, 6, (1-2) 225–252.
  • Hutchinson, I. and Crowell, Aron L. 2007. "Recurrence and extent of great earthquakes in southern Alaska during the late holocene from an analysis of the radiocarbon record of land-level change and village abandonment." Radiocarbon, 49, (3) 1323–1385.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2006. "The St. Lawrence Island Famine/Epidemic of 1878-80: A Yupik Narrative in Cultural and Historical Context." Arctic Anthropology, 43, (1) 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1353/arc.2011.0105.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2004. "Terms of Engagement: The Collaborative Representation of Alutiiq Identity." Études Inuit. Inuit Studies, 28, (1) 9–35.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2004. "Connecting with the Past- The Kenai Fjords Oral History and Archaeology Project." Alaska Park Science, 3, (1) 33–38.
  • Crowell, Aron L., Matson, M., and Mann, D. H. 2003. "Implications of "Punctuated Productivity" for Coastal Settlement Patterns: A GIS Study of the Katmai Coast, Gulf of Alaska." Alaska Journal of Anthropology, 1, (2) 62–96.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2000. "Maritime Cultures of the Gulf of Alaska." Journal of American Archaeology, (17) 177–216.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 1999. "Maritime Cultures of the Gulf of Alaska." Journal of American Archaeology, 16 177–179, 181-216.
  • Crowell, Aron L. and Mann, D. H. 1996. "Sea Level Dynamics, Glaciers, and Archaeology Along the Central Gulf of Alaska Coast." Arctic Anthropology, 33, (2) 16–37.
  • Mann, D. H. and Crowell, Aron L. 1996. "A Large Earthquake Occurring 700 - 800 Years Ago in Aialik Bay, Southern Coastal Alaska." Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 33, (1) 117–126.
  • Brooks, Alison S., Crowell, Aron L., and Yellen, J. E. 1980. "Gi: A Stone Age Archaeological Site in the Northern Kalahari Desert Botswana." Proceedings of the Eighth Pan-African Congress of Prehistory and Quanternary Studies, Nairobi, September 5-10, 1979, 304–309.
Video / DVD
Book Chapter
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2022. "Indigenous Peoples, Museums, and Anthropology." In Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 1, Introduction. Krupnik, Igor, editor. 119–135. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Scholarly Press.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2022. "What Really Happened: A Migration Narrative from Southeast Alaska Compared to Archaeological and Geological Data." In Memory and Landscape: Indigenous Responses to a Changing North. Pratt, Ken and Heyes, Scott, editors. 2–35. Edmonton, Alberta: Athabasca University Press.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2020. "The 1960s - 1970s Harbor Seal Crash in Alaska: A Historical and Ecological Perspective." In Arctic Crashes: People and Animals in the Changing North. Krupnik, Igor and Crowell, Aron L., editors. 317–335. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2018. "Inuit-Dene Cultural Ecology in Cook Inlet, Alaska since 1000 B.C." In Imagining Anchorage: The Making of America’s Northernmost Metropolis. James Barnett and Ian Hartman, editors. 2–19. Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska Press.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2018. "Sugpiaq (Alutiiq) History and Archaeology on the Kenai Peninsula's Outer Coast." In 150 Years: Proceedings of the 2017 Kenai Peninsula History Conference. Loshbaugh, Shana F., editor. 223–230. Seattle, Washington: Skookum Creek.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2016. "Museums and Alaska Native Artists." In Alaska Passé/Present. Céline Ramios, editor. 65–72. Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France: Château Museé.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2015. "Sharing Knowledge thorugh the Looking Both Ways Exhibition." In Kal'unek--From Karluk, Kodiak Alutiiq History and the Archaeology of Karluk One. Steffian, Amy F., Leist, Marnie A., and Haakanson, Sven D., editors. 301–303. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2015. "The Glacier's Eternal Gift: Sealing, Science, and Indigenous Knowledge at Yakutat Bay, Alaska." In Keeping Our Traditions Alive: Compendium of Best Practices in Promoting the Traditional Ways of Life of Arctic Indigenous Peoples. 48–49. Ottawa: The Arctic Council Secretariat.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2014. "Cook and Russian Colonialism in Southern Alaska." In Arctic Ambitions: Captain Cook and the Northwest Passage. Barnett, James K. and Nicandri, David, editors. 149–169. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
  • Crowell, Aron L. and Kay, Sharon. 2014. "Aleut Basketry at the Kunstkamera: Linking Traditional and Contemporary Arts." In Catalog of the Aleut Collections of the Kunstkamera, St. Petersburg. Korsun, Sergei, editor. 39–46. St. Petersburg, Russia: Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2011. "Ethnicity and Periphery: The Archaeology of Identity in Russian America." In The Archaeology of Capitalism in Colonial Context. Croucher, Sarah K. and Weiss, Lindsay, editors. 85–104. New York: Springer.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2010. "Introduction." In Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska. Crowell, Aron L., Worl, Rosita, Ongtooguk, Paul, and Biddison, Dawn D. , editors. 12–27. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2009. "Archaeology of a Borderland: Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet, Southern Alaska Coast." In Archaeology in America (Vol. 4). McManamon, Francis P., Cordell, Linda S., Lightfoot, Kent G., and Milner, George R., editors. 258–260. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2009. "Sea Mammals in Art, Ceremony, and Belief: Knowledge Shared by Yupik and Iñupiaq Elders." In Gifts from the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of Bering Strait. Fitzhugh, William W., Hollowell, Julie, and Crowell, Aron L., editors. 206–225. New Haven, CT: Princeton University Art Museum.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2009. "The Art of Iñupiaq Whaling: Elders' Interpretations of International Polar Year Ethnological Collections." In Smithsonian at the Poles: Contributions to International Polar Year Science. Krupnik, Igor, Lang, Michael A., and Miller, Scott E., editors. 99–114. In IPY. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.097884601X.9.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2009. "Russian Colonization of Alaska and the Northwest Coast." In Archaeology in America (Vol. 4). McManamon, Francis P., Cordell, Linda S., Lightfoot, Kent G., and Milner, George R., editors. 282–286. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
  • Fitzhugh, William W. and Crowell, Aron L. 2009. "Ancestors and Ivories: Art of the Ancient Bering Sea." In Gifts for the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories From Bering Sea. Hollowell, Julie and Crowell, Aron L., editors. 18–41. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2008. "The St. Lawrence Island Famine and Epidemic, 1878-80: A Yupik Narrative in Cultural and Historical Context." In Living with Stories: Telling, Re-telling, and Remembering. Schneider, William, editor. 36–67. Logan: Utah State University Press.
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2002. "Russian Colonialism." In Encyclopedia of Historical Archaeology. 486–489.
  • Fitzhugh, William W. and Crowell, Aron L. 1988. "Crossroads of Continents: Beringian Oecumene." In Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia. Fitzhugh, William W. and Crowell, Aron L., editors. 9–16. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
  • Fitzhugh, William W., Rousselot, Jean-Loup, and Crowell, Aron L. 1988. "Maritime Economies of the North Pacific Rim." In Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska. Fitzhugh, William W. and Crowell, Aron L., editors. 151–172. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Conference Proceedings
  • Crowell, Aron L., Krupnik, Igor, Fitzhugh, William W., Engelstad, Bernadette, Dean, Bernadette, Harper, Kenneth, MacKenzie, Scott, Michelsen, Knud, Kleist, Mari, Griebel, Brendan, Sonne, Birgitte, Pratt, Kenneth, Shokarev, Sergei, Schwalbe, Daria, Appelt, Martin, Nielsen, Bent, Norbert, Eileen, and Bronshtein, Michael. 2021. "From Greenland to the Pacific: Centennial of the Fifth Thule Expedition, 1921-1924." in Alaska Journal of Anthropology. 19 (1-2), iii–269. 46th Annual meeting of the Alaska Anthropological Association (Nome, Alaska) 2019-02-28. Alaska Anthropological Association.
Book Review
  • Crowell, Aron L. 2012. [Book review] "Landscapes and Social Transformations on the Northwest Coast: Colonial Encounters on the Fraser Valley." American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 36, (4), 175–177.