Introduction

The planning for an Arctic Anthropology festschrift volume in honor of Dr. Don Dumond, Professor Emeritus in Anthropology of the University of Oregon and Director Emeritus of the Oregon State Museum of Natural History was initiated in the fall of 2007 by Dr. Richard Bland. Bland invited Dr. Roger Harritt to collaborate before contributions were solicited for the volume and he happily agreed. Potential contributors, including a number of former Dumond students, also expressed enthusiastic support for the project in the initial stages, and several have contributed papers to the present volume. With the exception of Dr. Don Grayson of the University of Washington, participating Dumond students have focused their studies and careers on northern anthropology. While this group of contributors is fitting for the present volume, it nevertheless does not reflect the broad geographic scope of Dumond’s interests over the course of a long and highly distinguished career. His contributions have included significant, important field work in Mexico, Oregon, and northeast Asia, as well as in North American Arctic and Subarctic regions, and his written work addresses a broad range of topics from archaeological theory, linguistics, and demographics to history and prehistory.

Many will recognize that this type of trans-regional and trans-disciplinary approach to the general study of anthropology and prehistory enhances one’s understanding of what is important in the pursuit of new knowledge in specific cases. Professor Dumond’s perceptions in this regard have been invaluable gifts both to students and colleagues. Those of us who have had the privilege of experiencing his guidance in learning our profession early in our careers recognize the benefits of mentorship from a keen and encyclopedic mind. Although the lessons were sometimes counter to the aspirations and directions fledgling investigators hoped to achieve, the “tough love” approach always improved the effectiveness and usefulness of our efforts and thereby enhanced them in ways we came to appreciate, albeit not always immediately. As readers will also clearly see in a quick review of the comprehensive Dumond bibliography included in this volume, it lists a weighty number of publications—an accomplishment daunting to students starting out, and also an achievement to be envied by all who strive to publish the results of their work.

Don Dumond’s long list of honors includes a symposium examining the far reaching impact of his work, organized by Dr. Herbert Maschner at the 2008 Alaska Anthropological Association meetings in Anchorage, Alaska. The Alaska Anthropological Association, in recognition of Dumond’s contributions to Anthropology and Alaskan Anthropology in particular, also honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Earlier in his career international recognition was bestowed upon him when David Damas selected him to be editor of the prehistory chapters of the “Arctic” volume of the Handbook of North American Indians, published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1984.

The present collection is a tribute to Dumond’s important accomplishments over the course of a 50 year-long career. We do not, however, assume that he has completed his work. Instead, we look forward to benefiting from his continued efforts and insights in the coming years. As contributors to the present volume, we add our tribute to Don Dumond’s long list of honors and, thereby, we recognize a most distinguished northern anthropologist.

We would like to acknowledge Carol Steichen Dumond, a recognized artist, for creation of the many illustrations, especially the maps, in Professor Dumond’s works (Fig. 1). These are often found on the signature covers of many of his books.

We would like to thank the Alaska Anthropological Association for holding its 2008 symposium in honor of Dr. Dumond. We would also like to thank Nan Coppock-Bland for editorial assistance on a number of the contributions. Finally, we would like to thank Susan A. Kaplan, Stacy Ericson, and all others associated with Arctic Anthropology who contributed so much time and effort to this project.

Figure 1.

Don Dumond and Carol Steichen Dumond. Photograph courtesy of Michael Nowak.