Proto‐Athapaskan culture: the use of ethnographic reconstruction

The segmentation of Athapaskan‐speaking groups over the past two millennia presents an unusual opportunity to observe culture change from a common base in diachronic perspective. To utilize such a “radiation” model, however, something of the Proto‐Athapaskan culture base must be reconstructed. Comparison of ethnographic data provides insights into Proto‐Athapaskan concepts of extrasomatic power, femaleness, death, and other cultural features. These can give form to the reconstructed aspects of Proto‐Athapaskan culture developed through archaeology, linguistics, and other approaches. [Athapaskan, culture change, ethnographic reconstruction, eschatology, women, ideology]