The Norton tradition is an archaeological culture

Archaeological culture

An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place, which are thought to constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between the artifacts is based on archaeologists' understanding and interpretation and...

 that developed in the Western Arctic

Western Arctic

Western Arctic is a federal electoral district and senate division in Northwest Territories, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979....

 along the Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

n shore of the Bering Strait

Bering Strait

The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...

 around 1000 BCE and lasted through about 800 CE. The Norton people used flake-stone tool

Stone tool

A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric, particularly Stone Age cultures that have become extinct...

s like their predecessors, the Arctic small tool tradition

Arctic small tool tradition

The Arctic Small Tool tradition is a broad cultural entity that developed along the Alaska Peninsula, round Bristol Bay, and on the eastern shores of the Bering Strait around 2500 BC...

, but they were more marine-oriented and brought new technologies such as oil-burning lamps

Oil lamp

An oil lamp is an object used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and is continued to this day....

 and clay vessels into use.

Norton people used both marine and land resources as part of their subsistence strategy. They hunted caribou and smaller mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

s as well as salmon

Salmon

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

 and larger sea mammals. Their settlements were occupied fairly permanently, as is evidenced by village sites which contain substantial dwellings. During summer months, small camps may have been used as temporary hunting

Hunting

Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...

 and fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

 locations, but the main dwelling place was maintained and returned to at the end of the hunting season.

Stages

The Norton tradition is divided into three stages of development.

The first, the Choris Stage (ca. 1000—500 BCE), consists of coastal sites containing fiber-tempered pottery with linear stamping decorating the outsides of the vessels. There is much local variation in this stage, which may indicate relative isolation of communities.

The second stage, Norton (500 BCE—800) CE, is distinguished by caribou (hunting) and fishing. There developed more refined pottery that included the Choris-style stamps, but also included check stamps applied using ivory paddles. New technology included stone lamps, stone working, asymmetrical knives, and ground stone

Ground stone

In archaeology, ground stone is a category of stone tool formed by the grinding of a coarse-grained tool stone, either purposely or incidentally. Ground stone tools are usually made of basalt, rhyolite, granite, or other macrocrystalline igneous stones whose coarse structure makes them ideal for...

 projectile points made from slate.

The final stage, the Ipiutak Stage (1—800 CE), was a more artistically developed form of the Norton Culture. Their technology was less advanced (no pottery, oil lamps, or slate artifacts), but they used elegant harpoon

Harpoon

A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument used in fishing to catch fish or large marine mammals such as whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal, allowing the fishermen to use a rope or chain attached to the butt of the projectile to catch the animal...

 heads that were ornately adorned. Their art tradition consisted of mainly ivory carving

Ivory carving

Ivory carving is the carving of ivory, that is to say animal tooth or tusk, by using sharp cutting tools, either mechanically or manually. The ancient craft has now virtually ceased, as since CITES it is illegal under most circumstances throughout the world....

s of animal and human figures. They focused more on marine hunting

Whaling

Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...

than the first two stages and their settlements were very permanent.