The Southeast Alaskan coast has strong seasonal rhythms that would have structured the annual cycle of maritime peoples in the early Holocene as they do today.

The salmon runs — which are among the most predictable and most productive seasonal food events anywhere in the world — occur in different river systems at different times through the summer and fall.

Herring spawn in massive aggregations in the spring, providing another concentrated seasonal resource.

Sea mammals concentrate in specific locations at specific times of year in response to the availability of their own prey.

A maritime people adapted to the Alexander Archipelago would have organized their annual movement cycle around these seasonal pulses of resource availability — moving to be in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the salmon runs, the herring spawn, the summer abundance of berries and other plant foods, and the winter concentrations of sea mammals in sheltered waters.