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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAPA1847... -, - [M]&OO~&c ~IID&®©@ Susitna Joint Venture Document Number /8'17 Please Return To DOCUMENT CONTROL A REPORT TO -J c--" c 0" c o C b C C U [ C [. THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY AND THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ,·If,. ARCHEOLOGICAL FI ELD RESEARCH 1980 THE NORTH ALASKA RANGE EARLY MAN PROJECT ".F.HOFFECKER DECEMBER 1980 -, -, d g u u ~ L-i C G [ C [ [ L [' " I.Introduction This is the fourth in a series of annual fie~d reports de- scribing the archeological rese~rch of the North Alaska Bange Early Man Project.It represents only one aspect of an inter- disciplinary project;results of the geological and palynological research will be presented elsewhere.Since 1978,I have been responsible for the conduct of field archeology,although Dr. w.Roger Powers,my former graduate advisor at the Dniversity of .A Alaska and the original principal investigator for archeology, continued to act as senior consultant.Dr.Norman w.Ten Brink (Grand Valley State Colleges)provided overall direction of the project in the field,as he has for the last three years.During the 1980 field season,Mr.Samuel M.~ilson,my fellow graduate student at the University of Chicago,served as archeological re- search assistant. A total of four weeks was spent in the field in 1980.Al- though in past years (1970 and 1979)the emphasis has been on the search for suitable geological contexts to test for pre-12,OOO year old sites,this year attention turned to the actual testing,fol- lowing the strate~y discussed in this report.In addition to this,survey for stratified sites in the 12,000-10,000 years B.i. time range was undertaken,as the collection of new archeological data bearing on this period has become a major focus of the project in its overall effort to contribute to our understanding of native American origins.In this report I have presented a summary of the archeological objectives,methods,and results of the 1980 field (1) c: l" [ [ [ [ [ [ [ [ o c u [ c [ [ L [ (2) season.In the concluding section,I have attempted to review briefly the current state of our knowledge about the rleistocene inhabitants of Beringia,and ventured to make so~e general recom- mendations for future research. II.History of nesearch The North Alaska Bange Early Man Project was an outgrowth of the interdisciplinary research at the Dry Creek site of ~.R.~owers, B.D.Guthrie,and T.D.Hamilton.The project was launched,on...,. a three year basis,in the fall of 1976 with the joint support of the National Geographic Society and the National Park £ervice.The principal investigators,Powers and Guthrie,had for~ulated a set- tlement pattern model which predicted that ~leistocene hunters would travel up the rivers of the northern foothills of the Alaska Range to exploit game concentrations in late summer and early fall, a function of delayed plant maturation at higher altitudes (1977: 18).The valleys of the foothills zone offer prominent'ooservation points along the edges of river terraces,thus simplifying the dif- ficult task of finding Pleistocene sites. Of fundamental importance to the designers of the project was the location of sites in a datable geological context.Typological dating of materials older than the terminal Pleistocene was not pos- 'sible because no chronological culture framework exists ror Alaska prior to this time.It was assumed that the typical sedimen~ary context of the terrace top sites,aeolian sand and silt,would pro- vide archeological remains not only from the terminal Pleistocene, but from significantly older sites. -, -, ~ "' --' ,---, ~ ~ ..J ~ w "'" !"""'J u [ l [ l (J) During the first field se~son in 1977,the archeologists fail- ed to locate any sites older than Dry Creek (ca.11,000 years ~.r.), Ci.nd the~~s_uJll~d~n_tJ£.uj.tyof the primary aeoLian "deposits was 'iues--- tioned.Was it possible that some process or combination of pro- cesses had removed these deposits prior to about 12,000 years ago? Furttermore,misconceptions about the age and nature of certain deposits in the Teklanika Valley had led to an abandonment of plans to test that area for Pleistocene sites.It was therefore decided to '~uspend further archeological survey until more was known about the geology of the foothills region,especially Ki~h respect to tne age and origin of deposits judged to be of high archeological poten- tial from a topographic standpoint. In the summer of 1976,N.~.Ten Brink,who had become the principal investigator for geology,began a comprehensive study of the Pleistocene geomorphology and stratigraphy of the region.In order to contribute to the archeological perspective,I was invited to participate in this undertaking.During the course of the field season,attention was focused on two problems:the age of the pri- mary aeolian deposits and the search for alternative contexts for future survey,should the former prove to be too young.Radiocar- bon dates collected that summer were consistent With the hypothesis that the aeolian deposits generally post-date 12,000 years b.f. (Hoffecker 1979:5,Table 1). A number of alternative contexts were considered during both the 1978 and 1979 field seasons.These included colluvial Silt, frozen aeolian sediments,and various types of water-laid deposits, n [ r~ l~ [ b [ [ [ [ b C [ [ [ L L (4) including overbank silt,fluvial sand and gravels,and alluvial fans.However,most of these contexts were seen to possess seri- ous disadvantages,as discussed in the 1976 and 1979 reports.~n­ ly alluvial fans were regarded as combining both the preservational and locational re~uirements as a suitable context for the olaer sites.For the 1980 field season,therefore,the aevelopment of a detailed model for Late wisconsinan fan sampling and some prelim- inary testing were planned (Ten Brink 1900). ··Since 1978,the archeological research objectives of the pro- ject have moved along two seemingly separate paths.fhe most impor- tant of these has been the search for appropriate pre-12,000 year- old contexts,but of growing significance has been the problem of sites in the 12,000-10,000 years B.P.time range.Both the results of the Dry Creek excavations and the discovery and dating of the Moose Creek site in 1978 have unequivocably confirmed the existence of a bifacial point technology in this period.The recognition of such a technology in Pleistocene Beringia is a relatively recent development,and one with potentially important implications for the peopling of the New World.In order to interpret the relation- ship of the point technology to the previously known microblade as- se~blages of Beringia (the Diuktai and Denali complexes),new sites in this time range must be discovered.Thus,additional testing of the terminal Pleistocene age aeolian deposits was also planned (Ten Brink 1980). III.The 1980 Research Design The archeological research design originally formulated for r-, n [ [ C [ R [ [ [ [ 6 L (5) the summer of 1980 underwent substantial revision immediately p~'icr to the beginning of the field season.This was due to two new in- terpretations with regard to the Pleistocene geol~gy of the ~enana Valley.ThUS,a wholly new research strategy was implemented in "1980 which resulted in what I believe to have been one of the more productive phases of archeological research in the history of the project. The original field season objectives of the project,outlined by ~n Brink (1980:1-2),included the testing of both aeolian ter- race top sediments and alluvial fan deposits.A brief reconnais- sance of the Tonzona Valley was also proposed.Ihe primary goal of the 1980 field work was the formulation of a strategy for locating archeological sites pre-dating 12,000 years B.?,based on the as- sumption that Late wisconsinan alluvial fans constituted the most promising geological context for such sites.These fans were known to represent undisturbed deposits of sufficient age;they were be- lieved to provide a generally favorable location for sites.The chief problem defined in the spring of 1980 was how to proceed in testing the often large (several km 2 )and only intermittently ex- posed fan sediments. Discussions with N.W.Ten Brink less than two months before the beginning of the riugust field work convinced me,however,that our plans required significant changes.A series of radiocarbon , dates had been obtained from the uppermost alluvial units of sev- eral Nenana Valley fans which indicated that the wisconsin age de- posits in these fans were capped by Holocene alluvium.Deposits of similar age and origin have been described from the ailey Creek [ (') [ [ [ [ [ c C rlr-lJ."~ C [ R U [ [ Lro" b L "..'.,~.<'6).."'.. age (Wisconsinan)fan at Dry Creek (Thorson and Hamilton 1977:172), but the presence of some 'coarser-grained sediments in the upper- .- most alluvial layers of fans examined in 1979 (Hoffecker 1979)and their substantial elevation above the Holocene river level appeared ""."~.~"to minimize this possibility.Ritter (1980)has developed a model to account for these late fan-capping events. The Holocene alluvium overlying the Late Wisconsinan fan sedi- ments presents a new obstacle to the testing of these deposits for sit~pre-dating 12,000 years B.P ••"As most of the fan testing would require digging downward from the present-day surface (due to limited exposures),archeologists would find it necessary to remove an additional meter or"more of overburden (below the covering loess mantle)in order to reach units of sufficient"age.Consideri~~the fact that we lack information on any locational biases for sites on side valley fans,our probability of recovering any artifacts would seem to be significantly reduced,unless compensated for by an ex- ceptional commitment in manpower.Furthermore,Ritter (1980)has hypothesized that all of the upper fine-grained units in the fan sequences represent post-Wisconsin events.If this is correct,ar- cheological testing would be confined to the gravel units below,a less favorable context for preservation and discovery.ThUS,the fan testing strategy in its original form was abandoned. Discussions with Dr.Ten Brink touched on another geological question of great importance to the Early Man survey:the absence of primary loess deposits pre-dating 12,000 years B.~..In previous field reports (Hoffecker 1978,1979),emphasis has been placed on the presence of deep reworked silt sections in the Toklat-Sushana [0 [ [ [ [ [ C. rL' IT) [ [ c c [ [ t-l L L .' (7) system and elsewhere in the foothills.The widespread evidence for mass-wasting processes in A1~ska in general has been stressed, and co11u~iation has been proposed as a likely explanation for the absence of older,undisturbed loess in the foothills.Ten Brink .(pers.com.)now suggests that deflation -at least in the case of the Nenana Valley -offers a better explanation of the data. This valley,although the most thoroughly explored of all areas in the project area,has never yielded any deep silt sections that mig~be interpreted as reworked loess.Moreover,wahrhaftig (1958: 63)has commented on the extremely high wind velocities which are characteristic of the valley,as suggested by evidence for wind transport of moderately heavy fragments of schist in the Nenana Gorge area. Given the importance of the ~isconsinan loess problem,one ob- jective of the 1980 field work was clear:to devise a test for the deflation hypothesis.At the same time,I realized that it would be possible to examine the loess/gravel contact zone in various loca- tions around the Nenana Valley with little additional effort beyond that which we had originally intended to allocate for our continu- ing survey of sites in the 12,000-10,000 years B.P.range.By dig- ging our test pits down to the bottom of the primary loess,and carefully scrutinizing the contact zone and the upper few centi- meters of gravel,a pre-12,OOO year-old surface could be tested for artifacts.In the absence of mass-wasting processes,such artifacts sbould remain on this surface (see Figure 1). One of the most important features of this survey strategy is that it solves the problem of where to look in terms of likely top- .._-----~------_._---------_.~ " ," " LATE WISCONSINAN LOESS A. MODEL COLLUVIATION (8), Figure I.Alternative Hypotheses for Loess Removal. L [ [ [ I' I. [ Cl [ L u.'··.-,'r 'I ". ARTIFACTS REDEPOSITED IN FAN ......" ..............ART/ACTS .."~ "":""""/'C ATA8ATIC:.~~...;.Q.ro.r,~zo.o""'~:O:o-o:o;IVINDS.-.,,·.·:·:.·.:::·..-~"·::'f!·.o,.:;i:·1j"~..·:e:·w.~..........-.,.,:,.-;...-=".la'..'-..-.0 -:0~~~~---------- ~-'·.·~."·.&······.'.·.··.oQ····1 \~~~•••.::.•.••~~""o·...:2...o..:2·'.°.-.~•..-.--.-v ~.·.··o··~.~..~.. .::'".....v~-... ~~'-oe'.\::w... l~·'~..'~ #'~'.":'.:"':.:"":':""':-======-.~: HOLOCENE LOESS B. A. B. MODEL DEFLATION " n c c [ c [ r'\U· l [ ographic situations for sites.Focusing on the surface beneath primary terrace top aeolian sediments permits us to concentrate on those locations which have proven so productive in the past:points along the terrace front where side valley stream incisions occur. Sites like Dry Creek,Panguingue Creek,and Moose Creek are all in this type of topographic situation.The strategy does not,however, immediately solve the problem of obtaining a datable context.Art- ifacts recovered from the contact zone are likely to pre-date 12,000 ••years B.P.and they will clearly post-date the age of the terrace. Nevertheless,an unconformity ranging from several thousand to more than several hundred thousand years normally exists between the base of the loess and the top of the terrace gravels.In ord~r to prop- erly dat~artifacts from the contact zone,a further step must.be taken. It is under these circumstances that the alluvial fans once more become useful.As Professor Karl W.Butzer (Departments of Geogra- phy and Anthropology,University of Chicago)has observed,the terrace fronts where these sites are located are subject to contin- ual erosional processes,and some artifactua1 material is likely to be redeposited at the base of the terrace slope periodically.If outwash or alluvial deposits are accumulating at the slope base,the artifacts will be incorporated into these sediments,and will rest in a potentially datable context.Barring substantial transport by stream action,they should be recoverable directly below the terrace edge on which they were initially discovered,or close nearby. These localities (side valley.stream cuts)are typically character- ized by alluvial fan deposits.This two-phase testing strategy thus .._~~-._--_.-..__.-------~ [- [ () [ [ [. [ n c [J-t C C nLj [ [ [ [ r-['~........\ U l [- .' .....~ .e.••...,...(.9)..."...' , ..I IV.Results of Field Investigations The 1980 summer field season was a relatively short one for the archeologists of the North Alaska Range Project,consisting of only four weeks ~July JO-August 26).Nevertheless,interesting re- sults were obtained.With the exception of a one-day reconnaissance to the Tonzona Valley (via helicopter),all work was confined to the Nenana Valley. app~ars to solve both the problem of site location and datable con- text." As I have noted already,the other chief objective of the 1980 field research,the testing of primary aeolian deposits in the 12,000-10,000 years B.P.range,could be pursued simultaneously with our implementation of the new pre-12,000 year-old site survey strategy.This was a fortunate arrangement,as I had hoped to de- vot~as much time as possible to working in deposits of this age. The previous field report (Hoffecker 1979),as well as another recent paper (Fowers and Guthrie,n.d.),have outlined an important archeological problem in this time range:to explicate the chrono- logical relationship between the point and microblade technology now known to have been present in interior Alaska during the termi- nal Pleistocene.Existing data from ~he Nenana Valley and scattered information from elsewhere in Beringia suggest that the point tech-' nology may be slightly older (at least to the east of the Lena Basin),but this remains uncertain.The Nenana Valley,which pos- sesses thick aeolian stratigraphy from this time period,is an ideal area for attempting to resolve this problem. ..~.'...-..~~.~....'..,"..",..:."("ro)"....~....:_.-,...I.....·..... ;,........ [, ["'."".,",,. [--) [ [ [ [ c C D,.~ [ C B C [ l [ b L ----_._~~~-~---~---,------~~-~-~~------~------~~--------~-~---------._~~._-------~--------~-~---_._---~-~-------------,---_.-~ ....: It was only at the end of August,when Dr.Ten Brink was avail- ""able to work with the archeologists,that a fiel~test was perform- ed in an attempt to falsify the deflation hypothesis.I did not feel that it was necessary to test the hypothesis before we began our contact zone sampling,because,as noted previously,the latter requires little time and effort beyond that which we nad alre~dy committed to the testing of terrace top aeolian deposits.In addi- tion to this,we already possessed a considerable amount of negative•• evidence which was consistent with the hypothesis. In order to test the hypothesis directly,I assumed that our alternative hypothesis,colluviation,was correct,and attempted to predict locations where col1uviated Wisconsinan sediments might be observable.Areas where such deposits could have been subsequent- ly removed by stream action had to be avoided.Thus,we concen- trated on a location approximately 2 km.south of Panguingue Creek, on the"north side of the Stampede Trail,where the rear of the Healy age (pre-Late Wisconsin)outwash terrace rests against the slope of an ancient Nenana Gravel terrace.Here,if the colluviation hypoth- esis was correct,we would expect to find:1)undisturbed Late Wis- consinan loess (as these deposits should not be removed from the back of a level terrace in the absence of stream activity),2}re- worked Late Wisconsinan silt (derived from the slopes and front of the Nenana Gravel terrace above it),and J)undisturbed Holocene .aeolian deposits (With possibly additional reworked Holocene aeolian material from the slopes and front of the Nenana Gravel terrace). In short,a substantial body of sediment should lie at the base of of the Nenana Gravel scarp,on the Healy outwash surface. [. [..:... [) [ [ [ [ B C Cr-, C C B C [ [ [ B- E '" ..~; ~..(11)" --------------------..----_.-------.~----------.-.~_._--_.---_.------.~------ ~----~----~----,-._--_.----------._-----~------~..--------"'----- The surficial deposits revealed by the test trench excavated to the level of the gravels (wnich Dr.Ten drink believes likely to be of Healy age on the basis of heavy staining'on the undersides or the clasts),were not consistent with this expectation.Only 245 cm.of fine-grained deposits were uncovered,and the strati- graphy appeared generally simi,lar to primary aeolian sections ob- served elsewhere around the valley.The uppermost 40 cm.were poor- ly sorted and contained small pebbles;Dr.Ten Brink thought this uni~likely to be colluvial in origin,and it may represent some Holocene slopewash.Regretably,organic mat~rial was not fcundin sufficient quantities 'for radiocarbon analysis.Nevertheless,I regard the test as having produced significant aciditional support for the deflation hypothesis.It is difficult to explain the absence of large accumulations of sand and silt in this situation,other than by deflation.' For the first time since the su~mer of 1977,archeologists of the North Alaska Range Project resumed the active search for pre- 12,000 year-old sites during the 1980 field season.A total of fif- teeh localities in the Nenana Valley were tested for the presence of artifacts in the previously described contact zone between the terrace top aeolian deposits and the underlying gravel surface (Fig- ure 2).Virtually all localities tested were in the type of topo- graphic situation used as a focus in earlier surveys:the front edge of Healy or pre-Healy age terraces,where incised by side val- ley streams.Even well known localities such as the ~Dry Creek site were rechecked for material in the contact zone,which might have been overlooked in the past. [' [" (J [ [ [ [ c c [,-"",,"~\, C C n t [ [ [ 8" L ••.•w!'. .'.-..~~..".....(12)..'....~.:_.-~......•...."I :..•.. ~---". -. "...:.0...............- ---------------------------------- :.:_.(.l~~ •0:," -,/-) -, --, u ~ b r,_ bY- ~ u U nu U [ C [ u--- L ;..~::.:.::..";' No artifacts were recovered from the lowest levels of the ae- olian deposits,the gravel surface,or the uppermost-10 em.of the gravels.The last of these was carefully examined for the presence of small flaking debris on the assumption that such material would be trapped in the interstices of the gravel in the absence of,or during the removal of,an overlying sand or silt unit. The negative results of this testing are,in my view,hardly conclusive at this point.In order to retrieve a sufficient amount.. of data for making any reasonably reliable generalizations ~bout human habitation in the Nenana Valley prior to 12,000 years B.F., further testing must be performed.A large number of attractive localities remain to be tested,especially on the higher,older terraces (which were being used here in the terminal Pleistocene, as illustrated by the Moose Creek site).In addition to this,many localities already tested should be revisited in order to increase our sample size. Simultaneous testing of post-12,000 year-old aeolian deposits occurred in those localities chosen for sampling of the contact zone,and significant results were obtained.Four new stratified sites were discovered (Browne,Walker Road,Slate Creek,and Usi- belli,shown in Figure 2).Although no radiocarbon s~mp1es have been recovered from these sites at present,our existing knowledge - of the aeolian stratigraphy of the Nenana Valley seems sufficient for assigning tentative,approximate dates on the basis of the rel- ative stratigraphic position of the artifacts.One of these sites, Browne,appears to be of late Holocene age.This is the first site to be located at the northern end of the valley.Slate Creek pos- [.~ [ [( (15·) [ [ ICALI: o 10 10••• CENTIMETERI ILATE CIlEEIC ...._~.r~~~-....__~_~y_~~"k"Z'~ '=r:.-""~_-~~~~_~~---------------------._-------_..-----------...------------------- ~ SAND GRAVEL KEY [;J AIITIFACTI 0 -------- lILT ~L.:.:J CHARCOAL ORGANICS ....~~~.~--:;.. ·;I,.;.J;.i.....~-..:1~2...... -----.:----.-----:- WALICEII 1I0AO -----i--------------- -------------------- -----------~--------.----------_.-----------.._------_..--------------------- IIIOWNE U..IELLI ..~;........-....~.....:.:,..-:. ~=:;.,,~~..;-.:;~~ ::.-~:~~~~~fti~!i.................;...-:_.~._.~~.~~.."..,."~~. ~-~:~:t........l. -------------------._------------------.._-------.--;-.T_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-----------_-_-_-_-_'"1t _-_-.-'#.", c c U" c c [- [ :-:..-:-:-:-~:-:-:-.-:.:: 1--'1-------~••__~~_~-4l_._.A.= OC)O.l::I000o;:r..q~.~~C.OO"C~_O.·og~-·.1~~··".'''::-O ..OO~~~Qi>O, (J ,"06","O~O .O.:..~;,;O.O,,~b'D*C"bOOe$'aeQ§O:.C' [ c [ 0\ ".. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-~:··~;~~~~i·~~~~t\*~}~~.--------------------------------------------------._------------------------------------------------------------.----------_.------------ Figure 3.Stratigraphy of Sites Discovered in 1980. L. -, -, -, -, 9 ::] ~ :3 ~ d 9 ~, s b=;3 ~ LJ r-'" r L. r~ LJ L ~-~-~---~~~~~~~~~~~_. (16) sesses at least two components,one of which may be mid-rl~locene or earlier in age.The Usibelli site may contain as many as three com- ponents,~r.e lowest of which seems likely to be of terminal fleis- tocene age.A small triangular chert point recovered from this level bears a strong typological resemblance to the small bifacial point and point fragments in Component I of the Dry Creek site.At the Walker noad site artifacts were recovered as low as 80 cm.below the surface of a 98 cm.thick sand/silt section;no diagnostic materials I wer~.found here.Furtter study of these last two sites seems likely to shed new light on the microblade and point technology of the 12,000-10,000 years B.P.period. Some observations on sampling strategy and field methods during the 1980 survey should be made.In contrast to previous years, both north and south sides of stream cuts were tested,as it seemed to me that the earlier emphasis on south-facing (i.e.north side) terrace edges,because of their superior autumn and winter exposure to the sun,was not justified when the absence of arboreal vegeta- tion prior to the early Holocene was taken into account.A revised approach to digging test squares was employed in 1980 as well.In the past,the total number of squares (averging approximately 1 m 2 each)has been maximized at the expense of their individual rates of excavation.Methods such as rapid troweling,skim-shoveling, and even outright shoveling were used.However,as the ,bulk of archeological material in the Nenana Valley (not as measured by vol- ume,but quantity of artifacts)consists of small flaking debris, a more careful troweling technique seems preferable,despite its limiting effect on the total number of squares dug. [. [ [ r L_o [- [ [ C L [ U C E C [ [ l 6 L ----------------------------- ,(17) The 1980 field season also involved a one-day geoarcheological reconnaissance of the Tonzona Valley,located beyond the western- most border of Mt.McKinley National Park.This 'area was believed, as described in the research proposal (Ten Brink 1980:),to have, the potential of providing the proje~t with undisturbed pre-12,000 year-old aeolian deposits in attractive topographic situations. Several exposures were profiled and radiocarbon samples were col- lected. .... V.Recommendations for Future Research The successes of the 1980 field season are encouraging and they suggest that the stUdy area ot the North Alaska Range -specifically the Nenana Valley -continues to hold great potential for resolving problems in the Pleistocene prehistory of Alaska,Beringia,and per- haps the whole New World.I believe that this area has already,and will in future years,contribute to our knowledge of both the periods before and after 12,000 years B.P..In the concluding section of this report I would like to review some of the existing pertinent data on each,and propose ways in which the North Alaska Hange Pro- ject might collect important additional data bearing on the arche- ological problems. To a large extent the discovery of pre-12,000 year-old sites was the prime objective of the project at its beginning.I am in- clined\to believe at present that its most significant positive con- tribution will be in the 12,000-10,000 years B.P.time range.How- ever,ongoing work in the Nenana Valley will certainly provide some useful information on the problem of pre-12,000 year-old sites. [ ~ [ I' L~ [ [ l· [ C [ r b C 6 C [ [ [ U L (18). It is neither necessary nor desirable to review here all of the purported pre-12,000 year-old sites in the New world.It is ... sufficient to observe that controversy surrounds most of these (Haynes 1971,Lynch 1974,and others),even though it is almost im- possible to discount everyone.Their overall paucity stands in curious contrast to the Old World,especially during the Upper Paleolithic period.Moreover,if people were present in the New World prior to Clovis times,they might have been derived from coas.~al populations along the North Pacific rim.It is,therefore, by no means certain that interior Alaska was inhabited prior to the appearance of the Denali assemblages,roughly 12,000 years ago. Soviet research in Siberia has produced some interesting results relevant ~o this problem,although many important questions remain unanswered.It is clear that the Lena Basin was inhabited through- out much of the Late Wisconsinan (Sartan in Siberian terminology), by a population Which manufactured tools highly similar to those of the Denali Complex.Mochanov (1969)has termed this technology "Diuktai"after the type site on the Aldan River.Although Abrdmova (1979)has recently challenged the earliest dates for the Diuktai "Culture",it seems that these and typologically similar assem- blages from eastern Siberia date well into the last glaciation. East of the Lena Basin,beyond the Verkhoyansk Range,the picture is different.Here there are only a handful of early sites,all dating to no more than about 13,000 years B.P..Mochanov (1977) has also lumped these sites into the Diuktai technology,although at sites·like Berelyokh,Kukhtuy III,and Ushki Lake,other forms of technology appear to be present (Dikov 1977,Hoffecker 1979). [, [ [ [ [ l' [ [ c [ [~~ ~ [ 6 [ [ C l li [ ...., .(·19) In the Soviet Far East,there are also signs of non-Diuktai tech- nologyat sites like Osipovka and Kumara (Powers 1973),but this material remains to be adequately dated. It is apparent,therefore,~hat we currently lack convincing evidence for the occupation of both western and eastern Beringia prior to the terminal Pleistocene,or approximately 13,000 years B.P..It is not difficult to imagine why hunting bands might colo-.r nize Beringia at this time.The de~oration of full glacial con- .~ ditions was probably,through its effect on the large maj~~alian grazers,a cause of increasing disequilibrium between the human population and its resources.The grassland refugia supported by cool glacial valleys like the Nenana (Ager 1975)would have pro- vided a strong attraction for these big game hunters. However,while the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets might have presented a barrier to movement into the heart of the New world prior to this time,no such formidable physical barrier ap- pears to have blocked a passage into Beringia.Even the glaciated V~rkhoyansk Range might have been bypassed in the north or in the south (Chard 1974:4)-44).Thus,researchers are confronted with a perplexing problem:if the existing negative evidence from both sides of Beringia accurately reflects a complete absence of human occu- pation until the terminal Pleistocene,how can this be explained? The answer might be a SUbtle,ecological one,not readily testable with the available data.Although the large mammalian fauna were present,perhaps some relatively small but essential resource was missing.As Guthrie (pers.com.)observes,the late colonization of Arctic Canada may provide an analogous situation. [. [ [ [ [ [ c C b C C 6 D [ [ [ [ b (20) Given our present inability to explain this phenomenon,the current lack of evidence for pre-terminal Pleistocene sites may be simply a function of poor sampling.On both side$of the bering Strait,this area remains sparsely settled an~gener~lly undevelop- ed industrially,and this is an important consideration in evaluating the number of site discoveries.Continued testing of pre-12,OOO year-old deposits in Alaska appears,therefore,to be warranted. Both the research being undertaken in the Porcupine River area by E.~.Dixon and D.C.Plaskett of the University of Alaska Museum, and the Nenana Valley work should complete a thorough testing for the presence of older sites.It would be difficult to explain the absence of pre-terminal Pleistocene sites in both these areas,es- pecially the Porcupine drainage with its numerous Cbves contai~ing Pleistocene large ma:rlmal remains;firmly based negative results would constitute important evidence on the question of interior Alaska's earliest inhabitants. A wholly different type of problem remains to be solved in the 12,000-10,000 years B~P.range.The existence of an Al~skan point techno~ogy in this time period,in addition to the well-known Denali microblade assemblages,has been demonstrated at the Healy Lake site (McKennan and Cook 1970),and possibly in the Tangle Lakes area (West 1973);Shallow stratigraphic contexts have,I believe,limited the usefulness of these data.The excavations at the deep,we11- stratified sites of Dry Creek and Moose Creek have provided a basis for separating the two technologies,and have also confirmed the presence of 1anceo1ate points in the 12,000-10,000 years B.~.period, 0,"" the latter havingAjustifiably ~uestioned previously (Anderson 1978). mente Points are absent in Siberian Diuktai assemblages,except at the end of the sequence,at Diuktai Cave itself (Mochanov:1977).~hat then is the relationship between the two technologies? In the previous field report (Hoffecker 1979),the ~enana Valley point assemblages and the non-Diuktai assemblages from northeastern Siberia were tentatively isolated as a new complex,and the sugges- tion was made that it might represent a separate ethnic group.This specUlation was inspired by the evidence thbt the point technology is older than the microblade technology in Eeringia,despite the long history of the latter in the Lena Basin,and thQt,at sites like Ushki Lake and Dry Creek,there appears to be a sudden replace- Discussions with Professor w.~oger Powers have convinced me, however,that defining a new complex is premature at present.It is probably best to consider them as two technologies,the inter- relationship of.which remains unclear because of insufficient data. The relationship need not be one of separate ethnic groups.In fact, an equally plausible case may be made at this stage that the points and microblades represent a complex response to terminal Pleisto- cene environmental changes.Invoking the points which appear at this time in Diuktai Cave (in the Lena Basin),and observing the rough contemporaneity of the technologies across Beringia,we could postulate the development of a new hunting device such as a throw- ing stick,requiring dart-point heads,in the context of the uiuk- tai microblade technology.Despite the apparent redundancy of point and microblade technology,it should be noted that both occur in [~ [ [ [ [ [ [ c c c c c n D r::j ~ b r"~ L.o t=ii L.........J .'....' ---------_._----_._-....._---------_... (21) • season has deoonstrated. Perhaps the most interesting product of the rese~rch conaucted over the last few years by the North Alaska riange ~roject has been the grOWing recognition of a possible technological progenitor to Clovis.By this observation,I am not making any specific typolog- ical comparisons between Clovis points and the scanty materials from Alaska and Siberia,but merely noting that the existence of a ber- ingian point technology*in the terminal Pleistocene is significant. ·the same assemblages on both sides of the Bering Strait during the Holocene.Hypotheses involving other processes of technolo6ical change are also conceivable. Not until an adequate number of new,stratified,datable occu- pations bearing the two technologies are discovered and excavated will the chronological relationship become clear.If they are found to have a contemporaneous or overlapping temporal distribution,de- tailed lithic analyses might further clarify this relationship.I beli~ve that the Nenana Valley possesses a potential uncommon in Alaska for solving this proble~.The deep aeolian str~tigraphy and large number of attractive topographic locations provide much opportunity for finding the necessary sites,as tne 1900 field from .'.(2?)...' °0 .0 ••• '.. "·0 • .~---'-_._-"---~----------------,--~----._--------._----.--------------.--..-_..~---_..._._----_._- .;.." The Clovis point technology need not,of course,be derived ~ b [0 [.. •.......•:. .,.••'••"0. [ [ [ [ [ C b C [J C B [ [ L L U an older point industry;it may represent a local innovation.How- ever,the presence of the Beringian points -reaching as far west as Diuktai Cave and dating,perhaps,no earlier than about 13,000 years B.P.-lends additional plausibility to the ·L~te Entry"hy- pothesis of Haynes,Martin,and others.We now possess a credible Old World source for Clovis,either a functional variant of the *(including lanceolate forms) L References Chard,C.S. 1974 Northeast Asia in Prehistory.Madison:University of ~is­ consin Press. Abramova,Z.A. 1979 On the question of the age of the Aldan Paleolithic (in Russian).Sovetskaya Arkheologiya (4):5-14. Dikov,N.N. 1977 Archeological Monuments of Kamchatka,Cr.ukotka,and tne Upper Kolyma (in 3ussian).Moscow:Nauka. Tanana Val- of Folar '.:..'.:.(2)·' . -.'....., A. Late Quaternary Environmental History of the ley,Alaska.Ohio State University Institute Studies,Report 54. '...... Anderson,D.D. 1978 Western Arctic and Sub-Arctic.In Taylor,a.E.and C.~. Meighan,eds.Chronologies in New world Archeology.New York:Academic Press. Ager,T. 1975 Hoffecker,J.F. 1978 On the potential of the north Alaska Range for archeolog- ical sites of Pleistocene age.Unpublished report to the Diuktai technology,or an independent complex.In the years to corr.e, I believe that the Nenana Valley sites will occupy an important place in American archeology. Acknowledgements.Geologist Dr~Norman w.Ten Brink (Grand Valley State Colleges),the principal investigator for the project in the field from 1978-1980,has made a substantial contribution to its archeolo~ical aspect.Drs.W.noger Powers and ri.Dale Guthrie (University of Al~ska),the original designers of the project,al- though not present in the field in 1980,have continued to provide important guidance for this research.Dr.Karl W.butzer (Univer- sity of Chicago)contributed extremely valuable advice on testing str~tegy for the 1980 field season.I am deeply grateful to both the'Jational Geographic Society &nd ~he National ~ark Service for their continued support of my role in this project throughout the last three years. Haynes,C.v. 1971 Time,environcent and Early Man.Arctic Anthropology 8(2): .3-14. I • •~:.:.-. [. [ [ [ [ [ [ c c c [ [ B U [ [ [ E t [.'.. [ [ [ [ [ [ C 6 C C C [ C [ U [ o b --~---~------~----~--------~._---------------~--~-----~-----------~------------~---~~----.."-~-~----.---~-_._-_.------------ (24) National Geographic Society and the National ~~rk Service. Hoffecker,J.? 1979 The search for Early ~an in Alaska:results ~nd reCOillffien- dations of the Nor~h Alaska Range Projeot.Unpublished re- port to the National Geographic Society ~nd tne ~ati~nal Park Service. Lynch,T. 1974 The antiquity of man in South America.~uaternary riesearch 4:350-.377. ~cKennan,3.A.and J.F.Cook 1970 The Village Site at Healy Lake,Alaska:an int~rim r~port. Paper presented at the 35th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archeology • •-II#. Mochanov,Y.A. 1969 The Diuktai Upper Paleolithic culture and certain aspects of its genesis.(in Russian).Sovetskaya Arkheologiya 4: 235-2.39. Mochanov,Y.A. 1977 Ancient Stages of the Settlement by iVian of Northeast Asia (in Russian).Novosibirsk:Nauka. Powers,'1"1.H. 1973 Paleolithic Man in Nortneast Asia.Arctic Anthropology 10(2). Powers,W.R.and rl.D.Guthrie 1977 Early Man Studies in Alaska.Proposal submitted to tne National Park Service. Powers,W.B.and R.D.Guthrie n.d.The Dry Creek Site.Unpublished report submitted to the National Geographic Society and the National ~ark Service. Ritter,D.F. 1980 Terraces and alluvial fans in the Nenana Valley,Al~ska. Unpublished report submitted to the National Geographic Society and the National Fark Service. Ten Erink,N.W. 1980 A proposal for the completion of North Alaska Range Project geo-archeologic studies and reports.Proposal submitted to the ~ational Geographic Society and the l~ation~l ?ark Service.~ Thorson,H.M.and T.D.Hamilton 1977 Geology of the Dry Creek Site,a stratified Early t~an site in interior Alaska.Quaternary Research 7(2):149-176. --.-.,-----~-~~-~~~~--~~--~-~~--~~~~~--~~-~~~--~---_._--_.~~-~--~---.--~~-----~--~---_._--_._-----_._--~-~--~----~~-_.,_.----._".- Wahrhaft1g,C. 1958 ~uaternary geology of the ~enana River Valley ana ~dja­ cent parts of the Alaska Bange.In ~ahrriaft1g,C.ana 3.Black,eds.Quaternary and Engineeri~g Geology in tne Central Part of the Al~ska Range.U.S.G~S.}rofessional Paper 293. H. Old ~orld affinity of archeological complexes from rangle Lakes,Central Alas~a.In Theses of the rleports of All- Union Symposium on the Eering Land Bridge and Its rlole in the History of Holarctic Floras and Paur.as in the Late Cenozo1c.Khabarovsk:A.N.SSSH. [' [ [ [ [ [ [ c c c c C E C [ [ [ lJ [ .,..".. West,F. 1973 .. (25.)'.:.....