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Home My WebLink AboutAPA3390NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MAN MERCURY SERIES ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA PAPER No.94 MUSEE NATIONAL DE ~HOMME COLLECTION MERCURE COMMISSION ARCHEOLOGIQUE DU CANADA DOSSIER No. 94 TAPHONOMY AND ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE UPPER PLEISTOCENE OF THE NORTHERN YUKON TERRITORY: A GLIMPSE OF THE PEOPLING OF THE NEW WORLD RICHARD E. MORLAN 0/..P CROW RIVER NATIONAL MUSEUMS OF CANADA MUSEES NATIONAUX DU CANADA OTTAWA 1880 National Museum of l1an National Museums of Canada Board of Trustees Dr. Sean B. Murphy Juge Rene J. Marin Mr. Richard M.H. Alway Mr. Robert G. MacLeod M. Roger B. Hamel Mme. Ginette Gadoury M. Paul H. Leman Musee national de l'Homme Musees nationaux du Canada Conseil d'Administration Chairman Vice-president Henber Member Membre Membre Membre Mr. Michael C.D. Hobbs M. Charles A. Lussier Dr. William G. Schneider Member Membre (Ex officio) Member (Ex officio) Secretary General Director National Huseum of Man Chief Archaeological Survey of Canada Crown Copyright Reserved Mr. Ian C. Clark Secretaire general Dr. William E. Taylor, Jr. Directeur Musee national de l'Homme Dr. Roger t1arois Chef © Commission archeologique du Canada Droits reserves au nom de la Couronne L L :, ._ io- : ~ io- L i io- 1... r 1 \ l.. ~ 1..... i i.... '- t 1 ,_. io- 1..... l.. ._ ABSTR,ACT Beringia, long heralded as the route of entrr for mankind into the New World, lias only slowly yielded evidence of ancien t Imman activity • Recently, several areas of Beringi-a have produced fossilized vertebrate remains which are wonderful for tlieir paleontological significance and both perplexing and promising for their arcnaeolog:i:cal potential. Sorne of these pieces have been known for more than 40 years ·but were difficul t to evaluate due to poorly understood stratigraphie contexts and poorly developed analogues for the interpretation of oone, antler, and ivory alterations. During the past 14 years, Old Crow Flats and several other areas of the Yukon Territory nave gradually provided tens of thousands of Upper Pleistocene vertebrate fossils among which there are enough artifi~ cially modified specimens to increase the archaeological record by a hundred fold. These discoveries have prompted a series of field and laboratory studies specifically designed to improve our analogues for interpreting oone, antler, tusk, and tooth specimens which have been altered by Eoth natural and artificial agencies. Another recent development is the importation of the concept of taphonomy, originally defined 40 years ago, to the field of archaeology. This integrative concept encourages the view that human activity is but one of many factors which can influence the condition of bone and the composition of bone assemblages between the time of death of an animal and the moment of the recovery of its fossilized remains from the sedimentary contexts in which they have been preserved. This view makes explicit the need to develop carefully documented interpretive analogues with which to improve the assignment of meaning to the alterations of boues and the assemblages in which they occur. One purpose of this r~port is to review the current status of several aspects of our knowledge of bone alterations and to make recommendations as to how our analogues can be enlarged and improved. Yet another theme in early man studies during the past decade has been the explicit pronouncement of "standards for evidence" with which to judge purported ancient indicators of human occupation. These so-called standards have been defined in response to the plethora of poorly sub- stantiated claims, the poor quality and quantity of published reports of both fact and fiction in the early man field, and a pervasive feeling of frustration which has arisen from scores of failed promises and from the difficulties encountered by anyone who attempts to decipher the awesome record of confused stratigraphy, unexpected (or undocumented) "dates," and sometimes dubious artifact identifications. There is no doubt that standards of sorne kind are needed, that we must at least know what our units of analysis should be, but we have gone too far in our definition of "standards." We have forgotten (perhaps forsaken) the.fact that archaeo- logists usually study the results of human behaviour which happen to be preserved in geological deposits. There are only two fundamental assump- tions required in this study: (1) that human behaviour can be understood by studying the material results of that behaviour; and (2) that the results of human b'ehaviour are always (or at least usually) separable from the results of various other natural processes. But a third criterion has been forced into the issue, viz., that these presumably interpretable ii ' results of human behaviour must occur in an "archaeological site" where the predominant (if not the only) attrihutes are attributable to human activity. Renee we are in danger of overlooking (or even omitting by definition) a substantial amount of archaeological information simply because it does not meet standards which have been defined in a very arbitrary way. In this report I have tried to bring these themes together by exam1n1ng several collections of Pleistocene vertebrate fossils from the northern Yukon Territory among which an archaeological record can be defined on the basis of a growing series of field observations and experimental studies. Sorne of these collections can be related to a stratigraphie framework which suggests that human occupation began in the Yukon Territory more than 50,000 years ago --an age unprecedented in previous data-based reports. The larger significance of this record is not yet clear. For example, the evolutionary status of these early eastern Beringians is unknown, and we know very little about the cultural adaptive capabilities and particular sequence of paleo- environmental changes which permitted or encouraged the appearance of human societies in North America at this time. None of the indicators of this remarkable archaeological record has been found in an undisturbed "archaeological site," and each specimen has been interpreted in terms of a large series of analogues which are useful regardless of the geological contexts in which the individual specimens and assemblages occur. Many of these analogues deserve a considerable amount of additional study in both the field and the laboratory, and I have indicàted in this report where the major weaknesses may lie and how the archaeological interpretation might be successfully challenged. I have also shawn that the search for undisturbed archaeological deposits has been systematically narrowed. Current plans for field and laboratory work include comprehensive surveys of the most promising stratigraphie units in the northern Yukon and further studies of many forms of bone, antler, tooth, and tusk alteration which could be misinterpreted and incorrectly attributed to natural or artificial causes. RESUME La Béringie, considérée depuis longtemps comme le passage qui a permis à l'homme de pénétrer dans le Nouveau Monde, n'a révélé que lentement les preuves d'une activité humaine ancienne. Dernièrement, on a découvert dans plusieurs régions de la Béringie des restes de vertébrés fossilisés d'une importance considérable pour la paléontologie, et offrant à l'archéologie des perspectives aussi déroutantes que prometteuses. Certains de ces spécimens, connus depuis de 40 ans, étaient néanmoins très difficiles à étudier jusqu'ici en raison de contextes stratigraphiques mal compris et du peu de cas analogues permettant d'interpréter les modifications de l'os, de l'andouiller et de l'ivoire. Au cours des quatorze dernières années, la région de Old Crow Flats et plusieurs autres régions du Yukon ont graduel- lement révélé des dizaines de milliers de vertébrés fossilisés du Pléistocène supérieur, parmi lesquels se trouvent assez de spécimens aménages pour centupler la documentation archéolqgique existante. Ces découvertes ont donné lieu à une série d'études en laboratoire et sur le terrain, destinées expressément à améliorer les analogues dont nous disposons pour l'interprét- ation des spécimens d'os, d'andouillers, de défenses et de dents modifiés iii L.. L - 1.- :... - L *' ..... .... k... 1...... - .... l ..... L... .... ~ L i.... par des agents naturels ou artificiels. Citons un autre progrès important, à savoir l'application des princi~ pes de la taphonomie, définis il y a 40 ans,au domaine de l'archéologie. Ce concept part du point de vie que l'activité humaine n'est qu'un des facteurs qui peuvent influencer l'état des os et la composition des assemblages entre la date de la mort de l'animal et le moment où l'on recueille les restes fossilisés des milieux ·sédimentaires qui les ont préservés. Ce principe explique la nécessité de développer des analogues d'interprétation bien documentés, afin de pouvoir préciser davantage le sens des transformations subies par les assemblagesd'ossements ainsi que par les pièces osseuses individuelles. L'un des buts du présent rapport est de passer en revue, sous divers aspects, l'état actuel de nos connais- sances sur les transformations des os, et de formuler des recommandations sur les moyens d'augmenter et d'améliorer nos analogues d'interprétation. Au cours des dix dernières années, un autre thème dans l'étude des paléo-amérindiens a été l'élaboration explicite de normes, destinées à évaluer les indices possibles d'activité humaine. Ces prétendues normes' ont été définies en réponse à une prolifération d'affirmations sans fondement, de la mauvaise qualité des rares rapports portant sur ce sujet, qu'ils s'appuient sur des faits ou des hypothèses, et d'un sentiment de frustration constante causé par des dizaines de fausses promesses et par les difficultés que rencontrent tous ceux qui tentent de déchiffrer la sonnne imposante de documents stratigraphiques confus, de "dates" inattendues (ou mal documentées) et d'identifications souvent douteuses d'objets. S'il ne fait aucun doute que certaines normes sont nécessaires, et que nous devrions au moins savoir en quoi doivent consister nos unités d'analyse, nous sonnnes cependant allés trop loin dans la définition de "normes". Nous avons oublié (conscienment ounon) que les archéologues étudient des témoignages d'activité humaine qui se trouvent par hasard préservés dans des dépôts géologiques. Cette démarche ne sous-entend que deux prémisses: (1) on peut étudier l'activité humaine à partir de ses résultats matériels; et (2) ces résultats sont toujours (ou souvent) indépendants de ceux d'autres processus naturels. Cependent, on a cru devoir ajouter un troisième critère, selon lequel ces résultats de l'activité humaine, vraisemblablement inter- prétables, doivent être trouvés dans des "sites archéologiques" dont l'ensemble des données ne serait imputable qu'a l'activité humaine. Par conséquent, nous courons le risque de négliger (ou d'omettre par définition) une grande quantité d'information archéologique, tout simplement parce qu'elle ne se conforme pas à des normes établies de façon très arbitraire • Dans ce rapport, j'ai tenté de rassembler ces thèmes en examinant plusieurs collections de fossiles de vertébrés du Pléistocène provenant du Yukon septentrional, et à l'aide desquels on peut établir une documen- tation archéologique fondée sur un nombre croissant d'observations sur le terrain et d'études expérimentales. Certaines de ces collections peuvent être rattachées à cadre stratigraphique qui ferait remonter à 50,000 ans la présence de l'homme dans le Yukon --date sans précédent dans un rapport basé sur de données. Or, on ne connaît pas encore la portée de cette documentation dans toute son étendue. On ignore par exemple le degré d'évolution de ces premiers habitants de la Béringie orientale, et on connaît fort peu de choses sur le potentiel culturel d'adaptation et sur la séquence particulière de transformations du paleo-milieu qui ont permis iv ou incité l'établissement de sociétés humaines en Amérique du Nord à cette époque. Aucun des indices de cette documentation remarquable ne provient d'un "site archéologique" intact, et chaque spécimen a été interprété en fonc- tion d'un grand nombre d'analogues dont l'utilité est sans égard au contexte géologique des spécimens ou de leurs assemblages. Nombre de ces analogues demandent encore une étude complémentaire poussée, tant sur le terrain qu'en laboratoire; dans ce rapport, j'ai indiqué où peuvent se trouver les prin- cipaux points faibles, et comment l'interprétation archéologique pourrait être contestée avec succès. J'ai aus-si expliqué dans quelle mesure la recherche de dépôts archéologiques intacts devient de plus en plus serrée. Parmi les projets actuels de recherche en laboratoire et sur le terrain, mentionnons l'étude des unités stratigraphiques les plu prometteuses du nord du Yukon et l'étude approfondie de certaines modifications des os, des andouillers, des dents et des défenses qui peuvent être mal interprétées et attribuées par erreur à des agents naturels ou artificiels. Le personnes désireuses de recevotr en français de plus amples ren- seignements sur cette publication sont prtées d'adresser leurs demandes à: Connnission archéologique du Canada Musée national de l'Hom~e Musées nationaux du Catlada Ottawa, Ontario KlA OMS v 1 i L.. i L r l ...... ...... L - L 1 - \..... - ..... 1..... ..... - 1 .... l i t.... L.. ·,_. PREFACE Background Beringia is a physiographic and biogeographie province of continental proportions which has had a profound influence on both terrestrial and marine life, on climate in the Northern Hemisphere, and on the peopling of the New World. In the broaaest sense, with reference to phytogeography, it stretches from the Taimyr Peninsula and Khatanga River on the west to the Boothia Peninsula and Parry Islands on the east, and it reaches south- ward to include the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Aleutian Islands and Lake Athabaska (Yurtsev 1974). Much of this enormous area remained unglaciated during the Pleistocene and therefore comprised a significant refuge for the survival of plant and animal species which could disperse into newly deglaciated areas at the close of each glacial maximum (Hultén 1937, 1968; Gressitt 1963; Hopkins 1967a; Sher 1974; Kontrimavichus 1976; Harington 1978). It is this unglaciated portion of Alaska and the Yukon which is called "eastern Beringia" in this report. Near the center of Beringia an area of shallow seas covering broad continental shelves as rouch as 1000 miles (1600 km) from north to south has alternately been exposed as land and drowned beneath the Chukchi and Bering Seas (Hop1dns 1973). When exposed, as during some glacial periods, this area, known as the Bering Land Bridge, permitted faunal exchanges between Siberia and Alaska/Yukon, and when the continental shelves became flooded by marine waters during interglacial and interstadials, faunal exchanges could occur between the Arctic and Pacifie Oceans. Beringia is not merely an avenue for faunal exchanges, however, for it has also been a center for evolution of many forms, and it has sometimes been characterized by very distinctive, even unique, biotic and climatic characteristics (e.g., Barry 1979; Gal-Chen 1979; Guthrie 1979; Matthews 1979; Ritchie and Cwynar 1979; Young 1979). Of the many mammal species which crossed the Bering Strait area and adapted to the evolving ecosystem of Beringia, one of the most interesting is our own species. Since man did not evolve in the Western Hemisphere, the search for a route from the Old World to the New has included many sugges.tions as to the paths which might have been followed, but the Bering Land Bridge nearly always stands out as the most likely route since so many other mammal species are thought to have reached the Nearctic by this means. Nonetheless Beringia has yielded actual evidence of early human occupation only recently. Only during the past decade has there been a significant increase in archaeological research dedicated to this relatively little known region, and many large scale pro- jects, some of them stimulated by proposed land development, have been fielded in Siberia, Alaska, (e.g. Cook 1970, 1977) and the Yukon and North- west Territories (Cinq-Mars 1973, 1974, 1975). Many of these projects have included specifie attention to the peopling of the New World. Mochanov's work in the Lena Basin began in the 1960's but has been published in detail only during the last decade, and it has included a specifie focus on the relevance of new finds to the problems of New World origins (Mochanov 1977, 1978a, 1978b); severa! of Mochanov's colleagues have likewise demonstrated a keen interest in this problem (Abramova 1973; Dikov 1978; Derevianko 1978). The North American contributions of the last decade can be divided into two major categories: (1) final Wisconsinan and early Holocene sites, some of vi which are stratified and sorne of which can be related to the new Siberian evidence; and (2) poorly stratified and redeposited fossil vertebrate remains which are altered in various ways more or less suggestive of human activity. Important new or recently reported sites of the first kind include Akmak (Anderson 1970), Healy Lake (Cook and McKennan 1968, 1970, 1971; McKennan and Cook 1968), Putu (Alexander 1974), Gallagher Flint Station (Dixon 1975), Girl's Hill (Gal 1976), Batza Tena (Clark and Clark 1975), Dry Creek (Thorson and Hamilton 1977; Powers and Hamilton 1978), Kikavichik Ridge and Dog Creek north of Old Crow Flats (Irving and Cinq-Mars 1974; Cinq-Mars 1978, pers. corn. in 1979), Bluefish Cave (Cinq-Mars 1979), and various sites which form the basis for defining the Ugashik Narrows phase and Koggiung Complex on the Alaska Peninsula (Dumond, et al. 1976) and the Denali complex on the north side of the Alaska Range (l.Jest 1967, 1976). This short list comprises a wealth of data when compared with the scanty information available to Laughlin (1967), MÜller-Beek (1967), and Hopkins (1967b) when The Bering Land Bridge was published. This report is devoted primarily to the second category of evidence which has been derived from the study of altered bones preserved as fossils in various contexts in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. Appropriate citations will be mentioned later in the report, and here I wish to outline sorne of the concepts which stimulated this work and sorne of the historical back- ground from which my research developed. Altered bones comprise a very complex kind of record which has a significant bearing upon paleontology, paleoecology, and archaeology. The announcement that altered bones from the Yukon provide New World evidence of human occupation of unpxecedented antiquity was greeted with mixed reactions from the archaeological community at large. For several reasons, this mixed reaction is not surprising. Sorne of the reactions were in line with expec- tations and represented little more than prejudice. So much of early man research is unpublished that an archaeological oral tradition is often the daily guide for interpretation, and many archaeologists are firmly committed to a particular view of New World origins or to a particular date for the time of man's arrival in the Western Hemisphere. Thus it was to be expected that a radically new kind of evidence for early human occupation would be enter- tained enthusiastically in sorne quarters, with a grain of salt in others, and not at all in a few. Scepticism has arisen because of the apparent age of the evidence, because it involves bone alterations rather thau lithic craftsmanship, because it has been recovered from reworked deposits rather than from "archaeological sites," and because of a number of other consider- ations which will be discussed at length in this report. Not all of the reactions have been sceptical, and sorne of them have even been too enthusiastic and are marred by too little critical appraisal. Many archaeologists have made very useful suggestions and constructive criticism.s, and one purpose of this report is to show how these probes have been useful in stimulating a more holistic view of the vertebrate collections. This is the third monograph on these collections. Harington's (1977) dissertation on the paleontology of the vertebrates from Old Crow and Dawson has been an invaluable work in understanding the possible role of man in relation to the many taxa which have been recovered from these regions. Bonnichsen's (1979) analysis of artifacts collected as of 1973 has been a vii '-' L L ' - i ...... 1.... \o... '- ' L t.... L - - - ..... ...... \.._ ..... fundamental point of departure and an immeasurable valuable aid in organ- izing the collections and interpreting individual specimens. ln this report 1 have attempted to strengthen the already substantial contributions of bath of these earlier monographs by covering new ground which is relevant simul- tanously to both paleontological and archaeological goals. Harington's study focussed primarily on the classification of cranial material and of the biogeography of each identified taxon, and Bonnichsen's analysis neces- sarily dealt with a selection of specimens thought to be attributable to artificial interaction with the megafauna of eastern Beringia. In this report I have attempted to elucidate the entire complex suite of alterations which are visible on these fossils and thereby provide a more comprehensive explanation fox the many processes which have acted upon individual bones and bone assemblages between the time the animals died and the time we collected their fossilized remains. ·I did not assume that man was involved in this series of a~terations, and only a year ago I still believed (and even hoped) that the entire record could be explained without postulating the presence of humans in the Old Crow basin. In the final analysis I have identified a possible time of arrivai for human groups in the northern Yukon Territory, and I have indicated how little we know of these early people. I have not found it possible to account for the evidence afforded by sorne of these fossils without supposing that artificial activities were among the altering processes which produced visible and preservable marks of the bones. When the Old Crow region is mentioned in the early man literature it is usually with reference to bones, and there seems to be a growing misconception that the evidence from the northern Yukon Territory supports the old idea (e.g., Menghin 1963) that early societies made their artifacts almost exclu- sively from bane and only later began to make many of their tools from stone. This is emphatically not the case, and 1 wish .to make it clear at the outset that the existing archaeological record shows already that a significant (but poorly known) lithic industry was associated with the fossils (Chapter 8; Morlan 1980). A second misconception is that one can refer to the "site of Old Crow" (Davies 1979:34) as the source of the material to be discussed in this report; the "site of Old Crow" is a Kutchin lndian village on the north bank of the Porcupine River just below the mouth of the Old Crow River, and the sources of the fossil materials include nearly 200 localities not a single one of which can be shawn to be an "archaeological site." Narrative I was introduced to the Old Crow region in 1967 when Jacques Cinq-Mars and I worked as field assistants for W.N. Irving, then employed as Head of the Western Section in the Archaeology Division, National Museum of Man, Ottawa. I was looking for a topic on which to write a PhD dissertation, and I asked Irving if sorne aspect of the exciting but scarcely glimpsed record of human alterations on the Pleistocene fossils could not be isolated for that purpose. Irving replied that it would not be wise to select an early man tapie such as that one for a dissertation, because there was too much danger of failing to find a definable archaeological problem even after several years of work. Now, of course, 1 could not agree more. In 1969, Irving moved to the University of Toronto, and I was hired by the National Museum of Man to assume the responsibilities of Yukon Archaeologist. In the first year in Ottawa I proposed to organize a viii "Northwestern Refugium B.iological Survey" which would embrace a wide range of disciplines including archaeology with_ the goal of searching for early human occupation as well as enlarging the fpssil record to supplement bio- geographie concepts centered on the unglaciated areas of Beringia. Funding could not be secured at that time, and the proposai was filed with little hope that it could be resurrected. George F. MacDonald, then Chief, Archaeological Survey of Canada, National Museum of Man, attended the 1973 INQUA conference in Christchurch, New Zealand, and he was alarmed to note that North America was one of the few continents very poorly represented in the sessions on early human occupation. MacDonald returned to suggest that we explore the possibility of launching a more deliberate search for early man in Canada, and I wrote a proposai for the Yukon Refugium Project which passed through the usual budgetary classifications and emerged for funding in the 1975 field season. Meanwhile Robson Bonnichsen had been working on the Yukon collections amassed as of 1973, and his headquarters in Ottawa permitted us to work together on the concept of the new project. Saon· ther·eafter Bonnichsen moved to the University of Maine, Orono, and began the development of a series of early man studies as well as the completion of his monograph on the Yukon collections (Bonnichsen 1979). I made up lists of general tapies which should be embraced by the Yukon Refugium Project, and each list was accompanied by a list of scholars who might be interested in undertaking a portion of the work. From the out- set, however, I had planned that each participant, regardless of his specifie training, should agree to work with the others in the field. Too often the multi-disciplinary framework·has been beautifully defined on paper but has collapsed in the field as each specialist followed his own nase to the "best" exposure for his needs. I was reminded of the enthusiasm with which Johnson and Raup (1964:3-4) wrote of their collaborative work in the 1940's in southwest Yukon: Johnson, the archaeologist, assisting Raup in the collection of plants or coring of trees, and Raup, the botanist, excavating with Johnson on an archaeological site, and all the while the enlightening and stimulating discussion of the past expressed in terms of common problems which are larger than our disciplinary boundaries. I explained these thoughts ta each persan I called upon for possible participation in the Yukon Refugium Project, and each of them agreed that the framework sounded interesting and useful. It was clearly stated that none of the other disciplines would be seen in a service role with respect to archaeology and that each participant would be responsible for defining his own special research problems and for identifying ways in which his specifie talents could contribute to the larger integrative problem of reconstructing Pleistocene paleoenvironments in the unglaciated areas of the Yukon Territory. I was quite fortunate to find each of the people I called both avail- able to join the project and enthusiastic about its rationale. Owen L. Hughes, Geological Survey of Canada, agree to conduct his continuing woTk on the stratigraphy of the northern Yukon as the central point of reference in the Yukon Refugium Project. C.R. Harington, National Museum of Natural Sciences, likewise agreed to align his continuing work on vertebrate paleon- tology with the larger framework provided by the new project. John V. Matthews, Jr., Geological Survey of Canada, had already completed the analysis of insects and plant macrofossils from sorne of Hughes' samples, and he eagerly ix 1.... l' 1.- l ..... L r 1 ~ 1.... 1.... 1.... - 1..... b ' 1- - L '- ,- ~ ~ ......, 1 - accepted this opportunity to conduct field work in the region. Charles Schweger, University of Alberta, was nearing the completion of his paly- nological work on the Koyukuk drainage in Alaska, and he was anxious to embark upon a comparable study in localities similar to those of north-central Alaska, N.W. Rutter, University of Alberta, was establishing a new laboratory for amino acid racemization analysis, and this project offered opportunities to test a wide variety of sample materials from a long sequence of correlatable deposits. Each of us brought financial and laboratory support from his institution so that the Yukon Refugium Project has been co-sponsored by the National Museum of Man, the National Museum of Natural Sciences, the Geological Survey of Canada, and the University of Alberta. In the fall of 1974, as these plans were being formulated, I learned of a proposal by W.N. Irving and J. Cinq-Mars to organize the Northern Yukon Research Programme at the University of Toronto. We met to explore the many ways in which the two projects could collaborate in bath the field and laboratory aspects of the work and saon discovered that the two projects were defined quite differently although bath of them were planned as large scale multidisciplinary studies. The Northern Yukon Research Programme was conceived as a means of examining all aspects of the pre- historie sequence in the Old Crow region of the northern Yukon including the Upper Pleistocene fossils, the Holocenearchaeological record, and various ethnographie aspectsmost relevant to these archaeological problems. The Yukon Refugium Project, on the other hand, was specifically focussed upon the Pleistocene record of all areas of the Yukon Territory which were in or near the unglaciated refugium; although the Holocene would not be steadfastly ignored, it would not be deliberately or systematically studied as a part of the project except to recover reference materials (e.g., modern pollen rain, modern plants and insects, modern detritus samples) which could be used as analogues for the interpretation of the Pleistocene samples. We realized that the two projects together created a better opportunity than either of them singly to discover significant materials for the elucidation of early archaeological manifesta_tions in the Yukon and that the area of overlap in the Pleistocene of the Old Crow region would provide a common reference point for integrating the results of both projects. Further details concerning the actual field work conducted during each year of the project will be provided elsewhere (Hughes, et al. 1980), but sorne aspects of this history of research are relevant to this report and will be summarized briefly. In 1975, we spent a few days on the Stewart River and in the Dawson area and devoted the balance of one month of field work to the Old Crow region. This included a familiarization tour to exposures in the Bell, Bluefish, and Old Crow basin, and one locality on the Rat River east of McDougall Pass. Many of these localities had been visited previously only by Hughes, and the rapid pace of helicopter-supported one day visits to these enormous profiles of sediment was one of the most exciting but sometimes bewildering experiences I have ever had. Quite often we landed the helicopter near the base of the exposure where we would soon begin to find interesting stratigraphie problems and productive fossil deposits, and by the end of the day we had seldom scaled the entire exposure and usually had little knowledge of the upper part of the profile. From the standpoint of archaeological reconnaissance this procedure may have been somewhat unfor- tunate, because it now appears that the upper part of the profile is the best x place to look for undis,turbed archaeological remains. It is important to understand that the Old Crow region offers an embarrassment of riches to the stratigrapher, and we were already aware of the fact that we were searching for an archaeological needle in an enormous sedimentary haystack. We now realize that it is not surprising that we did not find archaeological evidence in the units we examined in 1975, and we were encouraged to climb higher on the bluffs in later years. In 1976, Hughes, Schweger and I spent three weeks in the Bonnet Plume basin with productive results in terms of stratigraphy and paleoecology but completely negative results with respect to archaeology. Hughes and I visited the Old Crow region briefly near the end of our field season, and Rutter began intensive collecting there for his amino acid work while we discussed stratigraphie problems with John Westgate and W.N. Irving. In 1977, we sampled at Silver Creek in southwest Yukon (Schweger and Janssens n.d.), returned to the Stewart River exposures, and spent most of the field season in the Old Crow region. By searching the middle and upper portions of severa! exposures we discovered a major floodplain on which archaeological remains represent the oldest evidence of human activity which we have been able to date in this area. The ensuing analysis of these materials encouraged us to return to this stratigraphie unit in 1978 when we found additional archaeological evidence apparently in point bar deposits associated with the floodplain. We also made a number of scattered finds in other stratigraphie contexts in these exposures, but I now believe that we must search intensively a five meter thick zone of the profile above the ancient floodplain but below a glacial lake deposit which forms a widespread stratigraphie marker in all the basins of the northern Yukon. Hence our field work thus far has improved our understanding of the stratigraphie hay- stack and narrowed the search for the archaeological needle. We have found solid evidence of human activity in some very ancient stratigraphie contexts, but we have not yet found an undisturbed archaeological site which could provide a better understanding of human adaptation to the ancient environ- ments of eastern Beringia. A systematic search for such a site will begin in 1980. My 1979 field season was devoted to travel in Europe where I partic- ipated in Burg Wartenstein Symposium No. 81 on "Paleoecology of the Arctic Steppe-Mammoth Biome," to a one week trip to Old Crow for the filming of a segment of "Seeking the First Americans" (Chedd 1980), and to analysis and writing on the data collected thusfar. This report is Contribution No. 58 of the Yukon Refugium Project. Acknowledgements During five years of multi-disciplinary work I have received inval- uable assistance from many colleagues, friends, and institutions. My project co-workers, Harington, Hughes, Matthews, Rutter, and Schweger, have provided me with field and laboratory experience which amounts to post-doctoral training in stratigraphy, paleontology, and paleoecology, and I thank them for permanently altering my view of archaeology and equipping me to take a more holistic approach to the study of paleoenvironments. I am especially indebted to Dick Harington who, assisted by G.R. Fitzgerald, Peter Lord, and xi '- 1 L ~ 1- ~o..... ' ' - 1....., 1- i- t 1- 1- 1- 1 .... 1- \..... - - - Charlie Thomas, has colle.cted the majority of the specimens. descrihed in Chapter 4 and who has generously transferred nearly all archaeologically significant pieces to the collections of the Archaeological Survey of Canada, National Museum of Man. The study of bane alterations, which is the major focus of this report, was undertaken "from scratch" in recent years and could not have advanced quickly enough to produce this report without the assis- tance and encouragement of Robson Bonnichsen, Jacques Cinq-Mars, Gary Haynes, and Dennis Stanford. Associates during field work, in addition to the project personnel, provided many stimulating avenues of research which were not specifically mentioned above, and I thank each of them: Miguel Bambin (opal phytoliths), Steve Chatwin (soils), Steve Hopkins (Tertiary pollen), Jan Janssens (sub-fossil bryophytes), Rob Roughley (modern insects), and Pamela Waters (Glacial lake stratigraphy). I was very ably assisted in the field by Heather Morlan, David Parama, Anna Sawicki, Robert Vance and Keary Walde. lnvaluable assistance was also provided by severa! residents of Old Crow -- Alfred Charlie, Kenny Charlie, David Lord, and Charlie Thomas --and I wish to express my thanks in general to the Old Crow band for the understanding and interest they have shown in this work. Several visitors to the field both broke the monotony of camp life and contributed to our work through advice and encouragement: David M. Hopkins, Linda Johnson, Roger Marois, Edo Nyland, and Lee Ann Porter. Other visitors assisted by carrying stories on our work to the public by means of the print and electronic media: David Cummings and Walter Wicks (CBC:"Science Magazine"), Tom Canby and Kerby Smith (National Geographie Magazine), Max Fraser (Whitehorse Star), and Graham Chedd, Peter Hoving, Colin MacNab, and Marian White (PBS: "Odyssey"). I am grateful for the interest shown by these and many other media people who perceive the popular appeal of early man research and have often taken great pains to ensure that the message was delivered with accuracy and balance. During laboratory work on the collections and samples I have been greatly assisted by Catherine Craig, Jean Langdon, and Anna Sawicki. Special problems with particular specimens have been solved by C.R. Harington and G. R. Fitzgerald, Paleobiology Division, National Museum of Natural Sciences (NMNS); by David Campbell and Stan van Zyll de Jong, Mammalogy Division, NMNS; by Joel Grimes, Minerology Division, NMNS; by David Walker, Geological Survey of Canada; by John E. Guilday, Carnegie Institute; and by Lawrence Angel and Clayton Ray, Smithsonian Institution, and Richard Tedford, American Museum of Natural History. The staff of the National Museums library, especially including Jean-Guy Brisson, Lorna Kibbee, Bill McLennan, and Tina Mathiison, exceeded the call of duty by supplying my hundreds of requests for articles and books including many references in the medical literature which were obtained on inter-library loan. In addition to members of the Yukon Refugium Project, a number of colleagues have exerted important influences on this work through conver- sations and correspondence: L.R. Binford, R. Bonnichsen, François Bordes, Alan L. Bryan, J. Cinq-Mars., R. Dale Guthrie, C. Vance Haynes, Gary A. Haynes, W.N. Irving, Don L. Johnson, Richard G. Klein, George F~ MacDonald, Paul Martin, D. Stanford, James V. Wright, and Masakazu Yoshizaki. During travels in Siberia and European Russia I was graciously aided by Z.A. Abramova, A.P. Derevianko, IU A. Mochanov, E.A. Okladniltova, A.P. Okladnikov, S.I. Tseitlin, xi:i R.s. Vassilievsky, and N.K. Vereschag:Ln. In Czecboslovakia, I was welcomed by B. Klima and K. Valoch, and in Germany by Gerd Albrecht, Joachim Hahn, Martin Jaguttis-Emden, and Karl Ri:eder. I greatly appreciate the two-week tour of sites and museums provided by HansjÜrgen MÜller-Beek whose knowledge and friendship have been very stimulat:ing for a dozen years. The opportunity to travel in Europe was provided not only by the National Museum of Man but also by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Antli.ropological Research which sup- ported the symposium at Burg Wartenstein, and I wish to express special thanks to Lita Osmundsen and her staff for one of the most inspiring weeks of my life in that venerable castle in Austria. This manuscript has occupied nearly all my attention for more than a year. It has been complet ely reorganized several times, and each draft has been improved through the advice and critical appraisals of Robson Bonnichsen, Jacques Cinq-Mars, George F. MacDonald, and John V. Matthews, Jr. I have been in almost daily contact with Cinq-11ars and Matthews, neighbours and friends, who might justifiably claim co-authorship for portions of this report but have perhaps wisely re:hained from doing so un til it is reviewed. In addition to the usual disclaimer as to their lack of responsibility for errors which I may have committed in this study, it i.s appropriate to note that there are several minor substantive points on which we do not entirely agree; obviously, in such cases; I have presented my own views as they will do in turn. The physical appearance of the report has been given careful attention with many hours having been devoted ta photography and drafting. Although I organized the manuscript, exposed the film, and typed the tables, the final appearance of the illustrations is a credit to the drafting skills of David W. Laverie and the darkroom abilities of Sterling Presley. The caver illustration and remarkable sketch of an Old Crow River bluff which appears in Chapter 6 were provided by the pen of Keary Walde who also supplied several beautiful and humorous draw1ngs which could not be incor- porated in this publication but will likely be se.en in slide shows on the Old Crow materials. The text was typed by Barbara von Briesen. In the final analysis, my greatest debt is. ta my wife, Heather, who assisted in the field as excavator, cataloguer, note-taker, cook, quarter- mistress, companion, and entertainer. At home she patiently endured a year of manuscript wi'dow-hood while I transformed our basement into an office and laboratory cluttered with piles of reprints and books and the esoteric debris of microscopie sample preparation. Sne cheerfully hosted a one-week encampment of elephant butchers and a ten-day workshop of the Yukon Refugium Project and merely asked that we help witfi the dishes. This report is dedicated to niy grandmother, Edna Eugenia Morlan, who introduced me to the wonders of the natural world and a sense of ecological relationships and who nursed me through my first bad case of poison ivy. xiii 1 - L_ 1.... L. [ 1.,.. 1.... w i.... - •, l !,.... !... i 1.... - i... i- ·- i i- ..... TABLE. OF CONTENTS Ahstract Résumé Preface Background Narrative Acknowledgements List of Tables List of Figures List of Plates Chapter 1. Introduction A Climate of Controversy Standards for Evidence Development of Analogues Organization of this Report Chapter 2. Geology and Chronology Background A Stratigraphie Framework Chronology and Paleoecology Site Designations and Otlier Conventions Chapter 3. Taphonomy and Arcliaeology Taphonomy Physi:cal and Cliemical ·Factors .Biological Factors Long Bone Fracture Cultural Factors and Assemblage Studies Taphonomic Factors and Archaeological Criteria Permineralization and Staining Fracture Patterns Bone Flaking Cut and Polished Boues and Antlers Other Forms of Alteration The Ginsberg Experiment Chapter 4. Archaeological Specimens from Reworked Deposits in the Old Crow Region Introduction Classificatory Procedures Mammoth Bane Fracture Mammoth Bone Cores and Flakes Classification Summary Fractured and Flaked Mammoth Tusk Ivory Cores and Flakes made on Smaller Large 11ammal Boues Bones and Antlers with Reduced and Incised Surfaces Classification Summary xiv ii iii vi vi viii xi xviii xxii xxiv 1 1 2 3 6 9 9 12 19 22 30 30 33 36 37 41 42 43 45 51 53 55 58 67 67 69 71 72 72 74 85 85 86 86 89 Antle;r "Pestle" Antier Billet Antler Wedges- Cut BOnes Summary of Ali Redeposited Specimens Chapter 5. MlVl-7: a Modern B~ar on Jotinson Creek Description Sample Size Specimen Size Permineralization and Staining Vivianite and Hematite Rounding Exfoliation and Split Lines Pit ting Et ching Fracture Patterns Bone Flaking Bones with Reduced and Incised Surfaces Summary Taphonomic Pathways to JvilVl-7 Chapter 6. MlVl-2: a High Bluff on Old Crow River Stratigraphy and Stations Description of Vertebrate 'Fosf;lils Sample Sizes Specimen Sizes Permineralization and Stain:îng Vivianite and Hematite Rounding Exfoliation and Split Lines Pit ting Et cuing Fracture Patterns Bone. 'FlaTd:ng: "Cores-" Bone FlaRing: Flakes· 'Fractured and Flaked Ivory Bones with Reduced and :rnéised Sil'r,faces: Grooved Tooth Polis-Fied Tusk Differentiai Staining Summary Taplionomic Pathways to }11V1..,.2 Chapter 7. Otfier Excavated Specimens Introduction M1V1-13 Stratigraphy Pa1eonto1ogy Archaeo1ogy Summary Mk.Vl-10 MkV1-9 MlVl-3 xv 89 8<:! 90 91 91 129 129 131 131 133 133 133 137 137 139 139 141 141 141 143 150 150 161 161 164 165 169 169. 171 175 177 179 183 183 186 187 188 188 188 189 193 218 218 218 218 219 221 224 224 225 227 r L l.. .... i- i 1.- i.- ~ L i i- L 1.... L 1.- i- i 1.- i- - i- ..... MlYj~l :MtVe,.,.l Sunnnary Chapter 8. Stone Artffacts· in tne Old Cn::.w 'Valley ' Introduction Stone Artifacts NaVl-9 MkV1..,..12 Na.Vk-5 Na.Vk-6 NhVl-2 NhV1~4 NaVl-5 NaVl-2 MkVl~S Sunnnary A Rev:i:e:w of Cuts on :S:ones. and 1\ntlers Chapter c:r. S'unnnary and Dis·cus-s:ion Old Crow Region: an Overview Spatial Distribution in the Old Crow Valley Bones as Sedimentary Particles Radiocarbon Dates Some Implications of the Glacial Lakes Technology and Human Adaptation Paleoenvironmental Considerations Other Beringian Localities Old World Precursers and New Horld Descendents? Recommendations and Expectations Appendix A. Integrative Levels in Long Bone Fracture Introduction Bone as a Material Mechanical Properties of Bone Summary Appendix B. Descriptive Material for Redeposited Bones from the Old Crow Region Introduction Mammoth Bone Fracture Mammoth Bone Cores and Flakes Longitudinally Flaked Cores without Preserved Platforms Longitudinally Flaked Cores with Unmodified Green Fracture Surface Platforms Longitudinally Flaked Cores with Retouched Platforms Transversely Flaked Cores Core Fragments with Confusing Features and Miscellaneous "Cores" Flakes Fractured and Flaked 'Hammoth Tusk Ivory Cores and Flakes made on Smaller Large Mammal Bones Bones and Antlers with Reduced and Incised Surfaces xvi 228 228 228 235 235 237 237 238 238 239 240 241 241 241 241 241 242 247 247 249 255 260 268 270 272 273 276 280 282 282 282 287 291 292 292 292 299 299 304 305 309 313 316 317 319 322 Scratched Bone.s 322 Scratched Tooth 324 Scraped Bones 324 Ground Bon es 32 6 Polished Bones 326 Polished Facets on Bones not 'Fractured when Green 327 Polished Facets and Green Fractures in Different Locations 330 Polish Intersects Green Fractures 331 Polish on Green Fractures 332 Cut and Polished Antler 335 Antler "Pestle" 335 Antler Billet 335 Antler Wedges 337 Cut Bones 338 Appendix C. Descriptive Material for Excavated Bones from MlVl-2 340 Introduction 340 Bone Flaking: "Cores11 340 Bones with Reduced and Incised Surfaces 341 Scratciied Bones 341 Disconformity A 341 Scraped Bones 344 Disconformity A 344 Polisiied Bones not Fractured when Green 346 Disconformity A 346 Polish Inteno;ecting ereen ·Fractures 34 7 Dis·conformity A 34 7 Polisn Separated from Green 'Fracture Surface 348 Mid-section 348 Polish on Green Fracture Surfaces 348 Disconformity A 348 Mid-section 348 Cut Bones 349 Disconformity A 349 Mid-section 349 References Cited 350 xvii 1- L 1.... i 1.... \- 1.... :..... - ...... ' ._,_ - .i- !-. l.. ,_ - - LIST OF TABLES Table Page 2.1 Designations, location data, geomorphology, and text references for localities discussed in this report. 25 3.1 Munsell colour readings for 63 mammotli limb boue fragments from reworked deposits in the Old Crow valley, northern Yukon Territory. 3:2 Fracture patterns induced in green and permineralized boues from northern Yukon Territory. 3.3 A proposed key for the interpretation of boue fracture. 4.1 Classification of fossil specimens based upon raw material and 46 46 48 altering mechanism. 70 4.2 Classification of fractured and flaked specimens in relation to raw material and biological taxa. 70 4.3 Classification of mammoth boue cores based upon predominant flaking orientation and state of platform preservation. 4.4 Distribution of mammoth boue cores and flakes from the reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. 4.5 Summary of metric data for green-fractured mammoth boues and bane 75 75 cores from the reworked deposits in the Old Crow region. 77 4.6 Summary of non-metric data for green-fractured mammoth boues and cores from the reworked deposits in the Old Crow region. 78 4.7 Summary of metric data for flake scars· and flakes on mammoth-bones from the reworked deposits in the Old Crow region. 79 4.8 Summary of non-metric data for flake scars on cores and flakes from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region. 4. 9_ Distribution of platform types on mammoth bane cores and flakes 82 from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region. 84 4.10 Classification of surface reduction and surface incision forms, showing their associations as observed among the Old Crow specimens. 4.11 Summary of alterations and statuses for boues, teeth, tusks, and 88 antlers from the reworked deposits of the Old Crow region. 92 4.12 Comparison of classifications by Bonnicnsen (19_79} with the treatment of redeposited speci1nens in this report. 9.5 5.1 Distribution of boues, teeth, tusks, and antlers from MlVl·--7, Johnson Creek, Old Crow Easin, northern Yukon Territory. 5~ 2 Distribution of metric data for bones from MlVl-7. 5.3 Distribution of hematite and vivianite stains on boues from MlVl-7. 5.4 Distribution of rounding classes, exfoliation, and split lines for boues from MlVl-7. xviii 130 132 134 135 Table Page 5.5 Distribution of pitting and etching on bones from MlVl-7. 136 5.6 Distribution of fracture types on bones from MlVl-7. 138 5.7 Distribution of carnivore alteration features on bones from MlVl-7. 140 5.8 Distribution of bone, tusk, tooth, and antier alterations with respect to the archaeological potential of Ml Vl-7. 142 5. 9 Taphonomic factors pertaining to oones from Ml Vl-7. 144 6.1 Distribution of vertebrate taxa by station at MlVl-2, Disconformity A, Old Crow River, nort hern Yukon Territ ory. 152 6.2 Distribution of verteorate taxa by station at MlVl-2, Mid- section deposit. 155 6.3 Distribution of vertebrate taxa by station at MlVl-2, basal deposit. 157 6.4 Distribution of bone, tooth, and tusk fragments from three stratigraphie levels at MlVl-2. 157 6.5 Distribution of length measurements for bones from three stratigraphie levels at MlVl-2. 162 6.6 Distribution of weight measurements for bones from three stratigraphie levels at MlVl-2. 163 6.7 Staining characteristics of oones from four samples recovered on Disconformity A at lU Vl-2. 168 6.8 Distribution of vivianite on bones from xhree stratigraphie levels at MlVl-2. 170 6.9 Distribution of rounding classes for bones from three stratigraphie levels at 1-UVl-2. 172 6.10 Distribution of exfoliation and split line fractures on bones from three stratigraphie levels· at MlVl-2. 173 6.11 Distribution of pitting types on hones _from three stratigraphie levels at MlVl-2. 174 6.12 Distribution of etching on bones· from three stratigraphie levels at Ml Vl-2. 176 6.13 Distribution of fracture patterns for bones :from three stratigraphie levels at MlVl-2. 178 6.14 Distribution of carnivore alteration features on bones from two stratigraphie levels at MlVl-2. 180 6.15 Metric data for bone wall th.ickness in bones fractures wfien green from two stratigraphie levels· at MlVl-2. 182 6.16 Attributes of green-fractured mammoth long bane fragments from Ml Vl-2, Disconformity A. 184 6.17 Attributes of ten flakes from Disconformity-A and one. flake from the mid-s-ection deposit at "Ml Vl-2. 185 6.18 Attributes of fractured ivory fragments from M1V1-2. 186 ·-xix 1 ~ 1.... 1- ~ 1- 1 l.. L ..... L '- ..... ..... ' ..... L L L L 1.... Table 6.19 Distribution of tooth, tusk, and bone alterations with respect to the archaeological potentia1 of Disconformity A at M1Vl~2. 6.20 Distribution of tooth, tusk, and bone alterations with respect to the archaeological potential of the Hid-section sample at MlVl-2. 6.21 Chi-square tests of differences among the samples from MlVl-2. 6.22 Trends in the distributions of taphonomic factors among the three stratigraphie levels sampled at MlVl-2. 7.1 Artificially modified vertebrate fossils from M1Vl-13, 01d Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. 7.2 Attributes of selected vertebrate specimens excavated from MkV1-10, MkVl-9, MlVl-3, MlVj-1, and MfVe-1, 01d Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. 8.1 Attributes of lithic bifaces and flakes from the Old Crow valley, northern Yukon Territory. Page 190 191 194 195 222 226 236 9.1 Distribution of artifacts, probable artifacts, and possible artifacts (natural or artîficial) in relation ta the strati- graphie and geomorphologie units identified in Figs. 2.2 and 2.4, Old Crow region, nort hern Yukon Territory. 248 9.2 Distribution of redeposited bane, tooth, tusk, and antler specimens along the Old Crow valley and its tributaries and along the Porcupine River, northern Yukon Territory. 250 9.3 Predicted quartz grain diameters equivalent ta the largest mammoth long bane fragments recovered from various sedimentary and geomorphologie contexts discussed in this report. 256 9.4 Radiocarbon dates on bane collagen from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region. 9. 5 Radiocarbon dates on organic materials other than bane from Upper Pleistocene and Holocene stratigraphie contexts in the Old Crow region. Al. Summary of variables considered in selected bone deformation studies reported in the 1iterature. A2. ~ltimate strength. of various milled bone samples measured in pounds/square inch (psi). . 262 263 288 290 Bl. Attributes of green-fractured mammoth bones from reworked de:posits in the 01d Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. 293 B2. Green fracture attributes of -mammoth bane cores without preserved p1atforms from tlie reworked depos:its in the Old Crow region. 300 B3. Flaking attributes of longitudinal1y flaked cores without preserved platforms from the reworked deposits in the Old Crow region. 301 xx Table B4. Green fracture attri'hutes of mammoth _bone cores 1..-rith unmodified fracture surface platforms from the reworked deposits in the Page Old Crow region. 302 BS. Flaking attributesof 1ongitudinally flaked cores wîth unmodified fracture surface platforms from tfie reworked deposi'ts in the Old Crow region. 303 B6. Green fracture attrioutes-of mauunoth bane cores with retouched platforms from the reworked depos-its in tfie Old Crow region. 306 B7. Flaking attributes of longitudii;lally flaked cores with retouched platforms from tfie reworked deposits in the Old Crow region. 307 B8. Green fracture attributes of mammoth bone cores-flaked trans- versely from reworked deposits in the 01d Crow region. 310 Bli. Flaking attrioutes of transvers·e1y flaked cores from reworked deposits in the 01d Crow Tegion. 311 BIO. Green fracture attrîbutes of mauunoth bane core fragments and miscellaneous "cores" from reworked deposited in the Old Crow region. 312 B11. Attributes of mammoth bane flaked fnnn reworked deposits in the Old Crow region. 314 Bl2. Attributes of ivory cores and flakes from reworked deposits in the Old Crow regi.on. 318 Bl3. Green fracture attri5utes of longitudinal anè transverse cores made on large mammal Eanes otf1er than mammoths from reworked deposits in the Old Crow-region. 320 Bl4. Flaking attributes of longitudinal and transverse cores made on large mammal bones other than mammoths from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region._ 321 BIS .. s·elected attributes· of s-cratcfied, scTaped, and ground bones and a scratched tootn from reworked deposits· in the Old Crow region. 323 B16. Attrihutes· of s-craped -mammotli long liones. from reworked depos.its i'n tne Old C:row ,regîon. 325 B17. Selected attributes of polished bones from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region. ~ 328 Bl8. Attributes of Rangifer tarandus antler wedges found on the banks of the Porcupine River, northern Yukon Territory. 336 Bl9. Attributes of eut bones found in reworked deposits in the Old Crow valley, northern Yukon Territory. 336 Cl. Green fracture attributes for large mammal borre "cores" from MlVl-2, Disconformity A, Old Crow River. 342 C2. Flaking attributes of large mammal bane "cores" from MlVl-2, Disconformity A. 343 C3. Attributes of scratched, scraped, and polished bones from HlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. 345 xxi r l.. 1 1 L L L ~.... ._ 10..... ~ 1.... \ ~..... \ 1.- L i ~ r L- '- f - ...... LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 2.1 Map of Northeastern Beringia: the Yukon Refugium. 2.2 Gross stratigraphy of the Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Terri tory. 2.3 Map of collecting localities in the Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. 2.4 Schematic drawing of major geomorphological units in the Old 13 15 21 Crow valley, northern Yukon Territory. 23 2.5 Mammoth long bane fragment shawn in its position of discovery just above the contact of the detrital organic sands (Unit 3) and the reworked lower glaciolacustrine clay (Unit 2). 29 3.1 Madel of factors and assemblages pertaîning to the taphonomic history of vertebrate fossils to be considered in this report. 31 3.2 Fracture with spiral form naturally induced on permineralized bane from Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Terri tory. 4.1 Scattergram of length and width of flake scars on cores. 4.2 Scattergram of length and width of bane flakes. 6.1 Sketch of MlVl-2 (Location 15), Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory, showing locations of stations and levels of excavation. 6.2 Histogram of specimen length for Disconformity A, HlVl-2, Station 3, in 5 mm intervals. 6.3 Histograms of specimen lengths, in 5 mm intervals, for the Mid-section sample at MlVl-2, Station 10, the basal sample 50 80 81 158 166 at MlVl-2, and the HlVl-7 bar. 167 7.1 Basis for correlation of units equivalent to Disconformity A at MlVl-13, Old Crow River, nortnern Yukon Terri tory. 220 9.1 Histograms showing the distribution of artifacts along the Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory as measured in 5 km intervals above the river moutli. 252 9. 2 Relationship between volume and calculated quartz grain diameters for the largest hones and rocl<s from several contexts in the Old Crow valley, northern Yul<on Territory. 257 9.3 Graphie comparison of ti.one collagen dates and radiocarbon dates on ether organic materials from the Upper Pleistocene of the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. 266 Al. Structures in the osteon of Haversian bane • 284 xxii Figure Page A2. Transverse section througft Haversian bane showing arrangements of osteons at greatly exaggerated scale. 284 A3. Macrostructural elements of a long bane. 286 xxiii .... ;t i,.,., 1 L L L 1-. LIST OF PLATES Plate Page 3.1 Exfoliation on the outer surface of an unidentified large mammal long boue. 59 3.2 Etching on the outer surface of an unidentified large mammal long boue. 59 3.3 Unidentified large mammal long boue fractured when green, with loading scar flake preserved in place. 59 3.4 Mammoth long boue fragmented by weathering and split line separation. 60 3.5 Advanced pitting and rounding on a mammoth right ischium and long boue. 61 3.6 White-tailed deer tibia showing extensive rodent gnawing marks. 62 3.7 Carnivore-induced perforations on an Arctic hare innominate. 63 3.8 Carnivore-induced furrowing and scooping on a bison right ._ metatarsal. 63 - .... L... - - 1 1.... ...... L... ~ - 3.9 Carnivore-induced splintering, chipping, and epiphyseal scooping on a short-faced bear humerus. 64 3.10 Caribou tibia with a wolf-induced mid-shaft green fracture with a small loading point scar resembling a point of impact. 65 3.11 Hyena-chewed mammoth humerus from the Hohlefels site, Bavaria . 4.1 Green fractured mammoth long boue fragment from MkVl-3, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. 4.2 Experimentally detached fragments from the same bane shawn in 66 99 Pl. 4.1 prior to its sacrifice for radiocarbon dating. 100 4.3 Green fractured and scraped mammoth long boue fragment from the Porcupine River, northern Yukon Territory. 101 4.4 Green fractured mammoth long boue fragment from the Old Crow River. 4.5 Green fractured mammoth long boue from Old Crow River. 4.6 Green fractured mammoth long bane from Old Crow River. 4.7 Longitudinally flaked core without preserved platform on mammoth long boue from Old Crow River . 4.8 Longitudinally flaked core without preserved platform on mammoth long boue from Old Crow River. 4.9 Longitudinally flaked core with unmodified fracture surface platform on mammoth long bane from the Porcupine River. 4.10 Longitudinally flaked core with unmodified fracture surface platform on mammoth long bane from Old Crow River. 4.11 Longitudinally flaked core with retouched platform on mammoth 102 103 104 lOS 106 107 108 long bane from Old Crow River. 109 x-xiv Plate 4.12 Longitudinally flaked core with retouched platform on mammoth long bone from Old Crow River. 4.13 Longitudinally flaked core with retouched platform on mammoth long bone from Old Crow River. 4.14 Longitudinally flaked core with retouched platform on mammoth long bone from Old Crow River. 4.15 Transversely flaked core on mammoth long bone from Old Crow River. 4.16 Transversely flaked core on mammoth long bone from Old Crow River. 4.17 Mammoth long bone flake from Old Crow River. 4.18 Mammoth long bone flake from Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. 4.19 Mammoth long bone flake from Old Crow River. 4.20 Flakes and core on unidentified large mammal bones from Old Crow River. 4.21 Extensively scratched horse metapodial from Old Crow River. 4.22 Green fractured and ground mammoth long bone from Old Crow Page 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 River. 120 4.23 Bison right scapula blade with polished and grooved facet on fracture surface, from Porcupine River.. 121 4.24 Polished horse mandible from Old Crow River. 122 4.25 Horse left tibia with polished facets on green fracture surfaces at the distal end, from Old Crow River. 123 4.26 Horse right tibia shaft fragment with polished outer and fracture surfaces at the distal end, from Old Crow River. 124 4.27 Caribou antler billet from Old Crow River. 125 4.28 Cuts made by stone tools on bones of white-fronted geese from Old Crow River. 126 4.29 Cuts made by a stone tool on the innominate of an unidentified large mammal from Old Crow River. 127 4.30 Caribou tibia fleshing tool from Old Crow River. 128 5.1 Immature mammoth tibia from Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin. 145 5.2 Longitudinally flaked core with unmodified fracture surface platform on mammoth bone from Johnson Creek. 145 5. 3 Longitudinally flaked core wi.th retouched p1atform on mammoth scapula from Johnson Creek. 146 5.4 Mammoth bone core fragment from Johnson Creek. 14 7 5.5 Two flakes struck from mammoth limb bone cores from Johnson Creek. 148 xxv ....... 1...... L.. 1 - i.... f 1 ..... 1 l 1.....; ~ 1 1.... ~.....; 1- ~ ~ 1 - l.- ~ L .... ..... Plate Page --- 5.6 Scratched large mammal rib fragment and shaped and polished large mammal rib fragment from Johnson Creek. 149 6.1 Two green fractured mammoth long bone fragments from Disconformity A at MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 201 6.2a Green fractured mammoth long bone fragment from Disconformity A at MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 202 6.2b Green fractured mammoth long bone fragment from Disconformity A at MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 203 6.3 Two "cores" made on unidentified large mammal long bone fragments from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 204 6.4 "Core" made on unidentified large mammal long bone fragment, and green fractured and flaked bison humerus fragment from Discon- formity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 205 6.5 Five "cores" made on unidentified large mammal long bone and rib fragments from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 6.6 Four flaked from large mammal long bones from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 6.7 Mammoth long bone flake from Mid~section deposit, MlVl-2, Old 206 207 Crow River. 208 6.8 Mammoth tusk core with flakes driven from center of outer surface from Mid-section deposit, MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 6.9 Scratches on two unidentified large mammal long bones from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 6.10 Scraped rib of unidentified large mammal from Disconformity A, 209 210 MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 211 6.11 One scraped and three polished large mammal long bone and rib fragments from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 212 6.12 Scraped and polished unidentified large mammal long bone fragment from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 213 6.13 Curvilinear design on a bison ulna from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 214 6.14 Butchering mark on an unidentified large mammal metapodial from Disconformity A, MlVl-2) Old Crow River. 215 6.15 Arctic hare redius with eut near middle of shaft, from Mid- section deposit, MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 216 6.16 Unexplained curvilinear grooves on from an unidentified large mammal A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River. an interior enamel fragment cheek tooth from Disconformity 216 6.17 Polished mammoth tusk fragment from the Mid-section deposit, MlVl-2, Old Crow River. 217 xxvi Plate Page 7.1 Shaped manunoth(?) long bane fragment from "Disconformity B" at MlVl-13, Old Crow River. 229 7.2 Scraped long bane fragment of an unidentified large mammal from Disconformity A, MlVl-13, Old Crow River. 229 7.3 Cuts made by stone tools on a large mammal (bison?) rib fragment from Disconformity A, MlVl-13, Old Crow River. 230 7.4 Bison innominate with cuts made by stone tools on the medial side of the ischium, from Disconformity A, MlVl-13, Old Crow River. 231 7.5 Longitudinally split large mammal (bison?) rib from Disconformity A, MlVl-13, Old Crow River. 232 7.6 Unidentified ~arge mammal rib with polished facet on tip, from Disconformity A, HkVl-10, Old Crow River. 233 7.7 Mammoth tusk fragment with polished edge, from Disconformity A, MkVl-10, Old Crow River. 233 7.8 Small bone flake from mid-section point bar deposits at Mk.Vl-9, Old Crow River. 233 7.9 Moose. metacarpal fractured .when green from early Holocene silts at MlVj-1, Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin. 234 7.10 Burned caribou femur and duck humerus from basal Holocene peats at MfVe-1, Porcupine River, northern Yukon Territory. 234 8.1 Stone artifacts from the Old Crow valley, northern Yukon Territory (obverse, dorsal). 245 8.2 Stone artifacts from the Old Crow valley, northern Yukon Territory (reverse, ventral). 246 -xxvii ~ - i- '- .... ..... 1.... ..... 1.... 1 1.... L L L L 1 L.. l 1.... L.. :..... CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION A Climate of Controversy One of the most frequently and vigorously reviewed suojects in New World archaeology is the initial colonization of the Western Hemisphere. A climate of controversy seems always to have surrounded the suoject, The controversy was started early in this century by uncritical claims for great antiquity based on flimsy or even fraudulent evidence. Such claims accumulated to form a suppbsed sequence which Wilmsen (1965) has called the "long chron- ology" spanning between 10,000 and 100,000 years in North America. The controversy continues to be fueled by poorly documented claims, reluctance or failure to publish important evidence, a tendency on the part of many workers to advocate a position on the subject (Lorenzo 1978; Alexander 1978), and the need for better criteria with which to recognize artificially mod- ified stones, bones, and assemblages (Stanford 1979a). A number of recent reviews of early man "sites11 in North and South America bear little resem- blance either to one another (cf. Lynch 1974; 1978a; MacNeish 1976, 1978; Rouse 1976; Bryan 1973, 1978a; Griffin 1979), orto surnmaries in more popular media (e.g., Canby 1979; Davies 1979; Chedd 1980)) and the appearance of replies and rejoinders to such reviews seems to be gaining momentum (e.g., Haynes 1974; Bryan 1975; Lynch 1978b). Several themes are shared by many of these and other early man reviews. The supposed route of entry into the New World is consistently believed to have lain in the Bering.Strait area between Alaska and Siberia, but there has been until recently a frustrating lack of early archaeological evidence on bath sides of Bering Strait. The route through Beringia was selected logically on the basis of its feasibility and its known role in the dis- persal of other vertebrates (Harington 1978). Many expectations concerning the time of human settlement in the New World have been phrased strictly in terms of two major 11 valves" which suppos- edly would have blocked or permitted movements of people and other animals from Northeast Asia 'through Beringia to central North America. These valves are known as the Bering Land Bridge and the Ice-Free Corridor, and geological evidence for their emergence and closure~ respectively, has been highly prized and hotly debated in the archaeological literature. During the past decade, these valves have been declar.ed essentially irrelevant as physical barriers (Johnson 1970; Irving 1971; Reeves 1973), and interest has shifted to their possible implications as ecological filter barriers which could have limited dispersal, human communication, and gene flow. "The Bering Strait area was probably a filter barrier of this type prior to 25,000 years ago and again after 14,000 years ago" (Hopkins 1979:35) with the intervening period offering a bridge of land connecting Siberia with Alaska (see also Hopkins 1973 for this and earlier periods). The situation in the lce-Free Corridor is somewhat more ambiguous with. data of surficial geology suggesting a significant coalescence of Laurentide and Cordilleran ice between 55° and 60° N. lat. during the climax of the classical Wisconsinan (Rutter 1978; Mathews 1978). On the other hand, radiocarbon dates from a lake core taken within the southern edge of this zone imply ice-free conditions during this same interval (White, et al. 1979). In any case even near coalescence must have produced very severe local - 1 - - 2 - conditions for most life forms. (.}for lan 1977a: 100; Stalker 1978: 21)_, but we have very little real information from the f,ossil record to assist efforts to inte.rpre:t the paleoecology of the corridor area during the late Wisconsinan (Ritchie 19781. Just as. the dimensions of time and space have been subjects for extended theorizing, the content of early human cultural assemblages has been repeatedly "described" despite the general lack of empirical evidence which could supply guidance to the exercise (e.g., Bryan 1978a:307; 1978b: 339). The complex history of discredited and controversial early or put- atively early sites has led to sorne acceptance of certain standards for evidence regarding early man in the New World. Standards for Evidence The minimally acceptable site must provide undisturbed horizontal patterns of readily recognizable artifacts in datable stratigraphie contexts, preferably associated with faunal remains and other paleoenvironmental indi- cators. Jennings (1974:76) apparently expects the regional geological picture to be reconstructed in advance since the "stratum of occurrence should be identifiable as a part of, or related to, geologically understood phenomena over a reasonably wide area," and he also ("with luck") wants "one or more distinctive artifact types represented in the collection [to serve as] 'index fossils"' In addition to these, Griffin (1979:44) wants definable activity areas, pollen and macrobotanical materials, human skeletal remains, radiocarbon dates cross-checked by other dating techniques, and agreement among all lines of evidence as to age, season, environment, and "cultural level of the occupants of the site." Satisfaction of these criteria would make a site "readily acceptable to most archaeologists," and failure to meet these criteria makes any discovery "open to question, rejection, or·suspended judgement" (Griffin 1979:44) So pervasive is our paranoïa over."equivocal" evidence that even the champions of deliberate searches for more ancient sites have fallen prey to the sceptics by spec- ifying that only undisturbed stratified sites can be considered as evidence (Bryan 1979; Drew 1979:270). If these are indeed our standards for acceptable evidence we may long await the resolution of the problems pertaining to early man in the New World. When Griffin (1979:44) points to the Eastern Hemisphere for examples of continents on which these criteria have been satisfied, he ignores the fact that several phases of early.Old World.archaeology, particularly in Europe and Southeast Asia, would evaporate if judged by these standards. Certainly the ideal site would make a valuable contribution to our understanding, but I believe that we must be willing to give serious cred.ence to the careful study of ostensibly less compelling evidence if only to alert ourselves to the kinds of material which should be sought in undisturbed, well preserved contexts. If paleontologists were expected to work only with articulated skeletons found in association with large numbers of like specimens repre- senting the same environment and temporal position we would know precious little about the evolution of most organisms. If geologists were required to trace every formation over distances matching the scale of geological processes we would know very little about the evolution of the earth's surface. r 1.... ~ ._ 1 L ~..... 1- \- io.... ê i 1- r b...; l ..... 1 L i 1 ~ 1 io.... 1- 1- ~..... l - - 3 - Much of the material to be pres.ented in thi.a paper departs in several respects from the kinds of "acceptable" evidence descrihed above. We will examine a body of archaeological evidence which is only dimly perceived in stratigraphie context, which is very poorly dated, which is based largely upon bane alterations whlch.are often very difficult to interpret and from which our evidence for contemporaneous· lithic artifacts must be inferred. We. will examine a large collection of permineralized vertebrate fossils among which are numerous specimens modified by man,mostly during the late Pleistocene, when the bane was fresh or green. Modifications thought to have been produced by natural agencies will be defined and ·subtracted from the total collection in arder to illuminate the artificially induced patterns of alterations which provide our earliest dated evidence for human occupation in the New World. Most of these specimens have.been collected from secondary deposits totally divorced from their original stratigraphie positions, but a small body of material can be placed in stratigraphie contexts for which a general idea of chronology can be derived. Indirect but conclusive evi- dence for the contemporaneous existence of lithic tools will be derived from the study of the fossilized bane and antler pieces, but the precise nature of the lithic tools cannat be inferred at the present time (Morlan 1980). The resolution of many aspects of this evidence must await the discovery of undisturbed habitation sites, but the basic outline of a. prehistoric picture can be perceived through the data already at hand. In this paper we will outline evidence from the Porcupine drainage of the northern Yukon Territory (Northeastern Beringia) where it can be demon- strated that human groups were present rouch earlier than has been shawn farther south in the Western Hemisphere. This new-found temporal priority does not automatically solve many of our problems in reconstructing the peopling of the New World. Our evidence has not yet been obtained in the form of demonstrable assemblages which would permit a reconstruction of cult- ural patterns belonging to a single historical group of people. Opportunities to cite useful comparisons with other areas, either in Eurasia or in the New World, are very limited outside Beringia, because relatively few altered boues have been reported in the literature except for those which are shaped by cutting to form finished tools of comprehensible function or artistic expressions which can take a wide variety of forms (e.g., Abramova 1967). For many of the specimens which I have advance.d as artifacts in this report, I have little or no understanding of why they were modified although I can make very specifie statements about how they were modified. This fact high- lights a major theoretical and methodological issue which pertains to the development of suitable analogues ahd control samples to support the inter- pretation of altered bone. Development of Analogues There is nothing new abo.ut the idea that cultural information can be extracted from fragmentary bane remains, and there is very little new among the numerous cautionary notes which must be carefully considered in such an analysis. In conclusion, it is necessary to refer to a certain class of other phenomena observed occasionally in connection with human and especially animal boues, and sometimes brought - 4 - forward as proofs of man's antiquit:y. This applies to the split or splintered b.ones and to those that show vari.ous scratch_es, striae, eut, or perforations, which. appear to be due possibly to human agency •••• So far as the writer has been able to learn and so far as he can conceive, there is no safe means of distinguishing between the fracture effect of a blow by man on bane recent or ancient and that of a stroke on such bane by the hoof of an animal or by impact of falling stone or earth, fragmentation by the teeth of large carnivores, or, in the case of buried skeletal remains, crushing by the weight and movements of the earth •••• Asto scratched, striated, incised, or per- forated bones, it is sufficient to call attention to the fact that a sharp edge or point driven by force of any kind may produce sim~le effects similar to those due to an implement wielded by the human hand (Hrdli~ka 1912:7-8). Hrdlicka (1912:8-9) goes no to describe various effects of carnivore teeth, insects, wo~ms, and roots, and the difficulty of distinguishing between deliberate and natural fires in evaluating burned bane. His conclusion is quite pessimistic as to the likelihood of successfully eliminating all other agencies which might have modified bones, and he implies that the bones must occur in a context which is otherwise recognizable as an archaeological site before they can be admitted as evidence for human activity. Similar opinions were expressed by Merriam (1906:224-225) who made the doubtful suggestion that the percentage of suspect pieces in a collection was an important criterion in evaluating the presence of man, and Holmes (1919:21-24) summarized a variety of such studies. This practice of identifying and interpreting the remains of human activity on the basis of context is a two-edged sword which can lead to bath errors of omission and errors of commission. Specimens not found in the context of an "archaeological site" have been dismissed as indicators of former human activity while, on the other hand, the entire contents of sorne archaeological sites have been forced into interpretive frameworks designed to explain every abject recovered in excavation as the result of human activity. Martin (1907-1910:Vol. I) presented a monumental study of the bane industry represented at La Quina, but he felt it necessary to infer the Paleolithic domestication of dogs as an explanation for the undeniable evidence that carnivores had gnawed on sorne of the bones (Martin 1906). Breuil (1939) opened his analysis of the Choukoutien bane and antler "industry" with a summary of "the action of natural agencies on bones" and then proceeded to describe a mixture of possible and dubious artifacts from various localities of Choukoutien. Meanwhile Pei (1938) published an analysis of the role of animals and other natural causes in modifying the Choukoutien fossils, and it is not entirely clear whether Breuil and Pei were referring to precisely the same bones. It is highly regrettable that this potentially valuable collection of faunal remains was among the lasses suffered during the war. What was needed (and what was lacking) in these efforts to interpret bane alterations was a set of analogues based upon bath field observations and laboratory experiments by means of which morphological characters could be linked with the processes and agencies which alter bane and other such 1- 1 1- ... 1 1- i - L i.... w - i - 1- ~ r L L... [ 1- r 1 ..... - - 5 - materials.. Despite increasing attention to these needs, we still lack an adequate body of 11 haseline data" for such inferences (Stanford 1979a}, but continuing work in this yein is gradually indicating some of the limits which can be. placed on our ability to recognize the more or less distinctive results of the many processes which alter.individual boues and bone assem- blages. The enumeration of possible explanations for patterning in the vertebrate faunal record is not a sufficient response to this kind of inter- pretive problem. There is little. point in citing an ethnographically documented human practice as an explanation of archaeological patterns unless the ethnographie document includes an adequate description of the patterned results of the practice (cf. Binford 1978:9-11). Likewise Hrdlicka's (1912:7-9) citations of various possible natural causes of bone alteration cannot be taken as a barrier to the search for explanations, but they should be viewed as a stimulus to research designed to investigate the causes of naturally induced patterning in the record of vertebrate remains. The history of research into the causes of bone alteration has been marred not only by the lack of suitable analogues but also by several studies in which the basis for interpretation was little more than fantasy. Perhaps the most famous effort to derive cultural information from fragmentary bone is the lengthy study by Raymond Dart on the Makapansgat fauna of South Africa (Dart 1949, 1957, 1962, with references: Dart and Kitching 1958) for which the term "osteodontokeratic" (bone-tooth-horn) was devised. One very good outcome of this work was the first description of experimental efforts to produce comparable materials by breaking fresh boues (Dart 1959a:80; 1959b: 89-90). A very unfortunate development, however, resulted from the simplis- tic form-function hypothesis which guided much of the classification used to characterize the "tools"; many researchers lost interest in the entire subj ect or be_came unduly critical of la ter attempts to evalua te fractured bone (Frison 1974:51-52). In fact these studies gave bone alteration analy- sis such a "bad press" that one recent reviewer of the subject (Binford n.d.) reckons that many of his colleagues who are interested in bone are little more than latter-day "osteodontokeraticists"! Confusion has resulted largely from the failure to separate conceptually two very different kinds of studies: formal and surficial alterations of individual bone fragments, and analysis of the composition and structure of bone fragment assemblages. Except for general references to animal chewing on bones (e.g., Dart 1957:2-9; 1958), most of Dart'~ writing and that of his supporters and critics (Brain 1967a, 1969, 1975, -1976; Washburn 1957; Hughes 1954; Wolberg 1970; Read-Martin and Read 1975, 1976; Shipman and Phillips 1976; Binford and Bertram 1977:144-148) has referred to bone survivorship and accumulation frequencies as observed in natural and artificial situations. Important exceptions include Brain's observation on carnivore activity (Brain 1970) and the influence of trampling in sandy deposits (Brain 1967b); Kitching's (1963) recognition of bone erosion, gnawing, splitting, charring, "rotational scarring,n and abrasion; and; Bonnichsen's (1975) call for detailed observations of morphology as a preliminary step toward assemblage frequency interpretations. Shipman and Phillips (1976:171) concluded that "Since tool making by australopithecines at Makapan cannet be demonstrated on the basis. of breakage patterns, we suggest that only an examination of the collection for evidence of microwear will settle the question." I will show in this report how breakage patterns might still be used in-this kind of analysis, but the fact remains that we still do not know the frequency with which - 6 - various forms of alterations occur at Makapansgat or in the. other sites which have been examined for their "osteod~ntokeratic potential" (_e.g., Kitching 1963; Dart 1967; Read-Martin and Read 1975L Organization and Purpose of this Report Most of this report is concerned with boues, teeth, tusks, and ant- lers which have been collected from various areas of the Old Crow region of the northern Yukon Territory. Each of these individual specimens repre- sents a fact which can be used to explore the past by scientific methods, but the facts must be interpreted --they must be given meaning. Facts form the raw material of science --the bricks from which our model of the universe must be built --and we are rightly taught ta search for sound and solid facts, for strong and heavy bricks that will serve us well in building foundations, for clean and polished bricks that will fit neatly into orn~mental towers. But while accum- ulating the bricks may be a contribution to science, we must take care that the pile does not become a hopelessly discouraging jumble. For science itself is not brickmaking --it is, at the workaday and technical level, bricklaying; and at the creative and artistic level, architecture, the designing of an edifice that will utilize all the bricks to the very best advantage (Bates 1949:1). The bricks represented by boues and similar materials have been under- utilized in sorne studies and over-utilized in others so that incomplete structures have been created, on the one hand, and flimsy ones, on the other hand. Boues constitute many kinds of bricks, and sorne of them are appropriate for use in one kind of structure while others are completely inappropriate for that structure and constitute flaws if incorporated incorrectly. Much of this report is devoted to the sorting of boues into various piles to show which ones can contribute to archaeological reconstructions and which ones are appropriate for use in understanding other aspects of paleoenvironments. Sorne of these will represent new bricks for the archaeologist, and others will be less clearly ~uited to the archaeologist's needs. We are not yet ready to lay bricks to represent the Old Crow Pleistocene, but we can start now to sort them and to identify their potential for later construction. In Chapter 2,I will outline the background of the collections and provide the geographie and stratigraphie framework which is needed to under- stand the sedimentary history and chronology of the specimens. The distribution and geomorphology of the collecting localities will be enumerated along with a description of the ways in which the collections have been influenced by the interests of the investigators and the somewhat difficult logistics of this rather remote region. In Chapter 3, I will review sorne general considerations regarding boues and other such materials, and I will present tpe view that a taphonomic analysis is the most suitable approach to an understanding of the archaeolog- ical content of the collections. A general taphonomic model, borrowed from the paleontological literature, will be presented as a framework for organ- izing the very complex set of data which has been generated from the Old Crow collections. A review of bane altering agencies and processes will be ..... - - i 1- 1.- r L 1 1.... .... ~ 1 .... i.... 1- ·- ! 1- L :. ~....... l....o - - 7 - conducted with reference to the taphonomic madel and will be used to derive a series of hypotheses which will guide the interpretation of selected specimens as artifacts. Chapter 4 will be devoted ta an examination of all the artificially modified bones, teeth, tusks, and antlers which have been collected from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region and which are housed in the collec- tions of the National Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada, Ottawa. This presentation will provide an overview of the variety of technological procedures which are manifest in the Old Crow specimens, but the selected nature of these collections will preclude bath an explication of the full range of taphonomic considerations and the view of the materials as an historically integral assemblage. In Chapter 5, I will summa.rize a redeposited collection from a bar on Johnson Creek, a tributary of the Old Crow River, where every visible specimen was picked up and brought back ta the laboratory. This non-selec- tive collecting procedure permits us to examine a large~ range of taphonomic factors which are pertinent ta the history of bath individual specimens and the collection as a whole. These factors will be used as a basis for depicting portions of the "taphonomic pathways11 which have led from living animal communities ta the fossil accumulation on the Johnson Creek bar, but the depiction will be constrained by the possibility of recent admixture of materials which post-date the Pleistocene record in the Old Crow basin. Three samples of vertebrate fossils from Pleistocene stratigraphie contexts at one locality on the Old Crow River will provide the contents of Chapter 6. With these three samples we are able ta look beyond Holocene redeposition and to come closer to an understanding of the elements which may have belonged together in more ancient times. However, it will be shawn that these samples have also been redeposited in the past, ·and the manner of their redeposition has strongly influenced their contents. None- theless a view of these excavated samples from the standpoint of the general taphonomic madel suggests that an archaeological component can be factored out of the larger suite of bane alterations which are represented by morpho- logical features on the specimens. The data will again be organized in terms of taphonomic pathways which can be partially reconstructed ta account for these three samples of fossils. Chapter 7 will be devoted ta a brief review of specimens which have been obtained through excavation at other localities and in various strati- graphie contexts elsewhere in the Old Crow and neighbouring basins. Chapter 8 will contain a summary of all stone artifacts and all indirect evidence of the use of stone artifacts which has been obtained from the Old Crow valley. In Chapter 9, I will present an overview of this complex record and suggest both an interpretation of the existing collections and a forecast as ta the best approach to the search for undisturbed Pleistocene archaeo- logical sites in the Old Crow valley. A brief review of other Beringian and extra-Beringian evidence will be presented along with a discussion of future research which is needed to improve our interpretive framework for vertebrate remains. -8- It is my hope that this monograph will demonstrate that a reliable and interesting record of past human behaviour can be gleaned from the careful study of bone and bones; that the boues need not be found in the context of "archaeological sites" in order to be suitable for archaeologi- cal analysis; that there are specifie directions which should be taken in future research to improve our interpretive analogues; and that the concept of taphonomy is a powerful tool for organizing complex data sets and procedures for archaeological reconnaissance and interpretation. I do not expect to provide more than a glimpse of the peopling of the New World, but I believe that it can be demonstrated on the basis of existing collections that people.lived in eastern Beringia a long time ago even if these collections can tell us relatively little at the present time about what those people did, how they lived, where they came from, or where they went. / L ..... 1 - ~..... 1- L. - '"""' 1.... i.... ,, i.... - L 1 1.... f L - i l. ..... .... CHAPTER 2. GEOLOGY AND CHR,ONQLOGY Backg1'ound It is now 111ore than a century sfnce the first recorded Pleistocene vertebrate materfals were collected in the Porcupine drainage of the northern Yukon Territory, and four U.S. scientists made fossil collections in the Old Crow area between 1904 and 1952 (Harington 1977:29-35). Else- where in the Yukon the first mammoth remains seem to have been reported by Robert Campbell in the mid-19th century, and fossil finds near Dawson city were made regularly following the discovery of gold in the region (Harington 1977:37-47). Not all these discoveries were accidentai, but the deliberate quests were directed toward relatively intact specimens of paleontological significance. Fragmentary materials which might have been of archaeological importance are generally absent from these early collections, and it is somewhat ironical to realize that Pleistocene artifacts may well have been encountered (but not recognized) in the Yukon more than 50 years before the Folsom discovery finally opened the way for serious contemplation of early man in the New World. On the ether hand, I have found no published indication that such specimens were collected,and none is listed in Geist's unpublished journal and catalogue (Geist 1952-53). Harington (1978:63ff.) has summarized the history of paleontological investigations in Alaska where fossil bone, antier, and ivory artifacts, as weil as a few of stone, were recognized beginning in 1933 (Rainey 1939, 1940; Hibben 1943; Bonnichsen 1979:178, Table 30). Unfortunately the stratigraphie associations and chronology of these finds could not be known in detail at the time of discovery, and only now are we able to appreciate the likely antiquity of sorne of these materials. Most of the fossil artifacts were recovered from Pleistocene mucks in the Fairbanks area, but other discoveries have been made more recently at Trail Creek caves (Larsen 1968), Lost Chicken Creek (Foster 1969; Porter 1978; Bonnichsen 1979), and at Jack Wade Creek (Porter 1978). In the Yukon Territory, Pleistocene paleontology has been intensively investigated by C.R. Harington and G.R. Fitzgerald, National Museum of Natural Sciences, Ottawa, since 1966 (Harington 1970, 1971, 1974, 1977, 1978; Harington and Clulow 1973; Crossman and Harington 1970; McAllister and Harington 1969; Fitzgerald 1978, n.d.). In his first season in Old Crow Flats, northern Yukon, Harington recognized the archaeological significance of a fractured and whittled caribou tibia which was diagnosed as a fleshing tool and brought to the attention of W.N. Irving, then with the National Museum of Man, Ottawa. Returning to the site of discovery in late summer 1966, Harington and Irving collected samples for radiocarbon dating as well as other fossil specimens a:mong which were several mammoth long bone fragments which appeare.d to have been modified by artificial flaking tech- niques (Harington and Irving 1967; Irving 1968, 1971). Most of the fleshing tool and two large pieces of 111ammoth or mastodon long bone were sacrificed for radiocaroon dates which, based upon the apatite fraction ofthe bones, were between 25,000 and 29,000 years old (Irving and Harington 1973). That these finds were recovered from secondary alluvial deposits laid down in Holocene times soon became apparent from further -9- -10- geologi.cal study, and the radiocarbon dates obtained on plant remains (!J-1,280 ± 1600 B.:P.: GSC-730.,...1; 14,390 ± 140 R.l?.: GSC-730-2} indicated clearly that matel,"ials of a wi'de varfety of different ages were con- tained together in the depos-its·. These dis·coveries· s·timulated intens-ive field and laboratory work in many disciplines. Irving devoted the summers of 1967 and 1970 to ·further searches for Pleistocene archaeological materials (Irving 1971; Irving and Cinq-Mars 1974), and Harington (1977:48-84) began annual trips to the Yukon almost with the regularity of migratory waterfowl. By the end of the 1973 field season over 14,000 fossil specimens had been collected, primarily from the Old Crow basin, and a detailed analysis of the archaeological significance of these pieces has recently been completed by Bonnichsen (1979). The Old Crow region also attracted scientists in other fields of study. 0.1 Hughes, Geological Survey of Canada, conducted an extensive survey of the surficial geology and Pleistocene geomorphology of the northern Yukon and western District of Mackenzie in 1962, and he returned to the Old Crow region as well as other areas to complete the mapping of glacial and other surficial deposits (Hughes 1963, 1969, 1970, 1972). Samples collected by Hughes were studied and reported by specialists in palynology, plant màcrofossils, and invertebrate paleontology (Delorme 1968; Lichti-Federovich 1973, 1974; Matthews 1975). Biological surveys included attention to birds, mammals, and fishes (Irving 1960; Youngman 1975; Steigenberger, et al. 1975). The proposal for an alternate route of the Mackenzie gas pipeline through the Old Crow region stimulated a variety of studies in archaeology and biology (e.g., Cinq-Mars 1973, 1974, 1975; Surrendi and DeBock 1976; Walton-Rankin 1977). In 1974, two major multi-disciplinary projects were organized to coordinate the ongoing research of scientists in many disciplines and in arder to improve Jpgistic support and intellectual feedback among all our efforts to study the Pleistocene. One of these projects, the Northern Yukon Research Programme (NYRP), was organized by W.N. Irving and J. Cinq-Mars at the University of Toronto (Irving 1978a), and its principal investf- gators in various fields have included B.F. Beebe, C.S. Churcher, A.V. Jopling, J.C. Ritchie, H. Savage, and J.A. Westgate, with additional support from many students and professional consultants. This programme was designed to study the stratigraphy, paleocology, and archaeology of the northern Yukon Territory beginning with the numerous Pleistocene expo- sures and extending through the entire Holocene record to the late prehistoric archaeology of the Old Crow region. I organized the other project, called the Yukon Refugium Project (YRP), with the support from the National Museums of Canada, the Geological Survey of Canada, and the University of Alberta (~orlan 1977b). The purpose of this project is to study the evolution of :Pleistocene ecosystems in all areas of the unglaciated Yukon interior, called the Yukon Refugium in the project title (s·ee Preface.). By integra ting the field work of such a variety of inves-ti·gators· we have been able to coordinate our sampling arid stratigraphie interpretations at the time of primary data collection as well as later in analysis. An outline of sorne of our results has t :.· èü", L 1 ~ .... 1 - L 1 L 1- 1 l ~ i - - - l.... - i... L:. i.... r· - ._ -ll- already been presented (Morlan and :Matthews 1978; Morlan 1978a, 1979a, 1979h}, and a detailed report is in preparation (.Bughea, et al. 1980). Until 1977, we were frustrated by our inability to trace the paleon- tological remains into the pri'mary stratigraphie record of the Old Crow basin. All the archaeologically significant rnaterial, including the large collection analyzed by Bonnichsen (1979), had been recovered from secondary deposits and could afford nothing more than a basis for techno- logical description and experimentation in agencies of bone alteration (Harington, et al. 1975; Irving 1978b; Morlan and Bonnichsen 1975; Morlan 1976a, 1977b; Bonnichsen 1978). Irving's parties made sorne truly spectac- ular discoveries in reworked surficial point-bar deposits where a hurnan rnandible and at least one domestic dog rnandible were recovered (Irving, et al. 1977; Beebe 1978). The 1977 field season introduced a new dimen- sion to the study when we encountered artificially rnodified bones on an ancient eroded surface (Disconforrnity A) seen at several exposures near Johnson Creek along the Old Crow valley (Morlan 1978a, 1979a; Morlan and Matthews 1978). Tens of thousands of vertebrate fossils have been collected in Old Crow Flats during the past fourteen years, and the collecting procedures adopted by various investigators have differed in accord with their prirnary objectives and logistic limitations. It is of sorne importance to this analysis to surnrnarize the characteristics of these collections in order to examine the extent to whièh their contents are comparable. The status of published reporting will also be referenced so that available literature can be seen in its proper perspective. 1. National Museum of Natural Sciences, Ottawa. This collection has been cornpiled by C.R. Harington and G.R. Fitzgerald during the past fourteen years and comprises a very large series of excellent specimens collected prirnarily for paleontological study. Harington is an unusual paleontologist, however, in that he developed a keen interest in arch- aeology during his first field season in Old Crow Flats and has therefore collected nurnerous specimens of dubious paleontological value, many of which have proven to be of archaeological importance. The cranial mater- ial (and a few post-cranial elements) in this collection was the subject of Harington's monumental dissertation in 1977 which covered specimens collected between 1966 and 1975. This work has also been surnrnarized elsewhere (Harington 1978). In addition, all archaeologically important specimens collected as of 1973 were included in Bonnichsen's (1979) analysis. 2. University of Toronto. The bulk of this collection has been arnassed since the inauguration of the Northern Yukon Research Programme (NYRP) in 1975 and cornes primarily from a modern point bar known as Loc. llA (Bonnichsen's Loc. 89: 1979). In addition, the 1977, 1978 and 1979 field seasons produced -materials from known stratigraphie contexts, although these have not yet been reported in detail. Collections resulting from Irving' s 19_70 field season, prior to the beginning of NYRP, are also housed at the Univers-ity of Toronto and were included in the study by Bonnichsen (1979) • -12 - 3. National Museum of -:Man, Ottawa. This. collection :Lncludes: (a)_ material gathered in 1967 by w·.N. Irving during his. tenure at the. National Museum of Man; (b) artifacts transferred by C.R. Harfngton from the National "Mus·eum of Natural S"cîtmces; and Ccl s-pecimens collected by the Yukon Refugïum Project (YRP)_ s·ince its· inauguration in 197 5. The two principal components of tfie YRP collect-ion are excavated materials from a high bluff (three stratigraphie levels, see Chapter 6) and specimens gathered from one modern point bar which was completely cleaned of bane in 1977, 1978, and 1979 (see Chapter 5). A number of archaeologically important specimens from sources (a) and (b) were studied by Bonnichsen (1978, 1979), and selected pieces from source (c) have been described and illustrated (Morlan 1978a, 1979a). Nearly all the collected specimens have been obtained from secondary deposits which include buried layers in Holocene terraces, modern point bars and stream banks, and masses of slumped material on higher river banks. Exceptions include Harington's samples from basal deposits at Lacs. 44, 45 and 64 (Harington 1977) which are believed to date to early Sangamon Interglacial times; Irving's recently excavated materials; the three levels at Loc. 15 (Chapter 6) and a few other in situ finds (Chapter 7) excavated by YRP. Furthermore, many of the secondary deposits have been selectively collected with thousands of fossils having been abandoned in the field due to their apparently undiagnostic character and the enormous cost of shipping them nearly all the way across the northern half of North America. As a result, the existing collections from reworked deposits can be used to gain insight into the general range of bane modifications and forms of archaeologically significant abjects, but they cannat be used either for internai statistical manipulations of "samples" or for external comparisons between localities or for comprehensive studies of "taphonomic" factors which have produced the distributions of specimens now found in the Old Crow basin. An effort along the last-named line bas been attempted with the YRP sample from Loc. 71, a modern stream bar, which is reported in Chapter 5. A Stratigraphie Framework For many years the Quaternary stratigraphy of the Old Crow region bas been understood in terms of a broad outline presented by Hughes (1969, 1970, 1972). Unfortunately it was not possible to place the vertebrate fossils in that outline because of the difficulty of finding them in secure stratigraphie context. Their recent recovery in several levels of the exposed sections has resulted from intensive studies of the strati- graphy on the basis of which certain details can now be added to Hughes' outline. In arder to delineate the nature of our work in the area it will be useful to mention some general limitations which affect the recovery of both fossils and stratigraphie information. Three large basins are found ih northern Yukon Territory of which the Old Crow b.as·in is· the larges·t and bes t studied. As will be explained below, these bas·ins have undergone extensive filling during the Upper Pleistocene, and Holocene downcutting bas çreated numerous exposures which permit the study of the formation and chronology of the basin fill. i- L 1 L { i- { l L L 1 ~ ._ 1.... [ L. 1.... ( ): - { 1 L- r ' ' 1.... L r 1.- L Il ARC TIC OCEAN { 1 1 -~:1 f i i i>-:ll: <llg "ill: !;]:GJ _,ji- <{· i iz ·'·~\j;,. "\~:;:.:,. \;':,~ .. :0 l" .::0 v. OLD CROW ,.,, i >- i BLUEFISH BASIN BASIN SALMON CACHE CANYON 'f-: -13 - NORTH EASTERN BERINGIA THE YUKON REFUGIUM \ \~L~i. ~ LIMIT OF LATE WISCONSINAN ADVANCE LIMiT OF ILLINOIAN ('?) ADVANCE LIMIT OF GLACIAL LAKE 0 20 40 60 Km. F--1 ........., '"'"--3 1 Km. ~)tN } .... /::.) . ;·,.-~··· \~::~.~. \~;~~, ·-T~i :;.;c; · ... ·, \.. ·· .. \ ... ·•"'·: Fig. 2.1. Map of Northeastern Beringia: the Yukon Refugium. .. ··'1 .. ··. -14 - In the 01d Crow basin therea,re_ apout 25 1eft bank_ and 35 right bank expas.ures. tota11ing, res;pective1y, about 19 km and 28 km in 1ength along a river valley which is nea:r;-ly 300 km long (}1or1an 1978bl_. Portions of each_ exposure are obscured by encroaching vegetation, whiJe_ other portions are kept free of vege.tatfon by-active erosion at the base followed by large s.cale mas.s wasting of the. upper layer s-. As a res.ul t the re are relatively few localities which are suitable for study, and those which are s.atisfactory for s.·tratigraphic analysis. are relatively active in terms of downs.lope movement which cons.tantly renews the exposed profiles. In such circumstances. large vertebrate_materials very readily move dawn s.lope and become divorced from their stratigraphie contexts. Excavation of undisturbed sediments is usually limited to the outer meter or les.s of the sediment, beyond which permafrost is encountered. As will be seen below, the sedimentary layers. which contain archaeological materials are tao deeply buried to be reached by excavation from the upland surface, so the river banks provide the only access to primary deposits which, once exposed, are subject to rapid destruction. Thes.e process.es have retarded our discovery of primary stratigraphie associations, but they have pro- duced the enormous wea1th of redeposited fossils which tend to become concentrated in secondary terrace and point bar deposits. The transpor- tation of these fos.sils, including many very fragile ones, with very little breakage and rounding is possible only because large size lithic material (larger than fine gravel) is extremely rare in most areas of Old Crow Flats. In fact, in most circums.tances, the vertebrate fossils are among the largest particles transported by the Old Crow River and its tributaries. Our stratigraphie framework has been given preliminary description elsewhere (Morlan 1978a, 1979a; Morlan and Matthews 1978), and a detailed report is in preparation (Hughes, et al.l980). The most important and conspicuous time-stratigraphic markers consist of two thick and massive layers of glacio-lacustrine clay which were deposited during maximum advances. of the Laurentide glacier system (Hughes 1972). These advances. dammed the ancestral Porcupine River which flowed through McDougall Pass to the Mackenzie Delta region and which had its headwaters in the Keele Range, the Ogilvie Mountains, and the Old Crow basin. Likewis.e the Peel River and its tributaries were diverted to the north through the Eagle meltwater channel. These drainage systems, which together drained nearly half of interior unglaciated Yukon Territory, were augmented by meltwater from the Laurentide glacial front, and they raised large lakes in the interior basins of the northern Yukon (Fig. 2.1). On the basis of evi- dence summarized elsewhere (Matthews. 1975; Morlan and Matthews 1978; Hughes, et al. 1980). we believè that the earlier of these two lakes was filled during Illinoian times, and the 1ater one represents the late or "classical" Wisconsinan advance. During the intervening period, pre- sumably the Sangamon Interglacial and early to mid-Wisconsinan, the drainageways of the Porcupine and th_e Peel Rivers may have been restored to their former valleys-, although the Porcupine River might already have established a westward flow at a higher bas.e level than that of today (see Hughes, et al. 19801_. The. basins-continued to aggrade through the action of coalescent alluvial fans which grew outward from the surrounding mountains. In some exposures. which we have been able to study in the Old Crow r r r---------r-~ ---. r--r---r OLD CROW BASIN COMPOSITE SECTION r r r----[ r r------[ r------ 8100 B. P. JL.,;;-; -·1 Bison bones: 12,000 B.P. ------,la F lrOI'I\1"''"''"""""811111'111 "''"1 1 32,000 B.P. / '." · · '· '· . · · ··::;:::::>'--. l -·-· Local Disconformilies .,. • -• -r ..... _ Bones @):... > 51,000 _:;~~-s~~d ••..• -; ~-: Disconformily A JY'$r.,\ 1 /_.x~~.::;;:-...:::..;:_ Old Crow Tephra '\\ '/""-::::::;:-..:::. ""-::::_ lee Wedge Cast · ,t,Y ...-Organic Sllt v .·/-!:; ... ~ ... /-/;l San,d,' ~~~ •.• 0? 0 .' / -/-.· .... ~ :;-Scattered Bones ~-// / ...... \.--. // • • • • • ·q ~ • •a•tt•·:• ,___..... / ~ _..----:: . ···~ ~ Sand, Large Wood, Peat . ". >54,000 B.P. . . .: .":· ., .... ""~ ·;,~.'.9 . .,. ... , .o .P /,--:.::>· 'sa~d-. B~r : ;, : '! Reworked Glaciolacustrine Clay .. --~~- ...._._ l -Pr' Gl . 1 · --1mary ac1o acustrme Clay , . • "· • . • a ... • Fig. 2.2. based on Modified Gross stratigraphy of the Old Crow basin, northern several high bluffs recently studied along the Old after Morlan and Matthews (1978:2). Yukon Territory, Crow valley. r--·-r--, r- f-l Vl -16 - basin, this graduai accumulation of alluviu)Il, as. well as local lacustrine and hack-wate.r facies, was a fairly continuous p:r;-ocess from the time the early lake drained until the la,ter one :filled. ·ather ex:posures, however, reveal that the alluvial fill was· locally eut and redeposited in a mean- dering river system characterized by point har growth and large scale floodplain development. In fact, this river sys·tem may well have been as large as the Old Crow system of the present tùne. The existence of such a s.tream bas been inferred from the observation of dipping suites of sedimentary layers which have a total vertical relief of more than 10 meters in sorne exposures. The recognition of such large scale eut and fill structures is a warning that sorne exposures contain less complete sedimentary records than others. In sorne exposures it can be shown that large temporal hiatuses must exist in the profile, while at others a more complete and less dis- turbed record of sediment accumulation may be found. At the present time we are unable to define these potentialities for most of our sections, because it -is possible that sorne of the apparently undisturbed profiles in fact expose eut and fill structures in longitudinal sections which would be very difficult to recognize in the limited exposures with which we often must work. Thus we are uncertain that the Sangamon Interglacial is represented at all sections. The filling of glacial lakes in late Wisconsinan times must have been accompanied by sufficient downcutting at the outlet through the "Ramparts" of the Porcupine into Alaska that the eastward flow of the Porcupine could not be reestablished when deglaciation occurred. Although the Peel River resumed its former course to the Mackenzie Delta, the Porcupine continued its westward flow and reached a new base level well below that of Pleistocene times. As a result the fine sediment fill of the northern Yukon basins was deeply dissected by the Porcupine River and its tributaries, and it bas provided geologists, paleontologists, and archaeologists with unusual opportunities for the study of the Upper Pleistocene in eastern Beringia. The major stratigraphie units presently exposed in the Old Crow basin include the following (see Fig. 2.2; cf. Hughes 1969, 1972; Hughes, et al. 1980; Lichti-Federovich 1973, 1974; Harington 1977:115ff; Morlan 1979a; Morlan and Matthews 1978): Unit 1. Primary glacio-lacustrine clay exposed at sorne but not all sections at lowest water levels in late summer. This massive clay is sometimes seen to be oxidized in vertical joints, implying that its surface was once exposed to a certain amount of drying and aerobic weather- ing. Thusfar it bas produced no fossil material of any kind, but it is thought to be of Illinoian age. Unit 2. Reworked gla,cio-lacustrine clay apparently represents a period of downcutting and erosion of the lake bed in late Illinoian or early Sangamon times. Small channels at the contact between primary and reworked clay sometimes contain concentrations of fossil bone, and verte- brate fossils have likewise oeen :found higher in the reworked unit as well as at the contact w:Uh the overlying alluvium. None of the vertebrate fossils from Unit 2 is altered in such a way as to suggest human activity. l..,..j i- 1.... ~ 1.... 1.... --1... lo... 1.... L :....... 1... 1 ..... :....... - - ..... ..... - -17 - Unit 3. Mos.t o:Ç .the thicknesR of the. ex:posed secti.ons is comprised of bedded sands, silts, and clays in w:hi_ch lateral faci.es changes are qui.te ra:pid and sometimes abrupt while vertical changes likewis_e are frequent. In some ex:posures: this· uni.t reveals large eut and fill structures in which hone concentrationR occur along with abunda,nt plant and inverte- brate :t;ossils:. These ch.qnnels: are thought to date to Sangamon Interglacial and early Wisconsinan times· on the basis-of paleoecological data. Coarser granule layer$ occur in sorne of these channels and contain abundant micro- tine remains as well as larger boues and fragments. There appear to be no widely recognizable disconformities in this unit, but its upper boundary has been placed at a disconformity which appears to be of regional impor- tance. Presumably Unit 3 contains a record not only of the Sangamon Interglacial but also of the early Wisconsinan, but a boundary between definable units thought to represent these time-stratigraphic concepts has not been identified in the field. Although sorne evidence on the Yukon Arctic coastal plain (Rampton n.d.) is at variance with this interpretation, we believe that the Old Crow region was not inundated by glacial meltwater in early Wisconsinan times. Presumably early Wisconsinan ice did not advance far enough westward to divert the regional drainage systems. Unit 4. Silts and fine sands characterize Unit 4 in which beautifully cross-bedded layers represent fluctuating streams and back- water deposits interspersed with local ponds and colluvial facies. For our purposes the lower contact of Unit 4 is of special significance, because it represents the oldest stable habitable surface yet identified in the Wisconsinan portion of the profile. This contact, provisionally called Disconformity A, is generally characterized by colluvial clayey silts overlain by cross-bedded silts and fine sands, but the contact also provides evidence of subaerial weathering and local erosion as well as indicators of a climatic oscillation during an interval of non-deposition and peat and soi! formation. Cryoturbatipn structures are relatively common and are often truncated by erosion at the contact. Less common but even more significant are ice-wedge pseudomorphs which were formed init- ially in cold climate but were later melted and refilled by sediment during a warmer period. Our efforts to trace this contact from one section to another are aided by the occurrence of a volcanic ash which is situated only a few tens of centimeters below the disconformity in the upper part of Unit 3. That the ice wedges were thawed out during the time of non-deposition and erosion represented by the disconformity is implied by the occurrence of slumped pods of the volcanic ash in the pseudomorphs. Fractured and eut boues which can be attributed to human activity have been recovered from Disconformity A and from a deeper deposit in Unit 3 where the boues appear to occur in an ancient channel. Unit 5. The sediments of Unit 5 are so similar to those of Unit 4 that they can be separated only locally on the basis of disconformable contacts. Such_ contacts can be recognized in severa! exposures by the occurrence of truncated cryoturbation structures as well as the growth of peat on a s-table surface. The des-ignation "Unconformity Bu bas pre- viously been assigned to several of these local contacts (11orlan and Matthews 1978: Fig. 1; Morlan 19.79a:Fig. 2) which have produced artificially fractured boues as well as autochthonous peats for radiocarbon dating, out we have not recognized a single contact which can oe confidently -18 - correlated among sever!ll expoi:iures. _Man:y o;l; th.e ch!l;J;"f:lCteristics of Unit 5 may represent thawing !lnd sed:iJnent!ltion during.the transgressive phase which includes the depos:i.tion of Uni.t 6. . Unit 6. The .. clas:sical Wisconsinan advance. is thought to have diverted regional drainages: into thes-e basins· for a second time to elevate large lakes in whi_cb the glaci:o-lacustrine clays of Unit 6 were deposited. These clays occur near the top of all our intact sections although they have been extensively scalloped by retrogressive thaw flow slides which develop as the ice-rich clays become exposed. The clays are not at all fossiliferous and in fact have not even produced an ostracod assemblage. We have never seen a vertebrate fossil in this part of the profile, and we doubt that the clays comprise a significant source of fossil bones. Unit 7. Drainage of the glacial lake seems to have begun around 12,000 years ago, and the earliest stages of downcutting are repre- sented at one exposurebya silt-and sand-filled channel in which the remains of Bison erassicornis have been found. These bison bones exhibit no indications of a human association with their demise, but they have provided invaluable radiocarbon dates for understanding the time of lake drainage and modern valley formation. During the following two millennia peat formation began all over the basin, and thick accumulations of peat and thaw lake sediments underlie the modern surface in most areas of the basin. Unit 8. By 10,700 years ago, the modern Old Crow River bad eut down through this entire profile to form a floodplain very near the level of the modern valley floot. For an apparently briéf period this floodplain was inhabited by a mollusc, Anodonta beringiana, which does not live in the northern Yukon today (Harington 1977:141). Apparently conditions on the floodplain soon became unsuitable for this large bivalve, and its remains, often found with both valves articulated in growth position, can now be used as markers for the identification of earliest Holocene terrace sediments. During the downcutting of the valley thousands of fossil verte- brates and other materials were exhumed from the fossiliferous units we have just reviewed, and these materials were concentrated and redeposited in the terraces which were gradually constructed along the valley walls. Thus we find vertebrate fossils of all ages associated with Anodonta beringiana on former floodplain surfaces 10,000-12,000 years old, and I shall refer to such finds as fossils found in association with the Anodonta phase. Vertebrate fossils are also concentrated in later terrace deposits and can be found, for example, in the truncated scars of former ox-bow lakes which are perched on terrace surfaces several meters above the modern river level (Morlan 1978b). These terraces are still being built and destroyed, and they contain many finds of fossils among which are large and small pieces of recycled wood which can give misleading radiocarbon dates implying considerahle antiquity (see GSC-730-1 and GSC-730-2, Irving and Harington 19.73:Table 1). Unit 9. The formation of floodplain deposits continues today and includes numerous sand 11nd silt bars in whi.ch fine gravel sometimes occurs but is relatively rare. Such_ bars· provide excellent opportunities for paleontological and archaeological prospecting s·ince vertebrate fossils have been concentrated in incredible numbers in sorne such localities. A - - L ~ L. - ' 1- ~...... - io.... L. l-oi i.... ~ L. 1- :...... i l.. -19 - few s.tone and many bone artiJ;acts. haye been recoYered from the banks. and bars., but their original provenience. cannat he recons..tructed becaus.e of the numerous.. primary sediiuent sources. which have contributed to their contents.. Chronology and Paleoecology In the 1ight of this s.tratigraphic s.equence, our current under- standing of chrono1ogy and pa1eoecology can be reviewed. Thes.e two as.pects. of our study will be considered together since our chronologica1 ideas concerning the earlies.t portions. of the sequence s.tem primarily from pa1eoenvironmental evidence. As mentioned above, we be1ieve that the lower glacio-lacustrine clay represents. an Illinoian advance of Laurentide ice. It is. pos.sible that this. unit was. depos.ited during an early Wis.cons.inan glaciation, but we doubt s.uch a late date becaus.e of our fos.s.il evidence from the overlying a1luvium of Unit 3. The large channel deposits. and as.s.ociated s.ediments. in the lower layers of Unit 3 have produced spruce tree trunks. more than 28 cm in diameter, at 1east one vertebrate s.pecies., several invertebrate s.pecies, and s.~veral plants. which imply conditions warmer than those of the pres.ent day (Matthews. 1975; Harington 1977: 130-137). We believe that the warm c1imate of an interg1acia1 (Sangamon?) could account for this fos.s.il evidence but it is not out of the question that an ear1y Wiscons.in interstadial could s.upply the elevated mean annual temperatures. which wou1d seem to be necessary to permit thes.e species. to live in Old Crow flats. (Matthews 1980). For example, one of the bes.t preserved deposits of large spruce trunks is found at one of our mos.t northerly sections where the ecotone between boreal forest and tundra is now found on the general surface of Old Crow Flats.. In that same depos.it are remains of the s.potted s.kunk (Spilogale s.p.) which today reaches. its. northern limit at Alta Lake, British Columbia, about 100 km north of Vancouver (Harington 1977:471). A ground beetle from that depos.it, Notiophilus sylvaticus, today occurs. along the coast of British Columbia and Alaska but is not found in the northern interior (Matthews 1976a). As an aside, I would like to mention a cautionary note which must be borne in mind as. recons.tructions of this kind are made. Until recently we believed that an aquatic plant called Najas flexilis was yet another indica- tor of interglacial conditions in these deposits since its known distribution did not extend north of Alberta (Matthews 1975), but presumed modern seeds of this species, which is not readily collected in many surveys, have since been found in dredge samples from lakes as far north as the Sans Sault Rapids area of the Mackenzie Valley (L.D. Delorme and J.V. Matthews, pers. cam. in 1977) and it may well live today in Old Crow Flats. This emphasizes the importance of continuing to study the distribution and ecology of modern forms which are represented in the fossil record. The paleontological evidence implying a Sangamon Interglacial age for the base of Unit 3 is permitted but not necessarily implied by existing radiocarbon dates on this unit, all of which are beyond the range of the radiocarbon method and one of which is >54,000 B.P. (GSC-2066; Harington 1977: Table 7). In passing, I should acknowledge that we have about two dozen spirally fractured bones from these Sangamon deposits, but I am not convinced that they are artificial1y fractured. Of a11 our samples, this small series of spirally fractured long bones is the most -20 - heavily scarred by the chewing of carnivores, and none of the specimens is larger than bones known to have been broken by carnivore gnawing and crunching; mammoth and mastodon bones are not included in this series. Although samples are available and are currently being processed, we have not yet derived a paleoenvironmental record for the middle and upper portions of Unit 3 in which the shift from Sangamon to early Wisconsinan conditions must be represented. Accordingly, I shall move directly to Disconformity A at the contact between Units 3 and4. Here we find the sediment structures which represent cold climate (ice-wedges and cryoturbation) apparently followed by a warming trend when the ice- wedges melted and were refilled. Since ice-wedges are active today in the Old Crow basin, the evidence that they were thawed on Disconformity A implies a climate warmer than that of the present time (Matthews 1980). By the time deposition resumed,and probably earlier as well, spruce was growing in the area as shown by the occurrence of spruce needles and cones in the cross-bedded silts and sands which immediately overlie the contact. Many of the fossil beetles represent species which occur in both tundra and forest sites, but the majority of those identifiable to species repre- sent obligate tundra forms and imply that the environment may have been characterized by the sorts of forest and tundra mosaic which are found in the region today. A different picture seems to prevail at the various local contacts recognized between Units 4 and 5. Cryoturbation represents a relatively cold climate form of weathering, but there is no clear evidence of a warming trend and forest indicators are absent from the fossil record. The ice-wedge pseudomorphs appear to have filled through sagging of the overlying sediment, and the ice may have been melted as a result of the formation of the glacial lake rather than by climatic warming. It is likely that the cool climate suggested by fossils and sedimentary features in these units represents the onset of classical Wisconsinan conditions which culminated in the elevation of the glacial lake to deposit Unit 6 and that the filling of the glacial lake brought about the melting of the ice-wedges, as it most certainly would have degraded permafrost in the basin. A number of radiocarbon dates are available for Units 4 and 5. Of two samples older than the limits of the radiocarbon method, one of th~m ( >41,300 B.P.: GSC-199) probably belongs to the upper part of Unit 3 but cannat be precisely correlated with these units as defined here, while the other is believed to be a piece of redeposited wood ( >37,000 B.P.: GSC-958) since it was associated with a finite date on small mollusc shells of 32,400 ± 770 B.P. (GSC-952; Harington 1977: Table 7). A third "greater than" date ( >51,000 B.P.: GSC-2559-2) cannat be so easily dismissed since it was obtained on autochthonous peat only 85 cm below the base of the upper glacio-lacustrine deposit on a contact thought to represent Disconformity A (Matthews, pers. corn. in 1977). Four finite dates (GSC-1191, GSC-2756, GSC-2507, GSC-2574) are available from Units 4 and 5 at various exposures, and they range between 31,300 and 41,100 years ago. We cannat yet match the 31,300 date with a specifie position on our composite profile (Fig. 2.2), but the 41,100 B.P. date was obtained on peat which forms a local "Unconfor- mity B." These dates indicate that Disconformity A is older than the range of conventional radiocarbon dating and that the upper glacial lake began to "/' ' L l' 1 L L L. 1 L { i 1 ._ """ 1 1 1 L. f L. 1 t..... i- 1- L. L.. t..... 1- t..... ..... Fig. 2. 3. nort hern based on -21 - NbVI-9 NbVI-2 ... .!N.bVÏ:·ry·~···· 3km. E.N.E. to NbVI-5 N t SCHAEFFER CREEK ..... MIVI -8 MIVI -5 MIVI-12 MIVI-2~ MIVI-1 MkVI -10 MkVI-24 MkVI-s--- MkVI-26 -----<! MkVI -3 TIMBER CREEK E.NE to MIVj -1 ENE. to MIVj -·2 ~ w Km Km Map of collecting localities in Yukon Territory. Km ta distant straight line measurements. ~/·- 90 km. SE to M!Ve-1 the Old Crow basin, localities are -22 - fill sorne time after 30,000 years aga. A maximum age for Disconformity A has been derived from a fission track estimate on the volcanic ash layer located 30-50 cm below the dis- conformity. This ash was laboriously studied by Nancy Briggs at the University of Toronto, and her analysis suggests that the ash is not more thau 80,000 years old (Briggs and Westgate 1978; Westgate, et al.l978). Since I believe that our oldest artificially modified bones occur on Disconformity A and in point bar deposits associated with it, our archaeo- logical record is bracketed between 80,000 years ago and the time of inundation by glacial lake Old Crow. For purposes of discussion, I have adopted the round-number age of 60,000 years for Disconformity A, and an indication of the age of the glacial lake can be obtained by examining dates on the vertebrate fossils themselves. For reasons to be discussed in the final chapter of this report, radiocarbon dates on bone from Old Crow Flats should be based on their collagen fraction rather than their apatite com- ponents. Until recently, all available dates on artificially modified boues had been based upon apatite, but there are 17 collagen-based dates of more than 20,000 years old on boues from the secondary deposits which occur along the floor of the Old Crow valley. Three of these dates are "infinite," but the remaining 14 can be viewed as a small sample of the level of radio- activity observed in vertebrate fossils occurring in the Old Crow River system. When these dates are plotted in the form of a single histogram (Fig. 9.3), a significant peak appears between 27,000 and 29,000 years ago. If we adopt the seemingly reasonable assumption that most of these verte- brates did not live in the Old Crow basin when the glacial lake was there (we have never found their bones in the glaciolacustrine clays), we canuse the 27,000 to 29,000 year peak as an indication that the upper glacial lake filled around 27,000 years aga. The few apparently more recent animais might have died by falling through the ice on the glacial lake with their bones having been preserved initially in the lake clays. Only one of the dated boues in question was artificially modified when it was green, but this series of-dates may point the way to an understanding of the younger limit which we can expect to place on the mid-Wisconsinan portion,of arch- aeological record by virtue of the fact that all lowland areas below an elevation of 1200 feet (365m; O.L. Hughes, pers. corn. in 1980) were inun- dated by glacial meltwater in classical Wisconsinan times. That younger limit appears to be approximately 27,000 years aga. Site Designations and Other Conventions In Chapters 4-8, vertebrate specimens and stone artifacts from 58 collecting localities in the Old Crow and Porcupine valleys will be des- cribed. Many years of independent work by geological and paleontological parties in this region have resulted in a proliferation of site designation systems, and for a given locality there now exists as many as six or eight designations all of which are approximately equivalent to one another. Since the National Museum of Man utilizes the so-called Borden system (Borden 1952) for its cataloguing and storage purposes, designations from that system have been overlaid upon the schemes already in place. Yet another approach was used by Bonnichsen (1979) who chose to renumber all the localities from the upstream to downstream end. A computer would be [~~ r~~~ r--" r r-~ r---~ r--~ r~-r --r r--~ r----r··------r···- ® -=-== Glociolocustrine Cloys With Retrogressive Thow Flow Slide ®+® )( )( )( )( )()( @ CID ® ® Phase 1+2 1+2 1 1 1 Eorly Bose Leve! Loter Bose Leve! Low Terroce Medium Terraces Bar High Bluff High Terrace Fig. 2.4. Schematic drawing of major geomorphological units in the Old Crow valley, northern Yukon Territory, as named in Table 2.1. Relative heights of the three terrace levels are variable, and the high terraces may be degraded through differing amounts of the overall stratigraphie sequence. r·-~ r---- N (.;.) -24 - most helpful in keeping straight the equivalencies among all these schemes. In this report I have elected ta use the Borden designations so that the artifact descriptions and interpretations can be readily compared with the specimens themselves in the National Museum of ~an. In a forthcoming report on stratigraphy, paleoecology, and archaeology (Hughes, et aZ. 1980), many of the same localities will be presented under other designations, because the relevant stratigraphie notes and samples are recorded and filed in the Geological Survey of Canada by means of official labels such as · "HH-" for 0.1. Hughes. Thus many of our study localities are known, for example, as HH68-9 or HH69-21 because Hughes first examined the exposures in 1968 and 1969, respectively. Vertebrate paleontological data at the National Museum of Natural Sciences is filed with reference ta Harington's locality numbers. Bonnichsen's renumbering of the localities was done strictly for the purpose of his own study, but equivalents to his numbers are needed in arder to retrieve specimens from storage for comparison with his text or illustrations. These needs are met in Table 2.1 which provides all Borden designations for localities discussed in this report along with numbers which have been assigned by Harington, Bonnichsen, and Hughes. Other designations which have been assigned by S. Lichti-Federovich (1973, 1974), W.N. Irving, and R.E. Morlan are also listed. Location is generally indicated in Table 2.1 (see also Fig. 2.3) by the name of the stream or, in the case of sites along the Old Crow River, the distance from the river mouth in kilometers along the left (L) or right (R) bank (named when facing downstream). The column in Table 2.1 labelled "land form" gives an approximate indication of the geomorphological setting of each locality. The categories were defined during a preliminary terrace classification based upon air photo analysis (Morlan 1978b), and they are shawn schematically in Fig. 2.4. A high bluff is the most complete exposure of Quaternary sediments to be found along these streams, and sorne of the bluffs were degraded ta a level well above the existing river to form the high terraces in early Holocene times. Thus the high terraces represent truncated high bluffs in which ancient deposits comprise most of the expo- sure with at most a thin Holocene cap. The medium and low terraces are very different land forms. They are believed to be aggradational terraces rebuilt as alluvial lev.ees by overbank sedimentation and point bar· growth during the Holocene. A considerable investment of field work would be needed to make full use of these terrace structures in the study of the Pleistocene fossils. Portions of them have been rebuilt from an early Holocene base level in which the lower glacio-lacustrine clays (Units 1 and 2) form the base, and in these portions it is possible to find concentrations of vertebrate fossils in association with the articulated valves of Anodonta beringiana. Süch concentrations are thought to have been created between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago, and their final Wisconsinan and earliest Holocene contents are completely "swamped" by earlier fossils because of the rapidity with which the downcutting of the basin was accomplished. In general we may use. such fossil concentrations as indicators of the fauna and the kinds of artifacts which were originally deposited below the upper glacio-lacustrine unit in pre-classical Wisconsinan times. Although many of the terraces may alreadyhave yielded concentrations of this kind, my personal knowledge of them permits me ta identify these assemblages at only three of our localities, and these have been marked with an asterisk at the left-hand margin in Table 2.1. In subsequent tables, asterisks will be ..,:\. / r r-----r~-~ r~--~ r r· -, r--~ r·-r---r---~ r---r--~ r-----[~-~-r::---· r---r~- Table 2.1. Designations, location data, geomorphology, and text references for localities discussed in this report. CRH, C.R. Harington; RB; R. Bonnichsen; SL-F, S. Lichti-Federovich; WNI, W.N. Irving; REM, R.E. Morlan; stream numbers refer to distance above the mouth of Old Crow River on left (L) or right (R) bank. See text for other explanations. Borden CRH MfVe-1 MiVl-1 lOO MjVj-1 RB Hughes MjVj-6 MjVl-1 MkVl-3 MkVl-4 MkVl-5 MkVl-8 MkVl-9 MkVl-10 MkVl-12 MkVl-18 MkVl-23 MkVl-24 MkVl-25 MkVl-26 MkVl-27 MlVj-1 MlVj-2 MlVk-1 MlVk-4 *MlVl-1 HlVl-2 MlVl-3 MlVl-5 MlVl-7 109 62-228 110 3 4 42 114 115 105 103 101 91 11 86 12 83 llA 89 10 98 9 97 12E 84 74 92 16 96 14N 15 70 69 71 73 68 80 75 76 74 77 75-10 68-8 75-25 104Ramp. 69-23 68-9 Other SL-F WNI 3B SL-F OC 6 WNI 3A Stream Porcupine Porcupine Porcupine Porcupine Porcupine 36.4 R 40.5 L 43.4 R 57.3 R 64.9 L 66.8 R 61.9 L 48.1 R 49.2 R 66.0 R 63.7 L 54.8 R 36.6 L Johnson Cr. REM78-5 Johnson Cr. 92.5 L 112.1 R 70.5 R SL-F OC 5 78.8 R Johnson Cr. 75.1 R Johnson Cr. Land form High bluff High bluff Med. ter. Law ter. Hed. ter. Bar Bar Bar High bluff High bluff High bluff Bar High ter. Hed. ter. Law ter. Law ter. Law ter. Law ter. High bluff Bar Law ter. High bluff Law ter. High bluff High bluff Bar Bar Text References Chapter 7 Tables Bl, B4-5, Bl6-18 Tables Bl, Bl6 Table Bl8 Table Bl8 Table Bl Tables Bl, B6-7, BlO Tables Bl, Bl6, Chapter 8 Tables Bl-5, Bll-12, Bl5 Tables Bl, B6-7, Bl7, Chapter 7 Tables B4-5, B8-9, Chapter 7 Tables Bll-12, Bl9, Chapter 8 Tables' Bl3-14 Table Bl Tables B6-7, Bll Table Bl2 Tables B8-9, Bl2 Table Bl Chapter 7 Table Bl Tables Bl, Bl7 Table Bl Tables Bl-3, B8-14, Bl6-17, Bl9 Tables Bl-3, Chapter 6 Table Bl7, Chapter 7 Tables Bl-5, B8-9, Bll-14, B16-17, Bl9 Tables Bl, B4-7, Bl0-11, Bl3-15, Bl7 N Ul Table 2.1 (Continued). Bord en CRH RB Hughes Other Stream Land form Text References MlVl-10 Johnson Cr. Med. ter. Tables Bl, B6-7 MlVl-11 13 82 68.5 L High ter. Table Bl ~~Ml Vl-12 74.1 R Med. ter. Tables Bl-3, B6-7 MlVl-13 69-21 88.3 R High bluff Tables Bl, B8-9, Bl5, Bl7, Chapter 7 MlVl-14 REM78-l 90.6 R High bluff Table Bl MlVl-16 84.4 R Bar Tables Bl3-14 NaVk-1 66 58 130.8 L Bar Tables Bl-3, B8-ll NaVk-5 22 60 130.1 L Med. ter. Tables Bl-3, B5-10, Bl3-17, Chapter 8 NaVk-6 20 64 121.5 R Med. ter. Tables Bl-3, B8-9, Bll, Bl3-14, Bl7, Chap. 8 NaVk-8 19 66 120.3 1 1ow ter. Table Bll NaVk-9 68 63 124.1 1 Med. ter. Tables B2-3 NaVk-10 151 139.9 R High bluff Table Bll NaVl-1 32 42 75-32 81-F OC 4 161.5 R High bluff Table Bll NaVl-2 142 51 WNI 50 147.3 L High bluff Chapter 8 NaVl-4 65 52 143.8 R 1ow ter. Tables Bl, Bl3-14 N 0'1 NaVl-5 32E 43 160.7 1 Med. 'ter. Chapter 8 NaVl-7 87 36 195.4 L Low ter. Tables B6-7 NaVl-8 93 46 158.2 1 High bluff Tables Bl-3, Bl7 NaVl-9 138 190.2 R Low ter. Chapter 8 NaVl-12 79 38 182.4 L 1ow ter. Tables B2-3, Bl7 NbVl-1 28 31 199.8 1 Med. ter. Tables Bll, Bl3-14, Bl7 *NbVl-2 29 29 201.6 L 1ow ter. Tables Bl, Bl0-11, Bl7, Bl9, Chapter 8 NbVl-4 27W 32 199 • .5 R 1ow ter. Chapter 8 NbV1-5 Timber Cr. Bar Table Bl NbVl-6 27 33 199.3 L Med. ter. Tables Bl3-14 NbVl-9 136 206.5 1 Low ter. Tables B6-7 NbVl-11 84 27 69-31 205.9 R High bluff Tables B8-9 ( f" r~--~-·-r· r~-~--r-~~ .. r-··· r-~ r-~-r·~----· r--- Table 2.1 (Continued). Bord en CRH RB Hughes Other Stream Land form - NbVm-1 64 28 204.4 R High bluff NbVm-2 45 24 WNI 52 220.8 L High bluff NbVm-4 44 26 69-30 SL-F OC 2 214.6 L High bluff NbVm-5 60 17 264.8 L Med. ter. NbVm-6 85 25 217.4 R Low ter. NbVn-1 57 12 298.0 R Low ter. NbVn-3 109 284.5 L Med. ter. XI-B Johnson Cr. Bar * with catalogue number identifies sites preserving Anodonta phase r··-r~~-r-·-~--· Text References Table Bl5 Tables Bl, Bll Tables Bl, Bl2 Tables Bl, B6-7, Bll Table Bll Table Bl7 Table B15 Table Bl r----("'' r·--· -~ [~---· N '-l -28 - used to identify individual specimens which have been recovered from these final Wisconsinan contexts (the Anodonta phase). Other medium and low terraces have been built since the Old Crow River began to dissect the lower glacio-lacustrine unit. Anodonta shells are never seen in growth position in these terrace deposits, because the mollusc was apparently extinct in the basin by the time the dissection of the lower clay had occurred (in fact the change in the stream bed brought about by the dissection of the clay may have eliminated the mollusc from the basin, but this remains to be determined). Unfortunately the recognition of terraces based on different base levels cannat be accomplished entirely by means of air photo analysis, and plans for future field work include an effort to map the distribution of these different terrace forms. The last land form mentioned in Table 2.1 is the bar on which many fossils have been found merely by inspecting the surface. It should be emphasized, however, that the land form classification is not always indic- ative of the context in which.fossils have been found. It is quite possible to find fossil concentrations on the modern river bank at the base of a high bluff or terrace, and most of the specimens reported here as artifacts have been recovered in that way. Indeed there is often a difficult obser- vational problem involved in determining whether a specimen is in place at the foot of a high bluff, because a vertebrate fossil can be introduced to the exposure in any layer which is below the seasonal high water mark. For example, a fossil boue lying on the surface of the bluff can be covered by slumped sediments which can then be reworked by the high water in the spring and redeposited on the fossil to give the appearance of in situ occurrence. It is necessary to establish that a given stratigraphie unit actually encloses the specimen and belongs in the lower part of the sequence, and this must be clone by tracing the unit laterally along the face of the bluff and into the sedimentary profile behind the face (Fig. 2.5). The last column in Table 2.1 provides references to tables and chapters in the text where specimens from each locality are described. Most of the localities are treated only in Chapter 4 and Appendix B for which table references have been provided. Much of Chapter 4 is devoted to a selection of altered boues which can be identified to Order Proboscidea but which cannot be securely assigned a generic or specifie name. Several species of mammoths as well as the American mastodon have been recognized in the Old Crow basin on the basis of their teeth (Harington 1977), but most of the post-cranial material, particularly specimens which are relevant to this report, is too fragmentary to identify with confidence. The teeth of the woolly mammoth (Mœnmuthus primigenius Blumenbach) outnumber all other proboscidean taxa by several fold in the redeposited samples, suggesting that a given proboscidean long boue fragment or other post-cranial element can be viewed as more likely belonging to that species thau to any other. Therefore, while I want to emphasize that the specimens have not been identified as mammoth boues, I will adopt the convention of using the word "mammoth" in discussions of these remains. Tabular presentations will include the convention "cf. Mammuthus sp." while "mammoth" will be used in more conversational modes. - -29 - Fig. 2.5 Mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bane fragment (MlVl-2: 134) shawn in its position of discovery just above the contact (trowel tip) of the detrital organic sands (Unit 3) and the reworked lower glaciolacustrine clay. (Unit 2). Such specimens near the exposed face of the bluff cannat always be demonstrated to belong to the layers in which they appear to have occurred, because these lower units are flooded annually(?) and can be disturbed by ice-rafting. This bane is probably an example of this process. Small air pockets and a thin slurry of fine sediment were seen beneath the specimen when it was removed. In a number of preliminary reports on our excavated samples from MlVl-2 (Morlan 1978a, 1979a, 1979b; Morlan and Matthews 1978) we have used the term "Unconformity A" to designate the contact of Units 3 and 4. Strictly speaking, the term "unconformity" is not appropriate for this contact since the amount of time it represents is quite small in geo- logical terms. Therefore we have now adopted the term "disconformity" as a more precise indication that we can demonstrate the existence of a temporal hiatus of unknown duration at this contact, and "Disconformity A" as used in this report is equivalent to our earlier usage of "Uncon- formity A." CHAPTER 3. TAPHONOMY AND ARCHAEOLOGY Taphonomy One of the most obvious characteristics of paleontological and archaeological bones is that they differ from the bones of living animals. Individual bones and assemblages of bones undergo numerous changes from the time an animal dies until the time the remains are collected for study. Another characteristic which is perhaps less obvious but no less important is that "bones are not necessarily buried where an animal dies, and they are even less likely to be buried where the animal lived" (Behrensmeyer 1975a:36). Many factors are associated with changes in individual bones and bone assemblages beginning with the decomposition and disarticulation of the skeleton and extending through a variety of forces which lead to differentiai transportation and preservation of skeletal elements. These factors have been subsumed under the label of "taphonomy" which was defined by Efremov (1940: 95) as the "science of the laws of embedding. '' Recent usage of this term has included all considerations bearing upon the passage of organic material from the biosphere to the lithosphere, and it is in this broader sense that I shall refer to taphonomy in this report. It is increasingly clear that taphonomic considerations are vital pre- requisites for reliable reconstructions of paleoecology, and I will try to show in this report that such studies are essential to an understanding of the archaeological meaning of bones and other organic materials. Taphonomy has been given considerable attention by paleontologists working on pre-Quaternary fossils (e.g. Olson 1962; Clark and Kietzke 1967; Voorhies 1969), and Quaternary microvertebrate assemblages, which are so often used as paleoenvironmental proxy data, have been extensively studied with respect to their various modes of origin (Mellet 1974; Mayhew 1977; Dodson and Wexlar 1979; Korth 1979). General models of various assemblage types have been proposed on the basis of taphonomic analysis (Johnson 1960), and the awareness of information lasses through differentiai preservation in the fossil record is enabling investigators to define suitable con- straints for paleoenvironmental analysis (Guthrie 1967; Lawrence 1968). During the past decade there has been a tremendous acceleration of research oriented toward the taphonomy of early Hominid assemblages in East Africa. Sorne of these studies have be.en devoted to the paleoecology of Hominids themselves (Behrensmeyer 1975a, 1975b; Boaz and Behrensmeyer 1976); others have developed modern observational data on carnivore sca- venging and ancient fossil assemblages which could be compared with early South African deposits such as Makapansgat (Klein 1975; Shipman and Phillips 1976; Shipman and Phillips-Conroy 1977); and recently abandoned sites have been examined for their implications concerning archaeological site formation processes (e.g. Giffard and Behrensmeyer 1977; Giffard 1978; Robertshaw 1978}. Large areas of Africa offer opportunities for examining fossils weathering on the surface (Behrensmeyer 1978), and the existence of large and complex ungulate communities in association with a variety of carnivores permits the observation of processes very similar to those of the Pleistocene. Recent detailed studies of the natural history of large carnivores such as the lion (Schaller 1972) and the hyena (Kruuk 1972) -30- ...,; - ..., - - - -" - - -- '- - ..... - ._. - ._ - - .... b.... - '- -- -31 - BIOTIC FACTORS LIFE ASSEMBLAGE (BIOCOENOSIS) THANATIC FACTORS (CAUSE OF DEATH) DEATH ASSEMBLAGE (THANATOCOENOSJS) PERTHOTAXJC FACTORS ~ TAPHIC FACTORS (BURIAL) BURIAL ASSEMBLAGE ( TAPHOCOENOSIS} -, 1 1 1 _J REDEPOSITION T f- 0:: 0 a. UJ -, 1 1 z <t 0:: f- _J <t > :::J _J LL. ------ 1 .J J ANATAXIC FACTORS EROSION (WEATHERING, EROSION) + SULLEGlC COLLECTION TREPHIC (LABORATORY) ----------, l 1 1 _________ _) Fig. 3.1. Madel of factors and assemblages pertaining to the taphonomic history of vertebrate fossils to be considered in this report (modified after Clark and Kietzke 1967:Fig. 53). -32 - have supplied a framework for interpreting observations of predation and scavenging on animal carcasses from which data on individual bone altera- tions and on disarticulation sequences can be recovered (Grader 1974; Hill 1976, 1979a, 1979b; Shipman and Phillips-Conroy 1977). Other studies have discussed the effects of drought on the development of fossil assemblages (Shipman 1975) and the decomposition of elephant carcasses with and without the effects of large scavengers (Coe 1978). Similar studies have been undertaken in other areas of the world with the purpose of the work primarily oriented toward better.paleoecological reconstructions or the development of recognition criteria which can be used to separate cultural and natural alterations of bones and bone assem- blages (Thomas 1971; Meadow 1976; Yesner 1978; Bonnichsen and Will n.d.). The development of criteria for recognizing artificial bone alterations will be a major focus in this report, and I shall attempt to identify these criteria against the background of a wide variety of alterations sorne of which are demonstrably attributable to natural agencies. Since we will refer repeatedly to a complex suite of variables and biases which affect the fossil record, I have elected to present a general model of taphonomic factors which should simplify the discussion. Clark and Kietzke (1967) have provided such a model as well as an excellent discussion of sorne of its components, and I have modified it for use in this report (Fig. 3.1). Clark and Kietzke (1967:115) note that a living assemblage of organisms (a biocoenosis) is shaped by many biotic factors among which they identify the total range and population density of a species, the ecological niche and competition from other species, the "osteological construction" which refers to the fragility of the remains, and the body (hence bone) size of the species. The implications of the last two factors for fossil assemblages have been discussed by Guthrie (1967), Thomas (1969), Payne (1972a, 1972b) and Watson (1972) among others. Variables pertaining to the death of an animal are called thanatic factors --the cause of death, the locus of death, and the age at death -- all of which influence the potential of an animal to become preserved in the fossil recurd (Clark and Kietzke 1967:115-117). These factors may cause admixture of different habitat indicators às when as upland species faces starvation due to drought and dies in a lowland area while seeking water. Thus the thanatic factors may modify the biocoenoses to produce death assemblages or thanatocoenoses. Following or accompanying death and prior to burial or destruction of the remains, a variety of "perthotaxic" factors come into play. These include the initial weathering phenomena as well as predation and scaveng- ing pressures which remove flesh from a carcass, contribute to its disarticulation, and inaugurate processes of bone alteration (Clark and Kietzke 1967:117). Undoubtedly these factors exclude many carcasses and elements from the burial environment by completely destroying them or by moving them away from suitable burial habitats, and human activity may play a major role at this stage in the history of many animals (cf. Noe- Nygaard 1977). Even after the perthotaxic factors have done their work the remains still must be buried in order to be preserved as fossils in most environments, - - .... - - - - .... - .... .... ._ .... .... -33- and their burial potential is now determined hy taphic factors among which Clark and Kietzke (1967: 117-118)_ list: (Jl time interval between episodes of sedimentation; (2} thickness of sedimentary increments; (3) velocity of depositional current in contact with_ bone or corpse; (4) nature of sediment; (5) post-depositional action of roots and burrowing animals; and (6) permeability of compacted s·ediment and nature of per- meating solutions. These were the factors of interest to Efremov (1940) in his definition of "taphonomy." The taphic factors, along with all previously mentioned factors, determine the nature of the burial assem- blage or taphocoenosis. The initial burial assemblage is the total potential fossil record, and various subtractive processes act upon it both before and after its discovery and excavation. Prior to its discovery the fossil record may be reduced by weathering in situ~ exposure by erosion, and weathering and transportation after exposure. These anataxic factors operate to expose and destroy fossils, but scientists often depend upon these factors to enable discovery of fossil deposits (Clark and Kietzke 1967:118). Collecting and curating factors, called sullegic and trephic, respec- tively, further reduce the fossil assemblage to the final form of the paleontological collection (Clark and Kietzke 1967:118-120). Collecting factors include such biases as screen-mesh size and personal interest, while factors operating in the laboratory include the identifiability of various fragmentary remains which may depend in part of the quality of reference collections and the skill of the analyst (Casteel 1972; Payne 1972a, 1972b; Wolff 1975). All these factors may interact to produce a complex network of influences on the carcass and individual skeletal elements of a single animal and in turn on the assemblage of specimens which is taken to the laboratory for study. Much of this network probably cannat be recon- structed, but its components must be carefully considered before the paleoecological or archaeological significance of a collection of fossils can be realistically appraised. In the following discussion I will enumerate sorne of the taphonomic factors which are specifically relevant to this study. Sorne of these factors are physical and chemical responses to abiotic influences and others result from interaction between bones and various elements of the ongoing biological community. Of special interest is the phenomenon of green bone fracture which is quite importatnt in the evaluation of arch- aeological material. These tapies will be discussed in terms of the influences on single bones after which we will briefly examine factors which alter the composition of bone assemblages. Physical and Chemical Factors A wide variety of physical and chemical changes can occur in bone following the death of an animal. Bonnichsen (1979:Chapter III) has summarized sorne of these alterations, and a review of these factors is required in this discussion. Temperature, moisture, geochemical, and -34 - hydrodynamic factors are the principal agencies which alter bone in the absence of hiological organisms (Bonnichsen 1979:26-30}. Repeated changes in these variables accelerate their effects on bone so that fluctuations in temperature or moisture, for example, promote bone alteration more readily than most steady conditions. It has long been known that bone develops split lines which can be induced in fresh bone (Tappen 1964, with references), but these features eluded explanation until recently when it was shown by Ruangwit (1967:321) that "the single morphologie feature which seems to be correlated with the occurrence (or lack) ·of split-lines in cortical bone is the arrangement of bundles of collagen fibers." In an apparently independent study (he does not cite Ruangwit), Tappen (1969:191) showed that "any process which shrinks bone will produce cracks with the same orientation as split-lines," a result which suggests that weathering cracks occurring naturally in drying bones are equivalent to experimentally induced split lines (see also Tappen 1971, 1976; Tappen and Peske 1970). As Tappen (1969:192-193) notes, this observation should open up a new area for the study of archaeological and paleontological specimens. Bones can shrink as much as 30% through the loss of water and organic material (Berg 1963:235), and such shrinkage should be expected to cause failure in the bone wall. While this process still is not understood in detail and is undoubt- edly the result of complex multiple factors which cannat be fully recon- structed by the analysts of fossil bones, sorne studies have been completed on the effects on natural weathering in desert environments. Miller (1975) has studied carcasses in the Colorado Desert of California where the time of death could be determined for each animal. He has shown that long- itudinal weathering cracks appear "shortly after the bones become exposed" but that transverse cracks are not apparent until two years later (Miller 1975:217). These cracks extend through the bone wall at right angles to its outer surface and range from small shallow openings to complete sep- arations reaching all the way to the marrow cavity. An additional form of deterioration, called exfoliation (Pl. 3.1), was observed to begin four years after the exposure of the bone (Miller 1975:218). This process occurs at right angles to the longitudinal and transverse cracks and consists of the progressive removal of the circum- ferential lamellae which form the outer layers of the bone wall (Fig. A2). I have also observed exfoliation of such lamellae adjacent to the marrow cavities of intensely weathered bones. Cracking and exfoliation can be exaggerated or even produced by minerais such as gypsum and montmorillinite which have large expansion capabilities when wetted (Bonnichsen 1979:27). A characteristic of long bone fracture which has often been cited as indicative of human activity is the spiral form which the fracture assumes as it travels around the bone shaft (see discussion bel·ow). Hill (1976) has remarked that spiral fractures can occur as a result of natural weathering, particularly in bones such as the humerus and tibia which are subjected to torsional stress during the life of the animal. "Similarly, in bones where the stresses are mainly compressional, such as bovid meta- carpals, breaks occur parallel to and perpendicular to the long axis of the bone" (_Hill 1976:335). Hill is concerned that such weathering patterns might be mistaken for artificial fractures, and I would agree that such -- ..... i- - """" i- :..... ._ ..... i- -35 - errors might be made in the interpretation of small fragments. On the other hand, such natural weathering along the split lines of long boues will not result in the features which I have identified as indicative of impact-induced fractures (see below; PL 3. 4}. At least two studies have suggested that prompt burial of boues tends to prevent the formation of split lines (Peske and Tappen 1970; Gifford 1978:91). Pitting and rounding of boue surfaces can result from the attack of acids carried by ground water (Pei 1938:12), ~nd the vagaries of boue preservation seem generally to depend on the pH of the burial environment. In most environments other thau extremely dry or cold areas little or no preservation of boue cau be expected unless burial occurs saon after the death of an animal (cf. Matthews 1962:7ff.). The burial environment must be capable of retarding decay either through freezing, through maintainence of anaerobie conditions, or through mineral deposits and substitutions. Boues may become permineralized as a result of the filling of pores and open spaces by mineral-bearing ground water at the time of burial, following burial and during the weathering of enclosing sediments (Matthews 1962:17). Sorne boues undergo total replace- ment by minerals and are then referred to as mineralized (Matthews 1962:18). These changes are time dependent, but they may begin very soon after the boue enters the burial environment (Cook 1951; Hassan and Ortner 1977; Hassan, et al. 1977). Boues may undergo either depletion or accumulation of materials (Cook, et al. 1961; Stout 1978). Whereas the boue apatite crystal cau freely exchange phosphate and carbonate ions with the burial environment, boue collagen does not seem to exchange carbon to the same extent. On the other hand, there seems to be a net loss of organic materials through time (Cook and Heizer 1952), and various humic acids, amino acids, and trace elements cau be introduced to or leached from buried boue by ground water or through the percolation of water through soil (e.g., King and Bada 1979; Wessen, et al.l977). Accumulation of sediment to great thickness above the burial site of a boue cau produce tremendous static loads which in extreme cases cau crush the specimen. These effects could be exaggerated in situations involving freeze-thaw or wet-dry cycles or in the presence of minerals which expand when wetted. All of the foregoing agencies cau act upon a boue even if it is never moved from its original site of deposition. New factors come into play if the boue is redeposited one or more times. In streams which carry large stones, boues cau be comminuted very quickly, and even in streams with smaller sediment sizes pronounced rounding and pitting cau occur (Pl. 3.5). Apparently the effects of wind-bourne sand on boue are to etch its surface rather thau to smooth and polish it as occurs with stone ventifacts (Brain 1967b:99), but more study is needed to confirm the condition of ventifacted boues. Polishing is often seen on boues, and it may result from long-term subaqueous solution and abrasion, from movement within a sandy matrix, and perhaps from the abrasive effects of moving ice as in the spring break-up of northern rivers. Slumping of sediments cau produce fractures even on large boues, and it would be useful to know what kinds of fracture patterns would result from sediment -36 - bodies slumping past a bane whi~h is partial!)! frozen into a position just behind the slump. There are no doubt many other physical and chem- ical processes which alter bones in various burial environments, but the ones identified above are probably the most relevant to this report. Biological Factors Studies of carrion decomposition have shawn that bacteria, fungi, and insects play very important roles in the reduction of carcasses and the recycling of nutrients (Payne 1965; Payne, et al. 1968; Dodson 1973; Coe 1978). Bones become exposed quite rapidly under the influence of a com- plex carrion fauna involving hundreds of species. Coe (1978) provides a detailed description of the seral phases of decomposition in three ele- phant carcasses in the Tsavo National Park of Kenya. Partly due to the action of vertebrate scavengers, the left radius and ulna were completely exposed on the carcass of a large male after only 12 days. By Day 20 the right limb bones were exposed under a layer of dry skin, and the rump had been partly eaten away to expose the pelvis. Exfoliation and "extensive longitudinal cracks" in the bones were observed on Day 231 after a long period during which no observations were made, and on Day 549 the bones were observed ta be greatly bleached with most of the outer surface lost ta exfoliation while ants were seen carrying away bone "flakes" (Coe 1978: 76). Visits to the site 2~ and 4 years after the death of the elephant revealed that the exposed bones were still losing material through exfol- iation of their outer surfaces while sorne of the smaller bones were nearly buried (Coe 1978:76). Plants effect bones in severa! ways. Plants may entrap bones and prevent their movement by streams (Behrensmeyer 1975b:Pl. 3), and in cer- tain circumstances this could promote burial. In the burial environment plant roots and rootlets seem to seek out bones as nutrient sources. I have excavated caribou long bones from recent sites in which roots had grown through the marrow cavity and split the bone longitudinally. Many bones seem to be attacked by rootlets which leave distinctive etching patterns on their cortical surfaces (Pl. 3.2). The causes and mechanisms of etching seem not to be clearly understood. Bonnichsen (1979:26) reports that carbolic acids are produced by the plant roots so as to metabolize bane, but other possibilities include a wide variety of exudates which are pro- duced at the root tip as well as the complex relationships between roots and microorganisms which might be able to dissolve bone or collagen or apatite (Bokhari, et aZ. 1979; Strang 1979). Very small pits (called "Type BF pitting" in this report) may result from end-on contact of root tips on a bone surface. Bane chewing is undoubtedly a major factor in the destruction of individual bones and carcasses. Chewing by rodents can open small holes or "windows" in bane walls (Singer 1956), and sorne rodents are capable of producing incisions which might be mistaken for human butchering marks (Pl. 3. 6); G.A. Haynes 1978; Pei 1938: 4 ff.; Wood 1952). Even the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizi) is known to leave chewing marks on bones (Miller 1975:213). Ungulate "osteophagia" has been a subject of much discussion in recent years and appears to be nutritionally important '1 1 i ...J ~ b.- ..... ._ b.- ....., ._ ._ -- -37 - in sorne seasons of the year. Cervids commonly chew antlers. C_Fish 1950; Gordon 1976} and even houes. (Sutcliffe 1973, i977)_, sheep are known to chew bane (J)_rothwell 1976), and sorne ungulates even ingest small mammals ('l'eagle 1963)_ or boues (Anderson 1974). In Rhodesia, boue seems to com- prise an essential s.ource of calcium for griffon vultures who suffer malnutrition when adequate supplies· are not availahle (Mundy and Ledger 1976). Several erroneous. artifact identifications are now attributed to ungulate chewing of boue and antler (e.g., Tokunaga 1936; Kuss 1969). None of these animals is definitely known to fracture boues while chewing them . Carnivore chewing cau alter boues in several ways (Pei 1938:8ff; Miller 1969a; G. Haynes 1978, n.d.), and Bonnichsen's (1979:18-24) sum- mary of the literature includes references ta circular punch marks or perforations made by the canine teeth (Pl.3.7), crunching and splintering of the bane walls, rotational scarring (Pl. 3.8), and scooping of epiphyses (Pl. 3. 9), as patterns which have been attributed to carnivore bane gnawing. In general, carnivores attack the ends of long boues where a relatively thin outer table encloses spongy, blood-rich cancellous tissue, but frac- tures of limb boue shafts do occur with sorne regularity depending upon the size of the carnivore, the nutritional state and satedness of the carnivore, and the size of the prey skeletal material. Long Bane Fracture Before discussing the causes of mid-shaft fractures in long boues, it~ is important to consider the mechanism of such fractures in arder to iden-· tify the significance of various fracture attributes which will be used in this analysis. In Appendix A I have presented background information on bane as a material and on the biomechanical properties of bane. There I have arrived at the conclusion that long bane fracture is not readily explanable in terms of the molecular, cellular, or microstructural com- ponents of bane, and I will take the position here that long bane fracture is best explained at the macrostructural level of analysis. Although there are numerous flanges, ridges, and other surface features which significantly influence the propagation of fractures, it is possible to envision long boues as cylinders or tubes and ta use ana- logues based on other cylindrical or tubular materials ta explain the fracture properties of long boues. Bonnichsen (1973; Bonnichsen and Will n.d.) has conducted fracture experiments with glass tubes and has shawn that the resulting fragments closely resemble the bane fragments which commonly occur in archaeological sites and as a result of experimental bane fracturing. These similarities occur despite the isotropie structure of glass as compared with the anisotropie structure of bane, and it would seem to be the brittle character and tubular form of the two materials which are responsible for their similar fracture properties. Apparently cracks are propogated just outside the impact area, and they may run in any direction from that point. Those which travel transversely around the tube intersect one another first while others travelling along diagonal orientations are carried by the cylindrical shape of the tube into helical or spiral forms. The intersection of these running cracks either causes -38 - the boue to fracture or it may induce the cracks to change direction. Bath glass tubes and long boues exhibit fracture patterns which seem to be explained in this way, but in the case of boue fracture the result- ing pieces seem generally to be longer in relation to the tube diameter presumably because of the influence of longitudinally oriented Haversian systems which would provide added resistance to the tendency for the cracks to travel in spirals (Bonnichsen and Will n.d.). The position in which the tube is held or stabilized seems to influ- ence the fracture pattern by predetermining where compressive and tensile forces will occur. If the tube is loaded as a simple bearn with its ends supported, an impact in the center of the span will create compressive force on the top of the tube and tensile force on the bottom. Tensile forces also occur just outside the impact area and cause local deformation of the tube wall. We will look for these deformations as indicators of the size and position of point loading in this analysis. On the other hand, by placing the tube on a centered anvil support and impacting the tube directly above the anvil, compressive forces are created on opposite sides of the tube while maximum tensile force occurs 90° around the tube in both directions (local deformation due to tensile forces around the anvil and around the loading point can also be observed). A major difference between glass tubes and long boues is seen at the ends of the tubes. Whereas glass tubes have open ends which do not appreci- ably influence the fracture front, long bane ends are not only closed but are filled with cancellous trabeculae. These internai structures tend to absorb much of the energy required to propogate a running crack, but sorne of the energy is reflected in the form of elastic waves which enable the crack to turn away from the epiphysis of the bane and travel in a spiral pattern around the shaft (see Bonnichsen 1973; 1979:43-44). Very complex fracture patterns can result from multiple impacts on a single long bane. A bone may not completely fail as a result of the first impact, but relatively little additional energy must be supplied to accomplish failure due to the rapidly decreasing cross-sectional area remaining to resist an applied force. Multiple impacts at opposite ends of the bane shaft will result in intersections of fracture fronts advan- cing from bath ends, and long slender fragments of bane can be obtained from this procedure. The recognition of such pieces is sometimes made possible by the existence of micro-relief features on the fracture surfaces -features which are similar to those seen in other brittle materials such as stone (see Gash 1971). These features enable the analyst to determine the direction in which the fracture front advanced even if the precise point of loading is not observed on the specimen. Spiral fractures in long boues have been attributed to human activity for more than 70 years (Martin 1907-1910: Vol. I, pp. 293 ff.). Apparently it was the spiral form of long boue fractures that prompted Dart (1959b: 91; and, later, Sadek-Kooros 1972:Figs. 1-3) to advance the crack-and-twist concept. According to this view the long boue is cracked by an impact, and the final form of the spiral fracture is produced by twisting the ends of the bone in opposite directions. Spiral fractures can be induced entirely by means of torsional loading (Evans 1952; Pederson, et aZ. 1949), but the amount of force required to fracture even the relatively slender ;j l l .... 1 . J - J - ~ - ._ .._ - ;._ :,.... ..... '- -39 - limb bones of humans appears to be an arder of magnitude greater than human twisting strength. Such fractures result when skiers fall after trapping the ski tip, but in these cases the length of the ski provides the added leverage needed to deliver more force than the bane can bear. In other animals the combination of torsional force and the axjal corn~ pression provided by the weight of the victim seem to be critical prerequisites for the production of such fractures in life (Rooney 1969: 110-113). Thus, in the experiments by Dart and others it is likely that the spiral fracture was produced by the impact and that the twisting of the bane merely completed the separation of the pieces which may have been held together by the surrounding periosteum (Morlan 1978a:82; Bonnichsen 1978:108). The limited available data suggest that bane samples taken from various animals may differ in their ultimate strengths in tension and compression; that the strength of bane increases upon drying (Table A2); and that ultimate strength is strongly influenced by histological factors (Evans and Bang 1966; Evans and Vincentelli 1974). In whole boues the amount of force required to produce spiral fractures is a complex function of bane strength and size, holding position, and force concentration. Many, although not all, artificially induced spiral fractures depend upon the bending resistance of the bane which has been shawn to increase by the third power of the bane diameter (Preuschoft and Weinmann 1973). Bending and torsional strength are also complex functions of bane length, bane wall thickness, cross-sectional area, and cross-sectional shape (Lovejoy, et al. 1976; Jurist and Foltz 1977). Obviously these relationships are not well understood with respect to most specifie instances of bane frac- ture, but it is possible to generalize about the prerequisites for systematic artificial fracture of large boues. In arder for human to induce spiral fractures in a large bane, a well aimed high velocity impact must be deli- vered to the bane shaft with a rounded impactor such as a hammerstone which concentrates the force in a relatively small area. Such properties permit ordinary mortals to overcome even the massive and very strong long bones of modern elephants (Stanford, et al. 1980). The impact area frequently exhibits distinctive negative flake scars which result from local tensile fracture of the bane wall. Often a small flake of bane is driven into the medullary cavity and has even been preserved in place on a few archaeolog- ical examples (Pl.3.3). Obviously the complex relationships among the impact velocity, size of impacter, and size and ~ondition of bane are fundamental determinants of fracture patterns. A needle or nail can be driven into a bane wall without producing a fracture involving the whole bane shaft, and a very large.impactor could so completely overcome the target that fractures of the shaft could not ramify in spiral patterns. Ballistics studies may be helpful in defining the minimum contact area required to involve a whole bane shaft in spiral fracture at various velocities (e.g., Huelke, et al. 1967), but 1 have not yet examined this area of research in sufficient detail to provide comment. The foregoing discussion has highlighted the manner in which bones can be deliberately and systematically fractured by man. That human groups undertake such practices has been shawn by means of ethnographie observations -40- (Zierhut 1967: Bonnichsen 1973; Binford 1978, n.d.) and through the con- centrations of bone fragments which commonly form a large part of the archaeological record wherever bone is preserved (e.g., Noe-Nygaard 1977). There are many other agencies wh.ich fracture bones, however, and some of them produce fracture patterns which are difficult to separate from the results of human activity. Many of the fragments produced by carnivores could be mistaken for segments of artificially broken bones, and some of the former even exhibit small flake scars which could be mistaken for negative impact scars resul- ting from hammerstone use (Pl. 3.10). The relative sizes of chewer and chewed are critical factors, and hyenas seem to be the champions since they can overcome very large boues including those of baby hippopotamus and baby elephant (Sutcliffe 1970:1111), although presumably not those of the adults (Kruuk 1972:116). "Not only are hyenas able to splinter and eat even the largest bones of widebeest and zebra, but they are also able to digest them completely" (Kruuk 1972:107-108). Hyenas can swallow remark- ably large pieces of bane which become rounded, perforated, and even inserted into one another in the animal's digestive tracts (Sutcliffe 1970: Fig. 5; Schaller 1972:384). Hyenas seem to be a special case with regard to their bane crushing abilities (Buckland-Wright 1969; Schmid 1976), and there is no known comparable animal in the modern or fossil biota of the New World (except possibly in Middle Pleistocene times). Even the very large hyena of the European Pleistocene (Crocuta crocuta speZaea Goldfuss: Kurtén 1968:71) seems not to have broken mammoth limb bones in mid-shaft. One extensively chewed mammoth femur from a cave hyena occupation leve! at Hohlefels am Schambach in Bavaria has been reduced to less than two-thirds of its original length by gnawing at both ends, but the shaft was not fractured until much later when mineralization of the bane was well advanced (Pl. 3.11). There is probably an upper limit to the fracture capabilities of a given species of carnivore, but such a limit has never been clearly defined. For example, it is not known whether North American Pleistocene carnivores could have fractured the shafts of large extinct bison species or the severa! large species of horses. In some cases it seems possible to make an evaluation of large pieces of fractured boues, but small fragments cannat be interpreted reliably. The only taxa which appear to be immune from such a confusing record are in the Order Proboscidea since even the large Pleistocene hyenas seem not to have created mid-shaft fractures in the long bones of adult mammoths and mastodons. Therefore proboscidean limb bone fragments on which signs of intersecting fracture fronts indicate multiple impacts seem to constitute evidence of artificial boue fracture, and such specimens should be sought as indicators of the likely presence of human hunters and scavengers. Studies of bane chewing (Sutcliffe 1977; G.A. Haynes 1978, 1980; Binford n.d.) are still underway and include field observations as well as zoo studies. Continued experiments with bane fracture include those by Zierhut (1967), Sadek-Kooros (1972, 1975), Bonnichsen (1973), Frison (1974, 1978: Chapter 8), Harington, Bonnichsen and Morlan (1975), and Stanford, Bonnichsen and Morlan (1980). J ,j .J ..... - - .... ,_ .... - - - ..... i.... .... -41- Accidentai injuries during life can cause spiral fractures in many animals, but such fractures have rarely been documented except for those in humans (e.g., Herrmann and Liebowitz 1972:819) and herses (Rooney 1969: Chapter 10). A number of writers have mentioned the possibility that anima1s can break their limbs by violently thrashing about after becoming mired (e.g., Leman and Churcher 1961:421-422; Bryan 1973:251; Drew 1979: 278). Most such cases appear ta lack discrete points of impact, and the spira1s usually ramify in one direction rather than intersecting from clockwise and counter-clockwise fracture fronts. Careful inspection of the numerous elephant carcass photographs published by Beard (1977) reveals that fractures of limb bones are very rare, even when the elephant has met a violent death (see also Coe 1978). Animal trampling on bones lying on or near the surface probably causes a wide variety of fractures including spiral forms, and high frequencies of fractured bones are known ta occur near water hales in Africa (G.A. Haynes, pers. corn. in 1979). In a very important study of horse and camel bones from six paleontological localities ranging in age from the Miocene to the Pleistocene in Nebraska, Myers, Voorhies, and Corner (n.d.) have found abundant oblique fractures which they have classified as spiral forms and provisionally attributed primarily to trampling. Since their only classificatory criteria are evidence of rounding, comparisons of surface colours, and gross geometry of the fracture, these specimens should be reexamined in the light of a larger set of attributes which I will specify below. Elephants are known to pick up the bones of dead elephants, "twiddle" them, toss them aside, and carry them about, and in one published illus- tration an elephant appears to be holding a spirally fractured femur in its trunk (Douglas-Hamilton and Douglas-Hamilton 1978:237-239, plates). Most of this behaviour appears ta be quite reverential and is poorly understood; the elephants are usually excited when they "handle" such bones, but they rarely handle them so roughly as to fracture them (R.C.D. Olivier, pers. corn. in 1979). Clearly ·there are numerous agencies which alter bane following the death of an animal and both before and after burial of the carcass or individual bone. Most of these agencies have been only casually studied with respect ta the fracture patterns and other alterations which they induce on bane, and there are many instances in which it is simply not known whether bane fractures are produced which could be confused with a genuine archaeological record. The studies mentioned above by no means exhaust the list of possible bane alterations, but they are helpful in defining special attributes and limits for sorne of these phenomena. I believe that we can demonstrate results which surpass Hrdlicka's (1912) expectations, and many of Binford's (n.d.) concerns have already been laid to rest. Cultural Factors and Assemblage Studies All of the foregoing physical, chemical, and biological factors have been discussed in terms of their influences on single bones. Many of -42- these factors are also associated with changes in boue assemblages, Carn- ivores, for example, have a significant influence on the rate and manner of skeletal disarticulation ('foots 1965; Hill 1979a, 1979b), and many kinds of rodents can introduce themselves to boue assemblages either before or after burial (Thomas 1971). Human hunters se1ectively disarticulate and transport elements of the skeleton (Frison 1978; Klein 1976a; Lyman 1978; Binford 1978), and differentiai destruction of bone elements results from tool making, grease manufacture, the use of bone as a fuel or dog food, and a variety of ritual disposal observances (e.g., Leechman 1951; Lyon 1970; Casteel 1971; Vehik 1977; Brum1ey 1973; Binford and Bertram 1977; Yesner and Bonnichsen 1979; Bonnichsen and Sanger 1977). Individual skeletal elements respond differently to hydrodynamic processes, and flume studies have been conducted to determine such differ- ences so that bone assemblages which have been transported in fluvial systems can be evaluated accordingly (Voorhies 1969; Dodson 1973; Boaz and Behrensmeyer 1976; Bailey and Lundy 1977). Behrensmeyer (1975b) has attempted to relate skeleta1 elements to quartz grains of various diameters, and Parama (1978) has inaugurated a long term experiment in which the Old Crow River of northern Yukon will transport colour-coded horse bones. The major conclusion which seems to emerge from most of these studies is that more of this kind of work must be done before a clear understanding of fossil assemblages can be achieved, but at the very least it is possible to determine whether a bone assemblage is autochthonous ("not transported from the environment of disarticulation") or allochthonous ("transported and probably foreign to the environment of deposition") (Behrensmeyer 1975a: 36), or whether the assemblage contains a mixture of "proximal" and more distant elements (Shotwell 1955; Thomas 1971; cf. Hoffman 1979). These considerations also highlight the many activities and processes which took place on "archaeological sites" in addition to the activities of ancient humans (cf. Daly 1969). Taphonomic Rictors and Archaeological Criteria One reason for my adoption of a taphonomic approach to the Old Crow fossils is that their information content is much greater than the rather narrow range of alterations which have been regarded as archaeologically relevant. It is my belief that we can take advantage of this additional information to improve our understanding of the many processes which have influenced both individual bones and boue assemblages in the Old Crow basin and neighbouring areas. This information should prove to be consistent with the sedimentary and geomorphological evidence with which various burial environments can be characterized, and departures from expected distributions of observable bone alterations might assist the definition of that portion of the vertebrate record which has experienced human interaction in the past. I did not assume, however, that human activity had taken place in the Pleistocene of the Old Crow region. In fact I was uneasy about previous reports on the 01d Crow fossils (e.g., Mor1an 1978a, 1979a, 1979b; Bonnichsen 1978, 1979) primari1y because they had presented a selection of specimens thought to have been artificially modified but they had neg1ected to account for the many other specimens which were found in secondary associations with the artifacts. Bonnichsen's study -.... -.... ..... - - - 1.... - ..... - ._ ...... -43 - included a tabulation of animal alterations (~onnichsen 1979:Appendix F), but there are many other factors which have not been previously considered in detail with respect to these fossil collections. Between the time when Bonnichsen's observations on the fossils were completed (1974) and the several years during which I have studied these materials (1977-present), we have had several important opportunities to learn more about the capabilities of carnivores in altering bones. We now realize that carnivore crunching and splintering abilities are some- what greater than had been supposed, and it is also clear that sorne carnivores can chip back the broken edges of a bane shaft to produce a flaked appearance which might be mistaken for artificial core reduction. Therefore I began to suspect that many of the specimens we had interpreted as artifacts could be accounted for in terms of carnivore activities, and my suspicions grew to embrace more and more pie~es until I wondered whether an archaeological record could in fact be demonstrated among the Old Crow fossils. Thus the ultimate motivation for adopting the taphonomic approach used in this study was the realization that I might account for all of the alterations visible on these specimens without involking human activ- ity and presenting an archaeological interpretation. I have challenged every form of alteration visible on the pieces from the Old Crow region from the standpoint of finding alternatives to the concept of human inter- vention in the Pleistocene, and many of the pieces have either been rejected or have been placed in a sort of limbo until further research clarifies their status. What remains is a somewhat smaller nucleus of materials for which I have been unable to find an explanation without supposing that human activities were involved in producing their present forms. The taph- onomic factors which have been considered in this analysis will now be summarized to show how each of them contributes to an understanding of the history of the fossils, and recognition criteria will be defined for the identification of archaeological materials. Permineralization and Staining For several reasons it is important to establish whether the preser- vation of the fossils is due to freezing, deposition in anaerobie environ-· ments, permineralization or a combination of these processes. It is also important to determine the significance of colour variations among the bones. To a limited extent the degree of permineralization and staining can be used to estimate gross age categories for individual specimens although this approach cannat be refined beyond distinctions between pre-and post-· late Wisconsinan (Harington 1977:Appendix II). More importantly for our purposes, the recognition of permineralization and micro-cracking processes aids in the understanding of fracture patterns, and staining appears to bear sorne approximate relationship to the permineralization process. In using Munsell colour charts as a means of standardizing colour observations on these bones, I have found that one must be careful to dis-· tinguish the general ground colour from local patches of mineral accumulation or other differentia! staining characteristics. Bones found today lying on the upland surface in the Old Crow basin have a bleached appearance, very little red in hue, high value, and relatively law chroma (e.g. SYS/3) • -44 - Reddish hues appear wherever the houe is in contact with mineral soil, and chroma increas.es. ahruptlY. as. value decreas.es. Ce.g. 10YR7/6l. In late Holocene archaeological sites such_ as Klo-kut on the Porcupine River (Morlan 19731, boues which have been buried in alluvium for 100 to 1200 years have quite variable red-yellow hues even within one specimen, but the value is usually around 5-6 and the chroma in the range of 4-8. These trends are continued in a series of Bison crassicornis boues recovered from a late glacial context in Old Crow Flats and dated to about 12,000 years B.P. The majority of the fossils found on the banks and bars of the Old Crow River and in the sedimentary deposits at MlVl-2 are quite dark in colour with hues between 2.5YR and 7.5YR, low values (2-3) and low chromas (0-2). Typical examples are dusky red, dark brown, and black (2.5YR3/2, 7.5YR3/2, and 5YR2/l, respectively). There are many exceptions to these patterms, however, and sorne of the variations are seen among a selection of 63 proboscidean limb boue frag- ments (Table 3.1) from the reworked deposits. Colours range into the lOYR hue, and values and chromas are as high as six. A general trend is noticeable whereby the redder the colour the lower the value and chroma, and this trend may reflect the staining properites associated with iron and manganese enrichment. Regardless of the exact mechanism of colour change, it should be clear that no simple relationship is uniformly appli- cable to the fossils from Old Crow, and the use of staining characteristics as an aging criteria is probably not warranted. On the other hand, the few very light-stained mammoth or mastodon boues might have been reworked from sediments overlying the upper glacial lake in which case their rel- arively light colours could be construed as a true reflection of their recent deposition. Bonnichsen (1978:Table 2), working with P. Tymchuck at the National Research Council of Canada, has shown on the basis of a limited spect- ographic analysis that the darkening of the boues through time is associated with an increase in iron content from a few tenths of a percent in late Holocene specimens to five or more percent in boues more thau 33,000 years old. Using neutron activation analysis, Farquhar and his associates at the University of Toronto have shown that the mineral enrichment of fossil boues from Old Crow Flats is a complex process in which minute cracks and voids may contribute to a general set of time-dependent and depth-dependent transfers of trace elements (Farquhar, et aZ. 1978; Farquhar and Badone 1979). Bonnichsen (1978:Fig. 5; 1979:Pl. IV-4) has found that natural passages such as the Haversian canals are important sites for mineral enrichment and for the development of micro-cracks which influence the structural integrity of the boues and their susceptibility to fracture. These finds are consistent with those of other workers (e.g., Cook 1951; Hassan and Ortner 1977). These studies show that the boues from Old Crow Flats are permin- eralized to various degrees and that they have not been preserved simply by burial in permafrost conditions. In fact the fossils have probably undergone several cycles of freezing and thawing among which the most notable period of thawed conditions was the long time during which the upper glacial lake, represented by Unit 6 (Fig 2.2), was at highstand. Earlier permafrost degradation could have resulted from migrations of meander loops in streams which drained the basin during early and -1 J j ·.J :) lliOil - - 1- ...... '- .... 1- ...... .... ...... - ._ -45 - rnid-Wisconsinan times. Such. degradation of permafrost is associated with high. ground water pressures (Crampton 1979)_ which might prornote the perrnineralization of huried hones. The mineral-richwaters of the glacial lake must have supplied ample rnaterials. for perrnineralization in later times as well. Fracture Patterns Attributes of bane fracture surfaces, sorne of which have been under- stood since the beginning of this century (Martin: 1907-1910, Vol. 1:295; Nelson 1928), have played a major role in all evaluations of the archaeo- logical significance of Old Crow fossils. One of the first critical responses to the announcernent that artifacts were to be found arnong the Pleistocene fossils from the Old Crow area was the possibility that recent bane had becorne darkly stained or that fossil bane from the Old Crow valley could have been worked by people in Holocene times (Haynes 1971:4). The per- rnineralization of the bones has been dernonstrated (see above), and other studies have been conducted to determine whether such perrnineralized rnaterial can be fractured and otherwise worked in a rnanner suitable for artifact production and use. C.R. Harington kindly contributed pristine paleontological specimens for controlled experirnents in which the fracture patterns of the fossils were cornpared with those of fresh or green bones. These experirnents have been described elsewhere (Harington, et al. 1975; Bonnichsen 1978, 1979), and the results are surnrnarized in Table 3.2. Continued experirnents of this kind are made whenever a bone is to be subrnitted for radiocarbon dating (Pls. 4.1-4.2). It should be obvious that a bone does not suddenly change with respect to its fracture properties, and we believe that the gradual decay of collagen fibers, the gradual proliferation and enlargernent of micro-cracks and macro-cracks, and the shrinkage which accornpanies des- sication and loss of organic matter or alternate wet/dry and freeze/thaw conditions are responsible for the changes in bone structure which result in changing fracture attributes. The attributes listed in Table 3.2 permit the reliable and verifiable sorting of fractured fossil and sub-fossil bones, and I believe that these observations provide a good and sufficient response to the questions raised by Haynes (1971:4). These observations do not, however, contain a demon- stration of the agencies which can and do produce green bane fractures of various kinds. This subject was discussed at sorne length above, and here we will reiterate only those aspects of the problern that shed sorne light on Pleistocene Beringia. For exarnple, we have already established that sorne (but not all) carnivores can produce green fractures on sorne (but not all) bones. The largest carnivores known from the Beringian Pleistocene include the scirniter cat (Homotherium serum), the Arnerican lion (Panthera leo atrox), and the short-faced bear (Arctodus simus yukonensis) (Harington 1977). I have found very little information on the bane altering capabil- ities of these predators. Miller (1969b:ll) attributes certain forms of tooth wear in Smilodon californicus to bane gnawing; Harington (1977:515) Table 3.1 Munsell colour readings for 63 mammoth limb bane fragments from reworked deposits in the Old Crow valley, northern Yukon Territory. Hue: 2.5YR 5YR 7.5YR lOYR Chroma: 0 1 2 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 6 1 5 2 1 1 1 1 Q) .:li 4 1 1 1 3 ro :> 3 5 6 4 12 4 3 2 1 1 6 3 5 1 Table 3.2. Fracture patterns induced in green and permineralized bones from northern Yukon Territory (after Bonnichsen 1979:Table 3, and personal observations). At tribu te Green bane (Pl. 4.1) Negative impact scars (loading points) Present Texture of fracture surface Angle of fracture surface with outer surface of bane Termination of fracture at epiphyses Colour of fracture surface Outline form of fracture Smooth Acute, obtuse, or right At or prior to epiphyses Same as outer surface Straight, diagonal, curved, spiral, generally smooth l,.~,J Permineralized bane (Pl. 4.2) Absent Rough ("pebbly") Right May cross-eut epiphyses Often contrasts with outer surface Usually straight, transverse, or longitudinal; can be curved, rarely spiral, often perturbed by "jogs" or off-sets .j::-- 0'1 - .... .... - ·- ..... ._ - .._ .... '- .... -47 - mentioned the efficient crushing teeth of Panthera leo atrox; Miller (1969a) and G. Haynes (1978) have documented the extensive damage caused by modern Panthera leo on the boues of Bos and Equus. Evidence concerning bane alteration by bears is very limited, but such alteration is known to occur (G. Haynes 1978), especially among the strongly carnivorous bears which would include Arctodus simus (Kurtén 1967:50). None of these animals seems definitely to have been known to produce green bane fractures which might be mistaken for artificial bane alteration. Although most of the fractures induced by carnivores are made by crunching, splintering, and levering pieces from the ends of the bane, other behaviours may occasionally occur. Gary Haynes (pers. corn. in 1.979) has recently made the following observations at the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. A female Kodiak brown.bear (Ursus arctos midden- dorffi) was fed her first-ever meal of beef bones in addition to her usual diet of plants, fruits, and fish. In arder to strip the soft tissue from the bane, she placed a fore-paw on the center of the shaft and pulled upward with her teeth. On several occasions the tissue came away suddenly so that the bane was forcefully slammed against the hard surface of her enclosure, and a crack formed in the bane wall. After several such "blows" the marrow chamber was opened, and she was able to obtain pieces of marrow by inserting her long claws into the medullary cavity. Al though I have not: yet seen the resulting bone fragments, I suspect that they include pieces which would be difficult to distinguish from art~ficially induced fragments • On the basis of his studies of tiger and wolf at the Alberta Game Farm, Bonnichsen (1973) concluded that deer, caribou, sheep, and immature bison and moose comprise the upper end of the size range which can be reduced to splinters by these two species of carnivores. He infers that ''it is improbable that limb bones from adult moose, bison or larger animals will be modified by crunching and splintering" (Bonnichsen 1979:23). I agree with this observation in general but would observe that the ends of adult moose bones can be fully opened by wolves, and the largest bane I know ta be damaged in this way is a humerus of Arctodus simus yukonensis from the Dawson area of central Yukon (Pl. 3.9). The smaller herbivores such as caribou are regularly attacked by wolves today (Binford 1978, n.d.), and the limb bones can be fractured by wolves in mid-shaft with resulting fractures which are virtually indistinguishable from those produced by man (Pl. 3.10). Furthermore the distinctive scoring marks made on the bane surface by carnivore teeth are not always present on such specimens. Investigations are currently underway to determine whether there is an upper limit to the range of bone sizes and shapes which are susceptible to this kind of misinterpretation, and at the present time it is possible to conclude that proboscidean bones seem to lie entirely outside the scope of such carnivore alterations. As mentioned earlier, even the Pleistocene cave hyena (Crocuta crocuta spelaea) seems not to have been capable of fracturing adult mammoth limb bones in mid-shaft (Pl. 3.11). Green bone fractures with well defined points of impact and/or evidence of intersecting fracture fronts on proboscidean bones seem ta constitute secure evidence of human presence even in the absence of other kinds of artifacts. In arder to indicate sorne of the relative weights assigned to the fracture attributes in Table 3.2, many of the attributes have been rearranged Table 3.3. A proposed key for the interpretation of bone fracture (see also Table 3.2). 1. Fracture surface has contrasting colour ---------------------------Recent damage Fracture surface has same colour as outer surface ---------------------------------------------------2 2. Fracture surface has rough texture, and all angles with outer surface are right ---------------------------------------------Post-dessication fracture Fracture surface has smooth texture -----------------------------------------------------------------3 3. Angle of fracture surface with outer surface is everywhere right and fracture(s) is (are) parallel and(or) perpendicular to natural split lines -------------------------------------------Weathering Angle of fracture surface with outer surface is somewhere acute or obtuse and fracture(s) cross(es) split line orientations at various angles (green bane fracture) ------------------------------------------------------------4 4. Proboscidean long bones fractured when green ----------------------Artificially induced fractures Bones of smaller animais ----------------------------------------------------------------------------5 5. Point of loading absent -----------------------------------------------------------------------------6 Point of loading present ----------------------------------------------------------------------------7 6. Small fragments possibly outside loading point --------------------Not interpretable Large fragments on which fracture was formed in a single direction (often a spiral) ------------------------------------Accidentai fractures during life 7. Pitting, scoring, and chipping features represent carnivore gnawing -------------------------------------------------------Possible carnivore-induced fractures Such features absent --------------------------------------------------------------------------------8 8. Loading point diameter within size range of carnivore tooth contact areas -------------------------------------------------Possible carnivore-induced fractures Loading point diameter greater than any carnivore tooth contact area --------------------------------------------------Artificially induced fractures Note: The term "point of loading" or "loading point" is substituted for 11 point of impact" since fractures can be induced by either static or dynamic point loading. l~ [""'" +' co ..... - .... 1- ..... ._ ._ .._ ._ ._ - 1- ..... """" -49 - in the form of a key erable 3. 3}_, a procedure suggested to me by B_onnichsen (pers. corn. in 1979)_. Although I have found this key to be a manageable one in as.sessing bone fracture, I do not us.ually classify s.pecimens quite as systematically as the key would imply. Instead my approach is more of a "gestalt" in wh:ich numerous observations are made simultaneously with one observation able to influence another. Several features are readily apparent from the key and deserve special mention. The colour and texture of the fracture surface are outstandingly powerful attributes for initial sorting of highly stained fossil and subfossil bones. When the angle formed by the fracture surface and the outer surface of the bone is added to the observations, all non-green bane fractures are isolated from green bane fractures. Thereafter the key indicates that various agencies of green bane f~acture are difficult to separate and that successful partitioning of fracture agency depends upon the preservation of distinctive features in the area in which the bane was loaded. This area is commonly called the "point of impact," but I have substituted the terms "point of loading" and "loading point" in arder to accommodate the kinds of static loading which can induce fractures. The pressure concentrated by a carnivore's jaws, for example, is much closer to a static load than is the impact of a hammerstone which is clearly a dynamic load. It is important to deter- mine whether a fracture was induced by point loading or by a more general load which caused the bone to fail by exceeding its overall bending strength. It is known that horses can break one another's leg bones by kicking, and this is clearly a case of dynamic loading. The dynamic load in such cases is probably not concentrated in a single small area, however, because the muscle bundles and ether tissues which surround the bone would cause the force to be dissipated over a larger area. Likewise the static loading which could be applied by the step of a large animal on a bone would be distributed over an area slightly larger than the contact area of the foot, and in most cases it would not constitute point loading. I am well aware that animal trampling is probably not always a form of static loading, but these terms are used here ina relative sense. The Nebraskan collections studied by Myers, et al. (n. d.) should be reexamined to test sorne of these propositions • A very important point which emerges from the fracture key (Table 3.3) is that the famous spiraZ form of the fracture is not a required attribute for recognizing fractures made hlhen a bane hlas green. In fact I have found the spiral form to be a very unreliable criterion in that sorne permineral:ized long bones are preserved :in such a manner that they continue to fracture as tubes (Fig. 3.2). Large portions of the fracture surfaces on these bones may form spirals around the long axis of the shaft, but the surfaces exhïbit rough texture, form right angles with the outer wall, frequently are dis- placed by preexisting split line features, and often exhibit colours which contrast with the unmodified outer surface of the bone. All of these attributes are visible on the specimen illustrated in Fig 3.2. Three major hypotheses emerge from these considerations and form the basis for all my assignments of green bane fracture to artificial causes: 1. The two most common (but not the anZy~ e.g.~cave roof faZl) agencies of point Zoading frequentZy invoZved in green bane fracture in the naturaZ world are carnivore jaws and artific~aZ hammerstones and other such deviees. -50 - Fig. 3.2. Fracture with spiral form naturally induced on permineralized bane (MlVl-7:81) from Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Terri- tor y. Note rough surface texture and right angles formed with outer surface. 2 . The diameter of the loading point is a useful attribute for separating these two agencies of fr acture ~ and the upper limi t o f car nivore tooth con - tact area is smaller than the upper limit o f hamme r stone con- tact area . Since I have not yet under- taken an exhaustive study of carnivore tooth diameters, I am unable to quantif y the limits required to evaluate loading point diameters preserved on long bones. Measurements of loading points preserved on the Old Crow fossils have been included in the data in Appen- dix B to permit additional inter- pretations once such studies have been completed. At the present time I am prepared to evaluate a few specimens qualitatively, and there are some from the Old Crow valley which preserve such large contact area diameters that they can be confidently attri- buted to artificial fracture (e.g., Morlan 1978a:Fig. 3). The third hypothesis arises from various considerations pertaining specifically to proboscidean limb bones. We have already seen that carni- vore-induced fractures of such bones have not been identified and that accidental fractures during life or at the time of death are either rare or do not occur at all. Trampling and ·bane "handling" by proboscideans might induce fractures in fresh limb bones, but these would not entail point loading. 3 . Green bone f ractures in adult pr obo s cidean limb bones ar e indicative of artificial f r acture techn i ques~ particularly i f point loading can be demonstrated . On the basis of this hypothesis I have listed in Chapter 4 and Appendix B, 104 green fractured mammoth bane fragments as results of artificial frac- tures, and other examples will be described in later chapters. I have omitted from this list the dozens of green fractured bones which represent 1 - - ..... ..... ._ .... - ._ "- - '""' -51 - smaller mammals such as horses, bison, wapiti, and caribou (_çf. Bonnichsen 1979:Table 8)_. Many of these specimens may have been broken hy man, but we cannat yet eliminate the possibility that carnivores induced such frac- tures. Relatively few of these boues happen to preserve the loading point attributes which might sugges·t the use of a hammerstone, and I have not found it possible to erect a single simple testable hypothesis which can accommodate the wide variations in size and shape observed among these specimens. In omitting these pieces from this report, however, I have probably reduced the "artifact count'' below its real level, and it will be important in the future to reevaluate these specimens as new information on both human and carnivore fracture patterns becomes available • Bane Flaking Once a boue has been divided into two or more pieces by primary fracturing, the pieces may be further reduced by flaking techniques sim- ilar to those employed in the shaping and reduction of stone. Although they have approached the problem from different theoretical standpoints, both J.G.D. Clark (1972:10-11) and Bonnichsen (1979:188-192) have shawn explicitly that sorne of the techniques and rules of lithic fracture can be transferred to bane, and such concepts are implicit in many archae- ological writings. In addition to Breuil's (1939) pioneering effort with the Choukoutien materials, there are many early references to flaked bane artifacts which are scattered through the literature on the European Paleo-· lithic (Breuil 1924:540; Begouen and Begouen 1936; Veyreier and Combier 1952; Bordes 1954:Fig. 17, no. 4), and examples which have long gathered dust in museums have occasionally been described in more recent publications (e.g., Pelasse and Kraatz 1976-77; Bordes 196l:Pl. 108 no. 4). The ear- liest published reference I have seen to a formal definition of a relatively common bane tool type formed primari1y by flaking techniques is C1ark's (1954:163-164) description of skin-working tools made on the femora. of Bos primigenius. Semenov's cla.ssic treatise on prehistoric technology, originally published in 1957, includes only a brief reference to "methods of working boue by striking (flaking, notching, and chiselling)" (Semenov 1964:147-151). Having recently been able to examine a number of Paleo- lithic collections in central and eastern Europe, I am confident that flaked boue tools are much more abundant than the literature would indicate • They seem not to have been mentioned more often either because they were not recognized as tools or because they were so commonplace that their presence went unreported; after all, the investigators had plenty of stone tools to describe, and these have been allowed to carry the entire burden of prehistoric reconstruction. Freeman (1978:33) has made the important observation that many flaked bane tools are directly analogous to elements of lithic flake-tool inventories but that "it would be inadvisable to attempt any major extension of the stone-tool terminology to embrace the boue pieces." Nonetheless sorne borrowing of this kind seems both appro- priate and inevitable. The most abundant general category of artifacts in the Old Crow fossil collections consists of boue cores and flakes. The majority of these artifacts are made on the mas.sive fragments of mammoth or mastodon limb bones which are emminently suitable for percussion flaking. Even though boue is a multi-phase material (Currey 1964), it can be made to produce -52 - conchoidal flakes. ver:[ similar to thos.e w:hich. come from cherty or glassy stones. Experiments. by B.onnichs.en (1979: Slffl haye show:n that green bone is more suitable :f;or flaking than dry bone, and I. have :f;ound it very difficult to obtain conchoidal fractures from permineralized nones found in Old Crow Flats. The few that have approximated this fracture type had such brittle edges that they were useless for any purpos·e but a dem- onstration that fresh or green bane is required to make useful tools. Experimental studies are continuing with both fresh and dry elephant bone (Stanford, et al.l980), as well as with various kinds of fresh, dry, sub-fossil, and fossil bone which is more readily obtainable. Although it can be demonstrated experimentally that people can flake bone systematically to produce well designed cores and useful bone flakes, there are other agencies which can detach flakes from bone and which must be considered in evaluating flaked boues. Sorne bones, due to their shapes, are susceptible to rotation about a central axis during transport in a stream. Notable examples which have been observed in the Old Crow valley are the huge scapulae of mammoths which can be tumbled either clockwise or counterclockwise about the long axis with flakes being detached from both borders of the blade as well as from the spine. Other bone fragments show similar patterns with flake scars occurring on opposite faces of opposite margins as if the specimens had been turned and struck repeatedly in one direction. One of the salient characteristics of the cores and flakes regarded as artifacts in this report is their clear axial orien- tation (Morlan 1978a:87), and both Bonnichsen (1979) and I (Chapter 4) have used this attribute in our classifications of bone core types. A second major agency which could confound the archaeologist is the chipping and splintering of bones by carnivores. Fairly large flakes can be levered from a bone shaft when a carnivore hooks its canine or its carnassial teeth over the broken end of a bone and uses the opposite jaw as a fulcrum for prying against the edge. The result may be somewhat sim- ilar to that produced by pressure flaking, because the loading of the "platform" is nearly static and is not likely to induce the kinds of morphological features (e.g. ribs, hackle marks) which if prominently devel- oped are indicative of dynamic loading. Carnivores may also detach flakes from bones by crunching a broken end between the carnassial teeth in the molar/premolar row. Such flakes are apt to be short and often terminate in hinged distal ends. In order for carnivores to exert sufficient force to detach flakes from boues, they often (always?) establish repeated and forceful tooth contact with the bone wall. Their teeth make many kinds of marks on boues, and these have been characterized with such terms as pitting, scoring, rotational scarring, puncturing, etc. When such features are observed on a flaked bone one must wonder whether the flaking was accomplished by carnivores or whether a bone flaked by other agencies was also gnawed by carnivores at sorne other time. Myers, et al. (n.d.) have attributed similar edge chipping to trampling of the bones. It is unavoid- able that many specimens cannot be interpreted with confidence because of these possibilities and our imcomplete understanding of carnivore capabil- ities and the effects of trampling. The flakes which are described as artifacts in this report have been selected on the basis of their sizes or on the basis of special attributes. Flakes can be generally characterized with terms borrowed from lithic ~!..ii 1 ..1 -~1 } ~ 1 ~ - 1- - ..... ..... ..... ..... - ...... - ..... - -53 - technology (see Crabtree 1972)_, hut b.one flakes_ do not always. exhibit the many attributes commonl)l s.een on stone ;flakes. Bulbs. of force are seldom well defined, and hackle :marks and ribs are relatively rare on bone flakes. Platforms may be fashioned through accumulated hinge and step fractures, or the unmodified surface of a bone may be used to receive the impact. Flakes commonly b.ear the dorsal traces· of previous flake removals, and cores frequently exhibit both nested and laterally accumu- lating flake scars. Flake shape is quite variable and is apparently dependent upon many factors, including orientation in relation to bone microstructure, but typical distal end morphologies --feathered, stepped, hinged, jagged --are familiar to lithic analysts. These attributes, when combined to aid the interpretation of an individual flake, comprise a powerful set of tools for discriminating between carnivore-induced and artificially produced flakes, but it is unlikely that every specimen can be accurately classified in this way. Evidence of heavy dynamic loading and retouched platform remuants are very important in recognizing artific- ially struck flakes, and none of the flakes reported here as artifacts exhibits signs of carnivore tooth contact • The majority of the cores and flakes which I have classified as artifacts are made on mammoth boues, but a few examples represent smaller (but still large) mammals such as horse, bison, and caribou. I have pre- sented specifie arguments for interpreting such pieces as artifacts (Appendix B), and one series of flakes and flaked pieces has been described as if it were artificially produced although I believe that carnivores could have been responsible for the flaking (Chapter 6, Appendix C). Cut and Polished Boues and Antlers Dozens of fossil boues with polished facets have been found in Old Crow Flats, and most of them are rather difficult to interpret. In most cases they are readily distinguishable from water-rounded boues, although I suspect that a larger series will eventually exhibit gradational var- iations of several kinds. For example, a few specimens exhibit lineal striae or scratches without high gloss polished areas while others have very glossy facets with or without striae. Sorne specimens are polished on more than one facet, and multiple facets may be aligned in the same or different planes. Sorne polished facets are flat and others are convex with either rounded or bivectoral outlines. A few specimens were clearly pol- ished after permineralization of the bone was well advanced since a rind of mineral staining is well defined on all edges of the facet. It seems most likely that such pieces were naturally facetted during transportation by the Old Crow River and its tributaries. Perhaps these specimens were entrapped in river ice and became abraded against bottom sediment during spring breakup. I have reproduced such facets by placing Old Crow fossils on a lapidary wheel with a mixture of particle sizes in the abrasive grit. Differentiai staining can occur on a bone surface which was modified when the bone was fresh. In a few cases it appears that a scratched or polished surface responded to staining processes in a different fashion than the unmodified portions of the same bone. Such modifications must alter the physical and/or chemical nature of the bone, but these alterations are poorly understood. Usually it is not difficult to separate bones -54 - which were altered and then stained fro.m those whi.ch were stained and then altered. The classification of eut a,nd polished pieces in this. report is hased on three forms of surface incision and two kinds. of surface reduction (pee Chapter 41, and two major criteria have been used in judging whether alter- ations of these kinds were produced naturally or artificially: (1) their complexity; and (2) their truncations of or by other kinds of bone alteration. A few simple scratches, scrapes, or polished high spots can hardly be cited as indicators of artificial bone modification when one is dealing with spec- imens known to have been transported in a fluvial system. Sorne polished facets may be quite complex geometrically and still be attributable to natural causes because their form merely mirrors the original morphology of the bone. Thus I have looked for multiple orientations or facets as appro- priate indications of the kinds of complexity which would suggest artificial production as an explanation. Likewise we can frequently find polished facets which have penetrated and exposed a pre-existing rind of permineral~zation and staining, and these must be suppoBed to have been produced relatively recently by natural causes. This is not to say, however, that all dark stained polished facets are a priori evidence of artificial alteration, because a bone may have been pol- ished by natural processes prior to its permineralization and staining. A scratch or scrape or polished facet which truncates such features as rootlet etching and exfoliation scars would indicate that the altering agency acted upon the bone after its introduction to the burial environment or after a period of weathering, and such a specimen would not likely be an artifact. If the rootlet etching or a flake scar or a green-bone fracture can be shown to truncate a scratch, scrape or polished facet, however, it is more likely that the alteration was accomplished while the bone was fresh and therefore during a period in the history of the specimen when man would most likely have modified the bone. Additional criteria have been used to separate carnivore alterations from cuts thought to have been made by stone tools (cf. Walker and Long 1977; Binford n.d.). Carnivores may produce elongate marks on bones, and these are usually transverse or oblique to the longitudinal axis of long bones. The initial contact of bone and carnivore tooth may merely "bruise" the bone surface, but more intensive gnawing soon develops into scoring and furrowing (rotational scarring) which may even break through the bone wall to form perforations or deep pits. Sorne of these elongate marks might be confused with stone tool eut marks were it not for differing morphology. Carnivore scoring is often broader than deep and has ragged edges which result from the increasing resistance of deeper bone lamellae to the action of a relatively blunt tooth. Stone tool eut marks may be quite deep and narrow, usually have U-or V-shaped cross-sections depending upon the precise width and sharpnes.s of the cutting edge, and are characterized by sharply defined rather than ragged edges. A very important attribute for separating carnivore scoring from stone tool cutting is the relationship betweeen the depth of the mark and the natural contour of the bone surface. Carnivore scoring generally main- tains a uniform depth regardless of the bone contour whereas stone tool eut marks are deeper on convexities and shallower on concavities within - - .._ .... "- ..... .._ ..... .... ..... - .._ -55 - the length of a single eut • Finally the placement of the marks may provide important elues. Most, but :probably not all stone tool cuts can b.e interpreted in relation to a specifie task w:hich the butcher or artisan w:as performing. Carn- ivore scoring may a:ppear on many areas of a hone, and its degree of development may vary considerably depending upon its placement w:ith the greatest intensity of scoring, leading to furrow:ing, alw:ays found near the ends of long boues and at the relatively soft edges of scapulae and innominates. There is little need in this report to itemize the kinds of damage on various anatomical elements w:hich have been carefully studied by other w:riters (e.g. Martin 1907-1910; Guilday, et al. 1962; Frison, et al. 1976; Wheat 1979:Chapter 7; Binford n.d.), because cuts thought to be related to butchering are relatively rare in the collections from the Old Crow: basin • Other Forms of Alteration The foregoing types of bone alteration, fracturing, flaking, cutting, and polishing, are the major factors w:hich have been considered in evaluating most of the redeposited fossils from the Old Crow: basin. Since most of the~se specimens represent selection in the field, a more thorough analysis seems to me to be pointless, because there is no w:ay of know:ing w:hat kinds of alteration characterized the specimens w:hich w:ere left behind at each of the collecting localities. In this respect the samples from MlVl-7 and MlVl-2 (Chapter 5-6) are of sorne interest because they afford an opportun- ity to examine a larger range of bone altering phenomena. Additional attributes w:hich have been considered for these samples include sample size, specimen size, degree of rounding, exfoliation, split lines, etching, pitting, and secondary mineral formation. Sample and specimen sizes are quite variable in these collections, and these variables have a profound influence on the observation of sorne of the other features. Specimen size has been indicated in terms of linear and w:eight measurements as described in Appendix B. I attempted to measure the volume of sorne of the larger specimens in order to calculate their density, but the state of preservation of these fossils precludes re-w:etting them after they have become dry. Re-w:etting causes the specimens to crack and exfoliate at an alarming rate and in several cases has been seen to "explode" the boues. Thus my attempts to measure volume w:ere made w:ith sieved sand w:hich was weighed before and after displacement by each boue. Unfortunately I was unable to obtain verifiable results by this method. Two secondary minerais have been recognized with regularity on the Old Crow fossils, although I have not had either of them precisely ident- ified. Vivianite is an iron-phosphate compound (Feg (P04h • 8Hz0) which is well known for its property of colouring fossil boues and teeth on which it is called odontolite (Palache, et al. 1951:741-746}. It is colourless and transparent when fresh and unaltered, but it readily oxidizes to a range of blue, greenish blue, and indigo blue colours. The mechanism of vivianite oxidation has not been established, but vivianite is. one member -56 - of a series of hydrated iron phosphates which range from the octohydrated vivianite and metavivianite to the anhydrous s_carcopside with_ the extent of hydration heing temperature depende~t Œitz, et âZ. 1974)_. There may also he a naturàl chemical reaction which cau alter vivianite to the red~ dish brown and yellowish brown compounds which I have lumped together as hematite in my observations. (,the yellow colour probably being a result of hydration, e. g. Fe20 3 • H20)_. I do not know how to interpret the frequency of vivianite, but I have recorded its occurrence on the fossils to indi- cate the extent of variation among the samples. The hematite frequencies are probably related to the variable periods of time during which the fossils were exposed to aerobic weathering, and the vivianite may reflect anaerobie weathering. I have classified the secondary mineral frequencies as anataxic factors with respect to our taphonomic model (Fig. 3.1), but they might be regarded as taphic factors under sorne circumstances. The degree of rounding was recorded for each specimen according to a series of definitions which I have explained in Chapter 5. Rounding may be related to the distance a specimen has been transported by a stream or to the number of times the specimen has entered the fluvial environment. It has been classified as an anataxic factor. The influence of ice may be a major factor in the development of rounding, but its influence is not knoï~ in detail. Flume studies and other methods of deter- mining the hydrological properties of boues (e.g., Bailey and Lundy 1977; Behrensmeyer 1975b; Voorhies 1969) have not included ice as a variable because the studies have focussed on sub-tropical and/or Pliocene environ- ments. Exfoliation and split lines were described above as indicators of sub-aerial weathering, and I have classified them as perthotaxic factors. Caution is urged in the interpretation of their frequencies since exfol- iation may occur both before and after permineralization while split line formation becomes less readily observable as the fossils become subdivided through post-permineralization fractures. Pitting was subdivided into three categories on the basis of criteria described in Chapter 5. These pitting types constitute examples of the need for better analogue development in that I have merely made an educated guess as to their significance. A form of pitting (Type A) which I have attributed to acid attack and classified as a taphic factor seems not to be related to the secondary burial environments from which we excavated the MlVl-2 samples (see Chapter 6), and I have no data to show whether a better relationship would obtain between such pitting and a primary burial envir- onment. It is possible that this pitting form is due to one or more other agencies of bone alteration. Type BF pitting is attributed to the action of plant rootlets because of its frequent association with etching on these fossils (see below). Type BC pitting is under somewhat better control since we have numerous examples of this pitting form on documented reference specimens known to have been gnawed by carnivores. All Type BC pitting is attributed to such gnawing, and it is classified as a perthotaxic factor. Etching refers to a distinctive dendritic pattern seen on many boues, and it is thought to be a result of plant rootlet attack. The patterns result from growth of the rootlets in contact with the surface of a bone c ',} w '( J J io..ll :l J 1 J ',~ ;L H k: i- ..... - .... !.... ...... L L.... ..... ..... .... ..... -57 - so that the rootlet lies in a groove which presumably was formed by its exudates or by the microorganisms associated with rootlet metabolism (Strang 1979). Although it is not entirely clear why or how plant root- lets etch bones, we can suppose that the plants derive metabolic materials from the bone organic and/or mineral contents. If the organic contents are the target,we might expect that etching would occur only when the boue is fresh. Most of the etched bones are evenly stained on etched and non-etched surfaces, and the occurrence of etching on fracture surfaces is always associated with the attributes of green bone fracture. On the other hand, I have seen a few specimens which exhibit lighter staining in the etch marks than on the surrounding surfaces suggesting that the etching has penetrated a pre-existing permineralization rind and implying that a permineralized bone can attract at least some types of plant root- lets to its surface. Laboratory studies of rootlet-bone chemical reactions are needed to clarify these relationships, but the frequency of etching can be interpreted as a reflection of the portion of a redeposited sample which has demonstrably been buried in a stable plant-supporting deposit. Therefore I have classified etching as a taphic factor • Recognition criteria for distinguishing green bone fractures and post-permineralization fractures were provided in a lengthy discussion above. All green bone fractures, regardless of their origin from carn- ivore or human activities, are classified as perthotaxic factors in this report. Obviously some kinds of green bone fractures which occur acciden- tally and are severe enough to lead directly to the death of an animal could be regarded as thanatic factors, but examples of such fractures have not been recognized among the collections reported here. Post-permineral- ization fractures are more difficult to classify with respect to our taphonomic model because such fractures can occur in the primary burial environment or during subsequent weathering, erosion, and redeposition. Therefore I have listed these fractures as both taphic and anataxic factors • All artificial alterations reported here have been classified as per- thotaxic factors. There are numerous examples in Beringia of fossil mammoth ivory and teeth (but apparently not bones) being utilized during very recent times in a variety of ways (Giddings 1952:69, Pl 42; 1964:65, 94; 1967:20, 270) and this is the kind of reuse which Haynes (1971:4) suggested might explain sorne of the Old Crow fossils. Such reuse of fossil materials might be regarded as an additional anataxic factor, but I have argued above that it is very unlikely that the Old Crow fossils could be altered after permineralization in such a way that the time of alteration could not be determined. A rather large number of the Old Crow fossils have been placed in a category called "natural or artificial," because I can find no means of deciding what produced the alterations in question. Most of these belong in the perthotaxic category, and the uncertainty revolves primarily around the question of carnivore versus human activity. Some of them, however, are possibly a result of fluvial transport, and these specimens belong to the anataxic portion of the taphonomic model • -58 - The Ginsberg Experiment The carcass of an elephant named Ginsberg was the subject of exten- sive experimental work which was carried out in two phases in March 1978 and March 1979, respectively. A preliminary report on some aspects of this experiment has been published elsewhere (Stanford, et al. 1980), and a more extensive report is planned. Therefore I will not describe the exper- iment in detail except to say that it included many opportunities to study stone tool use and wear, elephant bane fracturing and flaking, periosteum removal techniques and purposes, and bane flake use for cutting various kinds of tissue. I shall have occasion to cite this experiment several ~imes because of the insights which it provided for the interpretation of some of the Old Crow materials; such citations will be made to the pre- liminary report or simply to the Ginsberg experiment. This is only one of several elephant butchering experiments which have been conducted recently (Huckell 1979; Rippeteau 1979), and it is clear that such exper- iments provide our only means of developing certain kinds of analogues for the interpretation of prehistoric materials. ~, J - -59 - Pl. 3.1. Exfoliation on the outer surface of an unidentified large mammal long bane (MlVl-2:129-6). Left: Nat. size; right: 5X. Pl. 3.2. Etching on the outer surface of an unidentified large mammal long bane (MlVl-2:37). Left: Nat. size; right: 6X. Small dots represent Type BF pitting. Pl. 3.3. Unidentified large mammal long bane fractured when green, with loading scar flake preserved in place. From the Altmuhl Valley, Bavaria, West Germany. ~ Nat. size. -60 - Pl. 3.4. Mamrnoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bone fragmented by weathering and split line separation. The fracture surfaces have a spiral form, but they form right angles with the outer surface of the bone (MkVl-3:1). ! Nat. size. -61 - Pl. 3.5. Advanced pitting (Type A) and rounding on a marnmoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) right ischium (left) and long bane fragment (right) (MlVl-12:3 and MkVl-24:2, respectively). Type A pitting refers to the reduction of the surface except for high spots (see left example). The deep pits on the right may be due to scouring in a stream or wind-induced erosion (ventifacting). ~N at. size. -62 - Pl. 3.6. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus ) tibia from the Ottawa Valley , Ontario, showing e x tensive rodent gnawing marks. Note the window-like openings in the bone wall. 3/4 Nat. size. -63 - Pl. 3.7. Carnivore-induced perforations on an Arctic hare (Lepus arcticus) innominate (MlVl-2:123-5). Left: nat. size; right: 4X. Pl. 3.8. Carnivore-induced furrowing and scooping on a bison (Bison sp.) right metatarsal (MlVl-8:10). ~Nat. size. -64 - Pl. 3.9. Carnivore induced splintering, chipping, and epiphyseal scooping on a short-faced bear (Arctodus simus ) humerus from the Dawson area, central Yukon. View on left 1/3 nat. size, proximal end enlarged on right. -6.5 - Pl. 3.10. Caribou (Rangifer tarandus ) tibia with wolf-induced mid-shaft green fracture, from Porcupine Valley, northern Yukon Territory. Note scar resembling a point of impact at the distal end. Nat. size. Pl. 3.11. Hyena chewed mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) humerus from the Hohlefels site, Bavaria, West Germany. Left: five fragments separated after intensive weathering shown in exploded view. Upper right: chewed proximal end. Lower right: chewed distal end. cr-. cr-. ..... - i-- ~ 1.... ' - ' ..... 1 L.. 1 l. ~ i- ..... ' ~ - ' 1 .... 1 [ ~ L - .._ CHAPTER 4. ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS FROM REWORKED DEPOSITS IN THE OLD CROW REGION Introduction Since the majority of the artificially modified boue, tusk, and antler specimens from the Old Crow region have been recovered from undatable secondary contexts, it is through the examination of redepos- ited materials that we can acquire an overview of the range of human technology expressed in the Pleistocene fossils. Bonnichsen (1979) has recently reported on all such materials collected as of 1973 and housed in the National Museum of Man, the National Museum of Natural Sciences, and the University of Toronto. In this chapter and in Appendix B I shall present a selection of the redeposited specimens now housed in the National Museum of Man, and the selection will include many items already reported by Bonnichsen as well as all artifacts and probable artifacts collected from redeposited contexts since 1973. It was with sorne hesitation that I decided to allow this report to overlap Bonnichsen's ta such an extent, and I have doue sa for several reasons. The available sample of spec- imens collected since 1973 is relatively small and does not include certain important features which are represented in the pre-1973 collection. For purposes of comparing other samples (in Chapters 5 and 6) I need to include all available materials whether or not sorne of them have been previously reported. Finally, there are severa! ways in which my ap- proach differs from Bonnichsen's, and it seems expedient, if only for the sake of clarity, to present all the materials in terms of a frame- work with which I feel most comfortable. In sorne specifie instances I do not agree with Bonnichsen's attribution of artificial alterations (I will bath add to it and subtract from it), and Bonnichsen (pers. corn. in 1980) agrees that his treatment of the polished and eut boues requires revision. Before presenting the redeposited specimens from the Old Crow region, sorne general considerations are pertinent to their evaluation. The majority of the pieces cornes from the Old Crow valley with a small minority having been found along the Porcupine River. Ta a small extent this difference is a reflection of where we have spent our time in the field. Ta a much larger extent it reflects severa! natural processes • The Porcupine River is a much larger stream thau its tributary, the Old Crow, and it carries a much coarser bed load. Bars composed of pebble, cobble and boulder size stones are common along the Porcupine, and fos- si! boues introduced to such a fluvial system are quickly reduced to unrecognizable splinters. In contrast, the Old Crow River flows almost entirely through valley walls composed of fine sediment in which fine gravel is usually the largest particle size class. A portion of the lower 30 km of the Old Crow River occupies a narrow canyon area with outcropping bedrock in which the current is faster and the bed load much coarser, and we have found very few interpretable fossil boues along this part of the river. Above the canyon area on the Old Crow River the stream meanders across a valley floor as much as one kilo- meter wide. The broad meander loops are the sites of point bar growth and channel cutting with the point bars and sloping banks on the in- sides of the bends and steeper erosional faces on the outsides. The -67 - -68 - steep erosional face may be located at a lateral-most valley wall in which case a high bluff ïs beïng eroded to expose a potentially complete profile of Upper Pleistocene and Holocene stratigraphy. In other cases the erosional face is exposing earlier point bars and terraces all of which have developed since the incision of the valley in early Holocene times. Largely because of the very low gradient of the stream (ca. 1:15,000, A.V. Jopling, pers. corn. in 1978), but also because of the near absence of large stones, a fossil bone can be reworked in this fluvial system repeatedly without damaging it beyond recognition. Imagine that a bone was deposited in early Sangamon Interglacial time near the base of Unit 3 (see Fig. 2.2). The bone could be eroded from a high bluff today and redeposited on a modern bank or bar. The same bone might have been eroded and retransported during the initial downcutting of the valley, and it could be redeposited on the same mod- ern bank or bar·. In. the meantime it could have gone through several intermediate stages of redeposition and erosion in the Holocene terraces which have been built by overbank sedimentation and point bar growth along the valley walls (Fig. 2.4). Furthermore the bone may have been redeposited in earlier times as well, for example, by the fluvial sys- tem which is believed to have existed in the Old Crow basin in early Wisconsinan time. To complicate matters even further, the bone may have been redeposited into the early Sangamon context in which we originally postulated its presence, and its age could be very much greater than the Upper Pleistocene. It is important to realize that very ancient fossils can occur in redeposited contexts in the Old Crow valley. The basin is rimmed by Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks, and Tertiary outcrops occur in several localities (Norris, et al.l963). Although pre-Quaternary vertebrate fossils have not been reported from Old Crow Flats, redeposited palyno- morphs of probable Tertiary and Cretaceous age occur in the pollen samples taken from Upper Pleistocene alluvium (Lichti-Federovich 1973). Among the vertebrate fossils from the modern banks and bars of the Old Crow River are a number of forms which Harington (1977:991) regards as Early and Middle Pleistocene iqdicators, and such specimens must have been redeposited repeatedly in Upper Pleistocene and Holocene times in order to appear on the modern valley floor. Other vertebrates al- most certainly represent virtually every period of the Upper Pleistocene, and an admixture of Holocene SP?Cimens can be shown by radiocarbon dating and other observations to have been introduced to this confusing record. The.redepostion loop depicted in our taphonomic model (Fig. 3.1) may have been followed many times by a given fossil. Three major approaches have been taken to the problem of isolating those specimens which mïght belong together in a time-stratigraphic context. The first is the general vertebrate paleontological biogeo- graphie approach in which certain forms are elsewhere found to typify a certain period of the past. This is the sort of argument which Harington (1977) has used to identify·Early and Middle as well as Upper Pleistocene faunal elements in the Old Crow basin. A corollary of this approach is the identification of extinct taxa for which the time of disappearance is generally known. On this basis we can be L ~ ' i i.... L L. ~ L- L. L L L - - L i.... L 1 .... ~...,; ._ -69 - confident that many of our specimens date at least to the Upper Pleist- ocene, and we can note in passing that many of the artificially modified bones to be described below represent extinct taxa but that none of them has been attributed to Middle or Early Pleistocene forms. A second approach is experimental and will be reported in a thesis by Mr. David Parama, a graduate student at the University of Alberta. Parama introduced to the banks and bars of the Old Crow River sorne 400 modern horse bones which had been painted bright red and yellow and which were further coded by means of notches filed in the bone wall. The clown- stream and downslope progress of these bones has been monitored annually since 1977 and will eventually form a basis for making generalizations about the fluvial transport of large bones in the Old Crow valley. In conjunction with this work, measurements of volume, wet weight, and orientation of thousands of fossils have provided a data base for assess- ing sorne of the hydrodynamic characteristics of the redeposited specimens. Further discussion of this study must await the completion of Parama's thesis. A third approach has been based upon the degree of staining and apparent permineralization of the fossils. Since these are factors which significantly influence the fracture properties of bone, they have been discussed at sorne length in Chapter 3. Other taphonomic factors, such as degree of rounding, exfoliation and split line formation, etch- ing and pitting will not be discussed comprehensively for the redeposited specimens because of the several kinds of selection which lie behind their collection in the field and presentation in this chapter. These factors will be described for other samples which were obtained under somewhat more controlled conditions. C!assificatory Procedures The classification used in this report begins with the same major criteria which were used by Bonnichsen (1979) in his analysis of the Old Crow materials: raw material and altering mechanism (Bonnichsen's "tech- nological patterns"). Four major raw material categories are recognized: bone, ivory, tooth, and antler. Four major altering mechanisms are dis- tinguished: fracturing, flaking, surface reduction, and surface incision. The raw material categories are further subdivided in terms of major biological taxonomie groupings, and the altering mechanisms can be split into a number of more specifie techniques of material alteration. The general outline of this classification is shown in Table 4.1 where an "x" bas been enteredto show the actual occurrence of each possible cat- egory in the sample to be described in this chapter. The sequence of presentation in this chapter has been organized primarily in terms of the altering mechanisms with subdivisions of the raw material categories appearing within this framework. Fracturing and flaking are presented first, but not all possible cells of the classification are included. The reason for this partial treatment of the subject is illustrated in Table 4.2 where the subdivided raw material categories are arrayed against the altering mechanisms. In Chapter 3 I presented hypotheses which state that green fractured -70 - Table 4 .1. Classification of fossil specimens based upon raw material and altering mechanism. "x" marks occurrence in this sample. Raw Material: Bone Ivory Tooth Antler Altering Mechanism Frac turing x x Fla king x x Surface reduction x x x Surface incision x x x Table 4.2. Classification of fractured and flaked specimens in relation to raw material and biological taxa. "x" marks categories presented in this chapter. Raw Haterial: Boue Taxonomie Group: Hammoth Large Mammal* Altering Mechanism Frac turing x Fla king x x * refers to large mammals smaller thau mammoths Ivory Hammoth x x 1 i 1 i t 1 1 i 1 ._ i l i- l... 1.... 1 ' L L i- [ 1.... ~ - - t ~ - L r i 1.... ' - L -71 - mammoth boues are attributable to the activities of man. Therefore such boues comprise our first major category of specimens to be described, and these will be followed by flaked mammoth boues (bath cores and flakes, the "negative and positive aspects" of this altering mechanism; Bonnichsen 1979:93). Flaked and fractured mammoth ivory specimens have been pre- sented under a single heading because of the small size of the sample, and these are followed by flaked boues of large mammals smaller thau mammoths. The missing category in this presentation is the class of fractured boues which represent large mammals smaller thau mammoths, and they have been omitted from this study because of uncertainty concerning the influence of carnivores (see Chapter 3). The extent to which I have been selective in presenting specimens varies among the major categories in this chapter. In the discussion of fracturing and flaking I have presented only those pieces which I believe were artificially modified when the boue or other raw material was fresh. There are many other specimens in the collection which may have been artificially modified when the material was fresh but which might have been altered by sorne other agency. These specimens have been placed "in limbo" in this study and their alterations are classified as either nat- ural or artificial. The selection of specimens was guided by the discussion and hypotheses which were presented in Chapter 3. The large group of specimens which were altered by·surface re- duction and incision is less easily sorted by means of simply stated hypotheses, because the development of suitable analogues for interpret- ing such specimens is much less advanced thau those for the fracturing and flaking of boue. Bath field observations and laboratory experiments are needed to improve our understanding of these altering mechanisms, and I have elected to present a relatively large number of questionable pieces in this report. Those which I have omitted can be characterized in terms of reasonably simple statements as to their likely origin as naturally induced altered forms, and the others (which are described in detail) have been classified in terms of five interpretive categories which represent my opinions concerning their origins: natural, probably natural, natural or artificial (in limbo), probably artificial, artificial. More specifie definitions of the altering mechanisms will be pre- sented as needed during this chapter, and the surface reduction and incision categories will likewise be defined below. Mammoth Bone Fracture Descriptions of 104 green fractured mammoth limb boues are pre- sented in Appendix B (Table Bl), and four examples are illustrated at the end of this chapter (Pls. 4.3-4.6). If we were dealing here with a demonstrable assemblage of fossilized boues, it would be worthwhile ta consider other aspects of the breakage patterns which could be deduced from the attributes under discussion. Since all these boues have been recovered from reworked deposits, however, such an exercise would be meaningless in that we would have ta assume that the pieces might rea- sonably belong together historically. As we will see later in this -72 - report, it is· possible that as much as 30,000 years of prehistory is repres·ented by tliese specimens-, and any tliorough analysis of tliem as an ass-emblage would be misleading. They have been presented here for the purpose of displaying those attributes which can be used to identify the past occurrence of human activity, but they cannot be used to explicate the cultural practices of a particular group of prehistoric people. These redeposited specimens will also be used for comparison with the excavated samples to be presented in Chapter 6, and it is only for the purposes of such a comparison that means and standard deviations have been calculated for Table Bl. Although these calculations are sample statistics, our geological data indicate that the "sample" lacks his- torical integrity. Presumably many of these bones were broken in order to obtain marrow which has long been known as an important energy source for north- ern peoples whose diets are often deficient in fat. Sorne of the fractures may have been made to secure raw material for bone flaking (see below), and others could have been produced merely for the purpose of removing segments of the large mammoth legs during butchering and dismemberment (Schroedl 1973; Lyman 1978; cf. Binford n.d.). Mammoth Bone Cores and Flakes Classification Bonnichsen's (1979) analysis of cores from Old Crow Flats was summarized in terms of four categories: 1. Bone cores with flakes removed from the cortical dorsal face. These cores are characterized by nested and/or laterally accumulated flake scars which are floored with compact bone and therefore do not extend through the bone wall to the marrow cavity. The flakes were re- moved by forces which parallel the long axis and therefore, generally, the Haversian system of the bone (Bonnichsen 1979:101). 2. Bone cores with flakes detached longitudinally from their lateral edges. These cores are not flaked facially, but flake detach- ment parallels the long axis of the bone (as well as the Haversian system). Presumably the ridges which characterize core edges were in- strumental in guiding the propagation of the flakes. This technique produces a flake form which Bonnichsen calls "edge spalls," and it is roughly analogous to burin techniques in lithic technology. This form of core reduction is especially suited to the relatively thin-walled bones of large mammals smaller than mammoths and mastodons (Bonnichsen 1979:113). 3. Bone cores with flakes detached traversely from their lateral edges. In these cases, the axis of detachment is perpendicular to the long axis (and Haversian system) of the cores, and the effect of their removal is to thin, and often to straighten, the core edge. The tech- nique may prove to be a shaping procedure rather than a means of obtaining useful flakes-(Ronnichsen 1979:117,124). ' ' 1 1.... L 1- i ' ..... L l f 1 ~ ·;.... L ..... l- : ..... ..... L ~ l- i 1 L - -73 - 4. Bane cores with_ trinuued distal ends •. This category was iso- lated by Bonnichsen to account for a few specimens which appeared to have Eeen shaped as tools by îlleans of flaking on their presumed working edges (Bonnichs-en 1979: 12 7) • Along with flakes, these four "technological classes" formed a concept which Bonnichsen (1979: 93-95) labelled a "technological pattern," viz. the flaking of bone and ivory. Elsewhere (Merlan 1979b) I have endeavoured to use these categories in my own analysis of cores and flakes from the Old Crow basin, but I have finally encountered enough diffi- culties with this classification that I must propose my own approach. The difficulties arise first from the frequent occurrence of bath facial and edge flake removal on the same specimen; thus sorne specimens appear to belong simultaneously to classes 1 and 2. The same problem occasion- ally occurs in separating class 3 from the first two in that a core may be flaked bath longitudinally and transversely. Finally, I regard class four as a different kind of category than the ether three classes, because "The flaked edge of the implement is regarded as a working edge" (Bonnichsen 1979:127) rather than simply a raw material (i.e., flake) source. Another point which must be stressed in this analysis is that no grouping of specimens from the reworked deposits in the Old Crow valley can be assumed to mirror the technological concepts of a particular pre- historie culture. It is conceivable that every core and flake we are about to describe originated in a different archaeological site in the Old Crow basin. Therefore they must not be treated as components or assemblages in any historical sense, and the only justification for group- ing them together at all is to simplify the presentation of their respective attributes. With these limitations in mind, I examined a number of possible criteria which might prove to be useful in classifying the bane cores from the Old Crow region. For example, I looked at the distribution of skeletal elements to see how much variation could be found in the collection of cores, and I found that with only a few exceptions the cores are made on limb bane fragments. Therefore only a small part of the variance could be accommodated in a classification based on this criterion, and most of the non-limb bane fragments could be described with much the same ter- minology as that used for the limb boues. It saon became apparent that the orientation of flaking is an important criterion because it has a profound influence on the shapes and sizes of flakes which are detached from the bones (see below). This criterion was adopted as a major classificatory deviee despite the occur- rence of a few specimens on which bath longitudinal and transverse flaking is exhibited. The specimens showing combinations of flake scar orient- ations were assigned to their classes on the basis of the most prominent orientation since this is the one which contains the greatest information content. A few examples of diagonal flaking c/n also be found because of the spiral forms of sorne of the green boue/fractures which cross-eut the Haversian systems at angles of approxima,iely 45°; these have been grouped with the transversely oriented flake scars. -74 - J A second criterion was selected simply as a heuristi.c deviee. This is tfie s·tate of pres·ervatfon of the core platform which has a marK.ed influence on our understandi'ng of how the bane was manipulated during flaK.ing. Cores· which lacK. preserved platforms tell us very little about flaK.ing procedures since we cannat determine whether the core has been rotated about the platform edge or whether its flaking angles have been adjusted. Many cores are flaked simply by delivering force to the edge of a green fracture surface, and in these cases it is possible to generalize about the range of suitable platform angles which are asso- ciated with flake detachment. Other cores have retouched platforms which may reflect deliberate alterations of the platform angles or ef- forts to strengthen the platform area through the removal of small irregularities and overhanging edges. Cores with retouched platforms also demonstrate that the specimens have been rotated and have been stabilized in more than one position. The classification of mammoth bane cores based upon these two major criteria is shawn in Table 4.3. It is noteworthy that a signif- icant amount of variation occurs in the platform condition of the longitudinal cores and that a very slight amount of variation is seen in this criterion among the transversely flaked cores. In arder to sim- plify the presentation, I have grouped all the transversely flaked cores together rather than presenting separate sections for the few transversely flaked cores which lack preserved platforms or have retouched platforms. A final note concerning this clas~ification is that it is not ade- quate to caver every flaked specimen. There are four core fragments with rather confusing features which I have not been able to assign to these categories because they lack the orientation features and definable platform areas which would point to their placements in Table 4.3. In addition there are two flaked specimens which are made on the proximal ends of mammoth radii and which could be described as traversely flaked or longitudinally flaked cores were it not for the fact that their pri- mary fracture has produced cylinders instead of fragments. These have been treated separately as miscellaneous "cores." Flakes are viewed as the positive counterparts of negative flake scars on the cores, and they are recognized by their conchoïdal fracture characteristics as well as sorne of the fracture attributes which were discussed in Chapter 3. The orientation of flakes in relation to the long axis and Haversian systems of their parent cores is usually readily discernible and can be used to classify them. Other attributes used in this analysis concern the condition of the platform remuants and the morphology of the distal terminations of the flakes, but I have not en- deavoured to construct a classification of the flakes beyond the observation of their orientations with respect to bane structure. Summary The mammoth bane cores and flakes have been described in detail in Appendix B, and here the results will simply be summarized (see refer- ences to tables of data and illustrations in Table 4.4). i ' 1.... 1.... L f L r L ~ \..... ._ ~...... ( ,, i ,_ ~ - 1.... - 1 ' ..... :..... r 1- - .... -75 - Table 4.3. Classification of mammoth bone cores based upon predominant flaking orientation and state of platform preservation. Flaking orientation: Platform condition No preserved platform Unmodified green fracture surface Retouched surface Longitudinal 15(1*) 9(1~~) 12 (2*) Transverse Both* 2 1 9(2"~) 3 1 2 * Cores with both longitudinal and transverse flaking were assigned to the predominant category as indicated in parentheses. Table 4. 4. Distribution of mammoth bone cores and flakes from the reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Terri tory. Category Longitudinally flaked cores without preserved platforms Longitudinally flaked cores with unmodified N 15 green fracture surface platforms 9 Longitudinally flaked cores with retouched platforms Transversely flaked cores Core fragments with confusing features and miscellaneous "cores" Flakes 12 12 6 28 Appendix B Tables B2-3 Tables B4-5 Tables B6.,-7 Tables B8-9 Table BlQ Table Bll Illustrations Pl. 4. 7-4.8 Pl. 4. 9-4.10 Pl. 4.11-4.14, 5.3 Pl. 4 • 15-4 .16 PL 5.4 Pl. 4.17-4.19, 5.5 -76 - In summarizing the characteristics of mammoth bone cores and flakes, I wish to reiterate tnat the collection cannat be construed as an assem- olage and that cultural hïs-torical concepts cannet be derived from the data. There are several kinds-of obs-ervations which can be ·made, however, concerning the metric and non-metric data presented in Appendix B. We can e-xamine, for instance, the distribution of specimen sizes for non-flaked green fractured bones and that for cores to see whether flake detachment has the effect of reducing specimen size, but it would not be appropriate to reduce the data to technological concepts such as core reduction "strategies" which are peculiar to specifie prehistoric cultures. We can demonstrate that the shapes of longitudinally struck flakes, as re- flected in their length:width ratios, are less influenced by bone structure than are the shapes of transversely struck flakes, but we cannat generate concepts of "desirable" flake size and shape on the basis of this collection. Hopefully we can synthesize sorne general concepts concerning the flaking of mammoth bones which will be useful criteria for evaluation primary archaeological assemblages of such material. Metric data for all green fractured mammoth bones and bane cores have been summarized in Table 4.5 For most measurements there is sub- stantial overlap in the variance of all categories, and it would not appear that flake detachment significantly reduced the size of green fractured mammoth bone fragments. Perhaps this indicates that most bone cores were discarded after a single episode of flake removal, and this is the kind of pattern which should be sought with primary assemblage data. In Table 4.6,some non-metric observations have been summarized for the same green-fractured bones and cores. The loading point observations have been summed in order to indicate the relative rarity of identifiable loading point preservation. This fact reduces the diagnostic value of green-fractured bones smaller than those of mammoths and mastodpns and will place severe constraints on the interpretation of the excavated samples in Chapter 6. The fracture codes have been combined to show that the amount of the specimen perimeter which was fractured when green is much greater for the cores than for the green-fractured bones which were not flaked. At first glanee this difference might seem to be a simple matter of recognition, but it is just as easy to recognize the distal ends of flake scars on extensively damaged bones as it is on specimens re- covered in good condition. I believe that this difference in the frequency of green-fractured margins results from the reduction in bane cross-section, although not necessarily in size, which accompanies the flaking of bane fragments. Since all bones are subject to considerable stress from shrink- age leading to the formation of split lines, the amount of cross-section still remaining intact when a bane enters a fluvial environment will signif- icantly influence its susceptibility to fracture by natural causes. Those bones which have already been flaked following primary fracture will be less likely to suffer further attrition in the sedimentary environment. A vague reflection of this relationship may be seen in the perimeter meas- urements (Table 4.5) for all categories of cores except the transversely flaked ones. No doubt this reflection is blurred by the variations in original size among the bones in these categories, and I have not thought it worthwhile to attempt to standardize the data for the purpose of a better measurement of this effect. Perhap~-such an effort should be made with primary archaeological material which could be subject to r --r·· r··· ·-·. r·--~---r-~~-r·· . r·····---· r r·---c r r· . r [" ---.--· r . (--~ r----r--~~ Table 4.5. Summary of metric data for green-fractured mammoth bones and bane cores from the reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory (measurements influenced by recent and post-permineralization fractures have been excluded). Wall Loading Thickness Point Category Length Chard Perim. Weight Min. Max. Diam. Green fracture only (not N 44 37 36 103 100 100 16 flaked) Table Bl Mean 151.4 73.2 95.0 291.6 16.1 23.3 13.9 S.D. 79.0 19.3 46.0 362.6 6.6 6.8 6.3 Cores lacking platforms N 12 10 10 15 14 14 5 (green fracture attributes) Mean 163.6 63.6 78.8 238.1 15.4 22.7 17.5 Table B2 S.D. 40.3 16.9 20.7 118.6 6.3 6.7 9.1 Cores with unmodified platforms N 7 7 7 9 9 9 (green fracture attributes) Mean 130.9 67.3 89.6 228.6 15.4 20.1 Table B4 S.D. 35.7 30.1 47.1 170.9 7.2 6.9 ....... Cores with retouched platforms N 7 7 7 12 12 12 2 ....... (green fracture attributes) Mean 163.3 81.3 94.7 354.9 15.7 28.1 17.6 Table B6 S.D. 35.3 25.4 34.5 257.3 7.3 13.7 1.8 Cores with transverse flaking N 7 8 8 11 12 12 4 (green fracture attributes) Mean 205.7 82.1 107.9 496.7 17.8 27.6 12.6 Table B8 S.D. 79.1 18.9 42.3 329.4 4.5 7.9 4.3 All green fractured mammoth N 77 69 68 150 147. 147 27 bones and cores (except frag-Mean 157.4 73.0 93.6 302.6 16.1 23.8 14.6 ments and mise. "cores") S.D. 69.1 21.1 41.4 330.0 6.5 7.8 6.4 Table 4. 6. Surnmary of non-metric data for green-fractured marnmoth bones and cores from the reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. Fracture code Loading Points Category x/y < 2 2 .::_ x/y < 1 x/y= 1 Totals Con es Scars Cores lacking platforms, 2 6 7 15 1 4 Table B2 Cores with unmodified 1 platforms, Table B4 2 6 9 1 Cores with retouched 3 4 5 12 2 platforms, Table B6 Transversely flaked 9 3 12 1 3 cores, Table B8 Core fragments, -.._J 2 2 4 1 00 Table BlO - All cores and fragments 6 23 23 52 ·3 9 Obs. Exp. Obs. Exp. Obs. --Exp. All cores and fragments 6 14 23 22 23 16 52 Green fracture only 36 28 42 43 25 32 103 6 19 (not flaked) Table Bl --- Totals 42 65 48 155 9 28 X2 = 11.5; df = 2; p = 0.997 that X2 will not be exceeded 1 r r--r ~--r-r-· r r-------r-~-" r ( (" -, r r r·---r-·- Table 4.7. Summary of metric data for flake scars and flakes on mammoth bones from the reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory (measurements influenced by recent and post-permineral- ization fractures have been excluded). Category Length Chard Perim. Thickness Weight Category Flakes struck longitudinally, N 20 23 23 23 23 Table B11 Mean 106.0 54.5 58.6 18.1 111.9 S.D. 52.1 21.4 28.5 8.9 170.6 Flakes struck transversely, N 5 5 5 5 5 Table B11 Mean 68.8 95.0 92.8 26.1 72.5 S.D. 34.2 33.4 38.2 25.4 49.9 Flake scars on longitudinal N 14 15 cores lacking platforms, Mean 58.2 35.0 Table B3 S.D. 23.6 13.6 Flake scars on longitudinal N 10 11 cores with unmodified Mean 66.0 29.9 platforms, Table B5 S.D. 32.0 9.8 Flake scars on longitudinal N 15 17 cores with retouched Mean 54.9 38.7 platforms, Table B7 S .D .• 32.3 16.0 Flake scars on transverse N 14 15 cores, Table B9 Mean 22.5 61.0 S.D. 11.2 28.0 All longitudinal flake scars N 41 45 (inc1uding two from text Mean 57.0 34.4 descriptions) S.D. 29.5 14.2 A11 transverse flake scars N 17 18 (inc1uding three from text Mean 21.3 56.7 descriptions) S.D. 10.6 27.6 c·-r -- "'-.! 1.0 + + + + + + + + 140 X= 0.29y + 4.94 Y= 2.08x + 11.65 120 X=0.25y + 48.9 IOOt 0 1 1 1 0 1 • =LONGITUDINAL FLAKE SCARS; r= 0.10; n: 41 :::c 80 .JI_ 0 1 1 1 l o = TRANSVER~SE FLAKE SCARS; r = 0,78; n = 17 J 1- Cl i Il 11 1 • 60-l-Il • 1 • . 1 • • 40 ~ OL/ 0 :: W .. 1 e ' F • Y= 0.04x + 30 20 •• •• • • • • • • • • • • • + + + + + + + + 0~~==~======~====~~====~======~=====+======~====~~====9 0 20 40 60 80 100 LENGTH 120 140 160 'Fig. 4 .1. Scattergra.m of length and wi'dth of flake scars on cores. Note high correlation for transverse flaRe scan;-and low correlati'on for longitudinal flake scars. (X) 0 r r r 160 140 120-l- 1001 :J: 1- ~ sot so+ r~--, ... rc~c•· r·c·•·• -t-+ + 0 = TRANSVERSE FLAKES; r = 0.95; n = 5 •= LONGITUDINAL FLAKES; r=0.65;n=20 , 0 f // + • • ( r f"""• re ' r·· + + + + x' 0.97y -23.3 Y= 0.93x + 31.3 // 0 / • ~ • • • 40v / __:_------• / . • 20 u ., 20 40 60 so • 100 120 LENGTH 140 160 r-~ •c• r r· . r· -~ r·~· + + + + + + + + / X=1.53y +20.13 • ., • ----------+ + + + ISO 200 220 240 ~ig. 4.2. Scattergram of length and width of bone flakes. Note high correlation for transverse flakes and lower correlation f0r longitudinal flakes. r··· r c. CXl l-' Table 4.8. Summary of non-metric data for flake scars on cores and flakes from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. Total Total Total Number of scars/platform Distal terminations Categ_ory Specimens Platforms Scars 1 2 3 4 5 .§_Many Scat. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cores lacking platforms, 15 17 34+ 5 8 1 1 1 1 21 + 13 Table B3 Cores with unmodified 9 11 24 3 3 5 1 18 5 platforms, Table B5 Cores with retouched 12 15 36 4 6 2 2 1 2 20 14 platforms, Table B7 Transversely flaked 11 16 29+ 6 2 2 1 1 2 2 + 22+ 7+ cores, Table B9 -- Totals 47 59 123 1 Previous scars on co 28 28 32 3 3 6 1 N flakes, Table Bll Flakes, Table Bll 28 2 2 2 6 12 2 '-r' 2 Lege nd Distal terminations: 1, recent fracture; 2, jagged; 3, stepped; 4, hinged; 5, feathered; 6, bipolar L r ~ L """ L L \ - r L """ l... ( ._ i.... r i 1 """ 1 L - l... ,_ L L -83 - natural fracture by s.uch processes as freeze and thaw cycling. Measurements of flake s"Cars and flakès made on mammoth bones are summarized in Table 4.7, and the length and chord data have been plotted in Figs. 4.1-4.2. Comparisons of length:width ratios between longitud- inal and transverse (and diagonal) flakes reveal interesting differences which undoubte:dly are related to the influence of bone structure on the propagation of fracture waves. Length and width are highly correlated for transverse flake scars on cores (r=O. 78) and for transverse and diagonal flakes (r=0.95). The flakes and scars are much broader than long, apparently as a result of the resistance of the longitudinally oriented collagen fibers. The longitudinally struck flakes and scars have much more variable length:width ratios (r= 0. 64 and O. 22, respect- ively), and there are many factors which influence flake length. Flakes may terminate prematurely due to hinge fractures already present on the core face or due to local changes in bone histology as occur in ridges which are developed under the influence of the musculature. Bonnichsen (1977:135-136) has noted that ridges can be used to control the size and shape of lithic flakes but the ridges which occur on large bones are not always reliable for this purpose as shown in recent experimental flaking (the Ginsberg experiment). Another factor which probably in- fluences the apparent correlation of length and width in the longitudinal flakes is the frequent occurrence of lateral truncations where one flake scar intersects another. Such truncations may have significantly in- fluenced the measurements of flake scars on the cores. In comparing Figs. 4.1 and 4.2, the larger size of the flakes as opposed to the flake scars is quite noticeable. I suspect that this is a result of our collecting procedures in that cores are quite conspicuous on the sand bars.and banks of the river even if their flake scars are small, but only the larger flakes are conspicuous while many smaller examples may go unnoticed. For whatever reason, it is apparent that the collection of flakes currently available from the reworked deposits is not closely related to the collectiOn of cores. The non-metric attributes of flakes and flake scars (Table 4.8) also reveal sorne interesting patterns. I have converted the flake scar fractions used in Tables B3, BS, B7, B9, and Bll to simple flake scar counts in Table 4.8, and it is noteworthy that the majority of the cores exhibit multiple flake scars. Multiple platforms occur on five longi- tudinal and four transverse cores, and an average of 2.2 flakes were struck from the platforms of longitudinal cores. A comparable figure is difficult to derive for the transverse cores since four of them ex- hibit large numbers of overlapping or scattered flake scars. It is interesting that the transverse cores more frequently exhibit large numbers of flake scars, for this may reflect the lack of" constraint on the platform widths of such specimens. Hinged distal terminations are much more common than feathered terminations on the cores, but the reverse is true of the flakes. This difference is probably related to the relatively larger size of the flakes which results from collecting bias, because a flake large enough to have been collected may be large because it did not hinge out pre- maturely. Table 4.9. Distribution of platform types on mammoth bone cores and flakes from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. Platform types on cores Platform lost by: Recent fracture Facial flaking Too deep a bite Other green flaking Platform on unmodified green fracture surface Platform is a retouched surface Tota1s Table B3 B3 B3 B7 B5 B7 B9 B} B9 Frequency 2 2 13 2 11 1 15 12 1 59 Platform types on flakes (Table Bll) Frequency Platform lost by: Recent fracture Snapping during detachment Shattering during detachment Sharp-edge remuant Platform on unmodified green fracture surface P1atform is a retouched surface Platform is a gabled surface 1 3 5 5 5 6 3 28 00 +:-. 1- l- [ 1 ..... r L L '- 1...... 1 r ~ L L r ~ 1- L l 1..- ..... 1- :,_ 1..- -85 - It is possible to match general platform types on the cores with the types of platform remuants preserved on the flakes. Rough pairing and frequencies of types are shown in Table 4.9, and it is apparent that the flakes do not reflect the cores with respect to platform type any more than they do with respect to distal terminations. Given all the biases which have influenced this peculiar collection such observations are not surprising. Fractured and Flaked Mammoth Tusk Ivory One fragment, four cores, and three flakes of ivory exhibit smooth surfaces which cross-eut the lamellar structure of the tusk at various angles (Table Bl2). These specimens appear to be the products of flaking in that they frequently preserve hackle marks and ribs on their flake scars and fracture surfaces. They have been isolated as a group because of the very distinctive histology and macrostructure of tusks which make them quite different from bones. They have also been kept separate from the bones because I understand the structure of tusks only through the literature (Sikes 197l:Fig. 32) and through inferences based upon my observations of the fossil specimens; I have not had an opportunity to fracture and flake fresh ivory and therefore I am less familiar with its properties. Nonetheless I am confident that the specimens described here were artificially modified when the tusks were in a fresh condition. In many instances, the lamellae of the tusks have begun to separate as a result of weathering,· and these separations intersect the fracture surfaces created when the tusk fragments were fresh. Th:is small sample is of little use in gaining an overall comprehension of :ivory flaking properties, but it shows that mammoth and mastodon tusk ivory should not be ignored in evaluating artifacts made by flaking tech- niques. Cores and Flakes made on Smaller Large Mammal Bones Seventeen cores and two flakes were made on large mammal bones smaller than those of mammoths. The h:igh frequency of platform removal by green fracture (Table Bl4). reflects the fact that th:in bone walls often do not withstand the shock required for flake removal. With such thin-walled specimens as NbVl-6:1, any effort to prepare a platform by flaking across the bone wall toward the medullary cavity would so thin the bone that successful flaki:ng would be impossible. This small long bone shaft frag- ment could be readily broken by carnivores and could be extensively "flaked" by their gnawing, but NbVl-6:1 exhibits such regular spacing of flake scars along a 40.3 mm section of one edge that carnivore activity would seem to be precluded as a likely explanation (Pl. 4.20). !n his comments on an earlier draft of this report, Bonnichsen (pers. com. in 1980) replied that he doubts that thin walled bones present as difficult a problem in platform preparation as I have im.plied, and he suggests that experimental work will be needed to verify this i'------------------------Îiiillilllllllo~. -86 - idea. He als,o notes that fresh_ hone walls can siroply be mas.hed flat to secure a platforro and that grinding techniques can be emplo:yed for this purpos-e. With the possifile exception of one of the ma:romoth bane cores (MlVl-1~143, TaDles-E2-B3, Pl. 4.8), I nave not obs-erved grindfng on any of the platforrn remuants-from the Old Crow area, and 11mashed" platforros might be difficul t to recognize on s-lightly to moderately rounded spec- imens. Bones and AntZers with Reduced and Incised Surfaces Classification Bonnichsen (1979:131-139) subsumed polished specimens under three categories: (a) polished facets (rubbing tools); (b) expedient tools; and (e) miscellaneous polished and ground bon.e artifacts. Rubbing tools are those with facets on one end of a specimen in such a position and form that the facet appears to comprise a working end. Expedient tools are characterized by any form of workmanship or apparent use wear which occurs on a spiral fracture surface, and the evidence of use may or may not in- elude polishing. Miscellaneous polished specimens do not fall neatly into either of these categories and must be individually described. Although these distinctions may have some descriptive merit and may indeed reflect levels of incidental versus deliberate human behaviour, they beg the questions of precisely what sorts of functions are represented, what sorts of altering processes are responsible for the polish, and which specimens can be admitted as genuine artifacts. Bonnichsen (pers. com. in 1980) agrees that this classification needs revision. I will propose a somewhat different classificatory approach to these specimens, but I wish to say at the outset that I doubt that it is the revision we will eventually need for these specimens. There is tao rouch uncertainty as to the mode of origin for many of these pieces to afford rouch hope of erecting a classificatory framework which would prove to be adequate in dealing with a primary archaeological assemblage. The rationale for the classification usedhereis simply that its criteria are morphological and require little if any inference in the assignment of specimens. I hasten to add that the criteria require very careful mi- croscopie observations because some of the critical features cannat be seen with the unaided eye on these specimens. The classification begins with two kinds of surface reduction and three forms of surface incision. Surface reduction may consist of: (1) grinding, a form of general surface alteration which reduces high spots to a plane but which does not produce a highly reflective (glossy) sur- face; or (2) polishing, a surface alteration which not only planes the surface but also produces a relatively high glass or reflectivity. Sur- face incisions may take the form of: (1) scratches, defined as very fine (microscopie) parallel straight incisions which occur in groups with well defined orientations; (2) scrapes, defined as coarse (macro- s-copie) sub-parallel straight or wavy incisions which occur in groups with poorly defined orientations; and (3) cuts, defined as single in- cisions or grooves with highly variable shapes and orientations. Some of these surface reduction and incision features may occur together as L. i, i-. 1.... ' - L l- 1 - r. L ( 1 1 L.... L 1 L 1... ..... L ~ 1 L .... -87 - shawn in Table 4.10. Scratches or serapea may occur with or without grinding or poli'shing. They may occur independently on the same spec- imen or they may-occt;tr in superimposed arrangements whîch fndicate either simultaneous· production or truncation of one alteration by another. S'cratclies whicli appear in direct association with polishing are referred to as striae. Cuts appear to be entirely independent of surface reduction process·es, but two antlers exhibit both cuts and polish which were probably acquired separately. The scratches and polish on the one tooth indicated in Table 4.10 also appear to have been acquired independently. Ideally one would present the contents of each cell of Table 4.10 in sorne logical sequence, and for the most part that procedure has been followed in this chapter and in Appendix B. The sequence has been al- tered, however, in the presentation of the polished boues, because the presence or absence of visible striae seems to me to be a less important criterion than the association of the alterations with green fractures. Therefore the specimens are introduced in the following arder: (1), scratched boues lacking surface reduction; (2) scratched tooth (surface reduction regarded as independent of incision); (3) scraped boues lacking surface reduction; (4) ground boues with surface incisions (scratches or striae); (5) all polished boues (with and without surface incisions); (6) all antlers; and (7) all incised boues lacking surface reduction. The polished boues are further subdivided as follows: (1) polished facets on boues not fractured when green; (2) polished facets and green fractures in different locations on the same boue; (3) polished facets which intersect green fractures; and (4) polished facets which occur on green fracture surfaces. On the basis of their individual descriptions in Appendix B these specimens have been classified into several "statuses": natura1 or arti- ficia1, probably artificial, and artificial. The discussion in Chapter 3 indicated that such assignments were made on the basis of the com- plexity of the alterations and their truncations of or by other features on the specimens. A number of specimens were careful1y studied and omit- ted from this report because they appeared to hold no promise of being interpreted as artificia1ly modified. The reasons for these omissions are as follows: (1) the alterations are so simple that they could easily have been produced by natura1 agencies such as abrasion during stream transport (M1Vl-16:1, *NbVl-2:20, NbVl-6:2); (2) the alterations trun- cate the rind of permineralization (MlVl-1:2, NaVk-5:41, NbVn-2:1); (3) the alteration occurs on a recent fracture surface (NbVm-3:1); (4) the alteration occurs on an exfoliated surface (MkVl-9:31.1); (5) the al- teration truncates rootlet etching (M1V1-9:7, NbVl-8:1); (6) the alteration is geometrically complex but conforms to the natural contours of the bane (NaV1-11:1, see Morlan 1978a:85, Fig. 4); (7) the alteration close1y resembles carnivore gnawing (MlVl-5:34; cf. Bonnichsen 1979:139, Pl. VIII-25); and (8) the apparent alteration is in fact a complex ana- tomical feature (MlVl-1:57; cf. Bonnichsen 1979:139). It is noteworthy that when these pieces are omitted from consideration, all but a few of the surface-reduced and -incised specimens also exhibit green boue fractures (81% of the boues) • Table 4.10. Classification of surface reduction and surface incision forms~ showing their associations as observed among the Old Crow specimens. Surface Reduction: None Ground Surface Incision None x x Scratches 2 bones 2 bones Scrapes 8 bones x 2 antlers, 5 bones Cuts * one bane exhibits striae (scratches) on one facet but none on another X marks associations observed in other samples but not in the collection reported in this section. Other entries indicate the frequencies of the alterations reported in this section. Polished 12 bones* 1 tooth, 1 antler 13 bones* x 2 antlers , CIO CIO l ._ L ._ ~ L ~ L L L. L ' ..... \..... L.... ~ ..... i- L -89 - SU1llmary Mos-t of tnes'e 49 pfeces-are ·unique and nave been individually descrioed in Appendi:x B' (s·ee alsn Pls. 4. 21-4.30, 5. 6). Si:xteen of these specimens· are boues for whicn artificially induced green fractures have already oeen described. In two cases I do not know whether these addit- ional alterations (scraping and grinding) are natural or artificial. Two examples of grinding and one of polishing are probably artificial, and the remainder of the additional alterations (one ground, four scraped, and six polished) have been classified as artificial. Of 22 other boues and one tooth for which I had not previously described fracture patterns, a natural or artificial classification has been assigned to one scratched bone, the scratched tooth, and eight polished boues. Scraping on one bone and polishing on three other boues (Pls. 4.25, 4.26) are probably artificial, and one scratched bone (Pl. 4.21) and eight polished boues (Pls. 4.23. 4.24) have been classified as artificially modified. The other ten specimens include one polished and four eut antler pieces and five eut boues all of which are êlassified as artifacts. In most cases I have very little idea of the possible functions which could have produced the surface reductions and incisions (although hide working seems to be a reasonable suggestion for many of them), but suggestions as to function can be made for the five antler specimens and !ive eut bones. Antler "pestle" The polished antler specimen (NbVl-2:6) has been described severa! times in the past, but this is the first time that a fifth (lateral) facet has been mentioned. Harington (1975a) suggested that this piece might have been used as a pestle, and Bonnichsen (1979 131, Pl. VIII-20) classified it as a rubbing tool which might be associated with hide working (see also Harington, et al. 1975:48). Experimental work on this kind of antler polishing might provide sorne information on the range of possible functions. This specimen was found in association with the Anodonta phase. Antler biUet The pocking on the base of a eut and polished antler specimen (NbVl-2:15) is identical to that seen on antler billets or hammers used experimentallyin flint-knapping (P1.4.27; Morlan 1978a:Fig.6). It is possible that the nicking of the edges of the bez tine resulted from various platform strengthening procedures such as the removal of over- hanging lips which accumulate following the detacbment of a row of flakes. The bez tine could have served as a handle in operating this specimen as a billet, but an interesting question emerged from the replication and use of such a billet. Given the angle of the antler base, the most intensive facetting occurs in a position which is hidden from a flint- knapper's view at the moment of impact. My use of a replica of this -90 - billet led to poçking on the oppos.ite s.ide of the bas.e as I automatically attempted to keep the working area in view. The pocking on the fossil is located at the anterior edge of the bas·e whi'le on the replica ft is con- centrated on the lateral·margin. T believe that the difference is related to the holding position adopted during flint knapping. Whereas I normally position the core onmy left leg during flaking, I can best match the position of billet impact seen on the fossil by elevating the core nearly to eye level which makes visible a contact area on the anterior edge of the antler base. I have attempted to follow the lead of Bordes (1974) by searching with a microscope for small fragments of chert or obsidian which might have become imbedded in the base of this billet. Although several sand grains are firmly wedged in the antler structure as a result of the redeposition of the specimen by fluvial processes, I have not been able to find fragments which might represent the original use of the tool. This is one of the specimens recovered by excavating in deposits repre- senting the Anodonta phase. Antler Wedges Three caribou antler wedges have been found on the banks of the Porcupine River just south of Old Crow Flats, and several similar specimens have recently been recovered in the Old Crow valley itself (J. Cinq-Mars, pers. com. in 1979). All three wedges were made in a similar fashion and constitute our only repeated artifact "type" ether than the bone cores and flakes. Each of the wedges was provided with a transverse butt which was formed by chopping and snapping the antler beam to form a relatively flat area at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the beam. The opposite end was bevelled unilaterally to form a rounded or slightly pointed working end, and this end was driven in its work by means of blows delivered to the .butt. There can be no doubt regarding the artificial status of these pieces, but the age of at least two of them is in doubt whereas the third specimen must be assigned to the historie period in view of tool marks preserved on its surface. The wedges have been described in Appendix B. Because of their dark staining and the appearence of permineralization these antler wedges have been discussed repeatedly (Harington, et al. 1975:46; Morlan 1978a:87; Morlan and Matthews 1978; Bonnichsen 1979:129-131, Pl. VIII-19, -20) in a collective manner, but these are the first detailed individual specimen descriptions which have been published. That is unfortunate, for the impression has already been created that these pieces can be reliably regarded as elements of the Pleistocene record in the Old Crow region, and this impression must be abruptly altered by the recognition of metal file marks on one specimen and by the reminder that another was found on the Klo-kut beach. One author (Bryan 1978a:310-311) has based a discussion of "specialized bone working technology in Beringia during the Mid-Wisconsinan stage" partially on these antler wedges, one of which must now be assigned to the historie period. This is a good il1ustration of the hazards involved in suffimarizing discoveries of redeposited spec- imens before detailed descriptions have been completed, and I openly offer my apologies for misleading Bryan and ether readers of some of my sho.rter papers which were written before the current work was completed. This is the kind of error which we have long known, theoretically, could ...... """' ~' i 1- L \' 'l- l-. L ~...... ' f. ~...... ~ ' L- i..... ...... - ...... -91 - occur in discussing thes.e redepos.ited specimens, but i t is the first demons-tration that such an error has already been made. Antier wedges may weil belong in the Plei'stocene record of the Old Crow region, but that remains merely a possi.lïî1ity and not a demons·trated fact. eut bones· Of the five eut bones from reworked deposits in the Old Crow basin, only two (MkVl-12: 16, M1V1-5: 56) are thought definitely to have been eut during butchering (Pl. 4.28) while two others (MlV1-1:64, NbV1-2:12) are difficu1t to interpret (Pl. 4.29). The fifth (M1V1-1:1c) is the famous f1esher which has been widely discussed and il1ustrated (Pl. 4.30; Irving and Harington 1973). Most of the s·haft of the flesher was sacrificed for a radiocarbon date based upon the apatite fraction of the bone: 27,000 +3000 -2000 (GX-1640: Irving and Harington 1973:336). A 64 X 10 mm section of the outer wall had earlier been removed for uranium, nitrogen and fluorine tests which did not provide interpretable results (Irving, pers. cam. in 1967). Summary of aZZ Redeposited Specimens The 246 specimens which have been presented in this chapter are summarized in Table 4.11. In examining the distribution among the three status classifications, the reader must bear in mind that I have selected the specimens for presentation in this chapter and that there are thousands of bones, tusks, and teeth (and a few dozen antier fragments) which have been altered entirely by natural agencies. Therefore the 92% artificial frequency has little meaning except to reflect my lack of confidence in the interpretation of the other 8% of the specimens. Most of the uncer- tain interpretations are in the scratched, scraped and polished categories which will require more experimental study and field observation before a better understanding of these alterations can be achieved. All the mammoth bones which were fractured or flaked when green have been referred to the artificial category with the exception of one fragment and two flakes which were fractured or detached when dry. It should be understood that this classification represents a position which T am adopting in this report and that I cannat actually prove that each of these specimens was artificially altered. My position is a hypothesis (see Chapter 3) which is susceptible to testing through further field and experimental work, viz, that green fractures on mammoth limb bones (and a few other skeletal elements) are indicative of human activity in the Old Crow valley. One fractured mammoth bane and two mammoth bane flakes exhibit attributes suggesting that the pieces had begun to dry before the fracturing or flaking was accomplished, and these are only 11 probably artificial11 in view of the structural changes which can occur rather rapidly in bones whïch become dessicated. Since this is the second major study which has presented many of thes-e specimens·, T feel obliged to indicate precisely how my results compare wi'tfi thos-e of Bonnichsen (1979). This comparison is made in Table 4 .12 for eacfi specimen report:ed by Bonnichsen (19 79) which is Table 4.11. Sunnnary of alterations and statuses for bones, teeth, tusks, and antlers from the reworked deposits of the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. Pro b. Chronological Data Alterations Tables Total or Art. Art. Art. 1 2 3 4 -- Mammoth bones fractured green 104 Green fracture only Bl 95 86 8 1 Green fractured and scraped Bl, Bl6 5 4 1 Green fractured and ground Bl, Bl5 2 2 Green fractured and polished Bl, Bl7 1 1 Fractured when dry Bl 1 1 Mammoth bone cores without platforms 15 Flaked only B2-B3 13 11 2 Flaked and polished B2-3, Bl7 2 1 1 Mammoth bone cores with unmodified platforms 9 \ Flaked only B4-B5 8 8 Flaked and scraped B4-5, Bl6 1 1 Mammoth bone cores with retouched platforms 12 1.0 Flaked only B6-B7 11 9 2 N Flaked and scraped B6-7, Bl6 1 1 Mammoth bone transverse cores 12 Flaked only B8-B9 9 8 1 Flaked and polished B8-9, Bl7 3 2 1 Mammoth bone core fragments BlO 4 4 4 Mammoth bone mise. "cores" BlO 2 2 1 1 Mammoth bone flakes 28 Detached when green B11 26 26 Detached when dry B11 2 2 Mammoth tusk ivory 8 Cores Bl2 4 4 Flakes Bl2 3 3 Fragment Bl2 1 1 r····· r·· r· r··:· r··· r········· r····· r······ r······ r···~ ("''' r-.. ~. r r . c·· Table 4.11 (Continued). Nat. Pro b. Art. Chronological Data Alterations Tables Total or Art. Art. 1 2 3 4 Large mammal bone cores Longitudinal cores and flakes Bl3-14 Transverse cores, flaked only Transverse core, polished Flakes Cut and scratched pieces (excl. Scratched bones Scratched tooth Scraped bones Polished bones Cut and polished antler Cut bones Totals Lege nd B13-14 Bl3-14, mammoth) Bl5 Bl5 Bl5 Bl7 Bl8 Bl9 -- 19 Bl7 33 246 1 1 8 10 1 3 8 13 3 1 2 1 8 5 5 228 13 3 1 1 2 1 1 19 1 2 220 1 2 1 19 1 4 Statuses: Alterations are classified by Nat. or Art. (natural or artificial), Prob. Art. (probably artificial), or Art. (artificia1). Chronological Data: 1, no information other than dark stain on specimens and/or identity as extinct mammal; 2, recovered by excavated in association with the Anodonta phase (10,000-12,000 B.P.); 3, radiocarbon dated on collagen (green fractured bone) or apatite (other three specimens); 4, light stain or evidence of metal tool marks suggest relatively young age. 2 1 3 c···· r··~ "" w -94 - housed in the National Museum of Man. The reader should bear in mind the signi'ficant differences in the ci'rcumstances of these two studies. Bonnichs·en was requïred to complete all his observations in one year, and his· access to the collections involved visits to the National Museum of Natural Sciences and to the 1Jnivers·ity of Toronto as well as ongoing study in the National Museum of Man. In contrast, I have been able to study the specimens reported here during a period of four years with all the pieces assembled in one laboratory. I have been able to return to each piece as new ideas and information became available, and I have been able to change my interpretation of any specimen as required by new understanding of various bane altering agencies; these luxuries were not available to Bonnichsen. Furthermore there have been a number of sig- nificant learning opportunities since the year (1973-74) when Bonnichsen made his study of the Old Crow fossils. These include more field work in Old Crow Flats, participation in a multi-disciplinary project through which modes of sedimentation and fossil redeposition have been better understood, preliminary results from Parama's taphonomic experiment, and severa! laboratory experiments of which the Ginsberg elephant butchering experience (Stanford, et al.l980) is the most outstanding. I have bene- fited from each of these opportunities as well as from Bonnichsen's monograph and severa! others (e.g., Binford n.d.; Harington 1977; Tomenchuk 1976). In view of these considerations, it is not surprising that my treat- ment of the Old Crow fossils differs to sorne extent from that published by Bonnichsen (1979), and the differences can be summarized in terms of a few themes. I have not altered the "artificial" status of any of the mammoth boues published by Bonnichsen, but I have'interpreted a few of them somewhat differently. One "core" and one "flake" are interpreted by me as merely green fractured mammoth boues, and severa! of the cores are regrouped because I defined my categories on the basis of different criteria than were used by Bonnichsen. These are minor changes which have resulted from slight differences in the interpretation of flake scars and particularly from the recognition (as a result of the Ginsberg ex- periment) of scars which represent rebound flakes detached during primary fracture (see Appendix B). The major differences between this study and Bonnichsen's arise with respect to large mammal bones smaller than those of mammoths. Green bone fractures on limb bones smaller than those of mammoths are difficult to interpret because of the possibility that carnivores induced them. Although I have omitted from this report all the green fractured bones other than those of mammoths which were summarized by Bonnichsen (1979: Table 8), I cannat demonstrate that the omitted bones were not artificially frac- tured. Secondly I have placed "in limbe" a number of other specimens which exhibit flake scars· in view of the possibility that carnivore gnawing produced them; in particular any such specimen with visible evidence of carnivore gnawing (e.g. Bonnichsen 1979: Pl. VIII-3, 58-19076; Pl. VIII-9, 89-13662, 89-19426; Pl. VTII-10, 89-23265; Pl. VIII-12, 97-17110) was omitted from consideration as demonstrated artificially modifi.ed bane. The other -major changes· arase from the restudy of a "eut" bane and a "sawn" bane, both of which were omitted from the "artificially" modified // f r --r c---c--.~-----r--r--~ f r r---------r----r~---r-~--r------f --r---- Table 4.12. Comparison of classifications by Bonnichsen (1979) with the treatment of redeposited specimens in this report. Bonnichsen's Categories Gat. No. (Number in Bonnichsen 1979) Treatment in this report (Table references) r------ Bone cores: flakes removed from dorsal face NbVl-2:8 29-4 NbVl-2:11 NbVl-2:7 NaVl-4:6 NaVk-1:6 NaVk-5:28 NaVk-5:31 NaVk-6:8 NaVk-6:10 MlVl-5:21 MlVl-5:33 M1Vl-1:2c M1Vl-1:3c HlVl-1:25 MkVl-12 MkVl-12 MkVl-12:7 MkVl-12:9 MkVl-12:15 MkVl-8:18 MkVl-18:4 29-5 29-7 52-16326 58-19076 60-15306 60-24042 64-14421 64-20606 74-21 74-17328 80-2 80-3 80-25 (89-119, 206, 285, 321, 394, 850, 854, 860, 861) 89-13662 89-19426 89-23265 89-24901 81-18 98-4 In limbo: nature of edge adjacent to flake scars suggests that scars represent rebound flakes Green fracture only, not a core (Table Bl) Core fragment with confusing features (Table BlO) Longitudinal core on large mammal bone (Tables Bl3-14) In limbo: possible carnivore alterations Mammoth bone core with retouched platform (Tables B6-7) Mammoth bone core with retouched platform (Tables B6-7) Longitudinal core on large mammal bone (Tables Bl3-14) Mammoth bone core without preserved platform (Tables B2-3) Mammoth bone core with unmodified platform (Tables B4-5) Longitudinal core on large mammal bone (Tables Bl3-14) Mammoth bone core flaked transversely (Tables B8-9) Mammoth bone miscellaneous "core" (Table BlO) Mammoth bone core without preserved platform (returned from a loan too late to be included in Appendix B) (University of Toronto collections, not available for this study) In limbo: possible carnivore alterations In limbo: possible carnivore alterations In limbo: possible carnivore alterations Mammoth ivory core (Table Bl2) Mammoth bane core with unmodified platform (Tables B4-5) Longitudinal core on large mammal bone (Tables Bl3-14) Bone cores: flakes removed from 31-15664 74-14982 lateral edges NbVl-1:27 MlVl-5:30 MlVl-1:21 89-21 Longitudinal core on large mammal bone (Tables Bl3-14) Longitudinal core on large mammal bone (Tables Bl3-14) Mammoth bone core with retouchèd platform (returned from a loan too late ta be included in Appendix B; incorrectly attributed ta MkVl-12 in Bonnichsen 1979:114) r~ "" lJ1 \ \ Table 4.12 (Continued). Bonnichsen's Categories Cat. No. (Number in Bonnichsen 1979) Treatment in this report (Table references) Bane cores: flakes removed from MkV1-12:8 89-24910 MkVl-23:3 97-17110 Bane and Ivory Flakes NbVm-5:8 17-16303 NbVm-4:13 26-13 NbVl-1:6 31-6 NbVl-1:24 31-24 NaVk-5:26 60-14530 MlV1-5:48 74-15032 MlVl-5:49 74-15033 MlVl-5: 50 74-15034 MlVl-1:51 80-51 MlVl-1:53 80-53 MlVl-1:87 80-87 MlVl-1:154 80-15363 Mk\Tl-12 (89-20, 567, 684, 855, 1331) MkVl-12:12 89-23556 MkVl-12:11 89-24904 MkVl-8:11.1 91-111 MkVl-8:21 91-16904 MkVl-8:22 91-16906 Bones with thinning scars NaVk-1:7 58-23678 NaVk-5:4 60-4 MlVl-5:27 74-15085 M1V1-5:26 74-15143 M1V1-1:4 80-4 MkVl-10:15 83-14197 MkV1-12 (89-155, 602) lateral edges (cont.J In limbo: green fracture only on large mammal bone In 1imbo: possible carnivore alterations Bone flake (Table Bll) Ivory flake (Table Bl2) Bone flake (Table Bll) Bone flake (Table Bll) Green fractured mammoth bone (Table Bl) Ivory flake (Table Bl2) Bone flake (Table Bll) Bone flake (Table Bll) Ivory flake (Table Bl2) Bone flake (Table Bll) Bone flake (Table Bll) Bone flake (Table Bll) (University of Toronto collections, not available for this study) - Bone flake (Table Bl1) Bone flake (Table Bll) Bone flake (Table Bll) Bone flake (Table Bll) Bone flake (Table Bll) Mammoth boue core f1aked transversely (Tables B8-9) Mammoth bone core flaked transversely (Tables B8-9) Mammoth bone core flaked transversely (Tables B8-9) In limbe: flaking heavily rounded, may be naturally induced Mammoth bone core flaked transversely (returned from a loan too late to be included in Appendix B) Mammoth bone core flaked transversely (Tables B8-9) (University of Toronto collections, not available for this study) 1.0 0'1 1 r r_, ,, r r--, r~-r ,, r--~ r--r~~ r __ ,_ r--C"-'" r---, c---, r c---r- Table 4.12 (Continued). Bonnichsen's Categories Cat. No. (Number in Bonnichsen 1979) Treatment in this report (Table references) Bones with distal shaping flakes ? 999-999 (Not seen) MlVl-1:35 80-35 MkVl-4:11.8 103-8 Polished bone; "flake scars" are normal irregu1arities (Table Bl7) Mammoth bone core with retouched platform (Tables B6-7) Shaped bone MlVl-l:lc HiVl-1:1 MjVj-6:1 MjVl-1:26c and antler 80-1 109-1 114-1 115-26 Polished facets NbVl-2:6 29-6 NaVk-5:1 60-8 NaVk-5:32 60-23753 MkVl-12 (89-795) Expedient NaVk-5:29 NaVk-5:33 NbVn-1:1 NaVl-8:1 tools 60-15288 60-23761 12-16431 46-23741 Cut bone; flesher (Table Bl9) Cut and polished antler; wedge Cut and polished antler; wedge Cut and polished antler; wedge (Table Bl8) (Table Bl8) (Table B18) Cut and polished antler; "pestle" Polished bone (Table Bl7) Polished bone (Table Bl7) (University of Toronto collections, not available for this study) In limbo: flake scars represent rebound flakes Polished bone (Table Bl7) Polished bone (Table Bl7) Polished bone (Table Bl7) MisceUaneous MlVk-1:1.1 MlVl-5:46 HlVl-1:93 HlVl-1:104 MlVl-1:155 ground and polished artifacts eut bone MlVl-5:34 Sawn bone MlVl-1:57 73-11 Green fractured and polished mammoth bone (Tables Bl, Bl7) 74-15028 Mammoth bone core flaked transversely and polished (Tables B8-9, Bl7) 80-93 Transverse core on large mammal bone, polished and eut (Tables Bl3-14, 80-15359 Polished bone (Table Bl7) 80-15450 Polished bone (Table B17) 74-15029 In limbo: possible carnivore alterations 80-57 Rejected: "sawn" grooves are natural sutural grooves Bl7) c '-0 -...! -98 - lis·t. The "eut" bone is. the splint bone of a h.orse on which_ diagonal grooves on oppos-ing s--ides· -may repres:ent attrition created by· the car- nas-s·ial teeth of a large carnivore. The "s-awn" bone bas for years been featured as-a cranl:al fragment on wliidï the "deep angular grooves-••• could only have Eeen made by -man" (Irving 1971: 69; Bonnichsen 1979: 139), but a careful ~amination of the fracture surface adjacent to the grooves s-hows that no bone bas been removed from this piece while the grooves themselves terminate in tiny foramina which are typical of the "tongue- and groove" overlapping sutures between the temporal and parietal bones. These kinds of errors are easily made if descriptions are based only upon macroscopic observations or if the descriptive work is done in poor light and in haste. Bonnichsen's observations were not so poorly made, but the fossils are very difficult to clean in the laboratory because they literally fall apart if they are rewetted after drying during ship- ment. In recent years we have adopted the practice of carefully cleaning the fossils in the field before they become too dry to withstand washing in water. Several of the pieces which have been reinterpreted in this report were subjected to additional cleaning under the microscope, and the sutural grooves of the "sawn" bone were recognized in that manner. A more important observation in this summary is that Bonniehsen and I agree fundamentally not only on the existence of a substantial number of artificial modifications among the Old Crow fossils but also on the general nature of the modifications. Bones, tusks, and antlers were arti- ficially altered in the green state by means of fracturing, flaking, polishing, and cutting, and these alterations occur on a small but nu- merically significant portion of the total fossil yield in the Old Crow valley. As the collections have grown through further field work, the artificially modified pieces have continued to accumulate as well. Bonnichsen (1979) reported 68 artificially modified specimens (in addition to green fractured boues) which bad been collected as of 1973 and stored at the National Museum of Man (Table 4.11), and this report includes 151 such pieces as of 1979 (Table 4.10). Our general agreement about these collections far outweighs the interpretive differences concerning a rela- tively miner number of particular specimens. -99 - Pl. 4.1. Green fractured mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bone fragment from MkVl-3, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Note the smoothly curving spirals and the acute angles between the fracture surfaces and the outer bone surface; smooth texture and even staining of the fracture surface also reflect green fracture. ! Nat. size. -100 - • Pl. 4.2. Experimentally detached fragments from the same bone shown in Pl. 4.1 prior to its sacrifice for radiocarbon dating. Note the contrasting colour and rough texture of the fracture surfaces, the right angles formed with the outer surface and the recti- linear outlines of the fractures. ~ Nat. size. -101 - Pl. 4.3. Green fractured and scraped mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bone fragment (MjVj-1:1.1) from the Porcupine River, northern Yukon Territory. In the view on the left the upper end is the green fractured margin, and the sub- parallel scraping marks are clearly visible on much of the bone surface. The view on the right is of the pronounced loading point cone preserved on the end of the specimen. ! Nat. size. -102 - Pl. 4.4. Green fractured mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bone (MlVl-12:11) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. Pl. 4.5. Green fractured mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bane (MlVl-14:3) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. -104 - Pl. 4.6. Green fractured mannnoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bone (MkVl-5: 13) from Old Crow River, nort hern Yukon Territ ory. ~ Nat. size. - -105 - Pl. 4.7. Longitudinally flaked core without preserved platform on mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bone (NaVk-1:12) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. -106 - Pl. 4.8. Longitudinally flaked core without preserved p1atform on mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bane (M1V1-1:143) from 01d Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. -107 - Pl. 4.9. Longitudinally flaked core with unmodified fracture surface platform on mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bone (MiVl-1:12) from the Porcupine River, northern Yukon Territory. Transverse flaking and slightly diagonal scraping are visible in the lateral view on the right. 3/4 Nat. size. -108 - Pl. 4.10. Longitudinally flaked core with unmodified fracture surface platform on mammoth (cf. Mammuthu s sp.) long bane (HkVl-8: 17) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. 1 / ~ -109 - Pl. 4.11. Longitudinally flaked core with retouched platform on mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bane (NaVl-7:1) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. -110 - Pl. 4.12. Longitudinally flaked core with retouched platform on mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bone (MlVl-12:4) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. .. .... -111 - Pl. 4.13. Longitudinally flaked core with retouched platform on mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bane (NbVl-9:1) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size • Pl. 4.14. Longitudinally flaked core with retouched platform on mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bane (MkVl-24:1) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. ...... ...... N Pl. 4.15. Transversely flaked core on mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bone (MlVl-1:142) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. 1-' 1-' w -114 - Pl. 4.16. Transversely flaked core on mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bone (MkVl-26:1) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Note the prominent hackle marks in the flake scar on the right. ~ Nat. size. -115 - Pl. 4.17. 'Mârmnoth (cf. Marnmu t hu.B sp.) long bene flake (NbVm-2:18) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. \ Pl. 4.18. Mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bone flake (MlVl-7:507) from Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. Catalogue number corrected after photograph was made. 3/4 Nat. size. 1-" 1-" 0\ -117 - Pl. 4.19. Mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bone flake (MkVl-24:3) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. ~ Nat. size. Pl. 4.20. Flakes and core on unidentified large mammal bones from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Left: transverse core (NbVl-6:1); center: loading point flake (MkVl-12: 13); right: longitudinally struck flake (NbVl-2:13). Nat. size. ....... ....... co -119 - Pl. 4.21. Extensively scratched horse (~quus sp.) metapodial (NbVm-1:3) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Plan view 3/4 Nat. size; other views ca. 2t Nat. size. -120 - Pl. 4.22. Green fractured and ground mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bane (MkVl-8:16) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Note long ground facet with oblique and transverse striae in overview on right (Nat. size). Two views on left show close-ups (1.6 X Nat. size) of different groups of striae in various orientations. Pl. 4.23. Bison sp. right scapula blade with polished and grooved facet on fracture surface at the distal end, from Porcupine River, northern Yukon Territory (MiVl-1:4). Plan view nat. size. r-' N r-' -122 - Pl. 4.24. Polished horse (Equus sp.) mandible (NaVk-5:1) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Lateral view (above) shows orientation of facets on superior border of corpus, and superior view (below) reveals orientation of facet on alveolar ridges which separate the sockets of the inciser teeth. Nat. size. Pl. 4.25. Equus sp. left tibia shaft with polished facets on green fracture surfaces at the distal end (to the right), from Old Crow River ·, northern Yukon Territory (MkVl-9:14). Nat. size. f-' N w Pl. 4.26. Equus sp. right tibia shaft fragment with polished outer and fracture surfaces at the distal end (to the right), from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory (MlVl-1: 125). The visible carnivore gnawing marks truncate the polish on the outer surface (see discussion in text). 3/4 Nat. size. t-' N .1>- -125 - Pl. 4.27. Rangi f er t ar andus antler billet from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory (NbVl-2:15). This specimen was associated with the Anodonta phase (see text for discussion and description). ~Nat. size . - 1 2 6 - Pl. 4.28. Cuts made b y stone tools on bones of white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons ) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Left: tibiotarsus (MlVl-5:56) with cuts on distal condyles. Right: humerus (MkVl-12:16) with eut on shaft near distal end. Both Nat. size in plan views. ... -127 - Pl. 4.29. Cuts made by a stone tool on the innominate of an unidentified large mammal (NbVl-2:12) from Old Crow valley, northern Yukon Territory. 1~ Nat. size • \ IN m CM - Pl. 4.30. Caribou (Rang i f e r tarandus) tibia fleshing tool (MlVl-1:1) from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Plan view (above) is from Nat. Museums of Canada Neg. No. Jl9221-7. Stereo pair (below) shows whittled facets resulting from the use of a stone tool to shape the working end. A longitudinal split has opened in the specimen since it was sawn through the shaft to obtain a radiocarbon sample. f-' N 00 L l ..... i.... 1 t_ ._ 1.- ' ..... .... - 1... ._ l. '- ._ i·' ._ - '- l- CHAPTER 5. }fl.Vl-7: A MODERN BAR ON JOHNSON CREEK Description Much of the collecting from modern banks and bars in the Old Crow region has been selective with an eye toward specimens of archaeological and paleontological significance. Beginning in 1977, we decided to col- lect every specimen which could be found on a particular bar in the Johnson Creek valley, a left bank tributaryof the Old Crow River which enters 72 km above the river mouth. The bar (Harington's Loc. 71) had been extensively collected by C.R. Harington in 1975 (Harington 1977:61) but had remained untouched by collectors during 1976 and the spring break-up of 1977. We collected every bane, tooth, tusk, and antier in sight on 26 July 1977 and on 24 July 1978, and these two samples form the basis for the discussion which follows. An additional sample, col- lected by Mr. David Parama, University of Alberta, in August 1979, has been carefully examined, but it arrived the day after the previous mater- fals had been tabulated and it appears not to offer outstanding reasons for altering the presentation. The bar designated MlVl-7 is interesting in part because of its recent formation. In 1967, when I first travelled up Johnson Creek with W.N. Irving and J. Cinq-Mars, this bar was quite small and was situated on the inside of the seventh bend above the mouth of Johnson Creek, dawn- stream from a long meander loop. In 1968, the narrow neck of land at the base of the long meander loop was breached by Johnson Creek so that the MlVl-7 bar began to enlarge at the inside of a much more energetic bend situated just below the newly formed channel. The bar is now approx- imately 100 m long and 20 m wide at lowest water, and it receives fossil boues from eroding deposits (MlVl-10) just above the new channel as well as from farther upstream. Most of these fossils accumulate at the upper end of the bar, and there is a noticeable thinning of the fossil density as one walks away from the central axis of the stream. Many fossils have been collected from under the water at the edges of the bar, and fossils probably could be found anywhere in the stream channel in this area. It is possible that some of the fossils were deposited early in the dawn- cutting history of the Old Crow basin and that these are now being newly expos,ed as Johnson Creek continues to adjust its new course. Other fos- sils are probably introduced to the surface of the bar during spring break-up when the boues can be ice-rafted and washed downstream. Al- though many of the fossils probably have been exposed and reworked by Johnson Creek itself, it is also possible that the Old Crow River is res-pons,ible for sorne of the accumulation since the bar is situated just within the lateral-most valley wall of the river. In fact it is possible to envision an ancient meander loop which would have made MlVl-7 a point liar only a short distance downstream from MlVl-2 (to be described in Chapter 6) • Since all the visible fossils were collected during each visit to MlVl-7, this' sample is suitable for a more comprehensive analysis of all varieties· of bane alteration. Tdeally the analysis would account for all alterations·which have occurred to the specimens from the time of each -129 - Table 5.1. Distribution of bones, teeth, tusks, and antlers from MlVl-7, Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. Taxon Bon es Tee th Tusks Antlers Totals Pisces (fish) 1 1 Lepus americanus (snowshoe·hare) 1 1 L. arcticus (Arctic hare) 1 1 Castoroides ohioensis (giant beaver) 1 2 3 Alopex lagopus (Arctic fox) 1 1 Ursidae, Genus? (bear) 1 1 cf. Mammuthus sp. (mammoth) 127 37 49 213 Equus sp. (horse) 49 7 56 Rangifer tarandus (caribou) 3 1 2 6 Alces alces (moose) 1 1 Ovibos moschatus (muskox) 1 1 ?Symbos sp. (extinct muskox) 1 1 Bison sp. (bison) 19 3 22 t-' Unidentified large mammals 277 .. 11 288 w 0 Cervidae, Genus? 5 5 ------ Tota1s 480 64 49 8 601 i 1 L. L L- L ,' 1-i i 1 l.... ii.,.. 1- L L ~ fa.. '- '- !..... ..... ~ - -131 - animal' s dea th un til the. time of collection and analysis. Such_ an analy- s-i·s-would specify the "taphono.mic pathway" followed hy each s.pecimen in i'ts· passage from the. ~i'osphere to the lithosphere to the lahoaratory. The analys·is given below provides a partïal fulfillment of this i'deal by summarizing the frequencïes of obs-ervable alterations in relation to inferences regardi·ng the likely "causes" or agencies of alteration as described in Chapter 3. On that basis the "taphànomic history" of the s-ample is approximated, and the arcbaeological component is identified as one of many contributors to the modification of individual specimens and assemblages. The vertebrate fossils from MlVl-7 have been analyzed from several standpoints: size of sample, size of specimens, permineralization, degree of rounding, exfoliation, split lines, etching, pitting, fracture pat- terns, flaking, and polishing. One of our goals in summarizing the occurrence of these alterations is to identify the presence or absence of an arch- aeological component in this collection, and I believe that the proper approacb to this problem is through the analysis of all features on the specimens whicb can shed light on the array of altering agencies which bave operated on the total assemblage. Sample Size Of the 601 fragmentary and intact specimens analyzed from MlVl-7, 480 are bones, 64 are teeth, 49 are tusks, and eight are antlers (Table 5.1). Only the bones are included in subsequent tables since the teeth, tusks, and antlers were found to exhibit little systematic variation which would be useful in this analysis. Individual specimens of tooth and tusk will be mentioned under appropriate headings, but their overall distributions will not be tabulated. Specimen size Table 5.2 summarizes length, width, and weight for the 480 bones from MlVl-7. The standard deviations are very large for most categories, even for those which include large numbers of specimens. The ~arge amount of variance reflects the bighly skewed distribution of most categories since the majority of the specimens are relatively small but may be ac- companied by a few much larger pieces. The skewdness of these distributions would render meaningless any statistical test whicb assumes a normal dis·tribution, so such tests have not been used in comparing the MlVl-7 sample with others in thé Old Crow basin. It should be borne in mind that the bones collected from MlVl-7 were generally the largest abjects on the bar. The associated sediments consisted primarily of coarse sand and silt and very little fine gravel. The only ether large objects were several pieces of wood including a few nearly intact trees wbicb had been stranded on the bar as the water re- ceded. Very few small fossils of any kind have been recovered from MlVl-7 despite our deliberate efforts to avoid overlooking them. Prob- ably· the smaller mammal, bird, and fish remains bave been carried farther downstream by Jonns-on Creek. Table 5.2. Distribution of metric data for bones from MlVl-7, Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. Width measurements not recorded for unidentified bones; lbf, long bone fragments Length (mm) Width Chord (mm) Weight (g) Taxon No. Mean S.D. Range Mean S.D. Range Mean S.D. Range ------ Identified bones Pise es 1 10.0 9.0 0.3 Lepus americanus 1 41.0 38.0 2.0 L. a,rcticus 1 68.0 7.0 2.1 Castoroides ohioensis 1 85.0 39.0 27.1 Alopex Zagopus 1 41.0 11.0 1.5 cf. Mammuthus sp. ribs 30 88.3 36.2 37-185 37.2 12.5 16-92 50.5 63.7 6.6-342.8 cf. Mammuthus sp. lbf 75 111.5 57.5 40-289 55.9 25.1 19-163 155.3 211.1 7.5-1391.0 cf. Mammuthus sp. mise. 22 131.4 57.2 67-274 88.4 29.5 30-145 385.2 458.5 44.3-1996.0 Equus sp. 49 85.1 46.9 38-256 51.3 13.4 29-85 92.7 98.1 16.3-536.8 Rangifer tarandus 3 64.7 18.2 45-81 42.3 12.5 28-51 44.8 31.9 13.7-77.5 Bison sp. 19 74.7 30.5 . 36-153 46.0 20.6 23-103 78.9 76.2 15.5-320.6 Unidentified large mammals Rib fragments 50 50.6 29.1 17-192 8.1 9.0 0.7-45.5 l-' Long bone fragments 180 53.5 23.1 12-155 13.2 11.7 0.3-52.9 w N . 1. Mise. fragments 28 64.8 35.0 25-210 32.4 26.9 2.7-116.7 Unclassifiable fragments 19 38.4 15.4 12-68 13.0 12.7 0.3-47.6 \ Total 480 i.... i.... L 1 i.... 1 ~ L 1.... ..... 1 t.... L i 1 - l- r L 1 ~o.... 1... - L - -133 - f'e.rmi'neral:tzation and S.taining Ih general tfie -:Ml\71-7 specfmens appear to be permi'neralized and stai'ned in the same ways-and to the same degrees-as most of the other redeposîted fossils in the Old Crow basin. Exceptions include several of the antier fragments which could represent Holocene caribou antier shedding in the valley. One mam.m.oth rib fragment has a very light stain (5YR4/4), but its density suggests that it has been permineralized and subsequently bleached by sub-aerial weathering. Vivi/mite and Hematite The occurrence of secondary minerais on the fossils from MlVl-7 is probably influenced by their recent removal from sedimentary matrix. Vivianite was observed on only 3.3% of the MlVl-7 boues, but hematite was seen on 75.4% of these specimens (Table 5.3). Some of the bones from MlVl-7 may have been reworked through sedimentary environments in which ferric iron is abundant. Such iron-rich sediments have been observed on the right oank of Johnson Creek only 0.1 km above MlVl-7, and the sed- iments appear to have accumulated secondarily in channels eut into the lower glacio-lacustrine unit and capped by Holocene terrace alluvium. Abundant bone fragments have been observed in these small channels, and some of them are completely coated with iron oxides. Rounding Each bane was examined at a magnification of 12X under a Wild MS microscope equipped with two lamps controlled with variable transformers. The specimens were illuminated at a law angle (ca. 30°) so as to ob-tain a clear view of surface discontinuities and edge conditions. Each spec- imen was assigned to one of four rounding classes (Table 5.4) which were defined as follows: 0, not rounded, means that all edges and ridges are sharply defined so that no rounding is apparent, even under magnification; S, slightly rounded, means that rounded features àre apparent under mag- nifîcation but are not noticeaole to the unaided eye and that no appreciable change of shape has been caused by rounding; M, moderately rounded, means that s-ome rounding is evident to the unaided eye but that little or no change of shape is attributable to rounding; and H, heavily rounded, means that conspicuous shape-altering rounding has occurred (see Pl. 2. 5). The dis-tribution of these rounding classes is shown in Table 5. 4 for the oones from MlVl-7. All of the specimens are rounded to some degree, and moderate rounding characterizes the majority of the pieces. Many of these fossils may have been reworked repeatedly with progressive rounding taking place on each such occasion. A major unknown variable with respect to rounding is the influence of ice in the annual breakup of the stream. Both i'ce and repeated re,working may have contributed to the remark.able and conspicuous rounding seen on the MlVl-7 boues, and these ~pecimens have been damaged to an extent never seen in samples found in primary-contexts-in the banks of the Old Crow River. Table 5.3. Distribution of hematite and vivianite stains on bones from MlVl-7, Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. Taxon No. Hematite None Vivianite None Identified bones Pise es 1 1 1 Lepus amePieanus 1 1 1 L. aPetieus 1 1 1 CastoPoides ohioensis 1 1 1 Alopex Zagopus 1 1 1 cf. Mammuthus sp. ribs 30 29 1 30 cf. Mammuthus sp. lbf 75 65 10 2 73 cf. Mammuthus sp. mise. 22 17 5 2 20 Equus sp. 49 39 10 2 47 RangifeP taPandus 3 1 2 3 Bison sp. 19 14 5 19 1-' w Unidentified Large Mamnials .p. Rib fragments 50 45 5 50 1 Long bone fragments 180 108 72 7 173 Misce1laneous fragments 28 26 2 2 26 Unclassifiable fragments 19 16 3 1 18 Totals 480 361 119 16 464 r r r~-1 ~-~, r~--r~~, r-----~ ,~---~ r------r-~ r~, r·--·· r--r-~-., r-· r -- Table 5.4. Distribution of rounding classes, exfoliation, and split lines for bones from MlVl-7, Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. Rounding Taxon No. s M H Exfoliated None ~lit Lines None Identified bones Pise es 1 1 1 1 Lepus americanus 1 1 1 1 L. arcticus 1 1 1 1 Castoroides ohioensis 1 1 1 1 AZopex Zagopus 1 1 1 1 cf. Mammuthus sp. ribs 30 4 19 7 8 22 16 14 cf. Mammuthus sp. lbf 75 4 46 25 28 47 34 41 cf. Mammuthus sp. mise. 22 2 14 6 3 19 12 10 Equus sp. 49 15 27 7 15 34 40 9 Rangifer tarandus 3 2 1 3 2 1 Bison sp. 19 3 13 3 9 10 14 5 1 Unidentified Large Mamma1s f-l w Rib fragments 50 8 35 7 23 27 26 24 lJ1 Long bane fragments 180 15 119 46 80 100 83 97 Misce11aneous fragments 28 8 11 9 10 18 13 15 Unc1assifiab1e fragments 19 1 8 10 1 18 8 11 Totals 480 63 296 121 181 299 250 230 Lege nd S, s1ightly rounded; M, moderate1y rounded; H, heavily rounded (see text for definitions) Table 5.5. Distribution of pitting and etching on bones from MlVl-7, Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. See text for explanation of pitting types. Etching occurs on outer (0), inner (I), fracture (F), and multiple (OIF) surfaces. Pit ting Etching Taxon ' No. A BF BC None 0 I OF IF OIF None ----- ------------ Identified bones Pisces 1 1 1 Lepus americanus 1 1 1 L. arcticus 1 1 1 Castoroides ohioensis 1 1 1 Alopex lagopus 1 1 1 cf. Mammuthus sp. ribs 30 2 3 25 2 1 27 cf. Mammuthus sp. lbf 75 4 6 5 60 12 3 60 cf. Mammuthus sp. mise. 22 2 1 19 3 19 Equus sp. 49 2 5 8 34 3 46 Rangifer tarandus 3 2 1 1 2 Bison sp. 19 2 17 4 1 14 1-' w 0\ Unidentified Large Mamma1s Rib fragments 50 1 4 45 3 47 \ Long bone fragments 180 8 13 11 148 12 2 10 1 6 149 Miscellaneous fragments 28 3 2 3 20 7 21 Unclassifiable fragments 19 2 2 15 1 18 Totals 480 18 35 39 388 49 2 15 1 6 407 ~--~-----"-'"---·------···-~~- ' ._ i 1 1.... L 1 1.... L L. [ L .... ' 1 L. ~..... - 1 1.... ' ! - ._ r r ._ ~ l. - '- -137 - Exfoliation and Split Lines These features are attributed primarily to sub-aerial weathering of bones and appear to be functions primarily of time, temperature, mois- ture, and soil chemistry (see Chapter 3; Behrensmeyer 1978). The frequency of exfoliation and split lines in the MlVl-7 sample is shown in Table 5.4. Split lines occur on slightly more than half of the speci- mens, and exfoliation is seen among a smaller portion of the sample. Some of the exfoliation may have resulted from repeated wet and dry conditions during redeposition of the MlVl-7 fossils, and the high fre- quency of split line observation is related in part to the relatively large size of the individual specimens. Smaller specimen sizes can be achieved simply by split line separation which reduces the number of observable split lines remaining on the specimens. It is possible that some of these features developed after the permineralization of the bones, so the frequencies shown in Table 5.4 do not represent a direct measure of the extent of sub-aerial weathering in the history of this sample. Pitting A variety of pitting features were observed on the bones from MlVl-7, and several distinguishable types are probably attributable to different agencies of bone alteration. Their distributions are shawn in Table 5.5. Type A pitting. A few of the bones are pitted so as to reduce the general cortical surface of the specimens, leaving behind "high spots" where the original outer surface can still be observed. I suggest that this kind of pitting is due primarily to acid attack by humates in soil and other acids in ground water, but some specimens may have been so intensely attac.ked by plant rootlets (see below) that coalescent etching features are responsible for some of these alterations. Bonnichsen (1979: 29-30) attributed a sort of ridge-and-valley morphology to the work of acids on bone surfaces, and I observed such features on several bones from MlVl-7 but did not record this pattern systematically. Type B pitting. A larger number of bones exhibit discrete pits on one or more surfaces, and sorne of these pits are very fine and precisely round (Type BF) while others are coarser and more irregular in shape (Type BC). Often the Type BC pits are associated with scrapes, scratches, and perforations which are commonly seen on bones chewed by carnivores, and I suggest that this entire category can be attributed to carnivore gnawing. The Type BF pits are rouch too small and too precisely defined to be explained as gnawing features, and they commonly occur with etching patterns thought to be attributable to plant rootlets (see below). Type BF pits are interpreted as the contact points of rootlet tips from which most root exudates are produced (Strang 1979). Type BF and BC pitting each occurred on less than 10% of the MlVl-7 bones (Table 5.5). Table 5.6. Distribution of fracture types on bones from MlVl-7, Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. 0/0, intact bane; 0/y, bane fractured after permineralization; x/y, bane fractured when fresh. Wall thickness (x/y) Taxon No. 0/0 QŒ x/y Mean S.D. Range Identified bones Pi sees 1 1 Lepus amerieanus 1 1 L. aretieus 1 1 Castoroides ohioensis 1 1 Alopex lagopus 1 1 cf. Mammuthus sp. ribs 30 27 3 ll.8 8.9-16.0 cf. Mammuthus sp. lbf 75 50 25 17.4 6.2 8.5...:28.5 cf. Marnmuthus sp. mise. 22 21 1 64.6 Equus sp. 49 12 30 7 8.1 1.9 6.3-11.9 Rangifer tarandus 3 2 1 6.8 Bison sp. 19 7 11 1 10.1 1-' w 00 Unidentified Large Mammals Rib fragments 50 40 10 4.2 1.8 1.4-6. 7 Long bane fragments 180 104 76 8.4 3.2 2.4-18.1 Miscellaneous fragments 28 27 1 4.3 Unclassifiable fragments 19 19 Totals 480 19 336 125 i.... '- i k.... \ ~ ~ f L. L L... i..... \• ' ._ i.... .....,; r 1 ~ L \ 1- 1.... ....... -139 - E.tching Dis-tincl;i>ve dendritic etching patterns-seen on many· oones are thought to repres·ent the attack of plant rootlets. The frequency of etching fs·. shawn for MlVl-7 in Taole 5.5 where the data are cast so as to show tfie locat:ton of etching on the fossils. Most of the etched bones are etcfied only on their outer surfaces, but etching in the medullary cavity can occur if roots are able to grow through an unbroken shaft the ends of which have been removed or if a shaft is broken open to expose the medullary cavity. Obviously the occurrence of etching on a fracture surface indicates that the fracture occurred prior to plant rootlet attack. Fracture Patterns Attributes used to distinguish green bane fractures from dry and permineralized bane fractures were discussed at length in Chapter 3 (see Tables 3.2-3.3). These attributes were used in classifying the MlVl-7 bones with the same fractional coding procedure which has been described in Appendix B (Table 5.6). Green bane fractures were observed on 25.8% of the MlVl-7 specimens, and these fracture patterns occurred only on large mammal bones and were particularly abundant among the mammoth long bane fragments (31. 5%) and the unidentified large mammal long bane frag- ments (42.3%). Detailed observations on the green fractured mammoth bones were already presented in Tables Bl, B4, and B6. An important aspect of the fracture pattern analysis is the relat- ionship between green bane fractures and evidence for carnivore alterations. Wall thickness·es were measured on all green fractured specimens and are displayed in Table 5.6. Marked variation can be seen in these measurements with a maximum of 64.6 mm of compact bane occurring in a mammoth scapula which was fractured through the blade and the base of the spine. Most of the bane elements smaller than those of mammoths could have been broken by carnivores, although carnivore gnawing cannat be demonstrated for the majority of the green fractured bones. The distribution of car- nivore alterations in relation to fracture patterns has been arrayed in Taole 5.7, and there is a si§nificant departure from randomness in their associa ti on (P = 0. 9 39 tha t x will not be exceeded) • Two of the 23 green fractured mammoth long bane fragments exhibit evidence of carnivore gnaw- ing. On one (MlVl-7:285; Table Bl) of these the gnawing is not directly associated with the green fractured margins, and it is unlikely that the carnivore was responsible for the fractures. The second case is an im- mature mammoth tibia shaft which has extensive Type BC pitting in association with very ragged green fractures· at bath the proximal and the distal ends. The remainder of the shaft is preserved as a cylinder (MlVl-7: 110; Pl. 5.1), and the fractured ends consist of chipped back edges rather· than through-shaft fractures. Such cylinders are typical of carnivore activity, and the fracture form is quite distinctive and unlike any of the fractures on adult -ma1Illl'loth bones which I have attributed to human activity. Table 5.7. Distribution of carnivore alteration features on bones from MlVl-7, Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. Only those taxa which contain green bane fractures (x/y) are listed here. The three types of alteration shawn for green bane fractures (pitting, scoring, chipping) cannat be summed since one bane can occur in all three columns. 0/y x/y Type BC Taxon No. 0/0 Pitting None 0/y Total Type BC Pit ting Scoring Chips sp. ribs sp. lbf 30 75 Identified bones cf. Mcvnmuthus cf . Mammu thus cf. Mammuthus sp. mise. 22 Equus sp. Rangifer tarandus Bison sp. 49 3 19 Unidentified Large Mammals Rib fragments 50 Long bane fragments 180 Mise. fragments 28 Totals 456 3 24 3 47 1 20 12 4 26 1 1 7 11 19 1 6 3 22 39 98 24 290 Carnivore alterations Present Absent G) ~ 0/y 4-l 22 27 290 285 tJ ~ x/y 16 11 109 114 ~ Totals 38 399 27 50 21 30 2 11 40 104 27 312 Totals 312 125 437 2 3 1 3 5 14 1 2 1 2 6 2 1 3 x2 = 3.51; df = 1; p = 0.939 that x2 will not be exceeded Expected frequencies in italics Altered Total 2 5 1 3 5 16 None 3 23 1 2 1 7 71 1 109 x/y Total 3 25 1 7 1 1 10 76 1 125 1 l-' .p. 0 ~ • i-i t ! L 1- ~ ~ f 1- ' ï~ ~ ~ 1- ._ f \ ._ L \ ! - .._ !;, .._ -141 - Bone Flaking Cores and flakes from MlVl-7 were already presented along with similar specimens from other reworked deposits (Chapter 4, Appendix B). The following examples were found at MlVl-7: (1) one mammoth bone longi- tudinal core with an unmodified platform (Tables B4-5, Pl. 5.2); (2) one complex longitudinal core with a retouched platform made on a mammoth scapula fragment (Tables B6-7, Pl. 5.3); (3) one mammoth bane core frag- ment (Table BlO, Pl. 5.4); (4) three mammoth bane flakes (Table Bll, Pls. 4.19 and 5.5); and (5) three longitudinally flaked cores made on large mammal bones smaller than those of mammoths (Tables Bl3-14). One of the mammoth bone flakes (MlVl-7:507) is not included in the totals reported in this chapter, because the specimen was selected from the 1975 collection made by Harington rather than being recovered during our comprehensive collections of 1977 and 1978. Bones with Reduced and Incised Surfaces Four bones in this category were described with other specimens from reworked deposits in the Old Crow valley. These included a scratched bane (Table Bl5, Pl. 5.6a) and two polished bones (Table Bl7) which might have been altered either naturally or artificially as well as one polished specimen (Table Bl7, Pl. 5.6b) which was classified as artificiaLly modi- fied. Four bones which appeared on first examination to have been eut were finally classified as naturally altered or unaltered because the supposed "cuts" are either natural split line features (MlVl-7:152) or vascular grooves produced in response to blood vessels (MlVl-7:72, 219-6, 256). Sumnary In Table 5.8, the bane, tooth, tusk, and antler alterations observed in the collection from MlVl-7 have been summarized so as to identify the archaeological potential of the locality. All alterations observed on teeth, tusks, antlers, and intact bones are attributed to natural causes. Less than 1% (3 specimens) of the bones fractured after permineralization are thought possibly to have been altered by artificial means, and two of these pieces could readily be explained in terms of natural agencies. Fifteen bones which were fractured when green and which exhibit signs of carnivore chewing are attributed to probable natural agencies, and one of these bones is the tibia of an immature mammoth. One other chewed specimen is an adult mammoth limb bone on which the evidence of chewing is not directly associated with the green fractured margins, and this is believed to have been broken by man. Of 99 green fractured bones which show no other significant alteration, only the 19 mammoth limb bane frag- ments listed in Table Bl have been attributed to the action of man. Any or all of the remaining 81 specimens may well have been broken by man, but they might have been fractured by carnivores and are therefore placed in the "natural or artificial" column. The artificial status of the Table 5.8. Distribution of bone; tusk, tooth, and antler alterations with respect to the archaeological potential of MlVl-7, Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. Fracture category and other alterations Tables Total Teeth 5.1 64 Tusks 5.1 49 An tl ers 5.1 8 Intact bones (0/0) 5.6 19 Post-permineralization fractures (0/y) 336 Scratched bone Bl5 Polished bones Bl7 Green bane fractures (x/y) 125 Chewed 5.7, Bl No other alterations 5.6, Bl Core with unmodified platform B4-5 Core with retouched platform B6-7 Core fragment BlO Flakes Bll Large mammal bone cores Bl3-14 Polished bane Bl7 -- Totals 601 Legend * marks mammoth bones (numbers in parentheses are catalogue numbers) Natural Probably Agencies Natural 64 49 8 19 333 15 --- 473 15 Natural or Artificial 1 (326) 1 (321) 81 1 (288) - 84 Artificial 1 (289) 1*(285) 19>~ 1*(157) 1*(192) 1*(282) 2.*(79' 156) 3 (32, 224-4, 87) 29 l-' .p. N L. ï.... c t l.. 1 Ir - L L ~ ~ '- L ,i - i 1.... ~ i... i i..... 1 - ~ "- -143 - remaining eight specimens in the "artificial" column has already been explained. This conservative view of the MlVl-7 collection features 6% of the bones as artificially modified, and a less conservative view would add an additional 84 specimens to this list to bring the percentage to 23.5% This examination of the MlVl-7 collection provides an indication of the approximate amount of the fossil record in the Old Crow valley which is of interest to archaeologists. In his study of 1794 bones from MkVl-12, Bonnichsen (1979:79, Table 8, nLoc. 89") found that 13.2% had been "spirally fractured," but, unlike this study, the total count of such features was attributed to artificial causes. If we restrict the artifact count to mammoth and mastodon bones which were broken when green, the corresponding percentage is approximately 4.8% based on 86 specimens at MkVl-12 as of 1973. This compares very favourably with the proportion of artificially modified bones reported here from MlVl-7. Taphonomic Pathways to MlVl-? Taphonomic factors which have influenced the vertebrate remains from MlVl-7 are summarized in Table 5.9. In this tabular presentation I have attempted to account for the various taphonomic factors identified by Clark and Kiètzke (1967) and presented above as Fig. 3.1. One important variable which is not included in this model is the extent to which the boues of a given taxon are reduced in size with corresponding losses of diagnostic features. This factor is reflected in identifiability (41.9% at MlVl-7), but the significance of specimen reduction is quite different for lemming and mammoth bones. It is very important to remember that few small mammals, no birds, and only one fish bone were found at MlVl-7. Sorne of the alteration patterns which I have used in this analysis are rather difficult to assign to the taphonomic factors listed in Table 5.9. For example, post-permineralization fractures can occur as diagenetic processes after primary burial and in the absence of erosion and redepo- sition, but such fractures can also occur (probably even more frequently) during reworking of the fossil deposits and reburial in secondary contexts. To account for these possibilities I have listed such fractures as alter- ations pertaining to both taphic and anataxic factors. A second example is Type A pitting which I have attributed to acid attack and which I con- sider to be a taphic factor. Data to be prEsented in Chapter 6 shows that this pitting type is independent of the burial environment, at least with respect to secondary contexts, and this result throws sorne doubt on the que.stion of its placement in the model. Perhaps it also calls into question the association between Type A pitting and acid attack. Other such problems can be identified as well but would not likely affect the archaeological part of this analysis. At this stage in the presentation it is rather difficult to make historical sense of the data in Table 5.9 since I have offered no compar- able data set with which to make comparisons. Therefore we will return to this table during a discussion of similar data based upon excavated samples from MlVl-2, directly across the Old Crow valley from MlVl-7. -144 - Table 5. 9. Taphonomic factors pertaining to boues from Ml Vl-7, Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. Factors/ Assemblages Biotic factors Bone Alterations Life Assemblage (to be reconstructed) Thanatic factors (cause of death) Death Assemblage (to be reconstructed) Perthotaxic factors (post-death, pre-burial) Exfoliation Split lines Type BC pitting (chewing) Green bone fractures (x/y) Natural or artificial alterations Artificial alterations Taphic factors (time and nature of burial) Sedimentation rate Thickness of increments Velocity of current Nature of sediment Fossil Assemblage Type A pitting (acids) Etching (rootlets) Type BF pitting (rootlets) Post-permineralization fractures Anataxic factors (weathering, redeposition) Viviani te Hematite Rounding (0/S/M/H)_ Post-permineralization fractures Ancient redeposition Modern slumping Modern flooding Sullegic factors (collecting) Time investment in collection Collection technique Trephi:c factors (laboratory) Identifiability " Occurrence 37.7% 52.1% 8.1% 26.0% 17.5% 6.0% Seasona1ly variable Annually variable Seasonally variable Sand, silt, clay, fine gravel, flat bedded 3.8% 15.2% 7.3% 70.0% 3.3% 75.2% 0.0/13.1/61.7/25.2% 70.0% Unknown but probable None Annual Adequate Visual inspection 41.9% Pl. 5.1. Immature mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) tibia (MlVl-7: 110) from Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. Note chewing by carnivores at both ends. ~ Nat. size. -145 - Pl. 5.2. Longitudinally flaked core with unmodified fracture surface platform on mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bone fragment (MlVl-7:157) from Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. Pl. 5.3. Longitudinally flaked core with retouched platform on mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) scapula (MlVl-7:192) from Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. 3/4 Nat. size. ~ ~ (J\ -147 - Pl. 5.4. }'lanunoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) core fragment (MlVl-7:282) from Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. Pl. 5.5. Two flakes struck from mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) limb bone cores (MlVl-7:79, 156) from Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. Both Nat. size. 1-' .1>- CXl -149 - Pl. 5.6. Above: scratched large mammal rib fragment (MlVl-7:326). Left: Nat. size; right: 7.5X. Below: shaped and polished large mammal rib fragment (MlVl-7:289). Nat. size. Both from Johnson Creek, Old Crow basin, northern Yukon Territory. CHAPTER 6. MlVl-2: A HIGH BLUFF ON OLD CROW. RIVER Stratigraphy and Stations MlVl-2 is one of the best and largest exposures along the Old Crow valley and is located approximately one kilometer above the mouth of Johnson Creek on the right bank of the Old Crow River. The bluff stands about 35 m high during lowest stages of water and forms a southeastward- facing exposure about one kilometer long. Approximately half of the upstrearn end of the bluff has not been actively eroded in recent decades so that the stratigraphy is obscured by vegetation, but 400 rn of the downstream end is largely free of vegetation and is in excellent con- dition for stratigraphie observations and fossil prospecting. Even in this well exposed area, however, our investigations have been hampered locally by slumped sediments which conceal primary stratigraphy and which force us to conduct our studies in spatially separated portions of the bluff which we have called stations. A given station may offer good exposures at the base of the bluff or higher in the section, but few stations have afforded opportunities to study the entire sequence of sediments in a single vertical column. Therefore we have taken great care to correlate prominent stratigraphie units from one station to another so that fossil samples from the various stations can be com- bined to provide adequate sample sizes representative of major units in the overall stratigraphy. Intensive excavations in 1977 and 1978.form the basis for the pres- entation of three stratigraphically separate vertebrate fossil samples from MlVl-2. We will not need all the stratigraphie details for an un- derstanding of these samples, and such detailed presentation and discussion will be made elsewhere (Hughes, et aZ. 1980). For present purposes it will be adequate to identify the stations along the MlVl-2 exposure and to indicate in general terms the manner in which they have been sampled and related to one another. Three major stratigraphie positions have yielded the vertebrate sample to be described in this chapter, and they can be identified as follows in terms of the major units presented in Chapter 2 (Fig. 2.2). 1. Disconformity A: the contact between Units 3 and 4 has been identified at most of our stations at MlVl-2, and correlations between stations are aided by the occurrence of a volcanic ash 30-50 cm below the disconformity. At all stations the disconformity consists of cross-bedded silts and sands overlying blue-gray silty clay, and at two stations we have documented large ice-wedge pseudomorphs which .formed during a period of sub-aerial weathering and were subsequently melted and filled with sediment. These wedges were then truncated by a minor degree of erosion which was followed by the deposition of the cross-bedded silts and sands. One small area, two meters across, reveals a gleysol profile on the disconformity, and this area seems to preserve the original soil wnich formed on the surface and which has elsewhere been removed oy erosion. The surface of the sail yielded a remarkably well preserved suite of plant and invertebrate fossils which indicate a former forest floor consistîng of spruce twigs with their needles still attached, crîss-crossed sticks which had fallen from the trees, canes and masses -150 - .....1 - - -1 -.J' i --- ' - .... ' - - ...J i - """" --' L i L L 1..... loool ._.. L. """' L l.. i L ..... L '- 1.... l.... t l... """" -151 - and gastropods and ·ins:ects: whi.ch lived or accumulated berteàth the tree cover. Sorne of th if uoss-es· are so well preserved tha t they spring back irtto their growth pos·itîonS'-when removed from the surrounding sediment. Very few vertefîrate fos-s·ils· occur in the area where the s·oil is preserved. Wfiile it is· unfortunate that we have not found larger areas of s·oil pres·ervation, our vertebrate sample would be much smaller were it not for the concentration of fossils which was prodUced during erosion and the deposition of the overlying silts and sands (Table 6.1). 2. At depths of 10 to 12 rn below Disconformity A, vertebrates have been excavated from sands and silts interbedded with clays and detrital organic concentrations (Table 6.2). This sample of fossils will be called the mid-section sample s·ince it was recovered from sedimentary units about half way up the bluff. The sample was obtained from three stations at the downstream end of MlVl-2 where we suspect that a major channel deposit· represents an episode of cutting and filling in the alluvial sequence. We cannat see a cross-section of such a channel in this area, but we sus- pect that a channel is exposed near its longitudinal section so that major dipping of the beds is not noticeable. Measurements of the verticat distance between Disconformity A and the mid-section deposit in succes- sive field seasons indicate that the vertical separation of the two samples is growing less as the bluff continues to erode. This would be expected if the beds exposed in the bluff are dipping toward the river. On the basis of channel cross-sections seen at other localities (e.g., MkVl-9 and MkVl-10) nearby in the valley, we believe that it is likely that Disconformity A represents a floodplain associated with the channel deposits which produced our mid-section sample. Therefore there may be very little difference in the age of the two deposits despite their vertical separation in the exposure. The channel deposits would have formed as point bars grew in a meandering stream such as the present Old Crow River. An analogy can be drawn between these ancient geomorphological relationships and those which we see today in the same area. The mid-section deposit is analogous to the modern sand bars, and Disconformity A is anal- ogous to the modern terrace surface, approximately 15 rn above the water level, on which we placed our camp. 3. A small sample of vertebrates was obtained by excavation in detrital organic sands which overlie the reworked glaciolaèustrine clays at the base of the bluff (Table 6.3). These sands form the oldest de- posits of Unit 3 (see Chapter 2), and they seem not to have been disturbed by subsequent alluvial activity. The fossils may be very much older than the other two samples and could date to Sangamon Interglacial times. Narked differences in the nature of the bone alterations will be noted in the analys-is, and there is no sign of an archaeological comportent in this· small sample. Fifteen s·tations have been designated at MlVl-2, and they were numbered in the order in which we happened to study them. Therefore the numoers do not systematically increase in any given direction, and a map is· needed to understand their locations (Fig. 6.1). The stations will be summarized to ïndicate their significance for stratigraphie observations and fos-s-H samph~s. The downstream end of the bluff was paced off to Table 6.1. Distribution of vertebrate taxa by station at MlVl-2~ Disconformity A, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Roman style (1), bones; italics style (1}, teeth; small numbers (1 ), tusk fragments. Taxon Stations: Pisces, Family? Coregoninae, Genus? cf. Coregon:us sp. _____ _ Coregon:us sp. Lota Zota L. af. Zota ________ _ Av es, Family? Anatidae, Genus? Lagopus sp. ________ _ Passeriformes, Family? Lepus ameriaanus L. aratiaus ---------Marmota monax SpermophiZus parryi Castor aanadensis Castoroides ohioensis ____ _ Lemmus sibiriaus Diarostonyx torquatus ____ _ Ondatra zibethiaus Miarotus xanthognathus Cricetidae, Genus? AZopex Zagopus ------ cf. Ursus sp. MusteZa erminea cf. Fe Zis aanadensis - - - - - Panthera Zeo atrox cf. Mammuthus sp. Equus sp. cf. Equus sp. Alaes sp. l t l 1 - --1 -- 2 -- 1 -- -- l 1 -- -- ~ 3 2±.__ 2 3 5 1 5 ----------1 3 ----------1 4 4 1 1 ----------1 1 4 4 1 3 8 4 1 ----------1 3 2 1 ------~----1 2 1 1 1 6 3 2 -g-----~----8 1 1 8 2 12 8 1 ----------- 2 1 1 1 ----------1 15 3 1 1 _.6_6_ __42----1 1 1 L_ l 1 6 7 9 12 13 14 15 Totals 1 4 11 1 1 1 1 -----------------------------1 1 1 5 1 2 3 ~------r------------------------2 1 1 10 2 -------~----------' ---~--------1 2 8 1 2 1 12 10 r---------------~------r----------1 2 1 1 6 1 3 1 ~------r--------~------r---------1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 11 4 r--------r--2-----'----------1---------2 2 2 24 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 8 1 2 28 22 r--------1-------1-------1--------- 2 1 1 1 r--------1-------1-------1---------1 1 1 3 4 1 25 8 r--.6.-__ 2_ 1----_.6_1_ 1-_...!__ __2_ ------...!._02_- 1 1 1 1 1 l_ ( r t --( -( ( 1-' V1 N f_ c·· r-------r r--~- Table 6.1 (Continued). Taxon Stations: Rangifer tarandus cf. Rangifer tarandus ____ _ Bison sp. cf. Bison sp. Manunalia, FamÎly?------- (Large manunals) Cranial fragments Mandible fragments _____ _ Scapula fragments Vertebra fragments Innominate fragments ____ _ Rib fragments Distal metapodia1 Long bone shaft fragments 6 Unclassifiable fragments--l ( Small mammal s) Crania1 fragments ______ _ Mandible fragments Vertebra fragments Rib fragments ________ _ Long bone shaft fragments 1 1 1 --1 1 1 -- 5 2 --2 2 --6 ~ --L -- --l Unclassifiable fragments - Total bones Total teeth Total tusks Grand totals 10 1 12 ) 5 ±. ~ r·--~ c··-·- 2 3 2 1 2 1 ---f----- 3 3 1 4 2 2 ------- 27 26 3 5 ---1-----2 1 3 1 1 1 -47-----56 1 294 _332_--46-74 1 1 1 ---f----2 1 4 -40-r----40 1 5 488 586 46 61 26 'lt 7 560 694 .----·-r·· c·& r --- 5 6 7 9 ~---r----------1 ---~------f---- 1 3 3 2 1 t--------r-------1 2 -------r------1 6 10 1. 18 34 40 9 -6------4-----9 1 ----------:------ ----------,_ ___ 3 1 1 33 64 61 16 2 4 3 1 2 2 35 70 66 17 N.:B.: These numbers refer to fragments (not whole specimens or elements). r· . r-·~ r--- 12 13 14 1 1 ---1---------3 3 1 ---r------- 8 11 9 1 1 3 1 1 ---r------- 1 ---t-----6-17 11 60 69 50 ---f-_, __ ----15 3 13 !----------1 1 2 ---r-----1-23 1 5 2 149 97 77 18 12 15 21 l 2 188 110 94 r·--.. --.. r·--. [' 15 Totals 4 1 4 1----------1 9 12 3 3 1--------- 93 18 2 r---------6 9 2 ~----l6l-- 1 970 -----182-- 2 1 ---------3 2 6 ---------122 14 1 1677 175 ___!_Q_§_ 1 1957 ,-- 1-' V1 w -1.54 - obtain the approximate lateral measurements shown in Fig. 6.1 but such di'stances for the upstream end nave been estimated by examining aerial photographs-. Statîon 1. This is the north side of a gully about 365 m from the downstream end of MlVl-2. It was on this exposure that I found the first vertebrate fossils on Disconformity A in July 1977. In addition to 122 vertebrate fossils (Table 6.1), 23 lithic specimens and a sample of wood fragments were trowelled from the face at this station. A 20-bucket sample of the cross-bedded sands which capthe disconformity was collected here and at the adjoining portion of Station 2, and this sample was coarse-screened in the field in arder to recover insect and microtine rodent fossils. The results will be reported elsewhere (Hughes, et al. 1980). Station 2. This station is on the face of the bluff overlooking the river, and it has been intensively studied from several standpoints. An ice-wedge pseudomorph above Disconformity A and a large depression filled with contrasting sediment and detrital peat balls on Disconformity A will be described elsewhere. Detailed stratigraphie observations were made in a continuous section from the disconformity to the river by N.W. Rutter in 1977. The volcanic ash just below Disconformity Ais concentrated in a major "pod" at this station, and it is above this pod at the upstream end of the station that the preserved gleysol profile has been observed. Most of the vertebrate fossils (Table 6.1) and 23.5 lithic fragments were recovered from Disconformity A where erosion had removed the original sail and produced the widespread contact of cross-bedded silts and sands on blue-grey silty clay. In addition one large mammal rib was found 3.55 m above Disconformity A at this station. Station 3. This station is two "facets" downstream from Station 2 and has produced two vertebrate samples from widely separated contexts. The larger sample was trowelled from Disconformity A (Table 6.1) along with 144 lithic specimens and a lump of detrital lignite, and a much smaller sample with 17 lithic fragments was obtained from detrital or- ganic sands immediately overlying the basal clay at the "foot" of the bluff (Table 6.3). Three buckets of the cross-bedded sands overlying Disconformity A were coarse-screened in the field and yielded a small sample of insect and microtine rodent remains which will be reported else- wnere (Hughes, et al. 1980). The volcanic ash, which is often difficult to find without on-the-spot microscopie aids, is preserved at Station 3 as a thin and discontinuous lens. The lower seven meters of this station were us-ed to complete a stratigraphie column begun at the top of the bluff at neîghbouring Station 7. It was necessary to move to Station 3 for the lower part of tne profile due to accumulating overburden. Station 4. This station is located at the head of a gully approx- imately 750 m above the downstream end and seen near the upstream limit in Fig. 6.1. No vertebrates have been collected at Station 4, but~ complexly disturoed peat ca. 50-60 cm below the base of the upper lake clays fias yielded a radio-carbon date of 41,100 ± 1650 B.P. (GSC-2574). On tne oasis of levelling to Station 5 as well as observations on the bedding of the sedîments, I believe that this dated peat is several meters - - - """' .....,j - - - .,.,J """' - - - t L. l' L... L... - i..... - L - 1- L L - .... L L 1- L L... .... -155 - Table 6.2. Distribution of vertebrate taxa by station at MlVl-2, mid-section deposit, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Roman style (1), bones; italics style (1), teeth; small numbers C1), tusk fragments. A11 numbers refer to fragments. Taxon Stations: 6 1 9 1 10 Pisces, Family? 4 Catostomus catostomus cf. Catostomus sp. 1 Lota lota -------1 - cf. L. lota Aves, Family? _________ _!_ _ Anatidae, Genus? 1 Bonasa umbellus Ochotona sp. ___________ _ Lepus arcticus 3 Marmota monax Sermophilus parryi Castor canadensis --------- Lemmus sibiricus Dicrostonyx torquatus 1 Ondatra zibethicus -----1- Microtus xanthognathus Cricetidae, Genus? _______ ~- Carnivora, Genus? Canis cf. lupus cf. Mammuthus sp. 1 22 Equus cf. (PlesippusTverae ___ _ Equus sp. cf. Equus sp. __________ _ Rangifer tarandus Mammalia, Family? (Large mammals) _________ _ Cranial fragments Mandible fragments Scapula fragments--------- Vertebra fragments Rib fragments 2 Long bone shaft fragments ___ ll_ Unclassifiable fragments 9 (Small mammals) Cranial fragments Mandible fragment -------1 - Vertebra fragments Phalange _____________ _ Rib fragments Long bone shaft fragments 7 Unclassifiable fragments __1 Total bones Total teeth Total tusks Grand totals 51 22 73 1 ----6 5 1 4 5 --_1_3_ 1 ----4 1 2 26 --4-- 5 3 57 11 1 3 81 9 1 2 1 1 ----2 2 1 ----15 5 3 3 1 3 1 ----3 1 1 5 7 ----1 1 1 30 6 -_l_l_l- 1 4 4 1 1 17 -21-- 2 2 -4-- 36 144 -25-- 2 4 1 -13-- 29 16 389 44 _D__2_ 552 Totals 13 1 1 -----3 1 2 ---4-- 2 1 -----24 10 3 3 1 4 1 1 ---4-1 1 7 7 ---1-- 1 1 35 11 -__ 12_4_ 1 4 4 1 ---1-l 25 2 2 17 ----- 5 40 183 -----38 2 -----1 4 1 -----13 41 22 497 55 ~ 706 WI:!:Ht!€!1!if~ -156 - higher in the profile than Di'S-conforroity A wh:ich was. completely huried by slumped mater fals: at Station 4. ~ Station 5. Located at the mouth of the Station 4 gully, this station provides-our only s~cure oasfs for relating the radfocarbon-dated peat to Dis-conformi·ty A. A small sample of vertebrate fos$fls and 10 lithic fragments were obtained from the disconformity at Station 5 (Table 6.1). Statfon 6. At the downstream end of MlVl-2 is a long facet nar- rowly incised by two gullies and bounded on the upstream end by dense vegetation. A large ice-wedge pseudomorph on Disconformity A is of inter- est because it is clearly truncated by erosion and because its fill contairted one fossil bane and small wisps of volcanic ash which were re- worked into the wedge fill from the surrounding area. In addition to the small vertebrate sample (Table 6.1), Disconformity A yielded 49 lithic fragments. Nine meters deeper in the exposure and approximately 30 m downstream from the ice wedge pseudomorph a small sample of vertebrates (Table 6.2) and 13 lithic fragments were collected and assigned to the mid-section sample. Station 7. Station 7 is the facet between stations 2 and 3 on the face of the bluff, and most of our attention here has been focussed upon stratigraphie description. A small vertebrate sample and 82 lithic frag- ments have been trowelled from Disconformity A (Table 6.1). Station 8. This is on the south face of the gully in which Station 1 is located, and it has not produced a vertebrate sample partly because little effort has been devoted to the exposure except for stratigraphie description. Station 9. This station, which is next upstream from Station 6, has produced a small vertebrate sample and 9 lithic fragments from Disconform- ity A (Table 6.1), a small component of the mid-section sample with 19 lithic fragments (Table 6~2), and a radiocarbon date of 38,800 ± 2000 (GSC-2756) on a detrital peat which sagged into an ice-wedge pseudomorph when the ice was melted by formation of the upper lake. A large tusk (cf. Ma:rrrmuthus sp.) was found protruding from the bank about mid-way up the bluff upon our arrival in 1978 (see Canby 1979:344-345). Station 10. This station is just upstream from Station 9 but has been s~parately designated because the flow from a gully high in the bluff prohibits a direct link between our excavations on either side. It is not at all difficult to correlate across the gully, however, and the bulk of our mid-s-ection sa:mple was obtained at this station (Table 6. 2) along with 225 lithfc fragments. The upper part of the exposure is covered by slumped materials. Station 11. This is the facet just downstream from Station 3, and the upper portion is-covered by vegetation. At the foot of the bluff we recovered most of the nasal sample,including seven lithic specimens, at this s-tation (Taole 6. 3). In addition a large sediment sample has pro- duced a rich assemBlage of insect fossils which will be reported elsewhere (Hughes, et al. 1980}. ..... - - - - """' - - - ~ - - - - - L L li.... ' l.. Î.-i 1- ~.,. i i... r ! i...O ~.,. ~ ~ r L ~.,. L.. ~.,. 1 1-i L.. .... -157 - Table 6.3. Distribution of vertebrate taxa by station at MlVl-2, basal, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Roman style (1), bones; italics style (1), teeth. All numbers refer to fragments. Taxon Stations: 3 Equus sp. 4 4 Mammuthus primigenius Mammu thus sp. ____________ _ cf. Mammuthus sp. Mammalia, Family? (Large mammals) Cranial fragment ___________ :..._ Rib fragments Long bone shaft fragments 6 Unclassifiable fragments Total bones Total teeth Grand totals 10 4 14 11 2 11 1 1 Totals 6 4 1 1 11 1 1 --------------2 2 16 22 4 4 --'-- 36 2 38 46 6 52 Table 6.4. Distribution of bone, tooth, and tusk fragments from three stratigraphie levels at MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Lev el Disconformity A Mid-section Basal Totals Bon es Tee th Tusks Totals 1677 1598 175 169 105 190 1957 497 576 55 61 154 69 706 46 6 52 --- 2220 236 259 2715 x2 = 158.3; df = 2; p = 1.0 that x2 will not be exceeded Expected frequeneies in itaUcs (basal sampZ.e omitted from test). - - b::l ~ t;t Pl 1-'• 1-'· ('Jl p.. ('Jl Pl 1 (') 1-' ('Jl 0 ro :::1 (') 1-h -rt 0 1-'· ti ;::! 0 :::1 1-'• rt ~ -:» Cil rt Pl rt 1-'· 0 :::1 ('Jl .. 1-' 1-' 0-t t:Jo 1 ~ 1 ('Jl 1 rt 1 ti l ro 1 ~ 1 1 l 1 1 1 1 Vil o-~- 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1-'1 o-o s Cil rt Pl rt 1-'· 0 :::1 ('Jl .. 1-' 0 r ~~--r~----r-· -~~-~ r----r~--("'"'"~-.----r~---~ r~-~-- Stations: 3 12 13 7 8 1 2 Dis con-+ - formity A Mid-section -+ -q,ïVV.· Stations: 4 5 lÜ 1 .-if~--l i 1 ~,4,} ti~J l c',.,r .:;;_"i~, ) .... -G.,t -~ 1 ~J l1 .. 1~} t 1 ~~ d r~l u _--~::-~--,;;,__~~"-'"' :,_ ~ ' ~JL~ ~ [~. ~~·JJ.f~ ~f.ll4..\. ~ __ ~-~-"" ''-, _. :J """" ~ ï(!~$ W1 · , ! *},-J..~· 1 --~"'"'::, :.-~ ..... -::;:;:;: .... ,...., --."" -_;~-......... -~ ... , .~. 1 ~~ .........--... ~.....,._., "' --("..~ -::.__~ .f'1...-:J )r.......,.Q~..,.('\"1.. \ --......:_r. "'-~,.r .r ..... "':::-....,., • 1"\...;...-.....:: ~~/~ ~ r-. • ~ ,.{<' ~~~~ ___...-' ~~-----y 1 ~~ 'l., ' "'-........ 'l.., ~ <-::t .-~ .-. ~v-., ~ ;;:;;:._. 1'"'.:1 ~-\ •'>'"""> ""'~ ,<'" "f ""'""'-""-,.{'" ........_ ""_::.:: ,-~ r /~"'"'~~<";~ -.-r ~ :.--',-,.. ,l). ~~r'" "'""' c-~ "'--r•~ ('~_,{_'~"'" ""'-./: ';.., 0 s.j,~~~ <'<"'""" .,.,.'\, "-',':""--~~~-,~ _-f!'c~{, ' '1 ""ri-,,~'('..:;.~};--,.r'";. of" '""""' -~. 1 ""'-'J};. , ~~ '~ ''~~~ 0 I /" -0 'iip-.'lo,~.,.~'t;.;,::l"~ ~ '-~ ;::-, c~ '-. ~1, ,).,<l '""-"":';;,:/;y 1 'i' _..,.., '• ,, ~;.. -~ ~ ·,_'}"r:iP.:7~.\î,'-;>'r__J,._...__'----...; -...-.._. '"-~'lJ... ~t);~\~}./Y;' ~~ L '1 '"1;-\: (~"'-\ _,.__._::::___ ~,.,~~--~"'-~ -~'\~~~~~~~~~~~f§~--""'~;-~~~§· Jo~~~~- r---r---~-r--~ r-~ ~- 14 (15 +) Fig. 6.1. Sketch of MlVl-2 (Location 15), Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory, showing locations of stations and levels of excavation. Drawn by Keary Walde and reduced photographically • r· 1-' Vl \,Q -160 - Station 12. The south side of the gully between Stations 3 and 7 was extensively trowelled ta recover a vertebrate sample from Disconformity A (Table 6.1) along with 85 lithic fragments. In addition, a single green-fractured bane was found on a texturai contact 2.9 rn above Discon- formity A (one meter below the base of the upper lake), but additional specimens could not be found at that level. Station 13. This is the north face of the same gully where 110 vertebrate fossils (Table 6.1) and 32 lithic fragments were recovered from Disconformity A. Of special interest is an ice-wedge pseudomorph on the "corner" between Stations 7 and 13 in which the sediments in the wedge contrast markedly in colour, texture, and structure with the surrounding and overlying sediments. I believe it is likely that this fill was derived from the gleysol which may have been widespread before Disconformity A was eroded. The wedge fill yielded 72 of the 110 vertebrate fossils and 24 of the lithic specimens. Pollen, plant macrofossils, and insect fossils have also been recovered from the wedge. Station 14. Approximately 50 rn upstream from Station 2 on the face of the bluff, the vegetation which consists mostly of "rhubarb" can be pulled away ta permit excavation of Disconformity A. A modest vertebrate sample (Table 6.1) and 40 lithic fragment.s were collected by this means. Station 15. This is at the extreme upstream end of the bluff where the face of the exposure is clearly reduced in height by recent erosion leading gradually downward ta a terrace about 15 rn high. Keary Walde reported on the last day of the 1978 field season that a large bane was in place on the face of this exposure, and I returned ta the spot speci- fically for the purpose of confirming its stratigraphie position and collecting the specimen which proved ta be a nearly intact Bison sp. humerus (Table 6.1). Since this is the largest bane yet found on Discon- formity A it would be of sorne interest ta explore the station more care- fully in the future. Having indicated in general terms what we have found at each of the stations at MlVl-2, we will not need ta present each station separately in the description of the vertebrate remains. Ta do so would be ta reduce the respective sample sizes below acceptable levels, and I have found no meaningful or systematic differences among the various station samples from a given stratigraphie unit. Therefore the total contents of Tables 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3, respectively, will become our units of analysis for descriptive purposes. In describing the stations, I have mentioned various small sums of lithic specimens which accompanied the vertebrate remains, and these have been examined with respect ta their lithology and fracture attributes. Despite such care I have been unable ta recognize struck flakes among these specimens sa there appears ta be no direct evidence of a lithic industry in association with the MlVl-2 vertebrates. The lithology of the pieces does not appear ta include unexpected rock types; all are native ta the basin. The lump of detrital lignite from Station 3 may have been derived from an Eocene outcrop in the Johnson Creek valley. - 1 - .., ...., _. - - - _, ~ - - - - -i L L L 1 1 1- 1 1- l. ~ ' ..... 1- ..... 1- L.. L- l... i ..... - - ..... ,....,. -161 - Description of the Vertebrate Fossils The vertebrate remains from MlVl-2 will be described with respect to the same categories ~sed in Chapter 5: sample size, specimen size, permineralization and staining, vivianite and hematite, rounding, exfol- iation and split lines, pitting, etching, fracture patterns, bone flaking, cutting, and polishing. An additional section on differentiai staining will be added, and a summary statement of the relative importance of each variable in the three samples will then point the way toward a synthesis of their taphonomic histories. Where appropriate, simple statistical tests will be used to identify the significance of differences among the samples. The chi-square test will be used in most comparisons, but the small basal sample has often been excluded because its expected frequencies are too low (see Siegal 1956:110). Whenever there are enough cells in the test to provide two or more degrees of freedom, the standard equation for chi-square has been used: X2 =ECo-e)2 e 2 c!!. )-N e (1) Many of the tests which exclude the basal sample involve 2 X 2 contingency tables with only one degree of freedom, and these tests have been conducted with an equation which incorporates a correction for continuity (Siegal 1956:107): N([AD-BC[ -N)2 2 2 X =(A+ B)(C + D)(A + C)(B + D) (2) The appropriate equation is identified by number in the accompanying tables. Since we believe that the three samples from MlVl-2 were obtained from quite different sedimentary en~ironments which in turn reflect differences in geomorphology and previous burial history, it is of sorne interest to determine whether the taphonomic factors listed above are related to the burial environments from which the bones were recovered. Most of the chi-square tests in this chapter will be designed to examine this question and will test the following null hypothesis: Variable x (e.g.~ vivianite~ rounding~ exfoliation~ etc.) is independent of the differences in burial environment observed at MlVl-2. The results of all the tests are summarized in Table 6.21 which was devised to support the taphonomic reconstruction. Sample Sizes The three samples from MlVl-2 are summarized in Table 6.4 where the frequencies of bones, teeth, and tusk fragments have been arrayed. All subsequent tables will include only the bones from these three samples since the tooth and tusk fragments were found to exhibit little systematic Table 6.5. Distribution of length measurements (mm) for bones from three stratigraphie levels at M1Vl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Disconformity A Mid-sec tian Basal Taxon No. Mean S.D. Range No. Mean S.D. Range No. Mean S.D. Range Identified bones Pise es 22 22.5 10.5 12-45 19 24.9 14.0 10-69 Av es 15 27.2 13.9 13-61 8 24.8 9.1 10-41 Lagomorpha 14 25.7 27.5 7-117 25 32.1 21.4 10-94 Sciuridae 8 22.3 15.1 6-46 6 20.8 6.3 13-32 Castoridae 4 44.0 36.5 20-98 Ondatra zibethicus 24 14.8 5.3 7-29 4 13.8 5.9 9-22 Cricetidae 32 11.9 4.1 7-23 13 13.8 3.7 10-22 Carnivora 6 25.0 14.1 12-50 2 56.0 19-93 cf. Mammuthus sp. 25 65.8 30.1 23-118 35 112.6 106.7 45-650 11 119.4 71.6 48-24 7 Equus sp. 2 65.6 51.80 5 60.8 11.7 46-78 6 82.0 61.7 34-201 Rangifer tarandus 4 31.3 18.3 18-54 1 39 Bison sp. 12 70.6 48.6 20-199 1--' 0"\ Unidentified Large Mammals N Rib fragments 161 22.7 16.2 5-120 40 37.6 26.0 5-109 2 74.5 57-92 Long bane fragments 971 17.8 10.4 5-109 183 28.3 17.2 5-171 22 37.2 15.6 10-74 Mise. fragments 37 33.6 14.2 13-68 34 29.4 17.4 10-79 1 63 Unc1assifiab1e 182 15.3 7.6 2-44 38 25.3 18.4 5-94 4 34.8 2.6 30-39 Unidentified Small Mamma1s Rib fragments 6 14.5 5.2 5-24 13 12.8 5.7 5-29 Long bane fragments 122 10.1 5.1 1-34 41 12.7 5.5 5-29 Mise. fragments 6 11.0 4.0 7-17 8 14.5 4.0 10-24 Unclassifiab1e 14 9.9 6.1 1-24 22 8.8 3.3 5-19 ---- Totals 1667 497 46 ( [ ( 1 ( ' [ ! [ 1 1 t [ L t t [ r~---r r --r --~ r~--· r·--~ r r·~~-r"-r~"-r--~-. r·-~-r---· r~~ r----r ~-~ r~- Table 6.6. Distribution of weight measurements (g) for bones from three stratigraphie levels at MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Disconformity A Mid-section Basal Taxon No. Mean S.D. Range No. Mean S.D. Range No. Mean S.D. Range -------- Identified bones Pise es 22 0.3 0.5 0.01-1.8 19 0.5 0.8 0.02-3.5 Av es 15 0.5 0.4 0.1-1.4 8 0.4 0.3 0.1-0.9 Lagomorpha 14 1.1 2.6 0.1-10.1 25 1.1 1.0 0.1-4.3 Sciuridae 8 0.4 0.3 0.1-0.9 6 0.5 0.3 0.2-0.8 Castoridae 4 7.9 12.3 0.2-26.3 Ondatra zibethicus 24 0.3 0.2 o:o2-o.6 4 0.2 0.1 0.1-0.3 Cricetidae 32 0.1 0.04 0.01-0.2 13 0.1 0.1 0.02-0.4 Carnivora 6 7.1 14.9 0.1-37.4 2 3.4 0.4-6. 5 cf. Mammuthus sp. 25 33.5 38.2 2.9-130.5 35 321.0 1100.1 10.7-6265.0 11 423.4 751.2 28.6-905.2 Equus sp. 2 34.7 29.7-41.7 5 29.1 17.2 13.9-58.0 6 73.0 100.4 6.6-256.5 Rangifer tarandus 4 9.6 11.1 1.4-24.9 1 5.9 Bison sp. 12 81.3 183.2 2.3-656.9 1-' 0'1 LV Unidentified Large Mamma1s Rib fragments 161 1.2 2.3 0.05-17.8 40 4.6 7.2 0.1-35.3 2 32.9 18.2-47.7 Long bone frags. 971 1.0 2.2 0.02-35.7 183 3.3 10.7 0.1-140.4 22 9.1 11.4 0.3-33.8 Mise. fragments 37 5.7 7.7 0.3-29.0 34 3.6 5.1 0.2-20.2 1 5.7 Unclassifiable 182 0.9 1.4 0.02-9.5 38 4.4 9.1 0.1-44.5 4 13.1 2.5 9.4-14.7 Unidentified Sma11 Mamma1s Rib fragments 6 0.1 0.2 0.02-0.3 13 0.1 0 .1 0 • 04 -0 . 3 Long bone frags. 122 0.1 0.1 0.01-0.4 41 0.1 0.1 0.03-0.4 Mise. fragments 6 0.1 0.1 0.01-0.3 8 0.3 0.3 0.1-0.8 Unc1assifiable 14 0.1 0.1 0.01-0.4 22 0.1 0.1 0.02-0.4 -- Totals 1667 497 46 -164 - variati.on whi.ch_ would be useful in this analysis. lndividual specimens of tootfi and tuskwill be mentioned under appropriate headings, but their overall distributions will not he tabulated. The data in Table 6.4 reveal some interestfng patterns. The basal sample is too small to include in a chi-s·quare test, but the bone, tooth, and tusk frequencies from the other two levels were arranged in a con- tingency table and found to depart significantly from random. The frequencies of teeth are near expected values, but bone fragments are under-represented and tusk fragments over-represented in the mid-section deposit. I believe that this results from the recovery of more small bone fragments on Disconformity A where the sediments imply slow-moving water which would not remove so many of the small fragments. The somewhat higher energy fluvial environment of the mid-section deposit may have re- moved many of the smaller bone fragments and left behind the larger ones as a lag deposit. The higher frequency of tusk fragments could have re- sulted from greater weathering and fragmentation of large tusk pieces in the mid-section deposit with sediment loading possibly playing a role in the in situ fracture of tusk portions. When the data in Tables 5.1 and 6.4 are compared, statistically sig- nificant differences can be noted between MlVl-7 and the Disconformity A and mid-section samples from MlVl-2. More teeth and tusks than expected have been found at MlVl-7, and their abundance is probably due to their greater density in relation to their volume which causes them to remain in lag deposits. Specimen Sizes The mean, standard deviation, and range for length and weight are provided in Tables 6.5 and 6.6, respectively. Sorne grouping of taxa (e.g., all fish, all birds, most rodents to family level) has been done to enlarge the sizes of the sub-samples and to simplify the presentation in these and later tables. It is apparent from inspection of Tables 6.5 and 6.6 that there is a tendency for both the length and weight of spec- imens to increase as one goes downward through the profile. This is especially noticable for the unidentified large mammal rib and long bone fragments where the numbers of specimens increase to significant levels. The smallest bones occur on Disconformity A, with larger specimens being found in the mid-section deposit and even larger ones in the basal sample. These observations are consistent with our interpretation of the sedimen- tary history of these units. A somewhat more precise view of the specimen size distributions as measured by length is shown in Figs. 6.2 and 6.3. These histograms reveal not only tfie highly skewed character of the distributions but also the level of confidence wfiich can be placed on the recovery of smaller items. The abrupt fall-off in the left tails of the histograms for Disconformity A (Station 3) and the mid-section sample (Station lOt s.uggest th;it many very small specimens were missed during trowelling of the s~diments.. We know tliat tfiis is the case for Disconformity A where the matrix was sieved in the field to provide a large number of microtine rodent remains and - _. - - ....1 _. - - .....î - _. ; L- l. 1 !..... ~ 1 ..... L r ~ ! 1.... --Î l.... ;.... l- ~ r l' 1 1.... L 1 -- ~........ \.... 1 1 i ~ ....... ._ -165 - fish s;cales (}lorlan 1978c; Cumbaa, et al. 1980)_. The los_s o;f small speci:rnens is-not like1y-to influence signi.ficantly the archaeological purpos-e of this pres·entati:on, but i't -must be horne in mirtd w:ith respect to taphonomic and paleoecological recons-tructions-. The only bones in- cluded :in the taoles accompanyi.ng this report are those obtained by trowelling. The left tail of the basal sample histogram does not fall off as abruptly as the ethers representing MlVl-2, but the sample size is too small to make a confident interpretation. A histogram has also been in- cluded in Fig. 6.3 for the MlVl-7 materials which were presented in Chapter 5. It shows a nearly symmetrical peak centered on 40-50 mm with a gradual decline in frequencies to both the left and the right and a very long tail for the larger size categories. This kind or distribution suggests that our recovery from MlVl-7 was reasonably good and that smaller specimens were probably carried farther downstream by Johnson Creek. While on the subject of specimen size it is appropriate to mention the relative size of bones and lithic particles in these deposits. In general, large rocks are very rare in Old Crow Flats, and the fossil bones include some of the largest particles transported by the Old Crow River. This seems also to have been true of fluvial systems of the past in Old Crow Flats. The largest rock seen on Disconformity A at MlVl-2 is a quartzite pebble 56 mm long and weighing 64 g. The largest bone is a nearly intact bison humerus (at Station 15) 199 mm long and weighing 656 g. The lithic size range grades downward from pebbles through gravel to sand, silt, and clay, while the bones range downward in size to mi- cretine incisors and fish scales. In the mid-section deposit, 10-12 m below Disconformity A, the largest rock observed was 55 mm long and 70 g in weight, while the largest bone is a nearly intact mammoth or mastodon femur which is 650 mm long and weighs 6265 g. We will return to a fuller discussion of the implications of these comparisons (see Chapter 9). Taxon by taxon comparisons of length and weight among the MlVl-2 (Tables 6.5-6.6) and MlVl-7 (Table 5.2) specimens reveal that the latter are generally much larger than the former (see also Figs. 6.2-6.3). With few exceptions, both the means and the ranges are higher on the MlVl-7 bar than in the primary deposits at MlVl-2. This is particularly notice- able in the data for unidentified large mammals, and only the basal sample at MlVl-2 compares closely with the sample from MlVl-7. Statistical tests of these differences have not been attempted in view of the highly skewed nature of most of the distributions. Permineralization and Staining Processes of permineralization and staining at MlVl-2 appear to have been similar to those affecting bones elsewhere in the basin. That "typical" staining characteristics can be roughly defined for a given deposit is s·hown by the exceptions. In Table 6. 7 are lis ted Hunsell colour readings for bones from four samples from Disconformity A. Each sample fs· drawn from a single day's recovery of vertebrate fossils at -166 - 2501 n \\\ 140 120 MIVI-2 Sin 3 100-1 1 1 1 Oisconformity A 11111 .. ~ 80 e ;; • ... 111111 .. oz 0 60 z 40 20 ol"llllllllllt"l-x, no.., 1 1 1 1 1 1 Z0 40 60 80 lOO 120 Length (mm) Fig. 6.2. Histogram of specimen length for Disconformity A at MlVl-2, Station 3, in 5 nun intervals. - .... - - ..... - ....,; - - ..... - ..... .,.,: - ~ L ~ 1..... 1..... 1.... i....< 1... 1... j \..o L 1 1 t - L i 1..... L - - i- i.. -167 - 100 90 80 70 60 MIVI-2 Stn.IO Mid-section 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 1 1 1' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 l' 1 1 l' 1 1 r M J t=l r=p j ':T'? i i r j r j i i 0 j j 1 /--P 10 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 ISO 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 340 360 380 6!10 hcP~,m. 'l> 0 Length (mm) MIVI-2 basal p qn ,n 1 r 1 9'"' ci z 10 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 ISO 200 220 240 Lenglh (mm) 50 40 30 MIVI -7 20 10 o"l'l"1 1111 11 "1 111 11 "1"1 1"'1t-cqlKl Dl np..,.,mln 1 1 1 ·= 10 20 40 60 80 100 120 Len9th (mm) Fig. 6.3. H:tstograms-of specimen lengtfis, :tn 5 nnn intervals, for the Mid-section sample at MlVl-2, Station 10 (upper), the basal sample at MlVl-2 (middle), and the MlVl-7 bar (lower). f (_ Table 6.7. Staining characteristics of boues from four samples recovered on Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory Station Sample No. 7 MlVl-2:11 2 MlVl-2:33 3 MlVl-2: 71 12 MlVl-2:107 ( l Light stain Taxon and Element Cricetid mandible Cricetid ilium Large mammal long boue Bison sp. phalange SpermophiZus parryi mandible SpermophiZus parryi ulna ( [ 1 Col our 7.5YR5/6 7.5YR4/4 7.5YR4/4 5YR3/3 5YR5/4 2. 5YR4/4 1 "Ty_pical" stain Taxon and Element Large mammal long boue Onda~ra zibethicus femur Lepus arcticus Col our 2.5YR3/2 2.5YR2/l 7.5YR3/2 Ondatra zibethicus mandible 2.5YR2/2 --~ 1 ( L [ ( ( ...... (]\ 00 1 L L 1- i- L..; ~ t !..... 1... - Lw.. ~ '- ' ..... ~ 1... i L.. ...... ._ -169 - one station on the M.lVl-2 exposure. All examples. of noticeably light stain are_ included in Table 6.7 along with_ colour yalues for the 11 typical11 s-taih s-eeil on Danes-i1:nmediately-adjacent to the lîght-çoloured ones. It is-noteworthy-tliat four of the lignt-stained b:ones-represent small rodents wliich could have introduced tliemselves to the sediment at a later tîme tlirough ourrowîng (_SpermophiZus: ground squïrrels) or througli entering pre-existîng burrows (the Crîcetids). The bison phalange in sample 33 is intermediate in its colour, ~nd the associated large mammal long bone fragment îs the only light-stain~d megafaunal element in the MlVl-2 collection. Since it is believed that all these fossils have been moved to sorne extent oy fluvial processes, sorne variation in permineralization and staining may have resulted from primary burial in variable sedimentary and edaphic environments. Vivianite and Hematite The distribution of vivianite varies markedly in the MlVl-2 deposits. Table 6.8 exhibits rouch higher frequencies of vivianite in the mid-section sample than in the other deposits, and the departure from randomness is highly significant. This indicates that our null hypothesis should be re- jected and that the occurrence of vivianite should be regarded as a taphic or anataxic factor related to either primary or secondary burial environ- ments. Hematite was not systematically recorded during the MlVl-2 analysis because it was so seldom seen that its importance was not apparent until the MlVl-7 collection was examined. High frequencies of hematite were noticed in the basal sample at MlVl-2, but it was quite rare in the other two deposits. Vivianite was rouch more common at MlVl-2 (Table 6.8) than at MlVl-7 (Table 5.3), and I have discussed possible reasons for this difference in the presentation of the MlVl-7 data. Rounding The same rounding classes were used for MlVl-2 as for MlVl-7: 0, not rounded; S, slightly rounded; M, moderate rounding; and H, heavy rounding. Very few specimens from MlVl-2 (5% or less) are not rounded at all, and slightly rounded pieces account for 45-92% of the samples from each layer (Table 6.9). There is a clear trend toward heavier rounding in the deeper levels as woUld be expected in relatively high energy fluvial environments. A chi-square test of the distribution of the four classes on Disconformity A and in the mid-section deposit provided highly significant results which indicate a rejection of our null hypothesis and the adoption of the log- ically reasonable conclusion that rounding is related to the burial environment. Tlie basal sample could not be tested in this way due to low expected frequencies-• In evaluating these data we should note that many very fragile spec- imens are extremely well preserved. For example, sorne of the microtine Table 6.8. Distribution of vivianite on bones from three stratigraphie 1evels at MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Disconformity A Mid-section Basal Taxon No. Vivianite None No. Viviani te None No. Vivianite None Pise es 22 4 18 19 7 12 Av es 15 15 8 6 2 Lagomorpha 14 .2 12 25 20 5 Sciuridae 8 8 6 5 1 Castoridae 4 1 3 Ondatra zibethicus 24 3 21 4 4 Cricetidae 32 2 30 13 8 5 Carnivore 6 2 4 2 2 cf. Mammuthus sp. 25 9 16 35 15 20 11 1 10 Equus sp. 2 1 1 5 5 6 4 2 Rangifer tarandus 4 4 1 1 Bison sp. 12 1 11 Unidentified Large Mammals t-' Rib fragments 161 16 145 40 28 12 2 2 -...! Long bone fragments 971 137 834 183 119 64 22 3 19 0 Mise. fragments 37 5 32 34 28 6 1 1 Unclassifiable 182 17 165 38 21 17 4 4 Unidentified Small Mammals Rib fragments 6 6 13 2 11 Long bane fragments 122 4 1l8 41 30 11 Mise. fragments 6 1 5 8 6 2 Unclassifiable 14 1 13 22 16 6 - Totals 1667 206 401 1461 1266 497 317 119 180 378 46 8 11 38 55 Equation 1: x2 = 559; df = 2; p = 1.0 that x2 will not be exceeded Expected frequencies in italics ( l 1 ( (_ l 1 r 1 ( ( f 1...... i (... L L i L i.- ..... .... !.... !- 1.... L i 1... t 1 .... - 1 .... ;.... -171 - hones. are in excellent condition despite our presomptive. evidence of fluvial transport and desp:!:te. the brÜtle characte:r' con.ferred by per- mineralizati.cm. Sorne of the. fi:sti nones are intact even though tney are Sû tliin as-to oe trans·lucent (Cumoaa, et al. 1980},. Perhaps the smaller specimens-have travelled shorter distances tnan the larger ones. This could result from the reworking of priinary deposits situated variable distances from MlVl-2. Sorne of the larger specimens could have originated at considerable distances from MlVl-2 and been introduced to associations with smaller pieces which had travelled relatively short distances. This view is supported by the fact that the larger mammal remains appear to account for the increased rounding observed with greater depth in these deposits. Perhaps the rounding is produced on the larger pieces because they can only be moved when the stream is in full flood as during spring breakup. In general, 1 have the impression on the basis of the predominance of slightly rounded bones that most of our specimens have not been moved very far and that most of them may belong together as a death assemblage barring other (e.g. perthotaxic) factors which could alter the composition of the collections. It must be emphasized however, that the occurrence of moderately and heavily rounded pieces is a signal that a possibly sig- nificant number of elements has been introduced to these samples. This would appear to be a greater hazard in the mid-section deposit than on Disconformity A as would be expected from the differences in the sed- imentary environments represented by the two levels. The MlVl-7 boues are much more heavily rounded than those from MlVl-2. Comparisons between Tables 5.4 and 6.9 show that the MlVl-7 specimens are even more heavily rounded than the basal sample at MlVl-2 which is the most heavily rounded sample at the latter locality. Either the MlVl-7 spec- imens have been reworked more often or their reworking in the spring breakup of modern Johnson Creek (and formerly Old Crow River?) has sub- jected them to greater damage than that created by the ancient streams responsible for the deposition of the MlVl-2 samples. Both of these factors may have contributed to the remarkable and conspicuous rounding which is immediately noticeable on the MlVl-7 bones. Exfoliation and Split Lines The present and absence of exfoliation and split line features has been tabulated for all bones from MlVl-2 (Table 6.10). A close·relation- ship would be expected between the occurrence of these weathering features and the time which elapsed before primary burial, but there are no in- dependent data with which to test for such a relationship. Chi-square tests of the exfoliation frequencies were predicated on our null hypothesis that exfoliation is independant of the burial envir- onment. Test 1 in Table 6.10 suggests that the null hypothesis is quite weak with rouch of the departure from randomness being attributable to the small bas-al sample. When the basal sample is removed from the contingency table and the same test run on Disconformity A and the mid-section sample the result (Test 2, Table 6.10) indicates a failure to reject the null hypothesis. This outcome suggests that the burial environments of Table 6.9. Distribution of rounding classes for boues from three stratigraphie levels at MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. 0, not rounded; S, slightly rounded; M, moderately rounded; H, heavily rounded (see Chapter 5 for definitions). Disconformity A Mid-section Basal Taxon No. 0 s M H No. 0 s M H No. 0 s M H - Identified boues Pise es 22 8 14 19 6 13 Av es 15 2 13 8 7 1 Lagomorpha 14 14 25 1 22 2 Sciuridae 8 1 7 6 6 Castoridae 4 4 Ondatra zibethicus 24 24 4 4 Cricetidae 32 3 29 13 2 11 Carnivora 6 6 2 2 cf. Mammuthus sp. 25 24 1 35 1 25 9 11 3 7 1 Equus sp. 2 2 5 5 6 5 1 Rangifer tarandus 4 1 3 1 1 Bison sp. 12 1 11 1-' -....! N Unidentified Large Mammals Rib fragments 161 2 156 2 1 40 33 6 1 2 1 1 Long bane fragments 971 4 915 33 19 183 151 24 8 22 2 11 6 3 Mise. fragments 37 1 33 3 34 1 33 1 1 Unclassifiab1e 182 16 157 6 3 38 6 24 7 1 4 4 Unidentified Small Mammals Rib fragments 6 1 5 13 5 8 Long bane fragments 122 21 97 3 1 41 1 35 5 Mise. fragments 6 6 8 4 4 Unclassifiable 14 3 11 22 4 15 3 1 ------------ -- Totals 1667 64 1531 47 25 497 26 395 65 11 46 2 21 15 8 Expected frequencies 69 1484 86 28 21 442 26 8 Equation 1: x2 = 85.7; df = 3; p = 1.0 that x2 will not be exceeded. [ ( ( 1 1 ( { 1 1 ( ( [-[ r~--r --~~ r-~-1. f~ f r-· ~-f r~--r--·· r~·-r-·-r--- Table 6.10. Distribution of exfoliation and split line features on bones from three stratigraphie levels at MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Exfol., exfoliation; S.L., split lines. Disconformity A Mid-section Basal Taxon No. Exfol. None S.L. None No. Exfol. None S.L. None No. Exfol. None S.L. None ------------------------- Identified bones Pise es 22 2 20 4 18 19 1 18 2 17 Av es 15 15 15 8 8 3 5 Lagomorpha 14 14 1 13 25 1 24 2 23 Sciuridae 8 8 8 6 6 6 Castoridae 4 4 1 3 Ondatra zibethicus 24 2 22 24 4 1 3 4 Cricetidae 32 32 32 13 13 13 Carnivora 6 6 1 5 2 2 2 cf. Mammuthus sp. 25 6 19 2 23 35 16 19 4 31 11 3 8 3 8 Equus sp. 2 2 1 1 5 5 2 3 6 3 3 6 Rangifer tarandus 4 2 2 4 1 1 1 Bison sp. 12 3 9 1 11 l-' ....... Unidentified Large Mammals w Rib fragments 161 22 139 161 40 4 36 1 39 2 2 2 Long bone fragments 971 178 793 1 970 183 44 139 1 182 22 4 18 1 21 Mise. fragments 37 6 31 1 36 34 1 33 34 1 1 1 Unc1assifiable 182 7 175 182 38 2 36 38 4 4 4 Unidentified Small Mammals Rib fragments 6 6 1 5 13 13 13 Long bane fragments 122 4 118 3 119 41 2 39 41 Mise. fragments 6 6 6 8 8 8 Unclassifiable 14 14 14 22 1 21 22 ------------------- -- Totals 1667 234 1433 17 1650 497 73 424 15 482 46 12 34 4 42 Expected frequencies Test 1 Eq. 1 240 142? ?2 425 ? 39 Test 2 Eq. 2 236 1433 ?1 426 Test 3 Eq. 2 25 1642 ? 490 Test 1: X2 = 4.4, df = 2, P = 0.889; Test 2: X2 = 0.085, df = 1, P = 0.230; Test 3: X2 = 9.17i df = 1, p = 0.998 P = the probability that x2 will not be exceeded. ( Table 6.11. Distribution of pitting types (A, BF, BC) on bones from three stratigraphie levels at M1Vl-2, 01d Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. See text for definitions of pitting types. Disconformitry A Taxon No. A BF BC BF&BC None Identified bones Pise es 22 Av es Lagomorpha Sciuridae Castoridae Ondatra zibethicus Cricetidae Carnivora 15 1 14 8 4 24 32 6 cf. Mammuthus sp. Equus sp. Rangifer tarandus Bison sp. 25 1 2 4 1 12 Unidentified Large Mammals Rib fragments 161 3 Long bane fragments 971 14 Mise. fragments 37 Unclassifiable 182 3 Unidentified Small Rib fragments Mammals 6 122 6 14 Long bane fragments Mise. fragments Unclassifiable 1 2 1 1 2 2 10 27 5 6 8 1 3 1 3 2 1 1 1 3 10 29 3 7 3 1 2 1 1 22 11 11 4 3 21 29 3 23 2 3 9 136 900 28 166 6 llO 6 13 Mid-section No. A BF BC BF&BC None 19 8 25 1 6 4 13 2 35 1 5 1 40 183 34 38 13 41 8 22 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 1 1 4 7 2 1 1 2 1 18 7 17 5 4 12 2 33 5 1 34 172 30 36 12 40 7 22 No. 11 6 2 22 1 4 Basal BF BC None 1 1 1 11 5 2 21 4 Totals 1667 23 65 67 5 1506 497 5 7 25 3 457 46 2 1 43 Expected frequencies Type A Eq. 2 22 1645 6 491 JYpe BF Eq. 2 62 1605 18 4?9 f-' -....! .p. Type BC Eq. 2 ?7 1590 23 4?4 Type A: X2 = 0.18, df = 1, P = 0.326; Type BF: X2 = 4.55, df = 1, P = 0.967; Type BC: X2 = 1.22, df = 1, P = 0.730 P = the probability that x2 will not be exceeded. r 1 1. r " 1 ( [ 1. 1 t ...... i '""' - i- 1 L L ' L ...... ~ ~ i- L. i..... r L L L ,_ i...w .... -175 - Dis.conformity· A and the mid-s-ection deposit are not closely related to the frequency of exfoliation b.ut that the. basal deposi.t ma:y ha,ye undergone one or more cycles of suo-aerial .we.atli.ering ih addi.t1on to the per:!'od prior to prftnary ourial. This sugges·tion is consi:s·tent with the high frequency of hematite s·taining which was mentioned afiove. A somewhat different result is obtained from the split line data in Table 6.10. Chi-square test 3 indicates a significant difference between the frequencies of split lines on Disconformity A and in the mid-section sample and would seem to call for rejection of our null hypothesis. I suspect that our hypothesis is inappropriate because it does not take spec- imen size into account. As noted in Chapter 5 the occurrence of split lines is more reliably recorded on larger specimens and is less often vis- ible on smaller ones. As will be seen below, most of the fractures observed on the MlVl-2 specimens were formed after the bones bad been permineralized. It is quite likely (and sometimes demonstrable) that these fractures formed along split lines which originally began to develop as a result of sub-aerial weathering. Smaller specimen sizes must have resulted from more complete fracture along such split line networks so that fewer remaining split lines can be observed on the Disconformity A pieces than on those from the mid- section deposit. In general it appears that the boues from MlVl-2 were not intensely weathered prior to burial, but it must be remembered that many of them are too small to reveal clear exfoliation patterns and that their small sizes may be in part a result of split line formation. The great majority of exfoliation features occurred on the outer cortical surfaces of the bones, but exfoliation on inner surfaces (in the medullary cavities of long boues), demonstrating that the bone was broken open during or prior to weathering, occurred on 27 bones on Disconformity A, seven specimens from the mid-section deposit, and two boues in the basal sample. In addition, two bones from Disconformity A revealed exfoliation features on their fracture surfaces. Much higher frequencies of these sub-aerial weathering features are seen on the MlVl-7 specimens than on those from MlVl-2 ( compare Tables 5.4 and 6.10). Sorne of the exfoliation at MlVl-7 may have resulted from re- peated wet and dry conditions during reworking of the fossils, and the higher frequency of split line observation at MlVl-7 is undoubtedly related to the larger sizes of those specimens. Therefore it should not be assumed that the MlVl-7 specimens underwent more intensive sub-aerial weathering prior to primary burial than those from MlVl-2. Pit ting The same types of pitting features described above for MlVl-7 were used in the analysis of the MlVl-2 specimens (Table 6.11). Disconformity A and themid-section deposit do not differ significantly according to a chi-square test of their Type A pitting frequencies. Whether acids or sorne other agency are responsible for Type A pitting, it appears to be independent of the burial environments in which these specimens were found. Type BC pits are regarded as important features since they are Table 6.12. Distribution of etching on bones from three stratigraphie 1eve1s at HlV1-2, 01d Crow River, northern Yukon Terri tory. 0, outer surface; I, inner surface; F, fracture surface; OIF, a11 three surfaces, etc. Disconformity A Hid-section Basal Taxon No. 0 I F OF OI OIF Etched None No. 0 I OF OI OIF Etched None No. 0 None -------------------- Identified boues Pise es 22 3 3 19 19 3 3 16 Av es 15 3 3 12 8 2 2 6 Lagomorpha 14 3 3 11 25 3 3 22 Sciuridae 8 2 2 6 6 1 1 5 Castoridae 4 4 Ondatra zibethicus 24 3 3 21 4 4 Cricetidae 32 8 8 24 13 13 Carnivora 6 1 1 5 2 2 cf. Mammuthus sp. 25 7 1 1 9 16 35 4 1 5 30 11 2 9 Equus sp. 2 2 5 1 1 4 6 1 5 Rangifer tarandus 4 2 2 2 1 1 1 Bison sp. 12 4 4 8 Unidentified Large Hammals l-' ---.1 Rib fragments 161 27 4 1 32 129 40 3 3 37 2 2 (J'\ Long bane fragments 971 77 3 2 5 13 13 113 858 183 6 1 2 9 174 22 1 21 Mise. fragments 37 15 2 17 20 34 3 3 1 7 27 1 1 Unc1assifiab1e 182 13 2 1 16 166 38 3 3 6 32 4 4 Unidentified Sma11 Mamma1s Rib fragments 6 6 13 13 Long bone fragments 122 6 1 1 1 9 113 41 3 3 38 Mise. fragments 6 6 8 8 Unc1assifiab1e 14 3 3 11 22 1 1 21 Tota1s 1667 177 6 2 10 18 15 228 1439 497 33 3 1 6 2 45 452 46 4 42 Expected frequencies 209 1458 62 435 6 40 Equation 1: 2 x = 8.07, df = 2, p = 0.982 1 1 ( 1 1 1 ~ 1 1 L 1 ( l ( 1 1 L 1 ~ ~ L. i- 1 .... L .... ' li... 1 l' ..... ; [ .... 1 l.... L.. L L t """" f, - ~ ' ~ .... -177 - thought to have been produced by carnivore$,and their association with certain types of fractures_ influences our interpretation of the archaeo- logical record. The distrihuti.ons in Table 6.11 were tested bymeans of chi-s·quare after adding together the bones· on which Type RC pits and both Type BF and RC pits occurred. The results were not highly signif- icant in the comparison of Disconformity A and the mid-section sample. Type BC pitting therefore seems to be independent of the burial environ- ment as would be expected if it results from carnivore gnawing rather than sorne aspect of stream transportation. As noted above, Bonnichsen (1979:29-30) recognized a ridge-and-valley surface morphology which he attributed to acid attack in his analysis of fossils from reworked deposits in the Old Crow basin, but I have not ob- served such features in the MlVl-2 samples possibly because of the smaller specimen sizes among the excavated collections. Type BF pitting will be discussed along with etching. The frequency of all three types of pitting at MlVl-7 is approximately double that of M1Vl~2, Disconformity A (compare Tables 5.5 and 6.11). This might seem to imply more acid attack, more rootlet etching, and more carnivore gnawing at the former than at the latter, but the larger spec- imen sizes at MlVl-7 may have afforded an opportunity to record the occurrence of these processes with greater accuracy. It is probably more important that the same kinds (if not the same percentages) of pitting were observed on the MlVl-2 specimens as had been defined for the sample from MlVl-7. Etching The distribution of etching patterns is shawn in Table 6.12, and a chi-square test of the overall frequencies on Disconformity A and in the mid-section sample gave a significant result. This was an unexpected result and required rejection of the null hypothesis that etching is in- dependent of the burial environment. Assuming that Type BF pitting has been correctly attributed to rootlet attack, a similar result would be expected from its distribution (Table 6.11), and this was confirmed by the chi-square test (P == 0.967 that x2 will not be exceeded). The sig- nificant differences between these two samples result from more etching and Type BF pitting than would be expected by chance in the Disconformity A sample and less than expected in the mid-section deposit. The bones on Disconformity A may have spent more time in stable soils where plant growth could lead to the development of these features than those in the mid-section deposit which may represent a sample reworked from positions like those on Disconformity A. Another as.pect of etching which deserves comment is its location on the outer, inner, and fracture surfaces. of the bones. Most of the bones are etched only on their outer surfaces, but etching in the medullary cavity can occur if roots are able to grow through the unbroken cylindrical shaft or if the shaft is broken open to expose the medullary cavity. Obviously the occurrence of etching on a fracture surface indicates that the fracture occurred prier to plant rootlet attack. These distributions are also shown in Table 6.12 whè.re it is evident that many more bones on l ( Table 6.13. Distribution of fracture patterns for boues from three strgtigraphic levels at MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Terri tory. 0/0, intact boue; o/y, post·~dessication or post-perminel!"alization fracture; x/y, green boue fracture. Disconformity A Mid-section Basal Taxon No. 0/0 Qb_ x/y No. 0/0 Qb_ ili_ No. 0/0 Qj_z Identified boues Pisces 22 22 19 2 17 Aves 15 1 10 4 8 8 Lagomorpha 14 1 12 1 25 4 14 7 Sciuridae 8 1 7 6 1 4 1 Castoridae 4 4 Ondatra zibethicus 24 3 21 4 1 3 Cricetidae 32 2 30 13 13 Carnivora 6 1 5 2 1 1 cf. Mammuthus sp. 25 13 12 35 1 32 2 11 2 9 Equus sp. 2 1 1 5 4 1 6 1 5 Rangifer tarandus 4 4 1 1 Bison sp. 12 1 6 5 l-' Unidentified Large Mammals ~ Rib fragments 161 122 39 40 35 5 2 2 Long boue fragments 971 817 154 183 159 24 22 22 Mise. fragments 37 37 34 1 33 1 1 Unclassifiable 182 181 1 38 38 4 4 Unidentified Small Mammals Rib fragments 6 6 13 11 2 Long boue fragments 122 101 21 41 31 10 Mise. fragments 6 6 8 8 Unclassifiable 14 14 22 22 Totals 1667 10 1419 238 497 11 434 52 46 3 43 Expected frequencies Test 1 Eq. 2 1657 1433 224 486 420 66 Test 2 Eq. 2 1393 1196 197 334 287 47 Test 1 (all fractured boues): X2 = 4.0, df = 1, P = 0.955 Test 2 (fractured large mammal boues): X2 = 6.6, df = L, P = 0.990 ( 1 ! f l 1 [ ( f ( t 1 ..... i 1- r- L.. L i.... f 1 1 ~....... ,_ 1- L '• i - 1.... r i t - ..... !..... l, ..... : 1.... ..... - -179 - Dis.conformity ,A (l;mt not a s·ignifîcantly higher percentage}_ were broken prior to plant rootlet attack. th,a,n in the mid-section depos.it. Of more importance. is the s--pecîf:t·c occurrence of etching on fracture. surfaces whi:ch_ is-seen on 6. 7% of die hones in the -mid-section. depos-it and on 11% of the bones-on Disconformity A. Tnis-d1fference is-parallel to the difference in fracture patterns (see below), and the complete absence of inner or fracture surface etching in the basal sample is consistent with the absence of fresh bone fractures at that level. Etching was observed on 15% of the MlVl-7 bones (Table 5.5) as com- pared with 13.7% from MlVl-2, Disconformity A and about 9% in the ether two samples from MlVl-2 (Table 6.12). The location of etching reveals a significant difference between the MlVl-7 and MlVl-2 samples with 30.1% of the specimens from MlVl-7 exhibiting etching on fracture surfaces (compared with only 11.8% from Disconformity A). This higher figure might be attributed in part to the larger specimen sizes which permit the more realistic appraisal of individual pieces, but it would also appear that more green fractured bones from MlVl-7 were originally buried in stable plant-supporting deposits than may have been the case for the MlVl-2 specimens. Fracture Patterns The distribution of fracture patterns in the bones from MlVl-2 is shawn in Table 6.13. Chi-square tests of the Disconformity A and mid- section frequencies indicate significant differences in these distributions regardless of whether all bones or only large mammal bones are considered. This result might be taken to mean that the fracture patterns are related specifically to the burial environment, but such an interpretation seems unlikely. One would expèct fewer intact bones in the higher energy sed- imentary environment of the mid-section deposit than on Disconformity A, and the opposite pattern is actually observed in both absolute numbers and percentages. Furthermore, since these samples are believed to have been reworked from their primary sites of deposition, the influence of the sedimentary environment should be to induce higher frequencies of post- permineralization fractures as the energy of that environment increases. One might suppose that such an effect is visible in these data in that the mid-section deposit contains more non-green fractures than expected while Disconformity A contains more green fractures than expected • It is difficult to determine precisely when the post-permineralization fractures oc.curred. They could have occurred in the primary burial en- vironment or in the secondary environment from which we excavated them. There is little indication of differentiai weathering of various fracture surfaces despite the fact that truly recent breaks, such as those pro- duced during excavation and handling, are conspicuous for their lighter colour, contrasting surface textures, and lack of weathering. That seme fractures occurred at the time of deposition at MlVl-2 is apparent from the frequent re.constructions which could be made during analysis. One nearly intact mammoth femur in the mid-section depos·it was probably broken by the weight of the overlying sediment and has been reconstructed from 22 pieces. Several mammoth bene pieces were reconstructed from as 1. Table 6.14. Distribution of carnivore alteration features on bones from two stratigraphie levels at MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Only those taxa which contain green bane fractures (x/y) are listed here. The three types of alteration shawn for green bone fractures (pitting, scoring, chipping) cannat be summed since one bane can occur in all three columns. Lg., large; Sm., small; Mam., mammal; Lbf, long bane fragment; Uncl. unc1assifiable Taxon Anatidae G. sp. Lepus arcticus cf. Mammuthus sp. <tl Equus s p • :>-. • 4-J B1.-son sp. •rl "b 1=1 Lg. Mam. R1 s ~ Lg. Mam. Lbf ~ Lg. Mam. Uncl. 8 Sm. Mam. Lbf Cl) •rl A Totals Expected freq. Equation 2 Lepus arcticus Marmo ta monax cf. Mammuthus sp. s:: Equus sp. .~ Lg. Mam. Ribs 4-J c; Lg. Mam. Lbf ~ Sm. Mam. Ribs ,b Sm. Mam. Lbf •rl ~ Totals Expected freq. Equation 2 Total Bon es 10 12 25 2 12 161 971 182 122 0/0 1 1 1 1497 3 1494 x2 = 141.4, 24 4 3 35 1 5 40 183 13 41 0/y Type BC Pitting None 1 1 1 7 14 7 1 5 9 12 1 5 115 803 174 100 0/y Total 5 10 13 1 6 122 817 181 101 32 1224 1256 ?1 1185 1256 df = 1, p = 1.00 2 4 13 2 32 4 33 155 11 31 13 2 32 4 35 159 11 31 344 5 6 281 287 339 2? 260 28? x2 = 112.1, df = 1, P = 1.oo P = the probability that x2 will not be exceeded. [ [ t 1 t Green bane fracture (x/y) Type BC Altered Pitting Scoring Chipping Total None 3 2 7 16 5 33 6 1 2 5 1 15 ~. 1 6 19 8 34 6 1 2 4 1 3 17 ( ( 8 14 10 32 5 1 2 4 2 7 21 [ 3 1 2 10 19 18 53 14 7 1 2 5 2 9 26 5 1 1 12 1 3 29 135 1 3 185 224 2 1 3 19 1 26 4? ( x/y Total 4 1 12 1 5 39 154 1 21 238 238 7 1 2 1 5 24 2 10 52 52 1 1-' 00 0 L r L i- ~ ..... i - i ..... i - ..... 1 ._ ' y ;_ 1.... .... ' .._ L.. L l.. - -181 - many as seven fragments. found near one. a,nother on Disconform,ity A. Th_ese opportuni_ties also demonstrate. that the ;r-emai,ns, lli:\ye not he.en further disturhed since the.ir ourîal at .MlVl-2. None .. of the reconstructions involved the reunitïng of fractures--made wfien green, altliougfi s·everal remnants of green fracture surfaces-were realigned oy the reas:sembly of pieces-separàted after permineriüization (PL 6 .1). It seems-, then, tliat the major contribution to the difference in fracture patterns is made by the green bone fractures which are overrepresented on Disconform- ity A. An important aspect of the fracture pattern analysis is the relat- ionship between fracture pattern and evidence for carnivore alterations. By constructing contingency tables with the distribution of Type BC pitting (Table 6.11) and the occurrence of green bane fractures (Table 6.13), chi-square tests of their associations can be examined. The results are highly significant (P-1.0 that x2 will not be exceeded) for both Dis- conformity A and the mid-section sample. The association of carnivore chewing and green bane fracture is even more apparent when other gnawing features are considered. For example, sorne of the bones which lack Type BC pitting exhibit ragged scoring marks, perforations, scooped epiphyses, or small flake scars (chipping) associated with the fracture margins, and these features elevate the observable occurrence of carnivore alterations well above the totals for Type BC pitting. All the bones which were in- terpreted as having been fractured when green were reexamined and coded for these additional signs of carnivore activity, and the results are shown in Table 6.14. Nearly all the small mammal and bird bones which were fractured when green exhibit signs of carnivore alteration, but none of the mammoth and horse bones and only two of the bison bones (a phalange and an ilium fragment) exhibit such features. For the unidentified large mammal remains it is to be expected that higher percentages of carnivore alterations would appear among the ribs than among the long bone fr.agmens. Many of these pieces may represent caribou and other relatively small ungulates which are known to have their skeletal elements extensively damaged by carnivores. The wall thickness of each bone which was fractured when green was measured adjacent to the fracture surface, and the results for all large mammal bones are shown in Table 6.15. In view of the generally small sample sizes and rather large standard deviations, these statistics have not beert subjected to testing for significant differences. Inspections of the means and ranges reveal a tendency for not-chewed bones to be thicker thari chewed ones, but there are exceptions as in the case of the large mammal ribs from Disconformity A. None of the carnivore-altered bones is thicker than 10 mm~and all but one of the mammoth bones is thicker than 10 mm. For all other taxa, the wall thickness ranges overlap between bones believed to have been chewed by carnivores and those which. are not demonstrably chewed. It is not possible to demonstrate that the chewing of a given bone was responsible for its fracture, and the figures in Table 6.15 can only be regarded as approximate limits for the frequen- cies of carnivore-induced fractures. Mammoth bones showed no signs of chewing in association with green fractures, and theix thicknesses seem generally to lie outside the range of fracture capabilities of carnivores. l. Table 6.15. Metric data for bone wall thickness in bones fractured when green from two stratigraphie levels at MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Bones chewed by Bones not demonstrably carnivores chewed by carnivores Taxon No. Mean S.D. Range No. Mean S.D. Range ------- ~1 cf. Mammuthus sp. 12 1 15.0 5.1 7.9-23.0 4-l Equus sp. 1 7.3 ·~ ~ Bison sp. 2 5.3 3.3-7.2 3 10.9 4.0-17.2 0 Lg. Mam. Ribs 10 3.7 2.0 1. 5-8.0 29 3.1 1.3 1.3-7.9 4-t Lg. Mam. Lbf 19 5.5 1.8 2.4-9.4 124 2 5.7 2.2 1.8-13.4 s:l 0 Lg. Mam. Uncl. 1 5.3 CJ (/J •r-l Totals 31 170 &::l s:: cf. Mammuthus sp. 13 12.4 0 1 9.5 ·n Equus sp. +J "b 2 4.5 3.0-5.9 3 5.9 4.8-6.6 a:] Lg. Mam. R~ s f Lg. Mam. Lbf 5 6.1 2.4 3.1-9.3 19 6.7 3.0 2.6-14.3 ro Totals 7 24 •n :z 1 All 12 specimens are long bone fragments 2 Eleven flakes not included due to thinning of the walls 3 This specimen is a rib fragment; one flake is omitted due to thinning of the wall l [_ t r f f. 1 t t ( 1. l-' co N r l f L - !.... 1 !...... 1 L !.... 1 ..... i ..... i.... 1 i.... L L L r i.... f ! 1.... i...i - -183 - On the basis of these observations, twelve mammoth long bane fragments from Disconformity A are advanced as evidence of a fracturing agency other than carnivore gnawing. Most of these specimens preserve orientation features on the fracture surfaces which îndicate that fracture fronts have intersected from more than one direction to induce the form of the pieces preserved in the collection (Pl. 6.2). These features imply that the fragments have resulted from multiple impacts delivered to the shafts of mammoth long bones. The only fracturing agency which I have been able to identify which is likely to pro- duce such a combination of attributes is man, and the twelve specimens in question are therefore identified as results of artificial fracturing (Table 6.16). Many of the smaller long bones may also have been broken by man, but they cannat be confidently sepatated from those believed to have been broken by carnivore gnawing. A much higher frequency of green bane fractures was observed among the MlVl-7 specimens (Table 5.6, 25.4%) than among those from MlVl-2, Disconformity A (Table 6.13, 14.3%) or the mid-section deposit (Table 6.13, 10.5%). The green bane fractures occurred exclusively on large mammal bones and were particularly abundant among the mammoth long bane fragments and the unidentified large mammal long bane fragments at MlVl-7. Bane Flaking: "Cores" Nine flaked bane fragments have been recovered from Disconformity A at Ml Vl-2 (Pl. 6. 3-6. 5) • Six were flaked longitudinally, three were flaked trans- ver sel y, and three exhibit interesting alterations in addition to their flake scars. Only one of these specimens is a possible mammoth bane, and the others are long bane and rib fragments from unidentified large mammals, smaller than mammoths. In fact most of these specimens are so small that it is difficult to imagine how they could be manipulated by human hands, and it is relatively easy to imagine that they could be "flaked" by carnivore gnawîng. None of these pieces exhibits unequivocal carnivore-induced scrapes or pits. In arder to demonstrate forcefully just how confusing the activities of carnivores can be in interpreting samples of fossil vertebrate material, I have described each of these specimens as a "core" (Table Cl-C2), and in Appendix C I have indi- cated the likelihood that each piece was naturally or artificially modified. In a preliminary treatment of these specimens I classified all of them as artifacts (Morlan 1979b); here I have been less optimistic. Six of them have been classified as probably natural results of carnivore activity, two could have been altered either naturally or artificially, and only one exhibits alterations which are probably artificial. Bane Flaking: Flakes The attributes of 10 flakes from Disconformity A and one example from the mid-section deposit are displayed in Table 6.17. None of these spec- imens exhib.its carnivore alterations, but all of the flakes from Discon- formity A are probaoly within the range of potential carnivore "flake production" (chipping). All but two of these are classified as probably natural, and the two exceptions Bave been placed in the natural or artificial column becaus·e of the large size and proboscidean origin Table 6 .16. Attributes of green-fractured mammoth long bane fragments from MlVl-2, Disconformity A, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Wall Frac. Cat. No. Length Chard Perim. Weight Thickness Other 1/4 MlVl-2:5-1 (36) (11) (11) 2.9 >10.5 1/4 39-1 (113) (80) (82) 114.3 13.5-21.5 Reconstructed from 7 frags.; Pl. 6.1 1/4 42-1 (111) (59) (62) 88.2 10.2-21.1 Reconstructed from 7 frags.; PL 6.1 1/4 43-20 (23) (14) (15) 2.5 >13 .2 Etched on fracture 1/4 61-1 (25) (16) (15) 5.0 >20.1 1/4 83-1 (41) (11) (11) 4.4 >10.8 2/3 85-1 40 (20) (20) 5.7 10.0-14.5 Etched on fracture 2/3 105-9 (59) 23 24 8.4 15.1-19.2 Polished edge 3/4 29-2 (29) 14 14 3.2 >12. 7 3/3 79-2 40 15 15 4.5 >10.9 l-' 00 3/3 102-1 118 52 52 74.1 12.4-15.8 Pl. 6. 2 ~ 4/4 105-11 101 60 77 130.5 14.4-21.4 Polished edge; Pl. 6.2 N 4 5 5 12 12 12 Mean 74.8 32.8 36.4 37.0 12.8 16.0 S.D. 40.7 21.6 27.4 49.7 2.9 4.4 (measurements in parentheses not included in calcu1ations) [ l 1 1 [ 1 ft ( 1 f ( 1 ( 1 [ ( ( r r r r:~-~ r-~-r·· r-r-·-···· r-·~-~-. r:~-~-r~~~-.~~ c··~ r--···· r~~ c··- Table 6.17. Attributes of ten flakes from Disconformity A and one flake from the mid-section deposit at MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. ' P.E. D.E. Length Chord Perim. Thick. Weight P.A. P.S. V.C. Cat. No. Disconformity A Other r--· 1 1 1 1 1 5 5 5 4 5 5 4 1 5 5 (54) (13) (7) (18) (10) 13 25 11 12 36 25 11 12 37 4.1 3.1 1.8 6.9 2.3 6.0 5.6 5.7 3.4 3.6 3.5 0.4 0.1 2.9 0.1 0.5 1.2 1.2 0.6 0.2 NM NM NM NM NM NM 30° 55° 40° 50° MlVl-2:12-1 Prob. mammoth bone; Pl. 6.6 99-3 2a 4 4 4 4 N Mean S.D. Mid-section 1 4 Lege nd 26 (16) 18 9 4 16.5 7.3 (96) 4 14 12 14 16 14 10 15.8 8.8 19 4 16 12 14 16 14 10 16.1 9.0 27 10 4.3 1.7 14.9 10 1.1 1.2 24.5 NM 2/2 10% 112-1 Pl. 6. 6 114-13 Transverse flake 117-1 66-6 Pl. 6.6 79-4 Pl. 6.6 79-5 91-4 119-2 144-38 Mammoth long borie; Pl. 6.7 P.E. (proximal end): 1, recent fracture; 2a, platform lost because flake snapped at t::Lme of detachment; 4, platform remnant is an unmodified green fracture surface. D.E. (distal end): 1, recent fracture; 4, hinged; 5, feathered. P.A., platform angle; NM, not measurable; P.S., previous scars; V.C., ventral cancellous tissue (See discussion of flakes in Appendix B for explanations of these attributes) 1-' 00 V1 -186 - Table 6.18. Attributes of fractured ivory fragments from MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. No. of faces Orientation of Cat. No. Length Width Thick. Weight Fractured transverse axis Disconformity A MlVl-2:25-4 6 10 2.3 0.1 1 Circumf erence 107-10 38 14 3.9 1.3 2 Radius Mid-section 129-8 29 11 4.7 1.2 1 Radius 142-39 13 10 4.3 0.3 2 Circumference 162-7 109 15 9.2 11.0 2 Diagonal ta radius (12-1; Pl. 6-6d) or because of the repeated flaking from one platform (79-4; Pl. 6_6c). The flake from the mid-section deposit exhibits a well developed rib on its ventral face (Pl. 6.7). This evidence of massive dynamic load- ing, the considerable length of the piece, and its derivation from a proboscidean long bane prompt me to classify it as an artifact. In fact this flake, when complete, may have been an excellent cutting implement for a variety of butchering functions. Fractured and Flaked Ivory Two of the 105 tusk fragments from Disconformity A and three of the 154 specimens from the mid-section deposit differ from the others in ex- hibiting flat or conchoïdal fracture surfaces on one or more faces. Their attributes are listed in Table 6.18 where the orientation of the trans- verse axis of each fragment is given in relation to the original structure of the tusk. Most of the ivory fragments from MlVl-2 would be classified as having transverse axes in the tusk circumference since they are pieces which have been removed from the tusk by delamination during weathering and fluvial transport. The two specimens in Table 6.18 with this orien- tation are struck flakes which exhibit the usual ventral face characteristics of conchoidal fracture. The other three pieces in Table 6.18 have their transverse axes parallel or diagonal to the tusk radius. I have no idea what created these pieces, and I suppose that they could be either natural or artificial. MlVl-2:131-1 is a more complex piece of modified tusk ivory from the mid-section deposit (Pl. 6. 8). The inner side is a normal delami- nation surface, but the outer surface is complexly cratered by at least five concavities whîch resemble flake scars. These scars lie in the middle of the ivory surface rather than originating from a flakable edge. Orientation features in the scars suggest that the flakes were deta.ched - - """ - - - - - - - ~ - - - ~ - t i 1- 1 1- L ~ L 1- l L. ! - ; 1 ..... L L L L L L L. ..... -187 - by transverse and diagonal forces. The spe.cimen measures. 126 X 49 X 14. 4 mm, weighs: 78,5 g, and th.e ·largest flake scar is. 18 :mm long and 35 mm wide. A possible explanation for thiS: kind of modificati.on involves a chi.s:el and hammers:tone approach to flake detacfunent as· reconstructed experimen- tally oy Semenov (1964:Fig. 74-7) and Jelinek (l975:Fig. 277)_ on the oasis of central European Paleolithic materials. S"ince such specimens are appar- ently known in archaeological sites elsewhere in the world, I have classified this piece as probable artifact. Bones with Reduced and Incised Surfaces The same surface incision and reduction concepts described in Chapter 4 and Appendix B were used in evaluating the bones from MlVl-2. Three scratched, three scraped, and 15 polished bones were recovered from MlVl-2, but no ground specimens have been observed. They are described individually in Appendix C (see Table C3). In ten cases I cannat find a criterion which points toward either a natural or an artificial origin for the alterations seen on these specimens, but five of the pieces exhibit features which suggest natural causes while six specimens were probably altered by man. Of three scratched bones from Disconformity A, one has been class- ified as either natural or artificial, and the other two exhibit probàbly artificial alterations which are quite complex (Table C3, Pl. 6.9). Three scraped bones from Disconformity A include two with either natural or artificial alterations and a third on which the attributes sug- gest the use of a rib as a cutting and rubbing implement which is therefore classified as probably artificial (Table C3, Pl. 6.10-6.11). Of the fifteen polished bones, twelve from Disconformity A include three with probably natural alterations and seven with either natural or artificial alterations (Table C3, Pl. 6.11-6.12). The other two are green fractured mammoth long bone fragments with polished edges (Pl. 6.2) which might have been used in a cutting or scraping function and are therefore classified as artificial (as were the fractures). The polish on two of the bones from the mid-section deposit at MlVl-2 is probably natural, but a third specimen exhibits such a complex polished tip that I suspect an artificial origin for the alteration. Three eut bones from Disconf6rmity A and one example from the mid-section deposit are described in Appendix C, and all four specimens were artificially eut with stone tools (Pl. 6.13-6.15). Three of the four are easily understood as butchering scars, but the fourth, from Disconformity A, exhibits a complex eut pattern suggestive of artistic expression. Although I would not hazard a firm interpretation of this piece, I would be remiss if I did not report that I recently made a crude sketch of the eut pattern from memory at a public lecture, and a member of the audience (Ms. Ruth Kirwan of Ottawa) pointed out that the design bears a striking resemblance to a stylized lateral view of a mammoth. Ever since, I have been unable to examine the specimen without seeing the "mammoth" every time, and Plate 6.13 has been oriented to encourage a similar perception of the part of the reader of this report. -188 - G:rooved T<;>oth_ A fragment of interîor enamel, measuring 18 X 11 X 1.4 mm (D.3 g}, from an unidentified large mammal cheek tooth exhï5its a pattern of grooves which at fîrst glanee appear to be cuts (Pl. 6.16). The "cuts" must have been produced either during or after the separation of the tooth into fragments. Noone who has seen this specimen can think of a natural agency which could produce the fine, perfectly formed lines which make a roughly radial pattern on this piece of enamel. On the other hand, Dr. George Swinton assures me that no human being lacking metal tools and vice-like stabilizing supports could possibly produce such perfect lines even inmaterials of less hardness than enamel. I have attempted to replicate the specimen by shattering weathered caribou teeth with an antler billet, and the results are equivocal; a somewhat similar pattern of radiating lines can be made, but the lines have entirely different cross-sections and intersections than seen on the fossil specimen. In the absence of an explanation I must classify the alteration as either natural or artificial. Polished Tusk Two pieces of tusk from the mid-section deposit are probably part of the same original specimen (Pl. 6.17). The larger piece (MlVl-2:142-37: 210 X 43 X 12.9 mm, 100.9 g) is differentially polished on a fracture surface which formed one end of the specimen. The piece is from the cir- cumference of the tusk, and the outer surface is a typical delamination surface; the polished fracture surface was originally in the interior of the tusk. The polish covers an area 112 mm long and extends around the transverse end of the specimen where a small platform remnant represents the locus of flaking. One corner of this end has been removed by a rel- atively recent longitudinal fracture, and MlVl-2:162-8 (47 X 13 X 5.5 mm, 2.7 g) is probably part of this missing corner. The size, curvature, and high degree of polish on 162-8 permit its placement in the missing corner area, but the two pieces cannat be jointed due to missing material. The excellent condition of these "ivory specimens is unique in the mid-section deposit where most tusk fragments were very brittle and readily delaminated upon handling. The polishing of these pieces must have been completed when the ivory was fresh since delamination of the polished area has been very slight but has significantly interrupted the continuity of the darkly stained polish. I believe that this specimen can only be interpreted as a rubbing tool on which the polished area is the working end. Such a tool might have served as a flesher or hide scraper. I doubt that a natural agency could produce such high polish without other kinds of damage, espe- cially given the differentiai distribution of the polish and the rounding of the edge at the presumed working end. The two fragments have been classified together as a single artifact. Differentiai Staining A category of bone alteration which might indicate human activity at MlVl-2 is inferred very tentatively on the basis-of differentiai staining. Seven small bone fragments from Disconformity A (MlVl-2: 35, """' - - - - - .... - - - - - - - - ! i L L l f 1 ._ r . L F 1 1 ._ 1...; ....... ...... L.. i...... i.... ._ ' 1 L ~ ' 1- ' L- i.... ...... -189 - 49-1, 61-37, 66-:-11, 75-5, 77-2, 112-3}_ e:xhihi.t areas of darker stain which_ contrast w:ith.other_surfaces· on the same -pieces.. Eyer;r archaeol- ogis.t w:ho has e:xa.mined thes.e s.pecimens ag;t;"ee.s that the~ :rese.mble charred bones found commonly in .more recent a;t;"chaeological s.:Ltes. It see.ms. possible, how:ever, that d:tfferenttal perminerali,zati:on could produce. sim- ilar effe.cts as T oliserved recently on a Bison sp. humerus from th.e Fort Saskatchewan. gravels in Alberta. The solution to this problem must awai.t the use of appropriate trace-element tests, and the alterations have been classified as either natliral or artificial. Swnmary In Tables 6.19 and 6.20 I have summarized the fracturing, flaking, cutting, polishing,. and differentiai staining alterations so as to iden- tify the archaeological potential of the samples from HlVl-2. Only the Disconformity A and mid-section materials are considered here since the basal sample did not exhibit alterations believed to be indicative of human activity. The great majority of bones, teeth and tusks from the disconformity (87%)_ and the mid-section (92%) are modified only by nat""- ural agencies which have been presented in tabular form without individual specimen descriptions. The remainder fall into four categories: (1) probably natural, indicating that sorne attribute of the specimen is suggestive of a natural altering agency; (2) natural or artificial, for specimens which lack suggestive, much less diagnostic, features to identify the altering agency; (3) probably artificial, for specimens seeming to require the hand of man to explain their alterations; and (4) artificial, for a few pieces which I am willing to assert were modified by man. In vièw of the considerable antiquity of these deposits, the iden- tification of artifacts among ·these bones is of profound importance ~o our understanding of the peopling of the New World, and it is not an exercise which should be taken lightly. Therefore the contents of the "artificial" columns in Tables 6.19 and 6.20 'will be explicitly rationalized, Three considerations form the basis for these artifact identifications: 1. The hypothesis that only man can fracture and flake fresh probos- cidean limb bones so as to produce indicators of intersecting fracture fronts and large cores and flakes. This hypothesis accounts for 12 artificially modified bones from Disconformity A and one flake from the mid-section deposit. The identification of natural agencies capable of producing such fractures on the fresh 1imb bones of mammoths and masto- dons would necessitate a reevaluation of all but five specimens in the "artificial" columns of Tables 6.19 and 6.20. 2. Recognition criteria for cuts made on bones by means of stone tools have b.een discus:sed in this study (Chapter 3), and these criteria form the basis for identifying three artificially modified bones from Dis.conformity A and one specimen from th.e mid-section deposit. Should future work find these criteria less than perfectly diagnostic, these four specimens would require reevaluation. 3. The complexity and apparent patterning of the. polished tusk 1 (, Table 6.19. Distribution of tooth, tusk, and bane alterations with respect to the archaeological potential of Disconformity A at MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Fracture category and other alterations Te eth Grooved molar Tusks Fractured ivory Bones (1677) Intact bones (0/0) Post-permineralization fractures (0/y) Scratched bones Scraped bones Cut bones Polished bones Differentia! stain Green fractures (x/y) Chewed Fractured only Flaked bones Flaked and polished Flaked and diff. stained Bane flakes Scratched bones Scraped bones Cut bones Polished bones Differentia! stain Totals Natural Total Agencies 175 174 105 103 10 10 1419 1406 238 1947 1693 Probably Natural (16-3' 2 83-2) 53 (Table 6.14) 53 8 (Table 6.17) 1 (9-3) 69 Natural or Artificial 1 (81-4) 2 (25-4, 107-10) 31 32 143 Probably Artificial 2 (4-9, 75-9) 1 (17-7) 1 (88-1) 1 (15) 1 (66-5) 1 (49-1) 2 (12-1, 79-4) 1 (115-17) 2 (71-14' 107 -9) 34 36 166 4 Artificial (27-1, 2 61...::13) 10 (Table 6.16) 1 (25-3) 2s 15 Legend: Numbers in parentheses are catalogue numbers, and others are referenced as follows: 1M1Vl-2:27-6. 61-45, 91-1; 2 35, 61-37, 66-11; 3 4-1, 47-2, 61-2, 75-6, 97-4; 4 35-10, 39-21, 105-12; 5 105-9, 105-11; 6 75-7, 77-2, 112-3. 1 [ 1 l i Î 1 r 1 ( -1 f 1 1-' !..0 0 1 r r r r·····~·-. [~ r~~--r· r··~·-.··. r·~-~ r··--· r· . r~--~-~ r.--~-r ~~ r-· -r-·--r··--- Table 6.20. Distribution of tooth, tusk, and bane alterations with respect to the archaeological potential of the mid-section sample from MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Fracture category Natural Probably Natural or Probably and other alterations Total !g_encies Natural Artificial Artificial Artificial Teeth 55 55 Tusks 154 148 Fractured ivory 31 Flaked ivory 1 (131-1) 2 (142-37, Polished ivory 162-8) Bones (497) Intact bones (0/0) 11 11 Post-permineralization fractures (0/y) 434 433 Cut bane 1 (132-8) Green fractures (x/y) 52 26 (Table Chewed Fractured only 6.14) 22 Bane flake 2 (144-22, 1 (144-38) Polished bones 1 (144-21) ---167-8) Tota1s 706 647 28 25 2 4 Legend: Numbers in parentheses are catalogue numbers, and ethers are referenced as fo1lows: 1M1Vl-2 :129-8, 142-39, 162-7. f-' '!:) f-' -192 - specimen from the mid-section deposit ().42-37 and 162-8} encourages me to propose a functional interpretation for this. object (Jleshing or bide scrapingt and to include it in the "artificially'' modified list. If a natural means of altering mammoth or mastodon ivory in this way can be identifi·ed experimentally or through field observations, the artificial status· of this specimen would need reevaluation. A more conservative view of these boue and ivory fossils would reject them all from the archaeological record on the grounds that they have not been found in an "archaeological site." If I were more certain that we could find undisturbed human habitation sites which could account for the bulk of the artifacts in the reworked deposits of the Old Crow valley, I might delay the publication of our existing collections until such a site had been discovered and excavated. However, I believe that it is possible that no such site is presently exposed in the eroding banks of the Old Crow River. If that is so, there may be no way to im- prove the quality of our data within the foreseeable future, and we would be well advised to make the best of what we have. A less conservative view of these collections would add to the "artifact" count the contents of the "probably artificial" columns in Tables 6.19 and 6.20. Although I believe that each of those six specimens exhibits attributes which are most parsimoniously explained as artificial alterations, I cannot defend the six specimens with the simple sorts of hypotheses and criteria outlined above for the 18 "artifacts." None of these six specimens would be out of place in a late Pleistocene mammoth kill site in the New World and if found in such a site I suspect that all six would be described as artifacts. All bane fragments from animals smaller thau mammoths which were fractured when green but show signs of carnivore gnawing have been placed in the "probably natural" columns. This is a conservative stance with respect to archaeology but is not at all conservative with respect to the bone-altering capabilities of carnivores. It is not possible to separate boues which were fractured while being chewed from those which were chewed after being naturally or artificially fractured. It is commonplace in northern archaeological sites to find boues which were fractured by man for the purpose of marrow extraction or other needs and which were sub- sequently chewed by carnivores (either wild wolves or domestic dogs). In the northern Yukon today we can see hundreds of boues which have been thrown to the dogs in Old Crow while in scattered cabin and campsites in the region most boues left on the surface have been gnawed either by the dogs or by the wolves. Therefore even the "probably natural" columns may contain artificially modified boues. This seems even more likely for the "natural or artificial" columns in which I have placed all green fractured boues smaller thau those of mammoths which lack evidence of gnawing by carnivores. I doubt that the largest of these specimens could be broken by carnivores which live today in the northern Yukon, but the short-faced bear may have lived there when these boues were fresh (Harington 1977: 380-394) and may have been capable of destroying much larger boues thau those which can be fractured by wolves and wolverines. Of the 165 bone fragments in this category many (or even all) may have been broken by man. - - - """ - """ - - - - - - """ L r L l L (.,... r L.. i- i 1 \- ~;.., [ 1 \- 1...... t L i ,, L i- 1 L ! ...... ~;.., 1-J .._ -193 - A lot of laboratory and field work is neede.d to aid our interpretation of scratches, scrapes, a~d polish on boues_. The great majority of such alterations in the MlVl-2 samples cannat be interpreted with confidence at the present time, and an interesting component of the potential archaeo- logical record may be hidden among these specimens-. When the figures in Tables 6.19 and 6.20 are compared with those from MlVl-7 (Table 5.8), it is apparent that a statistically significant higher frequency of artificial modifications has been recovered from MlVl-7 thau from either of the relevant MlVl-2 samples. This suggests that richer archaeological accumulations thau found at MlVl-2 have con- tributed to the collection of redeposited materials on the MlVl-7 bar. Some of the higher artifact frequency results from the higher percentage of mammoth remains as might be expected from a modern lag deposit, and other major differences in the fauna, such as a relatively high frequency of horse boues and teeth, are comparable to Harington's (1977) findings on the overall distribution of redeposited fossils in the Old Crow basin. These differences in the fauna, the higher percentage of artifacts, and a few of the artifact categories such as well developed cores anq flakes, suggest that Disconformity A is not an especially important contributor to the redeposited fossil record on the modern valley floor of the basin. Instead there must be other stratigraphie units in the undisturbed pro- files which supply the bulk of the fossils to the reworked deposits, and we will return to this point with a hypothesis as to where such units might exist. Taphonomic Pathways ta MlVl-2 On the basis of all the foregoing data and discussion, we may now devise an approximate madel of the taphonomic history of the three fossil assemblages from MlVl-2. Since it is useful to bear in mind whether differences observed among the samples are statistically significant, all the results of chi-square tests discussed above have been summarized in Table 6.21, and these results provide guidance in the interpretation of trends shawn in Table 6.22. Table 6.22 represents an attempt to fit all our information into the general model proposed by Clark and Kietzke (1967; see Fig. 3.1). In reexamining the chi-square results it must be remembered that the basal sample was too small to enter into many of the tests and that the chi-square test itself is probably too weak to dis- criminate between moderately and highly significant differences. Renee most of the results suggest highly significant differences between the samples even when as little as 2% difference (e.g., split lines) is found among the samples. With these cautionary notes in mind, we can turn to a discussion of the taphonomic factors listed in Table 6.22. The reconstruction of death and life assemblages from our fossil collections will not be treated here since it is primarily a paleontological problem which will be reported elsewhere. It i's necessary, however, for both paleontological and arch- aeological analysis,, to reconstruct as much as possible of the taphonomic history of the fossi:l collection so as to identify the biases which have been introduced to the sample prior to its analysis. We can: directly observe that the fossils are being redeposited today through slumping 1 Table 6.21. Chi-square tests of differences among the samples from MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Sample numbers: 1, Disconformity A; 2, Mid-section; 3, Basal. Attributes (basis for scoring) Boues, teeth, tusks (fragment counts) Vivianite (present or absent) Rounding (none, slight, moderate, heavy) Exfoliation (present or absent), Test 1 Exfoliation (present or absent), Test 2 Split lines (present or absent) Type A pitting (present or absent) Type BF pitting (present or absent) Type BC pitting (present or absent) Etching (present or absent) Fracture pattern, all boues (0/y, x/y) Fracture pattern, large mammal boues (0/y, x/y) Carnivore alterations, Disconformity A Carnivore alterations, Mid-section Lege nd E~., Equation X , chi square df, degrees of freedom P, probably that x2 will not be exceeded ( 1 ( ( 1 1 ( Samples !9...!_ L df R. Table 1-3 1 158.3 2 1.000 6.4 1-3 1 559.0 2 1.000 6.8 1-2 1 85.7 3 1.000 6.9 1-3 1 4.4 2 0.889 6.10 1-2 2 0.09 1 0.230 6.10 1-2 2 9.17 1 0.998 6.10 1-2 2 0.18 1 0.326 6.11 1-2 2 4.55 1 0.967 6.11 1-2 2 1.22 1 0.730 6.11 1-3 1 8.07 2 0.982 1-2 2 4.0 1 0.955 1-2 2 6.6 1 0.990 0/y, x/y 2 141.4 1 1.000 0/y, x/y 2 112.7 1 1.00 1 [ 1. ( 6.12 6.13 6.13 6.14 6.14 l t-' "" .j::- t f r--~ r r-~ r r r~~-c-~-r--~ (7 ___ ~ r~-··c c-·, r~~~ r-~ r-~ r~ ~ Table 6.22. Trends in the distributions of taphonomic factors among the three stratigraphie levels sampled at MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory (see also Fig. 3 .1). Factors/ Assemblages Bio tic Bane Alterations Life Assemblage (to be reconstructed) Thanatic Death Assemblage (to be reconstructed) Pert ho taxie Exfoliation Split lines Type BC pitting (chewing) Green bane fractures (x/y) d i . Artifacts, probable artifacts +Hre epos t1on++ · Taphic Sedimentation rate j:::l Thickness of sediment increments Velocity of current Nature of sediment Type A pi:tting (acids) Etching (rootlets) Type BF pitting (rootlets) Post-permineralizatton fractures .;! .j.J ctl .j.J FossiZ Assemblage ~ Anataxic p.. Cil r ++++erosion++++ Sullegic Viviani te Hematite Rounding (O:S:M:H) Post-permineralization Ancient redeposition Modern slumping Modern flooding fractures Time investment in excavation ·Excavation technique FossiZ CoUectiOn Trephic Identifiability Disconformity A 14.0% 1.0% 4.3% 14.3% 1.1% Relatively slow Few cm Slow Silt, sand, ripple bedded 1.4% 13.7% 4.2% 85.1% 12.4% rare 3.8:91.8:2.8:1.6% 85.1% Law energy Frequent None Host Trowel 10.0% Mid-section 14.7% 3.0% 5.6% 10.5% 1.2% Relatively rapid Many cm Rapid Silt, sand, clay fore-set beds 1.0% 9.1% 2.0% 87.3% 63.9% rare 5.2:79.4:13.1:2.3% 87.3% High energy Frequent None Modera te Trowel 23.4% Basal 26.1% 8.7% 2.2% none none Relatively rapid Many? cm Rapid? Detrital organic sands, flat beds none 8.7% 4.3% 93.5% 17.4% common 4.3:45.7:32.6:17.4% 93.5% High? energy Rare Annual? Least Trowel 37.0% r~ l-' <.0 Vl -196 - and erosion of the river ha,nk, and w:e, must presume that these kinds of (anataxicl factors ca,me. into play J!!Ore than 10,000 years ago when the Old Crow basin was~ originally downcut to i,ts pres-ent lev~L Several lines of eviâence point to the "Vîew tfiat the fos-s:ils-were redepos:ited at least once prior to tfie downcutting of the basin. No instance of articulation of skeletal elements was ohserved during excavation, although_ a metatar- sal and proximal phalanx of Lepus arcticus found near one another on Disconformity A prohahly represent articulated elements only slightly separated from one another. In many cases it was possible to fit together as many as seven fragments of bones which were fractured at the time of deposition. This was particularly true on Disconformity A and shows that the fossils were not further disturbed after the erosion of an ancient surface and its subsequent burial more than 50,000 years ago. Likewise the shattered ends of a mammoth femur could be reconstructed from the mid-section deposit, revealing that disturbance has not occurred to disperse the fragments since the bone was emplaced. That the great majority of fractures on the fossils occurred following permineralization of the bone is indicative of redeposition and possibly of fracture during primary bu rial. If it is true that all the fossils have been deposited at least once, it is of interest to consider whether redeposition has been more frequent or more damaging to one fossil assemblage or another. The degree of round- ing appears to indicate strongly that the Disconformity A sample has been redeposited only once or else has never been subjected to high energy al- luvial environments during multiple episodes of redeposition. Less than 5% of the fossils are visibly rounded when viewed with the unaided eye, and many delicate bone and tooth structures are perfectly preserved. More than 15% of the mid-section fossils and approximately half of the basal spec- imens are visibly rounded and have either been redeposited more often or been more heavily eroded by alluvial processes than the fossils on Dis- conformity A. These observations are consistent with sedimentological and geomorphological considerations. The coarse bedded sands of the basal de- posit and the fore-set beds of the mid-section probably represent alluviation very near an active channel while the finer sediment textures and delicate ripple bedding seen on Disconformity A suggest deposition on a broad, flat braided floodplain or overbank sedimentation on an elevated floodplain or terrace. The contents of the fossil collections suggest similar conclusions. The relatively large, heavy bones of the basal and mid-section deposits probably represent lag in alluvial systems. On the other hand, the abun- dant microtine and other small mammal, bird, and fish remains on Disconformity A could be readily transported by moving water and would not be expected to occur among the lag in a fast-flowing stream deposit. It is probable that the Disconformity A fossils were brought together on an elevated floodplain or terrace at some. distance from the main channel and that for- merly associated large specimens remained in the more active part of the alluvial sys-tem or in lag deposits elsewhere on the floodplain. Altliough the occurrence and identification of secondary minerals on the fossils has not been fully explored in this study, the approximate figures for vivianite and hematite in Table 6.22 have some interesting ~· ~ """' """" - """ ..,.,.j ~ - - - - L r L ( . L... - .._ ii- l. L 1,.; r ii- lw: ~ "- "- L 1- - 1..... - -197 - implications. Since hematite is. rare on Disconformity A and in the mid-section deposit, we must suspect that the fossils have not long been exposed to oxygen. In contrast the basal deposit must have under- gone more intensive subaerial weathering after the permineralization of the bones. The high frequency of vivianite in th.e mid-section deposit is associated primarily with the large number of tusk fragments on which this secondary mineral forms quite readily. All of the factors we have discussed thus far could have occurred after primary burial and during or after secondary redeposition of the fossils. Pitting and etching by acids and rootlets must likewise have occurred after primary burial but are more likely to have taken place prior to secondary redeposition of the specimens. This inference is based upon the observation that the pitting and etching features are evenly stained in relation to the unaffected bone surfaces, suggesting that acid and rootlet attack occurred when the bones were fresh and not yet permin- eralized and stained. In only a few cases have I seen rootlet etch marks with contrasting (usually lighter) colour; these few cases show that not every fossil loses its nutrient value for plant rootlets, but in general it appears that rootlets attack the bones when the latter are fresh. This relationship between rootlet attack and fresh bone could also result from burial history itself in that fresh bones are more likely (than fossils) to be deposited on stable surfaces where plants are actively growing, while bones which have been buried sufficiently to lead to permineralization are more likely to be redeposited in active alluvial environments where plant growth would be discouraged. There are no live rootlets in the MlVl-2 deposits today, and all such rootlets must have been eliminated at least as early as the inundation by Glacial Lake Old Crow in classical Wisconsinan time. The location of rootlet attack may be of special interest if it is indicative of which surfaces were exposed at the time a bone became buried. An intact bone can only be etched on its outer surface whereas a broken fragment can also be etched on the inner and fracture surfaces. As seen in Table 6.12, 22% and 27% of the etched bones on Disconformity A and the mid-section deposit, respectively, were etched on inner and/or fracture surfaces whereas no such etching was observed in the small sample from the basal deposit. Furthermore all the etched fracture surfaces observed in these samples revealed additional attributes of green bone fracture. The distribution of rootlet etching thus brings us to a significant perthotaxic factor which took place following the death of an animal but prior to its primary burial. This factor is the fracture of green bane which has been observed with significant frequency on Disconformity A and in the mid-section sample but not at all in the basal deposit. Demonstrable evidence of carnivore chewing must account for some of the green bane fractures, and the identification of probable artifacts has introduced the likelihood of artificial practices to account for other examples, partic- ularly for the mammoth or mastodon bones. There remains a large uninterpretable sample of green-fractured bones which could have been broken ei ther by carnivores or by humans (or, more rarely, su ch events as accidents during life}. -198 - The occurrence of exfoliation and split linea de.I!lonstrates that the houes underwent some degree of subaerial weath.ering, and the even staining of thes.e features. sugges·ta that at least some of the weathering took place prior to permineralization of the fos<>ils. The fre.quencies of these features in the oas·al deposits are nearly double those of the other two samples, and this difference is-consistent with the oxidized state of iron staining in the basal deposit. In summarizing this discussion of taphonomic history it is important to emphasize the reasons for undertaking the exercise in the first place. Our interest in the archaeological potential of the MlVl-2 deposits arose from the study of thousands of redeposited ~ertebrate fossils which had been gathered from the modern banks and bars of the Old Crow River. Among these fossils were many specimens which could be interpreted as artifacts (Harington 1977; Bonnichsen 1979), but no empirical evidence could be mustered to define their ages or associations with one another. The recovery of green fractured bones from Disconformity A in 1977 led us to believe that the disconformity might "be one source of the archaeological collections which have gradually appeared in reworked deposits elsewhere in the valley" (Morlan 1978a:91). When our sample from Disconformity A is evaluated in relation to the larger collections from the modern valley floor, it seems unlikely that the portion of the disconformity which we - have been able to sample represents a significant source of the redeposited artifacts. The following brief scenario will attempt to place the three MlVl-2 samples in a larger perspective. We still know too little about the basal deposits to characterize their history with any confidence. The sample from MlVl-2 probably repre- sents a lag deposit of fossils which were reworked by alluvial processes in early Sangamon Interglacial times. Some of the boues reveal evidence of sub-aerial weathering and rootlet etching, a minor amount of gnawing by carnivores, and a significant amount of permineralization which is frequently associated with staining by oxidized iron. Only two taxa --mammoth and horse ~-are represented, and there is no evidence that human occupation was contemporaneous with these remains or with the stratigraphie levels from which they were obtained. By late Sangamon or early Wisconsinan times, a drainage system of substantial size had developed in the Old. Crow basin. Some exposures, such as MkVl-10 (ca. 8 km downstream from MlVl-2), reveal point bar growth along a river valley in which vertical relief from channel bottom to floodplain may have exceeded 12 m. At MlVl-2 it is likely that the mid-section sample has been derived from the fore-set beds of such a point bar system, and the vertebrate fossils probably represent a lag concentrate of boues derived from floodplain and channel deposits further upstream. A moderate amount of sub-aerial weathering and rootlet attack is exhib- ited by these bones, and a somewhat greater occurrence of carnivore gnawing is indicated by pitting. The major difference from the basal deposit is the occurrence of green-boue fractures on 10% of the specimens. Ralf of the boues fractured when green are demonstrably chewed by carni- vores, but the other half includes one mammoth boue flake which is believed to be indicative of human activity. This piece, in addition to one eut bone, and one polished tusk, suggest that an artificial - .... .... - """"" ._; ~ - - - """" - - """"" ' : ~ ~ " l i..... " J l L. 1 ' '- r L. \ 1 ;.... 1- 1 ~...... 1 !... i.... ~.....;. .._ -- i- '- -199 - component had been added to-the complex s.et o;f "perthotaxic" factors operating upon bones in the basin. Among the depoaits being eroded upstream from MlVl--2. there -mus·t ha.ve been at least one archae.ological site from which this small s-ample of artifacts could be derived. It is possible that the fore-set beds of the mid~-section deposit are related to top-set beds at the approximate level of Disconformity A and that the latter could be a floodplain contemporaneous with the former. This relationship will be difficult to define precisely because we appear to be viewing the point bar deposit in longitudinal section at MlVl-2. Major differences between the faunas represented by the two samples (Morlan 1978c) could imply a temporal difference between them, but such diff- erences might be explained by means of the taphonomic history of the deposits. The sample on Disconformity A reveals a more diverse fossil assemblage in which small mammals, birds, and fish play an important role. The bone fragments are generally smaller than those of the deeper deposits, and it is likely that they represent the transported component of a fossil assemblage for which the lag is elsewhere. Similar frequen- cies are seen for most taphonomic factors on Disconformity A and in the mid-section deposit, but the green bone fractures on Disconformity A are nearly 50% more abundant while artificial alterations are five times more abundant. Only 20% of the bones fractured when green on Disconformity A are demonstrably chewed, and a dozen of the green fractured specimens are mammoth bones thought to have been broken by man. The very slight degree of rounding and the fact that the sediments themselves indicate slow-moving overbank flooding suggest that the Disconformity A specimens have not been transported very far from their original burial sites even though they are thought to represent the transported component of the original assem- blage. Thus it seems likely that an archaeological site is or was located at no great distance from MlVl-2 on the surface which was eroded to form Disconformity A, and such a site could have been contemporaneous with the erosion which introduced artifacts into the mid-section deposit. Perthotaxic factors such as sub-aerial weathering and green bone fracture have played a more prominent role in the history of the MlVl-7 materials (Table 5.9) than in any of the MlVl-2 samples. The bones are much more heavily rounded than at MlVl-2, and recent oxidation of iron is probably responsible for the high ratio of hematite to vivianite among the MlVl-7 specimens. Largely due to the larger sizes of the specimens, identifiability is enhanced at MlVl-7, and a number of weathering features such as split lines are more readily observed. On the other hand, the general absence of small fossils has provided an impoverished fauna in which fish, birds, and microtines are obviously underrepresenteà. It is possible that the specimen size factor has contributed to the higher frequency of artifacts identified at MlVl-7 in that artificial alterations are easier to interpret on larger pieces. Were it not for the heavily rounded condition of the MlVl-7 fossils, we might consider this assemblage as a general indicator of the sort of lag concentrate which would have been left behind during the erosion and deposition which brought the Disconformity A sample to MlVl-2. The numerous differences between the two samples would then be seen as the expression of opposite ends of a single hydrological process. The mid-section sample at MlVl-2 may be mixed in this regard because it could contain fossils deposited at· different stages of alluvial activity in which marked seasonal variation -200 - is an annual phenomenon. Sorne of the implications: of these i.deas: will oe menti.oned in larger perspective after we have reviewed other scattered vertebrate fos:sil occurrences in primary· stratigraphîc conte:xts. - _. - """" ..,.; - - .,.,.,j - - - Pl. 6.1. Two green fractured mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bone fragments (MlVl-2: 39-1, 42-1), each reconstructed from seven pieces found on Disconformity A at MlVl-2 on Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. The green fractures are on the upper margin in each case, and the one on 42-1 (right) is a poorly preserved hinge fracture. Nat. size. N 0 l-' Pl. 6.2a. Green fractured mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bane fragment (MlVl-2:102-1) from Dîsconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. N 0 N Pl. 6.2b. Green fractured mammoth (cf. Mammu t hu s sp.) long bone fragment (MlVl-2:105-11) from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. N 0 w t~; ,.' ..... ~, fl ,/' ~ -~~;,, -.} .. , _, .:; ~ >~· :-• .\"·· '".: .<< ! '.--;:\;~.' ·~~· -~ ·' ·'"''. · ·~·\·'-. · .~r~. \', -~\~ ~. : . .,.,..; -204 - i.,. • yr_.. • ~ .. ("·-!~-:\··.~,_ ~ .• , 1 .•. •':-!~ 1 ·'.1:~ .~j~~·-:~ / ; ~r..,~:, .. 'r • . .. .. '.; •' .· •. i: :~·· z,..~i: ' ~; ,. }'\ ! • • .. •• '·. ~ .i.f ..... ·..-: .,._~·· ·.:/~ Pl. 6.3. Two "cores" made on unidentified large mammal long bane fragments (MlVl-2:88-1, 97-4) from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. -205 - PL 6.4. Above: "Core" made on unidentified large mammal long bona fragment (~Vl-2:4-1}. Below: Green fractured and flaked bison (Bison sp.) humerus fragment (MlVl-2:15). Both from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. -206 - Pl. 6.5. Five "cores" made on unidentified large manunal long bane fragments and rib fragments from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. Clockwise from upper left: MlVl-2:49-1, 66-5, 61-2, 75-6, and 47-2. Pl. 6.6. Four flakes from large mammal long bones from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Left, dorsal; right, ventral. Clockwise from upper left in each view: MlVl-2:66-6, 112-1, 12-1, 79-4. Nat. size. N 0 ...... -208 - Pl. 6.7. Mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) long bane ;flake (MlVl-2:144-38) from Mid-section deposit, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. L -209 - Pl. 6. 8. Mammoth (cf. Marrurruthus sp.) tusk core (Ml Vl-2: 131-1) with flakes driven from center of outer surface, from Mid-section deposits, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. 1?1. 6. 9_.-Scratches on tw0 unidentif:ied large mannnal long nones (MlVl-2 :4~9_, 75-9) from D:tsconform:tty A, 111Vl~2, Old Crow River, nortliern Yukon Territory. Overview, Nat. size; enlarged yiews, ca. 14X. N l-' 0 Pl. 6.10. Scraped rib of unidentified large mammal CM1Vl-2 :17-7) from Disconformi'ty A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Overviews, Nat. size; enlarged views, ca. 14X. N f-' f-' -21 2 - Pl. 6.11. One scraped (upper left) and three polished large mammal long bone and rib fragments from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. Clockwise from upper left: MlVl-2:71-14, 27-6, 91-1 (two views), and 105-12. / r Pl. 6.12. Scraped and polished unidentified large mammal long bane fragment (MlVl-2:61-45) from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Scale on the left is 2X; the photomicrograph in the center is at 9X; scanning electron micrograph on the right, 21X. N f--' w -214 - Pl. 6.13. Curvilinear design on a (MlVl-2:27-1) from Dîsconformity River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size; below, two views, 2X. bison (Bison sp.) ulna A, MlVl-2, Old Crow Above, three views, Pl. 6.14. Butchering mark on unidentified large mammal metapodial (MlVl-2:61-13) from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Upper left, Nat. size; lower left, 2X; right, 8X. N f-' V1 -216 - Pl. 6.15. Arctic hare (Lepus arcticus) radius (MlVl-2:132-8) with eut near middle of shaft, from Mid-section deposit, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Scales: left, Nat. size; center, 3*X; right, 35X. Pl. 6.16. Unexplained curvi1inear grooves on an interior enamel fragment from an unidentified large mammal cheek tooth (MlVl-2:81-4) from Disconformity A, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Scales: left to right, Nat. size, 2X, 4X. 1 1 1 Pl. 6.17. Polished mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) tusk fragment (MlVl-2:142-37, 162-8) from the mid-section deposit, MlVl-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. N 1-' -._j " CHAPTER 7. QTHER EXCAVATED SPECIMENS Introduction S'pecimenswith possible artificial modifications .have been excavated from six other localities in the Old Crow region. Thes.e. finds· will be very briefly described, and th.ey· can be summarized as follows. Only one piece (MkVl-9: 7} has been found in ancient point bar deposits in Unit 3 where an age similar to or greater thau Disconformity A is implied by its strat- igraphie position, and it is a small flake which could have been produced either artificially or naturally. Most of the other excavated specimens are from Disconformity A or from simiJar stratigraphie positions in various profiles (MkVl-10, MlVl-13). Two lQc~l~~~~~ (MlVl-3, MlVl-13) have yielded interesting boues from possible erosional contacts or weathered surfaces well above Disconformity A, and two localities (MfVe-1, MlVj-1) have produced specimens from above the upper lake clays at the base of the Holocene sediments. MlVl-13 Stratigraphy MlVl-13 is a high bluff on the right bank of the Old Crow River, 88.3 km above the river mouth. Portions of only four days were devoted to the examination of this bluff which was studied originally by O. L. Hughes in 1969 (HH69-21). The gross stratigraphy is very similar to that of MlVl-2, but a zone between 4.8 amd 6.8 m below the upper lake clays is thought to represent a complex equivalent of Disconformity A in which one or more units lost elsewhere to erosion have been preserved at MlVl-13. Since it is in these units that most of the archaeologically important materials have been found, they will be described in some detail. A sequence of four layers has been seen at three widely separated places on the face of the bluff (Stations 1, 3, and 4). These layers were described in the field at Station 1 in relation to their depths below the upper lake clays (Fig. 7.1): (1) dark brown cross-bedded silts grading laterally to fine yellow brown sands, 4.8-5.0 m below the upper lake clays; (2) dark gray-brown·clayey silts with angular blocky structure, many faults, and scattered boues near the top, 5.0-6.0 m; (3) red-brown clayey silts and fine sands, poorly sorted, with sçattered organic matter and a few boues .and abundant charcoal, 6.0-6.8 m; and (4) dark blue-gray to gray-brown clayey silts interbedded with light gray silts, 6.8-12.2 m. The contact between Layers 1 and 2 is sharp but irregular with many small faults and flame structures, and pebbles and bones are concentrated locally. The other contacts are less sharply defined but lack the irregularities and structural alterations and are clearly conformable. Layer 1 is· quite similar in most areas to the cross-bedded silts which overlie Disconformity A at MlVl-2, and Layer 4 is very similar to the silty clays which underlie the disconformity at MlVl-2,. Layers 2 and 3 are unlike any sediments seen at MlVl-2, and these may together represent a lateral equivalent of Disconformity A. Such a correlation is suggested -218 - ..J .....J - i - 1 - ,_) w.J ...... - - --' [ L T L 1 li- 1- ~ ' . ._ L. ' 1 ..... w li- ...... (.... f 1 t_ ~ 1 L. L l... "- - -219 - by a large and complex feature which was partially exposed at Station 2 in a gully between Stations 1 and 3 (Fig. 7 .1). This feature consists of a remarkable deformation of the beddfug planes: accompanied by a signif·- icant truncation of the defcirmed oeds. Outside this feature the contact between the oxidized oedded sands and the dark gray silty clays closely resembles the contact called Disconformity A at MlVl-2. The deformed beds in the feature appear to represent the layers numbered 2 and/or 3 on the face of the bluff, and the feature may have resulted from sub-aerial weathering on a surface which was planed off when the overlying sands were brought into the site. It is unfortunate that I was unable to dig out the base of the feature, because our available data do not indicate a clear interpretation of its origin. Cryoturbation, thermokarst collapse, or ice wedge formation might be responsible for the deformation of the bedding. Layer 3 may represent a soil profile in view of its red-brown colour and organic contents including abundant charcoal, and Layer 2 may be a colluvial covering made up of similar materials. The loss of bedding in Layer 3 could result from pedogenesis, and colluviation of Layer 2 would destroy its original bedding while melting of segregated ice in the bedding planes could produce the angular blocky structure. This is hardly a definitive explanation of the stratigraphy seen at MlVl-13, but it is enough to indicate that Layers 2 and 3 probably represent sedimentary increments which have been lost to erosion on Disconformity A elsewhere in the valley. The possibility that a paleosol is preserved at MlVl-13 can only be established by means of further field work, but the tentative interpretation offered above shows that bones occurring in Layers 2 and 3 may be penecontemporaneous with one another and with Disconformity A • Paleontology Only 53 vertebrate specimens were obtained from primary stratigraphie contexts at MlVl-13, but they are quite interesting from both archaeological and paleontological standpoints. At least ten taxa are represented in this small collection: a duck (Anatidae), a microtine rodent (Cricetidae), musk- rat (Ondatra zibethicus). Arctic ground squirrel (Spermophilus parryi), Arctic fox (Alopex lagopus), a possible wolf (cf. Canis sp.), mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.), a possible herse (cf. Equus sp.), caribou (Rangifer tarandus), and bison (Bison sp.). Three specimens were recovered from three separate positions above Disconformity A but below the upper lake clays, and the remainder were found in the complex stratigraphie sequence described above between 4.8 and 6.8 m below the upper lake clays. The uppermost specimen in the profile is a possible horse mandible fragment (MlVl-13:18) wh.ich occurred only 0.10 m below the upper lake clays in flat-beddedclayey silts; polish on this specimen is probably a result of natural processes. The next piece (MlVl-13~19) is a large mammal rib fragment on which a green fracture is associated with clear evidence of carnivore gnawing; it was found in massive silts 0.95 m below the upper lake clays. The third specimen (MlVl..,-13:10) may be a fragment of mammoth long bane, and it was found on a sharp contact Loyer 1 Layer 2 Loyer 3 Layer 4 ( 1 1. STATION 1 Flot-bedded silts, oxidized Cross-bedded silts, fine sand Cloyey silts, ongular blocky structure · Clayey silts, fine sands, poorly sorted, àbundant charcool organics Clayey silts interbedded with light gray silts ·--~-- -- 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 STATION 2 FLAT-BEDDED SILTS, OXIDIZED 1 ..r/ '\_LAYER 4 ~ "'-. '-.. ':._-./ j / '\. CLayey l..,qy-~ -~\) / 1 ' -.::..!!_ 1, D EfOR~ / / ' ) 1 j: Clayey silts ~---L--~· interbedded with light gray silts Fig. 7 .1.! Basis for correlation of stratigraphie units equivalent to Disconformity A at MlVl-13, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. 1 1_ ( 1 1 1 ( l ( ( l ( N N 0 1.... L.. ..... 1 ,_ L.. ç 'i.... i- \..... i- i ~ ,_ L [ L i ..... L.. ~ l- ..... -221 - at whi.ch. cros.s-b.edded s.i.lts:. and sands QYerlay flat .... b.edded s.i.lty clay and si1ts 1. 30 .m be1ow the upl'e.r lake clays. The b.edd.ing of the flat-be.dde.d sed:Lments was· locally deformed at the. top of th.e unit, and the contorte.d.bedding planes had been truncated by erosion which accom- panied the deposï.t1on of the overlying cross-bedded materials (J. V .. Ma tthews, field notes 24. vii.7 8) • This· erosional contact can be called a local disconformity which has been labelled 11 B" to distinguish it from Disconformity A. The bane found on this contact will be described below, because sorne of its alterations are probably artificial. Of the remaining 50 specimens excavated froTIL HlVl-13, 29. occurred at the contact between Layers 1 and 2 (Fig. 7.l),eight were found in the upper 20 cm of Layer 2, eight were found in the lower 20 cm of Layer 2, one was found in Layer 3, and four were recovered from the deformed beds in the Station 2 feature. Fîve of these specimens exhibit alterations which may be artificial, and at least six of the bones from Station 1 may represent a single bison carcass which was partially butchered by man. The six bison bones include an intact left metatarsal and an intact left tarsal cuneiform from the contact between Layers 1 and 2, a eut rib from the same contact, a left innominate (with cuts on the ischium) and a sacrum found in articulated position in Layer 2, and a patella recovered from Layer 3. Three additional bones found on the bank below the exposure could represent the same bison (right metacarpal, right ilium fractured when green, and right calcaneus). Since the main purpose of this report is to summarize the archaeology, other details of the paleontology will be reported elsewhere (Hughes, et al.1980). Archaeology Vertebrate fossils with suspected artificial alterations have been listed in Table 7.1, but several of them require more description. The possible mammoth long bane fragment from "Disconformity B'' (MlVl-13:10) is polished on bath faces and appears to have been shaped, possibly by eut~ ting, to a blunt point (Pl. 7.1). The piece has a nearly symmetrical parallel-ovate shape and a plano-convex cross-section. The tip has been formed in part by the detachment of two flakes from the outer surface and the left edge and by one flake detached from the inner surface of the specimen. The polish extends onto the edges of the flake scars and forms a broad slightly concave facet with oblique striae on the inner surface of the bane. There is no sign of cancellous tissue on the inner surface, and this specimen may have been shaped from a struck flake. In view of the complexity of these alterations, I have classified them as probably artificial. All three artificially modified bones from Dîsconformity A at Station 1 exhibit small incisions which were made by stone tools (Table 7 .1). MlVl-13:20.1 is a green fractured large mammal long bane with numerous scratches on its outer surface (Pl. 7 .2). These s-cratches are broad and shallow, often with fine grooves visible on theîr floors. The îndîvîdual scratches range up to 0.16 mm in wîdth, and they occur in bundles 1. 4-1.6 mm ac ross and as mu ch as· 14.0 mm long. Sever al of the bundles are made up Table 7.1. Artificially modified vertebrate fossils from MlVl-13, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Stn. Gat. Taxon and element ---- "Disconformi ty B" 1 10 cf. Mammuthus sp. long bane Disconformity A~ Layer 1/2 contact 1 20.1 Large mammal long bane 1 21 cf. Bison sp. rib Disconformity A~ Layer 2 1 11 Bison sp. L. innominate 4 4 Legend 24.3 cf. Mammuthus sp. long bane 26 Large mammal rib Stn., station Gat., catalogue number (all from MlVl-13) W, wall thickness Length Width Thickness Weight Alterations 63 57 321 370 50 370 22 26 33 182 18 40 9.4 W3.3-3.8 W2.3-6.2 W>ll. 6 12.2 9.2 Polished, eut(?), flaked tip 5.6 Green fracture (4/4), scratched 152.4 Green fracture (cyl), cuts 659.2 Cuts on ischium 6.5 Green fracture (2/3) 167.7 Split longitudinally Status: Prob. artif., probably artificial; Artif., artificial ( 1 t l 1 [ 1 1 Status Prob. artif. Art if. Artif. Art if. Art if. Art if. ( 1 N N N 1 1.- ~ li- 1.... \, 1.... L t - f 1... L 1.- \.-< L - r L L L.. - ..... -223 - of three. major and manyminor scratches. with_ two of the major ones 0.8 mm apart and another such spacing measuring 0~9 mm 1 implying that the same tool was. repeatedly moved against the surface of this bone. I have not heen ao.le to count tQ:e hundles· of s-cratches· oecaus·e of the complex ways in which they overlap and truncate one another, but they nearly caver the outer surface and range from longitudinal to oblique in their orien- tations. The scratches are truncated by rootlet etching and by the green fractured margins of the specimen. I suggest that the scratches are the result of the use of a stone scraper to remove the periosteum from this bone prior to inducing the fractures, so they have been classified as artificial. MlVl-13:21 is a large fragment of a large mammal rib probably attributable to bison. The proximal end of the rib was fractured when green, and the distal end exhibits evidence of carnivore gnawing but is too poorly preserved to reveal the nature of its fracture. Three cuts appear on the anterior border of the rib approximately 124, 147, and 152 mm from the proximal end, respectively (Pl. 7.3). These cuts, taken in their order from proximal to distal, measure 1.9, 1.9, and 4.1 mm in length, respec- tively. Each is oblique from proximal/medial to distal/lateral. One eut appears on the lateral face approximately 176 mm from the proximal end. It is 7.0 mm long and is oriented obliquely from proximal/anterior to distal/posterior. This eut could have resulted from follow-through in the same stroke which produced one of the cuts on the anterior border. All these cuts are 0.04 mm wide with U-shaped cross-sections, and their depths vary slightly as they are deeper in the areas of greatest surface convex- ity. A few minor scratches elsewhere on the rib are probably a result of natural processes, and they provide useful comparisons with the cuts which I have interpreted as artificiallX induced through the use of a stone tool in butchering. The left innominate of a bison (MlVl-13:11) exhibits cuts in three locations on the medial face of the ischium (Pl. 7.4). Two cuts, 4.1 and 5.3 mm long, respective~y, are located near the superior border just posterior from the position of the acetabulum, and these are oriented obliquely from superior/proximal to inferior/distal. Three major cuts, 3.3, 6.1, and 7.3 mm long, respectively, are seen near the angle of the ischium and share a transverse orientation from superior to inferior. A small scratch is also visible between two of these cuts and suggests that the whole bundle was produced by the edge of a stone scraping tool. A bundle of five major and two minor cuts occurs in the center of the ischium with the individual cuts ranging from 1.4 mm to 14.5 mm long. This bundle has a longitudinal orientation from posterior to anterior, and the con- figuration of the bundle also suggests the use of a stone scraping tool. The widest and deepest of the cuts on this ischium measures approximately 0.08 mm in both dimensions, and the cuts have U-shaped cross-section. I have interpreted them as butchering scars which might have resulted from defleshing of this bison innominate. The orientation directions mentioned above do not definitely indicate the direction in which the tool was moved, although the suggested directions are feasible in each case.. Certainly these cuts were artificially induced. Station 4 is· located on the second facet downstream from Station 1 at a distance of approximately 50 m. Of two artificially modified boues -224 - excavated from Dis.contormi.ty A at thi.s station (]a,hle 7 .1), one is merely a green fractured mammoth long bone. fragment without fui"ther modiUcatio~s (_MlVl-13:24.3}. The other UUV1-13:26L is a large ~mammal (pison?} rib whichc·has been s:pllt longitudiually to pres·erve the inner face of the rib (Pl. 7. 5}. Unfortunately the speèimen is poorly preserved, but two areas of one edge exhi5it remuants of the original cutting and polishing which elsewhere has been removed by relatively recent fractures. An area of this edge 40 mm long near the distal end of the rib preserves a eut and polished facet on which oblique striae point back toward the center of the specimen. Near the proximal end a smaller area of the same edge, only 10 mm long, preserves similar cutting and polishing features, but the oblique striae also point toward the center of the rib and therefore are oriented at 90° to the striae near the distal end. Several poorly preserved inden- tations along bath edges of this rib suggest that the splitting was partially accomplished by fracturing. I have never seen such a large rib segment so perfectly split in the longitudinal axis by natural agencies, and the only similar Pleistocene specimen which has come to my attention is a split mammoth rib from the Dutton site in Colorado (Stanford 1979b: Fig. 3d). I have classified these alterations as artificial. Summary MlVl-13 has produced a rather remarkable series of vertebrate spec- imens given the small amount of time devoted to its study. I spent only a few hours there on 6 July 1978, four of us devoted a few more hours to the exposure on 12 July, John Matthews worked there on the afternoon of 24 July, I and my crew continued work for a half day on 26 July, and a day and a half were spent there by Keary Walde, Robert Vance, and Heather Morlan on 27 and 29 July. Of the many localities we studied in 1978, this bluff was the most distant from our base camp, and we spent most of the field season on exposures closer to "horne." It is also significant that our multi-disciplinary teamwork was less well integrated at MlVl-13 than at the other localities we studied with the result that I did not apprec- iate the possible significance of the bluff until the analysis was well underway. The very srnall butchering scar.g described above cannat be seen under most field conditions, and they were not recognized until the boues bad been carefully cleaned and exarnined under a microscope. Our srnall sarnple from MlVl-13 shows that a relatively diverse local fauna can be obtained from primary stratigraphie contexts equivalent to Disconformity A, and the fauna may include butchered bison and other artificially modified forrns (e.g., the green fractured rnammoth bone), This would seern to irnply that we are rnuch closer to an archaeological site at MlVl-13 than at MlVl-2, and the articulation between the innorninate and the sacrum of the bison dernonstrates that the bones have not been rnoved since they were fresh. Certainly MlVl-13 bas a high priority for further study in future field seasons. Jilkvz.;J o we devoted only two days in 1977 to this high bluff on the right bank of the Old Crow River, 66.8 km above the river rnouth, but the .... ._, - .... ~ .... - ....i .... - - """' 1 L l.; ..... r L L. i.... L L \..... L t.... L ' ~ ..... l... .f i..... L - """" -225 - exposure is of sorne importa,nce si"nce it is, the second locali.t:y at which we indentified Disconformity A. The disconformi.ty is very similar to the corresponding contact seen ~t MlVl-2 in most parts of the exposure, but the upstream end of MKVl-10 preserves· a 10 cm increment of rich brown organic silt Between the cros-s--bedded s-ands and the blue-gray silty clay, and this s·ilt unit might represent a truncated remuant of a paleosol. The samples of vertebrates trowelled from Disconformity A at MkVl-10 are generally similar to those from MlVl-2, but large pieces have not been found at MkVl-10. The only green fractured boues recovered thus far represent unidentifiable large mammals, and the fractures could have been induced by either natural or artificial causes. Therefore I have chosen only two polished specimens for presentation in this report (Table 7.2). A sieved sample from Disconformity A produced microtine rodent, insect, and plant fossils which will be reported elsewhere (Hughes, et al.l980). MkVl-10:16 has been described elsewhere as a possible artifact (Morlan 1979a:l37), but the possibility that it was altered naturally cannot be ruled out. Two green-fractured margins converge to forman acute angle (750) on which two adjacent polished facets are located (Pl.7.6). The larger facet measures 6.4 X 3.4 mm and the smaller only 2.5 X 1.7 mm. These two facets are barely differentiated from one another, having an angle of 160° between them, and they share fdentical oblique striae. While we might suppose that a polished corner such as this could result from its artificial use as a scraping edge, the facetting is such a simple affair that natural agencies might be responsible for it. MkVl-10:28.1 is a mammoth or mastodon tusk fragment which appears to have been detached from the tusk by flaking, but the piece is difficult to evaluate in this regard because most of the inner surface has been lost to exfoliation. One end of the specimen is highly polished, and the polish covers a convex facet extending from the outer surface around the fractured end to high spots outside the exfoliated area of the inner surface. Visible striae on this polished end are transverse, indicating that the edge of the tusk was moved back and forth laterally against an abrasive surface (Pl. 7.7). On the inner surface at the opposite end, the tusk exhibits an obliquely scraped area approximately 6.9 mm long in association with slight polish which is truncated by the exfoliation scar. The complexity of the polished facet, the occurrence of scraping prior to exfoliation, and the suggestion that the specimen originated as a struck flake prompt me to classify the alterations as probably artificial • MkVl-9 This high bluff on the left bank of the Old Crow River, 64.9 km above the river mouth, is the next major exposure downstream from MkVl-10, but it reveals some major differences in stratigraphie facies, probably because of the influence of Schaeffer Mountain which is nearby to the s-outheast. We believe that the lateral equivalent of Disconformity A at this exposure is a peat}sand contact at 41.85 m (in relation to a 50 m datum at the top of the. bluff}, and the peat at this contact is autochto- nous· and has produced a radiocarbon date of >51,000 B.P. (GSC-2559-2). Between 12 and 15 m.lower in the profile are two layers of fine gravel and coarse sand in point bar deposits which are relatively rich in ' [ Table 7.2. Attributes of selected vertebrate specimens excavated from MkVl-10, MkVl-9, MlVl-3, MlVj-1, and MfVe-1, Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory (see Table 2.1, Fig. 2.3 for locations; Fig. 2.2 for stratigraphie units). Cat. No. Taxon and element Length Width Thickness Weight Disconformity A MkVl-10:16 Large mammal long bane 93 30 WS.S-7.9 15.6 MkVl-10:28-1 cf. Mammuthus sp. tusk 36 39 5.1 5.2 Unit 3 channels MkVl-9:7 Large mammal bane 15 18 7.2 1.1 "Disconformi ty B" MlVl-3:3,5,11 Bison sp. R. radius, proximal 223 D35.5 68 ·3 W8.6-16.2 539.0 Unit ? MlVj-1:1 Alces alces L. metacarpal shaft 135 42 W5.9-9.3 93.3 MfVe-1:1 Rangifer tarandus L. femur 126 D28.0 22 •5 W3.1-4.0 37.7 MfVe-1:2 Anas cf.carolinensis L. humerus 56 3.5 D3.2 0.5 Legend Thickness: W, wall thickness; D, shaft depth; others, total thic.k.ness Status: Nat. or Ar tif., natural or artificial; Prob. ar tif., probably artificial Frac. (fracture): Cyl., cylinder [ 1 ( ~ .. l ( f [ 1 r r Frac. Other Status 2/4 Polished Nat. or Art if. Flake? Polished, Prob. scraped Art if. Flake Nat. or Art if. Cyl. Pro b. Art if. Loading scar, Pro b. 5/5 >7. 9 Art if. Cyl. Burned Nat. or Artif. 0/0 Burned Nat. or Artif. i ( 1 1 N N 0'> ( ~ ' 1 L L ~ L. t L 1 L. L L i- ' ~ i 1- L r (...... ~ i. - L ..... ~ '- -227 - vertehrate fossils. Most o;f the ye;rteb:t:"ates .:ft:OI!l sc;r:eened sarnples of thes.e. layers are mi.c;t;"ot:ine rodents whiJ:h_ will provi!ie a good paleoenvir- onrnental record when they are. finally analyzed, b.ut s-ever al larger anirnals are also represented includfng Dison and beaver (Çastor canadensis)_. The upper of the two gravel layers-also produced a struck flake. from a large rnamrnal oone (11kVl-9:7; Pl. 7.8). Because of its srnall size, I might have rejected this flake as probably carnivore induced, but it exhibits a gabled platforrn remuant (Type 6 in Table Bll) which irnplies considerable force in the prirnary fracture of the bone. The distal end terrninates in a hinge, and other alterations include a coating of vivianite and rnoderate rounding. I do not know whether its production was natural or artifici~l. MlVl-3 This is the first high bluff encountered when one travels up Johnson Creek. The bluff is located on the left creek bank, but aerial photograph analysis shows that rnuch of the cutting of this exposure was accornplished by the Old Crow River which has since "rnigrated" westward across its valley floor with the rnouth of Johnson Creek doing likewise. Thus MlVl-3 is the next major left bank exposure of the Old Crow River above MkVl-9, and the former is directly across the Old Crow valley from MlVl-2. MlVl-3 pro- vides a critical link in our efforts to correlate these other exposures, because it offers a peat/sand contact which grades laterally to a cross-bedded silt/clayey sand contact below which the volcanic ash is well preserved to dernonstrate that these are manifestations of Disconforrnity A as seen at l~Vl-9 and MlVl-2, respectively. Only a few rninor vertebrate specimens have been recovered from Disconforrnity A at MlVl-3, but a second contact of highly organic silts resting on inorganic clayey silts approxirnately 3.2 rn higher in the exposure and only 80 cm below the upper lake clays has produced several interesting bone fragments. MlVl-3:3 and 5 were seen in situ on this contact, and MlVl-3:11 was found by Keary Walde on the following day in the gully below the exposure. When these three pieces are rejointed, it is clear that a right bison radius was fractured when green by rneans of a massive impact on the medial side of the shaft. I doubt seriously that any carnivore could have created a rnid-shaft fracture on a bone of this thickness and diarneter, so I have classified this fracture as probably artificial (Table 7.2). Other interesting features of this specimen have been discussed at length and illustrated elsewhere (Morlan 1979a:l38, Figs.6-7), and these need not be repeated except to. say that reexarnination of the locality in 1978 in an intensive search for an undisturbed archaeological site was frustrated by the fact that most of this north-facing exposure is frozen solid only a few centirneters behind the face. Fine organic detritus was extracted from a sarnple of the organic silts which surrounded the bones at MlVl-3, and the resulting sarnple of spruce needles,. seeds-and several aquatic plant macrofossils was sub- rnitted for a radiocarbon date of '>37,000 B.P. (GSC-2792). This is the first direct association between a bane thought ta havebeen rnodified artificially and a radiocarbon date on surrounding rnatrix. Bath pollen and rnacrofossil analysis suggest that an open spruce forest was growing -228 - in the area wh_en these deposi"ts: were formed, and the character of the peat and abundance of aqua,tï_c :plant s.eeds_ suggest that the. organics may have accumulated in a thaw:: lake. into which_ thesprlice fos.si1s and the bison bone were introduced. n :ts likel:y that the upper portion ot the profile has heen disturh.ed hy flowing clay as: the. ice-ri.ch glaci€1-lacus:trine sed- iments have melted, hut the organi.c s:ilts: are in undisturo.ed stratigraphie position and nave not been directly affected by such_ changes. Ml Vj-1 This high bluff on the right bank of Johnson Creek was visited for only one hour on 30 June 1975 when we stopped there with a helicopter. As I descended the bank from the top of the exposure, I encountered a badly weathered caribou antler fragment and a large long bone fragment which had eroded out of the silts which overlie the upper lake clays. The long bone fragment proved to be from a moose metacarpal, and a large loading point scar is preserved on one corner of the specimen suggesting that the bone was broken by a hammerstone so that its fracture is probably artificial (Table 7.2, Pl. 7.9). 'MfJ!e.,.J This is a high bluff on the left bank of the Porcupine River which was examined by C.R. Harington on 31 July 1967. He collected the intact humerus of a duck (MfVe-1:2) and 19 fragments of large mammal long bone which were glued together to forma large portion of a caribou femoral shaft (MfVe-1:1). These specimens occurred at the base of a peat layer eight feet (2.4 m) thick which forms the top of the exposure above the upper lake clays. Elsewhere on the exposure the thickness of the peat reached 15 feet (4.5 m). Basal dates on such peat exposures in the Old Crow region have ranged between 6430 ± 140 B.F. (GSC-372) at NaVl-1 to 10,740 ± 180 B.F. (GSC-121) at MlVl-1, suggesting that the specimens from MfVe-1 date to some time in that range. The interesting thing about the bones from MfVe-1 is that both of them are intensely burned and that the caribou femur was fractured when green and prior to burning (Pl. 7.10). It is possible that a forest fire burned these bones after a carnivore had fractured the caribou femur in which case the alterations are natural, but the association of a waterfowl and a caribou in the fire suggests that artificial fracture and burning of the bones should not be ruled out. J.V. Matthews, N.W. Rutter, and C.E. Schweger attempted in 1977 to recover more information from this locality, but they were unable to examine the units in question because of a large draped peat layer which concealed the face of the exposure. Su.rnmary Taken together with_ MlVl-2 (Chapter 6), the six locali.ties described in this chapter show that the Qld Crow basin offers. prospects for undisturbed archaeological sites heginning with.Disconformity A and extending through Units 4 and 5 of our composite profile CFig. 2.2}_. The upper glacio-lacustrine clays-(Unit 61 may represent a significant hiatus in the regional arcliaeological record (see Chapter 91, hut more attention should b.e devoted to the silts (Unit 7b) whicli can be exposed between the lake clays and tlie peat in all three basins of the northern Yukon and whicli may contain important early Holocene archaeological materials. - """" - - - - ~ - - """' """' - - - - ,.... -229 - Pl. 7 .1. Shaped mammoth(?) (cf. Mammuthus sp. ?) long bone fragment (MlVl-13:10) from "Discon- formity B" at MlVl-13, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. Pl. 7.2. Scraped long bone fragment of an unidentified large manunal (MlVl-13:20.1) from Dîsconformity A, MlVl-13, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size on left, enlargement on rîght, 7X. -230 - Pl. 7 .3. Cuts made oy s -tone tools em a large 1!la1llmal (Dison?) ·dh fragment (MlVl...-13 :21)_ from Dis·conformity A, 1UV1-13, Old Crow-River, northern Yukon Territory. Overview, ~Nat. size; enlarged views·, ca. 14X. 1 Pl. 7.4. Bison (Bisçn sp.) innominate (MlVl-13: 11} with cuts made by stone tools on the medial side of tne ischium, from Disconformity A, MlVl- 13, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Overview, ! Nat. size; enlargement, ca. 8X. '1 N 1...0 1-' Pl. 7.5. Longitud:inally split large mammal (bison?) rib (MlVl-13:26) from Disconformity A, MlVl-13, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Overview, ~ Nat. size; enlarged view of eut edge, ca. 14X. N w N -233 - Pl. 7 .6. Unidentified large mammal rib (MkVl-10:16) with polished facet on tip, from Disconformity A, MkVl-10, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Overvîew, Nat. sîze; enlargement, 3X. Pl. 7.7. Mammoth (cf. Mammuthus sp.) tusk fragment with polished edge, from Disconformity A, MkVl-10, Old Crow River. Nat. size. Pl. 7.8. Small bone flake from mid-section point bar deposits at MkVl-9, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. pl. 7 . 9... 11oo$.e CAZceq· a Zce si meta,carpal fractured when green (MlVj-1:1} from early Holocene silts at MlVj-1, Johnson Creek, Old Crow oasin , northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. Pl. 7.10. Burned caribou (Rangifer tarandus ) femur and duck (Anatidae) humerus (MfVe-1: 1, 2) from basal Holocene peats at MfVe-1, Porcupine River, northern Yukon Territory. Nat. size. N w +:-- ' '- l t- L. L- \o... 1- L L 1 L 'i L. !...... L - :.... 1.... 1- 1- - CHAPTER 8. S:TONR ARTl::FACTS IN THE. OLD CR,QW.-VALLE't Introduction A large number of archae.ological sites· on the slopes and upland surfaces surrounding the Old Crow oasin have been investigated in recent years (Irving and Cinq-Mars 1974; Morlan and Cinq-Mars 1980) and have yielded through both surface collecting and excavation an impressive collection of stone artifacts but very little in the way of bane preser- vation. Excavations during 1978 and 1979 at the Bluefish Caves just south of the Bluefish basin have produced a small lithic industry in association with well preserved faunal remains (Cinq-Mars 1979), and continued work along the Porcupine River, primarily by Cinq-Mars and Raymond LeBlanc, has greatly enlarged the middle to late Holocene pre- historie record. Despite the many months of searching along the Old Crow River, during which one of the richest Upper Pleistocene vertebrate fossil con- centrations in the world has been intensively collected, very few stone artifacts have been discovered, and no undisturbed Holocene archaeological sites have been encountered in the numerous terracè deposits which line most of the valley walls. With the exception of a few specimens to be reported here (and an unknown number of surface finds at the University of Toronto), the only signs of human occupation seen in the Old Crow valley are the modified bones and antlers, most of which are thought to date to the Upper Pleistocene, and the remains of historie cabins and other kinds of historie camps. This plethora of boues and paucity of stones is one of the most peculiar characteristics of the redeposited collections from the Old Crow valley, but it should certainly not be construed as an indication that the Pleistocene artisans of the region lived by bone a·lone! I have argued elsewhere that we should expect vertebrate fossils and stone artifacts to be differentially sorted during redeposition in the Old Crow valley (Morlan 1979a:l42). The morphology of abjects transported in fluvial systems is critical in determining the manner and extent ta which they are influenced by alluvial processes. Large bones, with relatively large cross-sectional areas, present -large surfaces ta moving ice and water whereas smaller cross-sections, especially in flat abjects, present small surfaces and could more likely remain stationary on the bottom of the channel (cf. Voorhies 1969:Tables 11-12; Behrensmeyer 1975b:488). Even if downstream movement occurred by underwater saltation and scouring, these flat pieces, such as most stone artifacts, could remain in the bed load and become reburied rather than heing left exposed on sand bars and silt oanks. Recently we have discovered that many of our rich collecting localities are found in the truncated cross-sections of drained ox-bow lakes which are now· perched as -rouch as· 15 m above the modern valley floor (Merlan 1978bl. Thîs obs-ervation demonstrates· the occurrence of bane concentrations in the b-ed loads of former 111eander loops and implies that such concentrations are present in the modern hed of the Old Crow River. The ox-bow channel deposits could provide prospecting sites for the recovery of lîthic artifacts whîch might belong with the fossil bane -235 - Table 8.1. Attributes of lithic bifaces and flakes from the Old Crow valley, northern Yukon Territory. Cat. No. Raw material Length Width Thick. Weight Other NaVl-9 :1 Black basalt biface 112.5 32.7 11.2 46.7 Coll. 1975 by C.R. Harington MkVl-12:1 Black chalcedony biface 83.4 42.8 10.8 38.6 Coll. 1973 by C.R. Harington Bonnichsen 1979:97, Pl. VIII-1 NaVk-5: 35 Black andesite biface 99.5 43.7 13.1 66.3 Coll. 1975 by G.R. Fitzgerald <'>NaVk-6:1 Black obsidian biface 49.0 30.1 6.6 10.1 Coll. 1971 by C.R. Harington Bonnichsen 1979:97, Pl. VIII-1 MkVl-12:2 Black chalcedony flake 20.2 22.9 5.5 2.6 Coll. 1973 by C.R. Harington Bonnichsen 1979:98, Pl. VIII-1 *NbVl-2:5 Black chalcedony flake 26.4 12.0 2.7 0.9 Coll. 1971 by C.R. Harington Bonnichsen 1979:98, Pl. VIII-1 NbVl-4 :1 Gray chalcedony microblade 32.0 4.9 1.4 0.4 Coll. 1973 by C.R. Harington Bonnichsen 1979:99, Pl. VIII-1 NaVl-5:1 Gray chalcedony flake 4 7.4 17.6 4.2 3.6 Coll. 1975 by C.R. Harington N w 0"\ NaVl,-2:4 Brown quartzite flake 51.8 48.4 10.3 21.7 Coll. 1967 by W.N. Irving Bonnichsen 1979:98 MkVl-5:17 Black andesite flake 51.1 100.6 16.0 97.0 Coll. 1976 by C.R. Harington * with catalogue number marks specimens found in association with the Anodonta phase - t.... L. 1- L L \.... - ..... ..... L.. l.. i..... t... f i..... t.... ~ - -237 - specimens, but such materials-w:ould still he. di.,tficult to date. Stone-Artifacts Ten stone artifacts in the National Museum of Man collections have been recovered from reworked deposits in the Old Crow valley (Table 8.1, Pl.8.1). Nearly all of them were found by C.R. Harington during his extensive travels along the Old Crow River, and two of them were recovered during excavation of the very early Holocene or late Pleistocene terrace deposits in whièh the valves of Anodonta beringiana occur in growth position. Four of these were not discovered until 1975 and 1976, but the other six were reported by Bonnichsen (1979). NaVl-9 A well made biface of black basalt (NaVl-9:1) was made on a large tablet which had been fractured naturally, and a small remuant of the ancient fracture surface is still visible on the distal half of the reverse face of the specimen. The flaking of the two faces differs somewhat with broad thinning flakes having been detached from the obverse face primarily from the left edge while the reverse face is broadly flaked from bath edges with the scars terminating in a low mid-line ridge. Final shaping and thinning of the biface also reve~ls variations of sorne importance. The left edge on the obverse face and the right reverse edge exhibit rather irregularly spaced and sized flake scars, sorne of which terminate in abrupt hinges. The right obverse and left reverse edges, however, are characterized by evenly spaced uniformly sized flake scars of generally equal length. I suspect that the former represent finely controlled per- cussion flaking while the latter were produced by pressure. Pressure flaking is particularly suggested by the tip and base of the specimen where the forces were directed into the mass of the piece so as to avoid damage to the final form. The hinge fractures near the left obverse and right reverse edges may have discouraged efforts to finish their flaking by means of pressure. The biface is very symmetrical in plan but slightly asymmetrical in section. Neither edge is precisely centered or straight, and the distal two--fifths of the cross-section exhibits a 10° clockwise twist when viewed from the tip. The sides of the specimen diverge gradually from a straight base which is 14.1 mm wide, and maximum width is reached approximately two-thirds of the way from the base to the tip. The cross-section is biconvex in most areas. Edge grinding is c1early apparent on bath sides from the base to the maximum breadth, but no such grinding can be seen or felt on the base itself. The symmetry of this piece. and the grinding of its edges suggest that it was hafted for use. as-a projectile, and a small scar at the tip may indicate damage upon impact. C.R. Harington (~emo dated 11 March 1976) reported that this biface was found on the surface of the lower lake clay which was exposed 1.4 feet -238 - (0.4 m)_ above the river level and approximately n:ine ,feet (2.7 m} from the w_ater 1 s. edge. "Normally it would have been underw:ater. Anodonta shella and :Pleistocene mammal nones were found wi_th :tt. I am inclined to think it was washed out of tiie 'Anodonta phase' . stream bed exposed at tl:ie s·ite ••• " Regardles:s of whether ·this specimen was actually depos- ited wfien the Anodonta were livillg th.ere ·(more thau 10,000 years ago?) its occurrence illus·trates-the need to search the valley floor at lowest stages of the river level, MkVl-12 A black chalcedony biface (MkVl-12:1) was probably made on a large flake detached from a core with numerous interior flaws. More than 50% of the reverse face appears to represent the original ventral surface of the flake. The right edge of the specimen is irregularly thinned on both the reverse and obverse faces with broad expanding flake scars extending beyond the mid-line on the obverse side. The left edge is very delicately retouched on bath faces with evenly spaced parallel-sided flake scars approximately 10 mm long. This finishing work was probably doue by means of pressure with the flaker working first from the base to the tip on the reverse side Elut then using a less regular approach on the obverse side. A slightly asymmetrical biface with an ovate form resulted from these procedures, and the cross-section of the piece is quite irregular but roughly biconvex. Truncations of the pressure flake scars on the left edge suggest that the base snapped off in use or at sorne later time, and there is no evidence that the break occurred during manufacture. The asymmetry and differentiai flaking on this biface suggest that it was designed as a knife, but general rounding of high spots on bath the edges and the faces, probably as a result of fluvial transport, pre- vent.an assessment of use wear. Harington found this piece one foot (0.3 rn) below the surface of a modern gravel bar (memo to G.F. MacDonald dated 13 December 1973). A small flake from the same gravel bar (MkVl-12:2) appears to have been struck from raw material very similar to that of the biface. It appears to have terminated distally in a hinge induced by a flaw in the core. All edges of the specimen are irregularly nicked, probably by damage during fluvial transport. The platform remuant is plain but could repre- sent a broadly flaked surface. NaVk-5 A very asymmetrical biface (NaVk-5:35) is made on a weathered black andesite tablet, and 80% of the revers-e face is characterized by intense weathering. The right edge of the specimen exhibi.ts weathered fracture surfaces at near right a:ngles-to the reverse face in the middle third of its length. The right edge is· barely flaked at all on the reverse face but is broadly thinned along the basal two-thirds of the obverse face with "-.. 1 .~ \ .... \..... L ~ '- !...< !.... ..... '- 1- .... 1- ~ L - t,_ - -239 - the flake scars extending just beyond the îllid-line.. ·The. di.stal third of the right edge is more s:te.e.ply flake.d to a s.li.ghj:ly conca,ve hevelled area wi:th. more delicate (cautious:?l retouch at the t:Lp •. The left edge is '111.ore completely flaked on botli faces with somewhat irregularly spaced and sized scars appearing first on the reverse face and then on the obverse face. This bifacial retouch carries around the base for a short distance along the right edge. The result is a parallel-ovate biface with a nearly symmetrical plan but a strongly asymmetrical plano-convex cross-section. I suggest that the nearly unmodified section of the right edge formed a back on a bifac- ial knife for which the working edge is on the left. The specimen may not have been hafted, and it would probably be effective as a hand-held knife. A crushed area near the tip may represent damage during use, and the remainder of this edge is in a very fresh condition. In contrast the right edge is ground on most high spots as if to reduce its sharpness so as to prevent injury to the band. High spots on the faces of the biface are not noticably polished, so ~he specimen exhibits no evidence of fluvial transport • This biface was found by G.R. Fitzgerald, Harington's colleague in the Paleobiology Division, National Museum of Natural Sciences, on the lower lake clay which outcrops to form the modern bank at the downstream end of the Holocene terrace designated NaVk-5 (Loc. 22). NaVk-6 An obsidian biface was made on a struck flake, a ventral remuant of which occupies 25% of the reverse face extending from the center to the right margin of the biface. This remuant is more heavily scratched and worn thau the adjacent flake scars but does not appear to have been abraded by stream action. Since obsidian is not native to the Old Crow basin, we might attribute the wear on this remuant to damage incurred during rel- atively long-range transport of a flake of obsidian which was retouched to form a biface after it bad réached the Old Crow region. All the retouch on this piece may have been doue by pressure. The largest scars are of equal width and spacing, are 14-20 mm long, and are directed into the mass of the specimen rather than being oriented per- pendicular to the edges. On the reverse face, it is clear that the flaker began work near the base on the right edge and proceeded clockwise around the specimen but did not complete the entire border and therefore left the ventral face remuant. The retouch on the obverse face is not quite as systematic but clearly was developed in a clockwise direction along the right edge. Smaller, more delicate flake scars are conèentrated near the tip and base, particularly on the reverse face, but final symmetry was· not achieved and may not have been desired. The final asymmetrical parallel-ovate outline places the tip closer to tlie left edge. The tip is not sharply pointed, the bas·e bas a generally rounded outline but :tt is somewhat irregular, and the cross-section is plano-convex. The basal half of the bîface could have been incorporated -240 ~ in a haft wi.th the dtagona.ll:r o·riented distal hl(llf. o;f the righ_t edge serving as the cutting edge of a knife. RigiL sp.ots-on the hp,s.al half have be_en blunted J1y· grinding, but sucli blunti:ng :ts not seen on the distal half and therefore is· prooablr not due to fluvüü transport. This biface was recovered from sorne of the earliest Holocene or latest Wisconsinan terrace deposits in the Old Crow valley. It was "found in coarse sand above the lowest layer of organic detritus and above a basal clay layer which outcrops along that part of the Old Crow River. It was 28 feet (8.5 m) below the surface and well into the bank • ••• I collected ali bone from the artifact horizon and also shell (Anodonta), conifer cones, and part of a tree trunk which lay on the same leve! as the artifact •••• A tentative list of species so far collected from the artifact horizon include: beaver (Castor canadensis), moose (Alces sp.), woolly mammoth (Mammuthus pri~igenius), caribou (Rangifer tarandus), bison (Bison sp. --probably B. crassicornis), horse (Equus probably a large species), ?hare (Lepus sp.) and bird, fish and rodent remains." (C.R. Harington, letter to G.F. MacDonald, dated 27 July 1971). Although severa! extant forms of mammals appear in this list, there are three extinct species as well as the Arctic hare (Lepus arcticus) which has since been identified and which does not live in northern Yukon Territory today. Each of these taxa is known from Disconformity A, and sorne have been recovered from later Pleistocene levels below the upper lake clays. All the bones are darkly stained and similarly permineralized, and none of them indicates that final Pleistocene or early Holocene elements are included in the deposit with the exception of the Anodonta shells and sorne of the wood. Therefore the obsidian biface is coeval with either the shells and the wood or with the Pleistocene fauna which pre-dates the upper glacio-lacustrine unit. NbVl-2 A small black chalcedony flake (NbVl-2:5) was excavated from a context very similar to that in which the obsidian biface was found at NaVk-6. The proximal and distal ends of the flake were !ost to transverse snapping, and the dorsal face scars indicate previous flaking of the core in the same direction that produced the flake. Since the local strati- graphy is somewhat different from that observed at NaVk-6, it is worth describing in orcier to show the kinds of lateral facies changes which occur in the basal Holocene terrace deposits. The flake "was excavated from fine oxidized gravels ••• S" to 8" (12. 7-20. 3 cm} thick [containing] lenses of clay, peat and sand. A fine brown sand unit (over 4' thick [1.2 m]) overlay the fossiliferous grave!, which in turn was underlain by an unknown thickness of basal blue gray clay. Many species of Pleist- ocene vertebrates are represented by bones from the fossiliferous grave! at this locality ••• " (C.R. Harington, letter to G.F. MacDonald, dated. 8 November 1971). Wood and Anodonta shells were also found. A caribou antier with a polished base (_NbVl-2:6) was found in the same deposit on the following day, and the antier billet (NbVl-2:15) and a eut innominate (NbVl-2:12) were found there in 1975 (see Chapter 4). I propose to conduct a detailed taphonomic study of this deposit, but ~ l.. f L i 1...; L ..... ' l.. 1....1 i.... L. l.. '-- } L ~...... \,..... ' 1 1.... ..... ~...... -241 - it is. heyond the. scol?e of tlii:s re_port. CertainlY. w_e should continue to excavate at this local::f,tY. since it is subject to si.gniJicant erosion whenever spring breakup is~ vîgcmrous: and accmnl?anied by D.iglL water levels. NbVl-4 A gray cb.alcedony microblade (NbVl-4:1) is complete and very well preserved although its edges have been nicked during redeposition. The distal end is markedly recurved, and the narrowness of the specimen and that of its dorsal facets (3/3) suggest that it was detached from a wedge-shaped core. It was found in "oxidized fine sandy gravels about 4 feet (1. 2 m) above stream level with Pleistocene vertebrate bones" (C.R. Harington, memo to G.F. MacDonald, dated 13 December 1973) • NaVl-5 A gray chalcedony flake (NaVl-5:1) which is transluscent at its very thin left margin, is complete except for a small area of the distal right cmrrner which has been snapped off. It exhibits a plain, unfacetted platform and the scar of one flake which was previously removed by flaking in the same direction on the core. The right edge of the flake is bordered by a narrow weathered surface which shows that cortex was present on the core. A small retouched notch on the left ventral edge might have been intentionally formed but could have resulted from fluvial transport which also nicked other edges of the specimen. It was found with Pleistocene mammal fossils on the surface 8 feet (2.4 m) above stream level (C.R. Harington, memo dated 11 March 1976). NaVl-2 A brown quartzite cobble spall (NaVl-2:4) was surface collected in 1967. Its dorsal face and platform remnant are entirely covered with cortex. MkVl-5 A very broad thick black andesite flake (MkVl-5:17) was surface collected in 1976. It appears to have been struck from a weathered ande- site cobble wb.ich had already been naturally split in half. · The platform remnant consists of such a weathered surface, and the dorsal face is covered with cortex. This flake is rather heavily rounded by fluvial transport. It may not have been struck artificially, although it is doubtful that such massive flakfng occurs naturally today in the Old Crow· River. Summary This small collection of s·tone artifacts accumulated very slowly -242 - during a decade. of w.;ork. alon,g the Old Crov.z Riyer and Hs trihutari.es. Certainly the:çe is no great ahundance of stone tools. and debitage on the modern banks and s;and bars-as migh_t be .. expected in a bas.in v.zhich_ has apparently been occupied by"man throughout the H.olocene (Irving and Cinq-Mars 1974}. The settlement patterns,and routes of travel in this basin seem to have attracted prehistoric peoples· to the surrounding slopes and uplands rather than along the Old Crow valley ftself. Two of the specimens described above (NaVk-6:1, NbVl-2:5) were excavated from deposits believed to date, on the basis of the large mollusc shells, to more thau 10,000 years ago but less thau 12,000 years ago when dawn- cutting of the Pleistocene sediments began. They were accompanied by abundant Pleistocene vertebrate fossils, many of which were redeposited during that 2000 year interval from primary burial sites below the upper glacio-lacustrine unit. ~urthermore an additional five specimens (NaVl-9:1, MkVl-12:1, 2, NaVk-5:35, NbVl-4:1) were found in or on similar deposits which have recently been eroded by the Old Crow River, and these may likewise have been introduced to basal terrace deposits more than 10,000 years ago. Only three specimens (NaVl-5:1, NaVl-2:4, and MkVl-5:17) were found on the surfaces of point bars which are totally divorced from the earliest Holocene layers. This is circumstantial but suggestive evidence that the stone art- ifacts found thusfar in the Old Crow valley are of considerable antiquity, and many of them may have been originally associated with the Pleistocene specimens described in earlier chapters. A review of cuts on bones and antlers It is surprising that only six of the mammoth long boues which were fractured and flaked when green exhibit longitudinal scraping which could have resulted from the removal of periosteum with a stone scraper. Since the removal of the periosteum is. an essential prerequisite to the controlled flaking of bane, this process must have been accomplished with less vigourous uses of stone scrapers or with the use of other tools. Periosteum can be removed by burning, but only a few small bane fragments from MlVl-2 and two boues from MfVe-1 exhibit the kind of differentiai staining which might be interpreted as the result of exposure to a fire. During the Ginsberg elephant butchering experiment (Sta~ford, et al.l980) we discovered that an antler wedge can be used to remove periosteum by driving the wedge beneath the membrane so as to roll it back along the shaft of the long boue. This technique can result in the ripping of tendons from the boue surface so as to leave distinctive scars on the boue, and such scars were noticed on one of the mammoth bane cores (NaVl-7:1, Pl. 4.11) from the reworked deposits. It may also be possible to remove the relatively thick perios- teum from a mammoth boue by more careful cutting with a sharp flake, and such a procedure might leave little evidence on the none. Butchering marks· are alsu surprisingly rare on the boues from the Old Crow oasin. Two goos·e boues from the reworked deposits, two large mammal bane. fragments from Disconformity A at MlVl-2, one hare radius from the mid-section deposits at MlVl-2, and two bison bones from MlVl-13 are the only specimens which exhib:Lt cuts thought to have resulted from butch- ering. Of these, the goose bones were probably eut during disarticulation of joints, the hare and bison boues were likely eut during muscle stripping, "' L. Î r L L L r i.... L i - ..... b..; ;.. ~ I- L... i.... r 1 L... \.. .... L... -243 - and the oth_er two specimens~ a-re_ ilot ;ceadily interp:reta,hle. Sharp knives were_ probably responsible for the cuts on the goose_, ha;re, large mammal bonea, and bison ;rih, and a stone scraper probahly was used on the bison iachium from MlVl-13. A partial explanation of the scarcity of butchering marks may be found in the existence of houe flaking techniques. The Ginsberg exper- iment demonstrated that large sharp-edged boue flakes are excellent butchering tools. They readily eut through lean meat and even through the myelin membranes which cover muscle bundles, but they will not leave evidence of their use in the form of butchering marks on the boues because they are deflected by the periosteum. Since boue cores and flakes com- prise our most common categories of artificially modified specimens in these collections, it seems reasonable to suppose that they were made for the purpose of butchering carcasses and that their use accounts in part for the scarcity of butchering marks. It is noteworthy that nearly all the boue and antler tool forms which are familiar from investigations in later archaeological sites were shaped in part by stone tools. The antler billet (NbVl-2:15) was not only shaped by stone tools but was probably also used to make them. The removal of the brow tine was accomplished by means of three major cuts which would have required a very stout cutting edge unless the antler had been softened by pre-soaking. A sharper more delicate edge may have been used to eut the bez tine, and I have no idea how the nicking on the bez tine was created. Two of the antler wedges were probably made with stone tools which included a scraper to produce the tool marks on the example from MjVl-1 and a sharp but sturdy cutting edge to score the butt for the transverse division of the antler beam. The third wedge (MjVj-6:1) was shaped in part with a metal file, but the grooving and splintering of its face may have been accomplished with stone tools. Stone tools were also employed in the fashioning of the flesher (MlVl-l:lc), in the finishing of the split large mammal rib (MlVl-13:26), and possibly in the shaping of two blunt boue points (MlVl-7:289, MlVl-13:10). A loon boue awl in the University of Toronto collections was fashioned by cutting a long bevel on one end of the boue and finishing the worked area by polishing, and there are probably many more examples of stone tool use in those collections (e.g., Harington, et al.l975:47). The most interesting example of stone tool use in the collections reported here is the possible artistic expression on the ulna of a bison from Disconformity A at MlVl-2. Whether or not this piece actually represents art, the cutting of the boue appears not to have resulted simply from a butchering process. The definition of a lithic tool kit, like that of a "boue technology," must await the discovery of undisturbed archaeological sites in the Old Crow valley, but I cannat emphasize too strongly the importance of pain- staking observatfons on each bone and antler specimen in order to discover the minute traces of stone tool use on these Pleis-tocene fossils. The specimens must b~ carefully cleaned and examined with magnification under -244 - good liglit to ens.ure th~t sml'lll but in;l;or:lllatiye cuts, w:.ill not he miss.ed, and we must :remember that many' exq.JJlples_ o!, s.tone tool use h.aye :probably been dis:carded in th_e field. The few examples whicfi_ I: have-reported, however~ indïcate clearly tnat lithi'c tools. were in use as :part of th.e human interaction wî'tli Upper Pleistocene fauna in tfie Old Crow basin. Among our ratlier 11 noi'sy" bones are tfie faint but visiole traces of "silent" stones. -245 - ' "}' r .,, . ; ' , ' / .,r), ... ~ii.< f·· .. , --~"'~ ~ , , ~-~· -.. ' ---...,;,) --~! « . -"!'~. ,.:;~ ~ Pl. 8 .1. Stone artifacts from tiie Old Crow valley, nort hern Yukon Territory (obverse, dorsal). Upper left to lower rîgiit: NaVl-9:1, MkVl-12:1, NaVk-5:35, NaVR-6:1, NaVl-5:1, NEVl -4:1, MkV1~12:2, NbVl-2:5, NaVl-2:4, NRVl-5:17. 3/4 Nat. size .. -246 - Pl. 8.2. Stone artifacts from the Old Crow valley, northern Yukon Territory (reverse, ventral). Upper left to lower right: NaVl-9:1, MkVl-12:1, NaVk-5:35, NaVk-6:1, NaVl-5:1, NbVl-4:1, MkV1~12:2, NbVl-2:5, NaVl-2:4, MkVl-5:17. 3/4 Nat. size. L i L - ' L ( 1 L r L li- ""- L L r L loo... L L l.... L L.. ....... CHAPTER 9. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION Old Crow Region: an Overview The frequencies of all artificially modified bones presented in Chapters 4-7 have been recast in Table 9.1 along with corresponding fre- quencies for natural or artificial and prooably artificial alterations. These and the stone artifacts havebeen sunnnarized in relation to their stratigraphie and geomorphologie provenîence. Tt is clear that our recovery of artifacts from the modern banks and bars is ten times greater than that from any excavated context. Proiïable artifacts are scattered throughout the series of units, and the dubîous specimens of the natural or artificial status are abundant and widespread. If the green fractured bones of large mannnals smaller than mannnoths had been counted for the reworked deposits, their frequency would at least match that of Unit 3/4 (Disconformity A). Nearly half of the artifacts consist merely of mannnoth bones which were fractured when green (45%), and nearly one quarter (24%} were not only fractured when green but also were flaked. Flakes detached from such cores account for 11.4% of the artifacts, and the remainder includes flaked tusk ivory, flaked large mannnal bones, and scratched, polislied, and eut bones and antlers. Of 251 artificially modified oones, tusks, and antlers, only 23 have been recovered from Pleistocene stratigraphie contexts with 20 examples from Disconformity A at two locations and three from the mid-sec- tion deposit at MlVl-2. Mannnoth bane cores have not yet oeen femnd in Pleistocene contexts, and only one mammoth oone flake has oeen excavated from the bluffs. Seven of the 23 excavated specimens are eut, and it seems quite surprising that only a few of the 228 redeposited pieces exhioit cuts. I believe that the low frequency of eut bones from the reworked deposits is due to a strong observational bias brought aoout oy the fact that minute cuts are so diffi- cult to see under field conditions. Many examples may have been discarded in the field. During recent excavations at tiie late. Pleistocene site of Bluefish Cave (Cinq-Mars 1979), cuts were observed on only one or two bones while in the field, but dozens of specimens .have no>lr been recognized as eut bones due to careful microscopie analysis in the laboratory (Cinq-Mars, pers. corn. in 1980). Likewise all the cuts on nones from M1V1~2 and MlVl-13 were first recognized in the laboratory. Regardless of thes·e considerations, the excayated SB:mples are so different from the overall distrioution ef artificial altera.tions in the reworked deposits that it :ts difficult to oelieve that Disconformity A is a significant source of the redeposited artifacts found on the valley floor. In view of the picture presented by available radiocarbon dates (see below), I believe that we have stumbled onto significantly older evidence of human occupation on Disconformity A than would have been predicted on the basis of the redeposited specimens. We already suspect that stratigraphie contexts above Disconformity A may produce artificially modified bones, but we have devoted too little attention to this part of the profile to be certain of where to look for more materials between Disconformity A and the upper lake clays. It is possible that we have been too enchanted \vith Disconformity A and that we should climb even higher in the exposures to look for larger numbers and larger sizes of fossil specimens which could stand as better -247 - Table 9.1. Distribution of artifacts, probable artifacts, and possible artifacts (natural or artificial) in relation to the stratigraphie and geomorphologie units identified in Figs. 2.2 and 2.4, Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. Form of alteration Mammoth bones and tusks Unit: Nat. or Artif. 3 3/4 7 9 Probably artificial Artifacts 3 3/4 5 7 9 3 3/4 8 9 Green fracture only 1 11 8 87 Green fractured and scraped 1 4 Green fractured and ground---------------------------------------2 Green fractured and polished 1 2 1 Cores, flaked only -----------------------------------4--43 Cores, flaked and scraped 2 Cores, flaked and polished ------------------------------------2--3 Flakes (bone) 2 1 2 6 Ivory cores and flakes ----------3---2-------I--1-------y----------7 Polished ivory 1 Other bones~ teeth~ and antZers Large mammal bones, green fracture only 22 143 NC 1 1 Large mammal cores, flaked only _____ 2 __________ 1 __________________ 1~ Large mammal cores, flaked and polished 1 1 Large mammal flakes 1 2 1 1 Scratched bones --------------1----y-----2-------------I----I Scratched and grooved teeth 1 1 Scraped bones -----------2----------1-------y----------- Polished bones 7 8 1 3 8 Cut and polished antlers -------------------------------------2--3 Cut bones 1 6 1 4 Burned(?) bones-----------------6--2--------------------------- Stones (Table 8.1) Totals 26 167 2 10 2 2 8 5 2 1 8 3 20 2l 217 Cross-references: Unit 3, Tables 6.20, 7.2; Unit 3/4 (Disconformity A), Tables 6.19, 7.1, 7.2; Unit 5 ("Disconformity B") Tables 7.1, 7.2; Unit 8 (Anodonta phase) Table 4.11; Unit 9 (modern reworked deposits) Table 4.11. (NC, not counted) N ..(:-. 00 L [ ii- ~ i.... ~ ~ ~ !_. L. i...o r: ' 1..... L 1 - ~ i i,_• L w L ~ -249 - candidates for the s.ource.s. of much of the evidence :in the reworked deposi.ts. Spatia~ DistX'ibution in the O~d CX'ow J!aUey Bonnichsen (1979.: 70-761 proposed the hypothes:is that the distribution of spirally fractured bones along the Old Crow valley may indi.cate the former areas of human activity in the Old Crow basin. He tested this hypothesis by plotting the total frequency of fossil bones against the frequency of spirally fractured boues ordered in clusters of ten collecting sites each with the. clusters arranged in sequence from upstream to downstream along the valley floor. He found pronounced peaks (I-IV) in the overall bone distribution in addition to a somewhat different pattern of peaks (A-C) in the spirally fractured bone distribution (Bonnichsen 1979:Fig. 10). While admitting that these patterns were not clearly understood, he suggested that the differences in thes·e frequency distributions might be explained in terms of the former presence of archaeological sites which had been eroded by the river during downcutting of the valley. I am not able to make an identical test in this report, because my data do not include bone totals for every locality. Instead 1. have arranged the specimens described in Chapter 4 according to their distances from the mouth of Old Crow River (Table 9.2), and both the distribution along the valley floor and the co-occurrence of different forms of artificial alteration can be examined in this arrangement. Only seven localities have produced more than 10 artificially altered specimens, five localities have produced between five and·nine specimens, and the remainder have yielded less than five apiece. There are fewer specimens than kilometers in the overall distribution! None- theless, interesting patterns are discernible in this rather sparse distribution. As the sample size from a given locality increases, the diversity of alterations also tends to increase. This is not a linear relationship, but it is clear that the more collecting we do at a given productive locality, the more likely we are to find a greater variety of artificial alterations among the specimens from that locality. This might seem self-evident, but in fact we should probably expect to find less diversity with sample size increases if the alterations in question.are due to natural causes. If natural agencies were responsible for these alterations we might expect to find concentrations in the valley where a single natural process had produced many examples of a given alteration. The maximum diversity observed in Table 9.2 occurs at MlVl-1 where 11 types of alteration were described on the basis of 25 specimens. Similarly, the 26 specimens from MlVl-5 were altered .in 10 different ways. At MlVl-7, however, only eight kinds of alteration were observed among 33 arti- ficially modified specimens, but I suspect that this drop in diversity in relationship to sample size is due to our not having been selective in our collecting from this locality (see Chapter 5). A second important pattern is seen in Fig. 9.1 where the distribution of artificially modified specimens is plotted in relation to the distance from the mouth of the Old Crow River in five kilometer intervals. The graph on the left has been devised by converting Bonnichsen' s (1979 :Table 8, 27) data so that it will match the data reported here which is graphed on the right. A careful comparison of these two graphs reveals the influence of minor interpretive differences discussed above, but the general pattern is similar ! Table 9.2. Distribution of redeposited bone, tooth, tusk, and antler specimens along the Old Crow valley and its tributaries and along the Porcupine River, northern Yukon Territory. All specimens from Units 8 and 9 (Table 9.1) are included. cf. M~uthus sp. Km from Sit.e Green Cores mouth Number Frac. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Flakes 1 2 Lg. Mamma1s 1 2 3 Cut and polished 1 2 3 4 5 Tota1s 2~.0R NbVn4 1 1 284. SL NbVn-3 1 1 264 .SL . NbVm-5 1 1 1 3 ZiO.SL--NbVm-2---1-----------------2-------------------------3- 217 .4R NbVm-6 1 1 214. 6L NbVm-4 1 1 2 2o6.5L--N"hvi-9----------I-----------------------------------1- 205.9R NbV1-ll 1 1 204. 4R NbVm-1 1 1 2o1. 6L-*Nbvi~2---2------------I----1---------*l------1--*2-*1---9- 199.8L NbVl-1 3 1 1 5 Timb.Cr. NbV1-5 . 1 . 1 l99.3L--NbVl-6----------------------------1------------------I- 195.4L NaV1-7 1 1 182 .4L NaVl-12 1 1 2 T6I.sR--Nav1-1 -~------------------1-------------------------1- 158.2L NaVl-8 1 1 1 3 14.3. BR NaVl-4 1 1 2 l39.9R--NaVk-10--------------------I-------------------------1- 130.8L NaVk-1 ; 5 1 1 1 1 9 130.1L NaVk-5 5 1 1 2 1 1 2 3 15 l24.1L--NaVk-9-----l----------------------------------------1- 121. SR NaVk-6 6 2 2 1 2 1 1 13 120.3L NaVk-8 1 1 11Z.lR--MlVk-4---1-------------------------------------------I- 95.5L M1Vk-l 2 3 2 90.6R MlV1-14 1 1 -8S.3R--MlVl-lJ---flt---------1----------------------1-----------3- 84.4R MlVl-16 1 1 75.1R MlVl-5 11 5 1 4 4 2 1 3 1 26 N V1 0 r -~ r----r ----, r~---r r-:-r--r----r-·--r-----r---r c----r---r~----r-~-r--~· r~~-r-~ Table 9.2 (Continued). Km from Site mouth Number Green Frac. 1 cf. Mammuthus sp. Cores 2 3 4 5 6 Flakes 1 2 Lg. Mammals 1 2 3 Cut and polished 1 2 3 4 5 Totals 74.1R *MlVl-12 *7 *2 *2 11 73.8R MlVl-2 1 1 2 John~Cr._MlVj_-l ___ 3 ___________________________________________ 1__ John.Cr. XI-B-366 1 1 John.Cr. M1V1-10 1 1 2 John.Cr. M1V1-7 20 1 1 1 3 3 1 3 33 Johll.cr.-Mlv~3-------------------------------------1--------y- 70.5R *MlVl-1 *7 6 *2 *2 1 3 1 1 2 *4 2 25 68.5L MlV1-11 1 1 66~R-MW1-10 ______ 1 ____ 1 _________________________________ 2_ 66.0R MkVl-24 1 1 2 64.9L MkV1-9 2 1 1 4 63-:-9L --MkVl-25------------------1----------------------------I- 61. 9L MkVl-12 1 2 1 1 5 57.3R MkVl-8 5 7 2 2 2 3 14 S4-:-8R--MkVl-26-------------1-----1----------------------------2- 49.2R MkVl-23 2 2 48.1R MkV1-18 1 1 43-:-4R - -MkVl-S - - -2lr - - - - - --- - - - - - - - - - --- - - - --- - - - - ---- - - - - - - - -2 - 40.5L MkVl-4 5 1 1 7 36.6L MkVl-27 2 2 36-:-4R --MkVl-3 - --2------------------------------ -------------2- Porc. R. MjVj-6 1 1 Porc~ R._Mj_Yj_-1 ___ 1_:_ __________________________________________ .!:_ _ Porc. R. MjVl-1 1 1 Porc. R. MiVl-1 1 10 1 1 1 4 Totals 103 15 9 12 12 6 5 28 3 13 4 2 3 I 19 5 5 246 Legend: Km from mouth given for left (L) and right (R) banks of Old Crow River; other streams are Timb. Cr. (Timber Creek), John.Cr. (Johnson Creek), and Porc. R. (Porcupine River). Cores: 1, cores without platforms; 2, cores with unmodified platforms; 3, cores with retouched platforms; 4, cores flaked transversely; 5, core fragments and mise. "cores"; 6, ivory cores. Flakes: 1, bone flakes; 2, ivory flakes. N Vl 1-' \ Table 9.2 (Continued). Legend: Lg. Mammals: 1, longitudinal cores; 2, transverse cores; 3, flakes. Cut and Polished: l, scratched bone and tooth; 2, scraped bone; 3, polished bone; 4, eut and polished antier; 5, eut bones. Green fracture column: 1 includes 2 scraped, 1 ~round, and 1 polished bone; 2 includes 1 po1ished bone.; 3 includes 1 polished bone; 4 includes 1 polished bone; inc1udes 1 scraped and 1 polished bone; 6 includes 1 scraped and 2 polished bones; 7 includes 1 ground bone.; 8 includes 1 scraped bone.; 9 includes 1 scraped bone; 1 0 includes 1 scraped bone. * marks specimens excavated in association with the Anodonta phase. N lJ1 N r -r···· (/) 0: LIJ 1- LIJ ::lE 0 -' i2 ~ 0: LIJ > ii: ~ 0: u 0 -' 0 t5 J: 1- ~ ~ al <( LIJ u z ~ (/) 0 r··.······· r·······~ r~-~~~ r~-~ r-~~--. BONNICHSEN (1979) 0· Cl .---. 50·~ ~--. i : ... ,. i ! Cil 100· F1 -i • 150· ~ 200·~ 250· Cil 300·· 6 10 2b 3b r~··· No. OF ARTIFICIALLY MODIFIED SPECIMENS r .. _ ...... r·.,··-~ r r--r··-~-. f c· r· r-~~ THIS REPORT _--567 R KING EDWARD CREEK t;~~=iii·····: . ...-67.4 R SCHAEFFER CREEK J;;; ; .._ 72.0L JOHNSON CREEK D ~ i ! . . ... -·····~ c:. • ..... !Il 6 lb 2b ..___ 134.2L BLACK FOX CREEK -199.4 L TIMBER CREEK -288.8R SURPRISE CREEK 3b 0 MAMMOTH BONE MERELY FRACTURED GREEN BONNICHSEN 1979:(TABLE 8) } (AB 92 ) • OTHER ALTERATIONS BONNICHSEN 1979: (TABLE 27) THIS REPORT l': LE · Fig. 9.1. Histograms showing the distribution of arti;fac.ts along Territory as measured in s· km intervals above the riVer mouth. major peaks and stream mouths. the Old Crow River, northern Yukon Note the close association between r-·~~~ r~ N Vl w -254 - and shows that three major concentrations of artificially modified spec- imens continue to emerge from further collecting in the Old Crow. valley. The major concentration is quite hroad and encompasses all sui.tahle exposures hetween 35 and 80 km from the mou th. of the. river. The tb.re.e concentrations are situated very close to the mouths: of the tb.ree major tributaries of the Old Crow-Riv~r (Johnson, Black Fox, and Timber Creeks), and we must suppose that these. streams are at least partially responsible for the accumulations of fossil specimens in the Old Crow valley. I have omitted from the graphs in Fig. 9.1 all the localities which occur in the creek valleys themselves with the exception of MlVl-3 which is a high bluff probably eut originally by the Old Crow River. This association between streammoùthBand fossil concentràtions is to be expectd and is the kind of pattern long utilized by placer miners in their prospecting for gold and other precious metals and minerais (cf. P~wé 1975: 98). Therefore I doubt that the distribution reflects. former archaeological site locations with the possible exception of the peak near the mouth of Timber Creek. NbVl-2, which is responsible for more than half of this peak is located too far upstream to have been influenced by the Timber Creek discharge, and I believe that we can take this locality as an indication that an archaeo- logical site formerly existed in the sediments eroded by the Old Crow River not rouch more than 200 km above the present river mouth. The long gap in the distribution between 225 and 260 km is not entirely a result of our having ignored the area. Fifteen collecting localities have been designated in this interval, and none of them has produced an artificially modified bone. Perhaps this enables us to narrow the search for the source of the Timber Creek concentration to a 25 km section of the river (between 200 and 225 km above the mouth), and this possibility will be field tested in the near future. One other major omission from Fig. 9.1 is the incredibly large collection from Bonnichsen's Loc. 89 (Harington's Loc. llA; MkVl-12, 61.9L) which is housed at the University of Toronto and which has been assembled by W.N. Irving and his field parties. Tens of thousands of fossil bones, teeth, tusks, and antlers have been collected and catalogued: great quantities have also been discarded in the field; and the number of artificially modified spec- imens probably runs at least into the hundrèds and perhaps into the thousands. Thusfar only three specimens, an immature human mandible (Irving, et al. 1977), a Canid mandible thought to represent a domest.ic dog and a peccary (cf. PZ.atygonus sp.) radio-ulna fragment (Beebe 1978), have been reported in the literature. Nowhere else in the Old Crow valley have we seen such a concentration of vertebrate fossils, and it is of sorne importance to account for this occurrence. Although we must await reports from Irving and his colleagues for details, it appears that both ancient and modern ongoing factors are responsible for this bane concentration. The ancient factor is traceable to the earliest period of significant final Wisconsinan downcutting in the Old Crow valley when a rapidly lowering base level and very rapidly retreating nick point must have formed a powerful sluice in which vertebrate fossils mined from all stratigraphie levels between the two glacio-lacustrine clay units were carried downstreftm to become redeposited along a relatively straight channel bottom. These new deposits were buried beneath Holocene alluvium but have been reexposed by the river as its meander loops have oscillated across the valley floor. Thus rouch of the material on this bar is heing exhumed from a burial environment originally established in latest Pleistocene and earliest Holocene times (during the Anodonta phase). l !-. 1 ._ 1- 1- ~ ' 1 r \.... ï-o - i ._ 1 L 0 ;..· 1..... 1-. i..... L ! ~ - i - -255 - An additional increment of hone mar be adde.d to the bar in major flood stages dm:;ing s.pr:ing hreakup. Recause of the unusually t:i,ght bend made by the Old Crow River at this. s:pot, a huge whixl:pool sometimes forms du ring high_ wa ter: stages, and thi.s :process has scour:ed a deep ho le in the river bed just beyond the point of the bar. 5uch fluvial or hydraulic activity may also be capable of replenishing the lag concentrate of verte- brate material which literally paves the bar at low stages of water. I have mentioned this locality only for the purpose of indicating that the collections reported in this monograph are but a pale reflection of the potential yield of the Old Crow valley. As further work is clone there, we can reasonably expect to redouble our understanding of these materials many times. Bones as Sedimentary Particles Since nearly all the vertebrate fossils reported in this study are believed to have been redeposited by fluvial processes, it is of some interest to consider the properties of bones as sedimentary particles in the fluvial environment. Elsewhere 1 have made the observation that the vertebrate fossils are frequently the largest and most conspicuous objects on the modern banks and bars of the Old Crow River and its tributaries, but their relative gross size may be misleading in terms of their responses to hydraulic forces. Behrensmeyer (1975b) has provided a lengthy discussion of bones as sedimen- tary particles and has compiled useful data on the critical aspects of size, density, shape, and settling velocities which are needed in a discussion of bone transport potential. She has shown that by plotting the wet weight against the density of skeletal elements the various groupings of elements observed in Voorhies' (1959) flume studies can be obtained, although there is some overlap between Voorhies Group 1 (which transports readily) and Group II (which is intermediate between transport and lag) (Behrensmeyer 1975b: Fig. 4). Size, density, and shape contribute to the settling velocity of a given bone, and some bones, such as the scapula appear to present special problems due to particular shape characteristics which influence the response to moving water (Behrensmeyer 1975b:492-493). Nonetheless, when these variables are taken into account, it is possible to calculate the approximate diameter of a quartz grain which would .settle at the sarne rate as a given bone when placed in water, and therefore the characteristics of a bone assemblage can be examined in relation to the particle size distribution of the enclosing matrix to demonstrate whether the matrix and its contents reflect similar hydrological potentials. Considerations of this sort are of special. interest in the Old Crow valley because pebble-and cobble-size stones are so rare that the competence of the stremas may not be accurately reflected in the particle size distri- butions of their deposits. Unfortunately there are no hydrological data available for the Old Crow River and its tributaries, and we know very little about the bed form and cross-section of most reaches of these streams. Spring breakup is undoubtedly the time. of greatest erosion and redeposition of all kinds of materials, but the level and energy of breakup varies. considerably from year to year and depends on several complex variables such as amount of winter precipitation and rapidity of spring melting and runoff. During the past five years breakup bas occurred late and low with relatively little Table 9.3. Predicted quartz grain diameters equivalent to the largest malllilloth long bone fragments recovered from various sedimentary and geomorphological contexts discussed in this report. Dry Wet Specimen and Cat. No. Referènce Weight Weig__ll_t Volume db p ~ ·--· --------- MZ VZ-2, Disconformity A MlVl-2:105-11, mammoth long bone Table 6 •. 16 130 150 71 5,14 2.10 3.43 MlVl-2:30, largest rock none 64 24 3.59 2.65 3.59 MZVZ-2, Mid-section MlVl-2:146, mammoth femur TaBle 6.6 626.5 7202 3429 18.71 2.10 12.47 MlVl-2:144-31, mammoth long bone none 114 131 62 4.92 2.10 3.28 MlVl-2:143, largest rock none 70 26 3.69 2.65 3.69 MZVZ-2, basal MlVl-2:172-9, mammoth long bone none 351 404 192 7.16 2.10 4. 77 MlVl-2:21, largest rock none 200 75 .5.24 2.65 5~24 MZVZ-7 MlVl-7:281, mammoth long bone Table Bl 701 806 384 9.02 2.10 6.01 Other> r•e7ilorked deposits MkVl-5:13, mammoth femur Table Bl 2433 2798 1332 13.66 2.10 9.11 MlVl-5:25, mammoth long bone Table Bl 1102 1267 603 10,48 2,10 6.99 Legend Weight in grams; volume in cubic centimeters p = density = weight 7 volume, in g/cc db= nominal diameter of bone, in cm; db= ?1.91 • volume dq = diameter of quartz grain equivalent to bone, in cm; dq = (pb -l)db 7 1.65 N \JI 0'\ r f r----r ~- 1000 256.0 a: 64.0 w .... w :::E ct ë z ct a: a: w 0 ...J :::> 0 ID (!) w ...J N ID 1-ID a: w ct a.. :::> 0 r---·-··~ r---- IROCKSl MIVI-2:30 MIVI-2:143' 10.0-........... . 4.0 2.0 r--··"· r·· [''" ............... MIVI-2:21 r MIVI-2: 144-31 r·-r··-·-~ ............ , \ ............. . LEGé NO: 0 Dlsconformity, A Ml VI -2 Cl Mid-section, MIVI -2 • Bosal, MIVI-2 !::::,. Johnson Creek bar, MIVI-7 A Other reworked deposlts r·····. ., 1.0 '+-------r----r---------r---.--------..,..--..., 10 50 100 500 1000 5000 10,000 VOLUME (cc) 1ig. ~.2. Relationship between volume and calculated quartz grain diameters for the largest bones and rocks from several contexts in the Old Crow valley, northern Yukon Territory. r r·--·" r--~ r--·~ N \JI -...1 -258 - erosion of the high bluffs which have attracted our attention; in many cases it has been pos.sihle to relocate the previous :year' s data stakes and trowel marks. Surp:t;"i.singly li.ttle downst:t;"e.am moyement ha.s. occurred among the hun- dreds of h.orse bone~ experiJJlentq,lly plq,ced :tn the. valley in 1977 (J?arama 1978L and on many of the point bars whii::h_ we have visi.ted annually during this period one must wonder whether large bones are newly arriving during oreakup or being newly exposed 'Dy erosion of more ancient deposits. Any effort to estimate quartz grain diameter equivalents for the Old Crow fossils· is seriously hampered by the difficulty of measuring their volumes accurately. The bones are badly damaged by wet-dry cycling once they have been removed from the field, and my attempts to measure volume by weighing displacement of carefully sieved sand met with only partial success. A small series of fossils was sacrificed for wet weight and volume measure- ments, and the density of cdrnpact bone specimens was calculated to be 2.10 g/cc, This value is somewhat greater than the densities reported by Behrensmeyer (1975b:484), and the higher density of the Old Crow fossils probably results from perrnineralization and sediment entrapment in small foramina and other cavities. The compact bones also increased in weight by 10-20%, and I have assumed that weight changes due to water uptake will repre- sent 15% of the dry weight of the fossils. On the basis of these rather arbitrary numbers, I calculated the pre- dicted wet weight and voiume of the largest èompact marnmoth boues from each sedirnentary context discussed in this report and used these predictions and the assurnption of 2.10 g/cc density to calculate the diarneters of quartz grains which would settle at an equivalent rate in water (Table 9.3). The resulting figures can be cornpared.with the largest rocks obtained from each of the excavated deposits at MlVl-2, and the indicated particle sizes can be matched against the Wentworth scale of particle size classes (Fig. 9.2). The results of this exercise, even though based on several possibly shaky assump- tions,indicate substantial agreement b_etween the lithics and the bones in all three deposits at MlVl-2 with a single noteworthy exception. Most of the largest bones appear to be equivalent to pebble-size stones with respect to their predicted settling velocities, and pebbles of comparable size were found in each of these deposits. Only a few of the very largest bones from the reworked 9eposits appear to be equivalent to cobbles. The one noteworthy exception is the large mammoth femur from the mid-section deposit at MlVl-2 which seems to be entirely out of place in relation to the other stones and bones which were found in association with it. It is difficult to imagine that this femur was transported by the same fluvial processes responsible for the other fossils in the mid-section deposit. Given its excellent state of preservation, it is hard to believe that this femur was transported by fluvial processes at all, but the possibility that it was ice-rafted to its position of discovery cannat be ruled out. It is interesting to note that the same deposit produced a number of large fragments from a single marnmoth ulna as well as an enormous piece of mamrnoth tusk which would probably settle at a velocity like that of a boulder. These nearby specimens raise the possibility that a mamrnoth carcass once lay in the edge of the stream represented by the point bar deposits of the mid-se.ction at MlVl-2 and that the bones and tusk represent the lag component of a fossil concentration which was winnowed by the fluvial activity associated with_ point bar growth. The inevitable seasonal fluctuations of the stream could have initially eroded the locality, carried away sorne of the associated elements, and l,.. r , l 1- L ..... L.,; w r ~ i....l k ..... l..o ..... ...... ' r 1.... i L- \;.. r L 1.... i....o .... -259 - progressive1y suhsided to a s.ununer low w:ater stage. during which the smaller boues w:hich. comprise the bulk of our sample could haye heen de:posited and buried in close proximity to the IDMJlll.oth_ re.mains.. This line of argument also raises questions conce:r:ning th.e arti.facts found in tite mid-section deposit. Were the. mammoth none flake and the ivory· flesher used on the spot by people who· ki1led or scavenged th.e manunoth carcass, or were they brought into apparent association wi.th tb_e carcass by the gradually subsiding stream? Throughout the discussion of the mid~section deposit I have often referred to it as a relatively high energy fluvial environment as compared with Disconformity A, and such a difference would not seem to be supported by the display in Fig. 9.2. The basal deposit, on the other band; bas yielded bath larger bones and larger rocks with respect to settling velocity, and a higher energy fluvial environment may be more clearly indicated. The higher energy idea was proposed for themid-section deposit partially because of the mammoth femur and other very large bones and partially to account for the frequencies of such variables as degree of rounding. In making such comparisons on the basis of Fig. 9.2, the fluvial systems themselves are vastly oversimplified. I have specified the density and nominal diameter of the particles (bones) in order to estimate the sizes of quartz grains with similar settling velocity, and I have assumed perfect sphericity and round- ness for each particle. I have said nothing about the fluid in which the particles would travel and have assumed (probably incorrectly) that the fluid velocity, depth, specifie weight, density, and dynamic viscosity will be the same in all situations (see Krumbein 1942:622 for a discussion of these variables and for a presentation of several non-dimensional parameters which relate settling velocity to the flume behaviour of non-spherical particles). Furthermore these considerations have centered primarily on laboratory studies of settling velocity in.still water or hydrodynamic behaviour in flumes, and the complex relationships derived from variations in bed form, suspended load, packing, spacing, and orientation of different size particles, and seasonal fluctuations in flow have not entered into the picture to the extent that they should (e.g., Fahnestock and Haushild 1962; Baker and Ritter 1975; Bagnold 1977; Butler 1977; Shackley 1978). A detailed discussion of such relationships is beyond the scope of this report and will require further investigations both in the field and in the laboratory, but severa! observations on the major samples reported in Chapters 4-7 should point the way to specifie research needs. For the basal deposits at MlVl-2 we need a larger sample of fossils, and the outstanding s.izes of the mammoth femur and tusk from the mid-section deposit have already been mentioned. A review of the weight measurements for s.pecimens from Disconformity A at MlVl-2 reveals an interesting pattern. Ten specimens weîgh more than 50 g; and seven of these were fractured when green. The other three are mammoth scapula fragments which may represent a single bane which was broken during redeposition at MlVl-2. Of the seven green- fractured specimens, four are mammoth long bane fragments which were interpreted as artificially fractured. One is a Bison sp. ilium :which was chewed by · carnivores and was reconstructed from five fragments found near one another on Disconformity A; this ilium exhibit_s a small remuant of a green fracture surface which could have. been artificially induced. Th.e sixth specimen is the bison humerus fragment on w:h.ich the flaking (and perhaps. the fracturing) is probably artificial, and the seventh piece is the large bison humerus from Station 15 which exhibits a green fracture most likely due to man (but -260 - possibly due. to carniyoresl. Thus the. majority of the. largest specimens in the Disconformi.ty A aample seem to haye. be.en associa,ted with_ lu.lnlan activity when they were f;resh, and th.ese. s:J?e.C:i.Jp.ens account for ne;;trl:y a thi.rd of the archae.ologi_cal potential of the sample. Sïnce. D:t.sconformity-A i.s-proliably an erosional contact created_du:J;":tng overbank flooding by-a sizeable stream, we might expect that the largest p-ie.ces sub.sequently-buri_ed on the contact were already in place. in depos:its: on th.e bank. Smaller pieces could be introduced to the top of the bank during the flood, and they could have origi- nated in many different sedimentary and geomorphological settings. It seems likely that the largest pieces as well as many of the smaller ones which were artificially modified have simply been moved laterally across the flood- plain, redeposited on the erosional surface, and buried during the recession of the flood waters •. An even more intriguing picture has emerged from the complex series of deposits which appear to be equivalent to Disconformity A at MlVl-13. The occurrence of a bison innominate in articulation with a sacrum in very fine silts and sands may be difficult to account for in terms of fluvial processes, and it is more likely that any movement of the specimens was accomplished by means of colluyial processes (e.g., downslope movement). The butchering marks on the innominate and on other bison bones in the same deposits suggest that an archaeological site was disturbed in the immediate vicinity of MlVl-13, and field work in 1980 will include a reevaluation of this locality. The large bison radius on "Disconformity B" at MlVl-3 is likewise out of place in the fine grained organic matrix which enclosed the bone so that fluvial transport seems unlikely to account for its occurrence. In Chapter 7 I suggested that ice-rafting on a thaw lake might be responsible for this deposit, and we will return to the locality in future years to seek more evidence of an eroding archaeological site on the shore of such a lake. The wide variety of reworked deposits near the floor of the valley are too complex to permit simple generalizations, but the deposits representing the Anodonta phase may be amenable to a taphonomic analysis in which the bones can be viewed as sedimentary particles which were deposited together under a set of definable circuinstances. ·Such an analysis will be attempted with the enticing collection from NbVl-2 where stone, bone, and antler arti- facts have been recovered. Radiocarbon Dates Problems surrounding radiocarbon dates from Old Crow Flats have been with us since. the beginning of our paleontological and archaeological work in the region. 0.1. Hughes (pers. com. in 1968} recàgnized the major diffi- culty early in the work, and Irvilig and Harington (1973:339} defined it in print: One problem that we have been unable to resolve thus far is why, so far, no organic materials oth_e.r than boue from the basin-fill sediment have yielded dates between 11,000 and 31,000 years B.P. Only radioca;rbon dates on boue fill this seeming gap at present. Clearly, more radiocarbon dates and more detailed stratigraphie work are needed ••• ·.>1'•'- :....... 1 L. 1.- ! ~ [, 1.... L 1 L.; 1 ,_ f ..... ~ \....,. L - L : - i- - -261 - In the years. since thes.e obs.ervat:i,ons were made, a mucb._ larger series of dates andmuch.mo;t;e detailed stratigraphie work have been accomplished, but the pictm;e presented h:y radiocarhon dating ha,s, re.ma::i,ned :precisel-.y the same. Harington CL9:77: 108, Table. 51 ha,s endeavoured to date yarious genera and species of verteb.ratessystematically, while geological work hy IIughes, Matthews, Rutter and Schwe.ger (_Yukon Refugium Project)_ and Jopling and Westgate (Northern Yukon Research. Programme) has greatly enlarged our under- standing of the stratigraphy of the basin fill sediments (see Hughes, et at. 1980). Our youngest date on organics other than bone from below the upper glacio-lacustrine unit is still around 31,000 years ago, although eight collagen-based bone dates lie between 22,000 and 30,000 years ago. Radiocarbon dates for the Old Crow basin are summarized in Tables 9.4 and 9.5 where they are arranged according to general stratigraphie context where known or simply in chronological order for boues from reworked deposits. All the bone dates in Table 9.4 are based upon the collagen fraction, and only one of the dates was .obtained from an artificially broken bone (I-11,050). Three additional dates have been obtained on artifacts, but all three were based upon the apatite fraction (see Irving and Harington 1973:336). These dates were obtained at a time when apatite-based dates were thought to be more reliable than co1lagen-based dates on boue (Irving and Harington 1973: 339; Haynes 1968}, but subsequent studies have shown that the apatite com- ponent of boue may be subj.ect to alteration l:)y ground-water contamination and other processes (Hassan and Ortner 1977; Hassan, et al. 1977). A series of ten Old Crow fossi1s has recently been radiocarbon dated on the basis of pair col1agen and apatite samples (R. Stuckenrath, pers. com. in 1978), and the results show little agreement between the two fractions. The collagen- based assay from each pair is included in Table 9.4, but I shall leave full discussion of this interesting experiment to its promu1gators, W.N. Irving and R. Stuckenrath. Radiocarbon measurements on organic material other than bone from the sediments of Units 3, 4, and 5 reveal a generally coherent picture with relatively few gaps from 31,000 years ago to beyond the range of the method (Fig. 9.3). Dates on post-glacial peat begin around 11,000 years ago and extend to mid-Holocene times, and dates on Holocene terraces (except for two demonstrably mixed and redeposited samples) provide a similar picture. Anodonta beringiana shells from the earliest intact terrace deposits date between 10,000 and 11,000 years ago. Since several samples of the c1ays from the upper glacio-lacustrine unit have been found to be devoid of organic material other than wind-blown pollen (Hughes 1969), we might suppose that the apparent absence of organic material between 31,000 and 11,000 years ago represents the period during which the glacial meltwaters inundated the Old Crow basin during classical Wisconsinan times. Radiocarbon dates based on the collagen fraction of redeposited boues from the Old Crow basin provide substantia1 support for a slightly modified version of this interpretation. These dates have been added together to form a single histogram by means of a technique developed by Jaguttis-Emden (1977), and they exhibit a pronounced peak centered on 28,000 B.P. in Fig. 9.3. Renee col1agen-based dates suggest that large vertebrates in the Old Crow basin preserve a record of radiocarbon ingestion for a period of at leas·t 3000 years after an apparent cessation of radiocarbon activity in the recov- erable record of plants. At least two explanati.ons of this seeming anomaly Table 9.4. Radiocarbon dates on bone collagen from reworked deposits in the Old Crow Region, northern Yukon 'Territory. A11 dates given with two-sigma errors. Species and element identified when known tome. Date (Yrs. B.P.) 4,570 ± 200 6.450 ± 270 11,450 ± 400 11,910 ± 360 12,220 ± 1500 12,275 ± 360 12,460 ± 440 12,660 ± 560 12,900 ± 100 22,600 ± 1200 25,910 ± 1360 26,460 ± 3760 26,640 ± 2800 27,700 ± 920 28,050 ± 1000 28,200 ± 1000 29,300 ± 2400 32,800 ± 1600 33,800 ± 4000 33,800 ± 4000 34,000 ± 5200 34,000 ± 2000 36,650 ± 2600 >38' 000 >39,900 >39,900 >42,000 >42' 000 Lab. No. I-4225 I-4221 Qu-780 I-7765 Qti-783 I-7764 I-3574 Qu-782 GSC-2881 I-3573 SI-2818 Qu-784 Qu-781 SI-2812 SI-2825 SI-2824 r-n ,osa SI-2820 I-4227 I-4229 I-4222 SI-2822 SI-2816 SI-2817 I-4228 I-4223 SI-2823 SI-2814 Loca1ity MkV1~1 M1V1-5 MkV1-12 MkVl-9 MkV1-9 MkVl-12 MkV1-9 MkVl-12 Bluefish Cave I MlV1-1 MkVl-12 MkVl-12 MiV1-1 MkV1-12 MkV1-12 MkV1-12 MkVl-3:9 MkVl-12 M1V1-l NaVk-5 NbVl-1 MkV1-12 MkVl-12 MkVl-12 NbVm-4* NbVm-4* MkVl-12 MkV1.,..12 Species, element, reference Cervus canadensis humerus (Harington 1977:Table 5) Rangifer tarandus antler (Harington 1977:Table 5). Bison sp. humerus (Cinq-Mars, pers. com. in 1980) Bison crassicornis scapula (Harington 1977:Table 5) Bison sp. humerus (Cinq-Mars, pers. cam. in 1980) Bison crassicornis horncore (Harington 1977:Table 5) Bison crassicornis lumbar vertebra (Harington 1977:Tab1e 5) Bison sp. humerus (Cinq-Mars, pers. cam. in 1980) Equus sp. femur (Cinq-Mars 1979) cf. Mammuthus sp. femur (Harington 1977 :Table 5) (Stuckenrath, pers. com. in 1978) Equus sp. humerus (Cinq-Mars, pers. com. in 1980) Bison sp. humerus (Cinq-Mars, pers. corn. in 1980) (Stuckenrath, pers. com. in 1978) (Stuckenrath, pers. cam. in 1978) (Stuckenrath, pers. corn. in 1~78) cf. Mammuthus sp. long bone fragment (Harington, pers. cam. in 1980); artificially fractured (see Table Bl, Pl. 4.1) (Stuckenrath, pers. com. in 1978) Bison crassicornis humerus (Harington 1977:Tab1e 5) AZces Zatifrons ant1er (Harington 1977:Tab1e 5) Equus sp. metatarsal (Harington 1977:Table 5) (Stuckenrath, pers. com. in 1978) (Stuckenrath, pers. com. in 1978) (Stuckenrath, pers. corn. in 1978) cf. Mammuthus sp. thoracic vertebra (Harington 1977:Tab1e 5) Equus sp. innominate (Harington 1977 :Table 5) (Stuckenrath, pers. corn. in 1978) (Stuckenrath, pers. cam. in 1978) *I-4223 and I-4228 were excavated from the base of Unit 3 at NbVm-4 (see Chapter 2) N 0\ N r r r--r~-~ r---f r~--r r c-·-r--·· r-~-r--· r··-· r r ~. r~--· ~- Table 9.5. Radiocarbon dates on organic materials other than bone from Upper Pleistocene and Holocene stratigraphie contexts in the Old Crow Region, northern Yukon Territory. See Fig. 2.2 for composite profile which identifies stratigraphie unit numbers. All localities are in the Old Crow basin except MiVl-1 (Bluefish basin) and HH72-98 (Bell Basin). Date (Yrs. B.P.) Lab. No. Locality Unit HoZocene terrace deposits: 1,740 ± 200 I-2756 NaVk-5 8 2,420 ± 160 I-2755 NaVk-5 8 9,190 ± 90 GSC-2461 HH72-98 8 14,390 ± 160 GSC-730-2 MlVl-1 8 41,280 ± 1600 GSC-730 MlVl-1 8 10,200 ± 280 I-11,038 MkVl-24 8 10,700 ± 160 GSC-1167 CRH 141 8 10,850 ± 320 I-4224 MlVl-5 9 Post-gZaciaZ peat profiles: 6,430 ± 140 GSC-372 NaVl-1 7b 7,620 ± 160 GSC-1252 HlVl-2 7b 7,650 ± 150 GSC-1175 NaVl-1 7b 8,100 ± 160 GSC-1243 NaVl-1 7b 8,270 ± 140 GSC-1329 NbVm-4 7b 8,460 ± 120 GSC-2605 NbVm-4 7b 10,740 ± 180 GSC-121 MiVl-1 7b AZZuvium beZow upper gZacio-Zacustrine unit: 31,300 ± 640 GSC-1191 NaVl-1 4-5 31,400 ± 660 GSC-2739 MkVl-10 5 32,4oo± 770 GSC-952 MiVl-1 5 Sample material, reference, remarks Organic detritus (Harington 1977 :Table 7) Wood (Farington 1977:Table 7) SaZix sp. wood (Matthews, pers. com. in 1977) Wood (Harington 1977:Table 7); mixed Wood (Harington 1977:Table 7); reworked Anodonta beringiana shell (Harington, pers. com. in Anodonta beringiana shell (Harington 1977 :Table 7) Anodonta beringiana shell (Harington 1977:Table 7) Peat? (Harington 1977:Table 7) Organic detritus (Harington 1977 :Table 7) Peat (Harington 1977 :Table 7) Peat (Harington 1977 :Table 7) PopuZ.u-s sp. wood (Harington 1977 :Table 7) Wood (Natthews, pers. com. in 1978) Peat (Harington 1977 :Table 7) Organic detritus (Harington 1977 :Table 7) Autochthonous peat (Matthews, pers. com. in 1978) Pisidi'wn idahoense shells (Harington 1977 :Table 7) 1980) >37 ,000 GSC-958 MiVl-1 5 Wood (Harington 1977:Table 5); probably reworked, associated with GSC-952 35,500 ± 1050 GSC-2507 MkVl-10 5 Peat (Westgate, pers. com. in 1977) > 36,000 GSC-2775 MkVl-10 5 BetuZa sp. wood (Matthews, pers. com. in 1979); from same peat layer as GSC-2507 38,800 ± 2000 GSC-2756 MlVl-2 5 SaUx sp. wood (Matthews, pers. com. in 1979) 41,100 ± 1650 GSC-2574 MlVl-2 5 SaZix sp. wood (Matthews, pers. com. in 1978) N "' w Table 9.5 (Continued). Date (Yrs. B.P.) Lab. No. Locality Unit Alluvium below upper glacio-Zacustrine unit: >37,000 GSC-2792 MlVl-3 4~5 >39,000 >42' 000 >51,000 >41,300 >53,000 >39,900 >42,000 >44,000 >54,000 GSC-1189 GSC-1297 GSC-2559-2 GSC-199 GSC-2676 I-3572 GSC-1589 GSC-1593 GSC-2066 MiVl-1 4-5 MkVl-9 4-5 MkVl-9 3/4 MiVl-1 3 MiVl-1 3 NbVm-4 3 CRH 88 3 NbVm-4 3 NbVm-4 3 Sample material, reference, remarks Organic detritus (Hatthews, pers. com. in 1979); associated with green fractured Bison sp. radius (Chapter 7) Wood (Matthews, pers. com. in 1978) SaUx sp. wood (Harington 1977 :Table 7) Autochthonous peat (Matthews, pers. com. in 1978); correlated with Disconformity A (see Chapter 6-7) Wood (Harington 1977 :Table 7); probably upper part of Unit 3 Salix sp. wood (Matthews, pers. com. in 1978); upper part of Unit 3, just below volcanic ash Wood Oiarington 1977 :Table 7); base of Unit 3 Picea sp. wood (Harington 1977 :Table 7); base of Unit 3 Picea sp. wood (Harington 1977 :Table 7); base of Unit 3 Picea sp. wood (Harington 1977:Table 7); base of Unit 3 N Ci\ .J::-. ..... i- L ~ ~ l' l.. .... .... L L ~ i - L i L w L i l.. w - ._ -265 - can be suggested: 1. that ;t;"adio.carhon dates b.a.sed on hone collagen are. not precise and tend to err on the young s,ide. of the t;t;"ue. age.; or 2. that the ve.rtebrate rema:îns recove.red from redeposited contexts in the Old Crow valley pres:e.rve. a record of radiocarbon ingestion which has not been preserved in the form of plant fossils of the same age. Early attempts to obtain radiocarbon dates from barres met with con- siderable controversy, partly because the whole borre had canstituted the sample and therefore could have contained cantaminants of many kinds (Krueger 1965). Collagen extraction was introduced in an effort to reduce the errors but even this refinement did nc;:>t provide entirely satisfactary results (cf. Sellstadt, et aZ. 1966; Barker 1967). Tamers and Pearson (1965) found that radiocarbon dates on bane collagen tended to err on the young side when compared with associated dates on charcoal, but their pretreatment procedure did not include a sodium hydroxide leach which would remove humic acids by making them soluble. Further refinements in the pre-treatment of borre samples have added this essential step (Berger, et aZ. 1964, 1971; Longin 1971), but a recent tabular comparison of radi.ocarbon dates on borre collagen and other materials (Berger 1975:Table 9) still appears to indicate a tendency-for the borre collagen dates to be slightly younger than those based on charcoal. In applying these considerations to the Old Crow fossils, we should note that they seem to have been preserved in ideal burial environments for the preser- vation of uncontaminated collagen, and the laboratory procedures which have been employed with these samples have included bath hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide pre-treatments (Harington 1977:114-115). I do not know whether borre collagen pseudomorphs (see Berger 1975:175) have been observed during the pre-treatment process, and it would be useful to conduct further studies of the condition of collagen preservation in the Old Crow fossils to determine whether the collagen molecule exhibits general integrity or whether it has been partially hydrolized into its component amino acids. Renee I would suggest that we should not completely dismiss the possibility that the 3000 year gap between the 28,000 year collagen~based peak and the youngest date on other organics is due to errors of approximately 10% in the dates obtained from the boues. The alternative arises from the observation that the broad floor of the Old Crow basin may have been a stable plant-and animal-supporting surface for several or even many thousand years before it was inundated by glacial meltwater as a result of the classical Wisconsinan advance of Laurentide ice. Thusfar our fossil evi.dence suggests that arboreal plants (particularly spruce) may have been eliminated from the basin prior ta the inundation by the glacial meltwater (Hughes, et al. 1980) sa that large pieces of wood which could have been preserved in the anaerobie lake bottom may not have been present on the basin floor. The more delicate plant tissues of herbs, grasses, and shrubs which_ were probably growing in the basin when inundation occurred would more likely have been destroyed and floated away from appropriate burial sites. We seem to have direct evidence of this process from three of the dates listed in Table 9.5. GSC-2507 (35,500 ± 1050 B.P.) and GSC-2756 (38,800 ± 2000 B.P.) were obtained on detrital organics which form a distinctive thin band at both Mk.Vl-10 and MlVl-2 at the base of a series of silts and clays which probably represent the transgressive phase of the glacial lake. GSC-2739 (31, 400 ± 660 B.P.) was obtained on an aquatic peat which appeared to have been disturbed .. ..J ~ 1--1 Eorlîest Unit· 7b Dote ............ t--t } Alwdonlo b8rin91'ona Shells, Eorliest Terroce Dotes {Unit 8) Unils 4-5 {~ .... .... ---------Glacial Lokes ln Northern Yukon Bostns ---•?----------? 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 YEARS BP xiO' fig. 9. 3. Graphie comparison of none. çollagen dates (}ltstogram1 and radiocarbon dates on other organiC materials (5arsi from tfie Upper Pleistocene of the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Terr:Ltory. Note the long fi::i:atus appàrently attributaOle to tfie inundation of northern Yukon basins· by glacial meltwater in clasBîcal Wiscons·inan times. 40 N 0\ 0\ l i ...... L L 1 L. 1- i L i 1 1 ...... ..... L 1- i..... L L ~....; ( t - ...... L L 1.... -267 - by cryoturbation but not by the transgressi.pn of the lake, and this. sample was rècovered appro.ximq,te.ly 50 cm below GSC-2507 at }fk:yl-10. Renee the detrital organ:i.cs at the base a.f the. transgres.siye. .phase seem to con tain older materials which have neen hrough_t .:into ph:ysi.cal associati-on wi-th. younger ones. during the inundati.on of the basin, and the.re may be li.ttle possibi.lity of finding datable organic materials oth.er thau boue which would date. to the period immediately prior to the lake transgression. If so, the vertebrate remains would supply our best indication of the time of the transgression, and we might expect to obtain a relatively large number of dates attributable to the transgression in view of the likelihood that large mammal mortality was elevated by miring and drowning when the basin was flooded (cf. Child 1968). The boues of such animals would be deposited in ideal sedimentary environments to ensure their preservation, and they would be available for redeposition by the Old Crow River and its tributaries during final Wisconsinan downcutting of the basin. Three of the collagen dates in Table 9.4 and Fig. 9.3 appear to indi- cate that sorne large mammals.were still resident in the basin shortly after the 28,000 year old peak. Perhaps these dates represent animals which fell through the ice which must have formed at least seasonally on the glacial lake • In general, however, it appears that the radiocarbon dates already provide the expected picture of a cessation of large mammal life in the Old Crow basin for a period of at least 10,000 years, and perhaps as much as 16,000 years, during which the glacial meltwater of the Laurentide advance continued to maintain a large lake in the basin. Therefore it may be very difficult to develop a coherent and continuous record of human occupation in the Old Crow region through the critical period of late Wisconsinan time. While it is possible and even likely that sorne of the lithic complexes recovered from sites on the slopes and uplands around the basin date to this interval (Irving and Cinq-Mars 1974; Cinq-Mars 1978), it will be very diffi- cult to determine their ages or to define archaeological assemblages which belong specifically to this period. The end of the lake high stand is rather clearly marked by six dates on Bison crassicornis boues which can be traced to a channel deposit related to the earliest stage of downcutting of the basin during the drainage of the glacial lake. These dates show that downcutting was underway by 12,000 years ago. Dates on Anodonta beringiana shells in the earliest terrace deposits of the Old Crow River show that the drainage had reached a new base level near the modern valley floor by 11,000 years ago so that the entire episode of rapid dissection through the fine sediments in the Old Crow basin was accomplished in a single millennium. The straight-line distance along the general valley floors of the Porcupine and Old Crow Rivers from the Alaskan border at the Ramparts of the Porcupine to the furthest upstream Pleistocene exposure on the Old Crow River is 175 km. The river appears to be graded to a bedrock threshold near the Alaskan border so that this distance can be used to calculate the approximate rate of retreat for the nick point which. responded to the lowered base leyel in final Wisconsinan times. If downcutting occurred in only 1000 years., the nick point must have retreated at the rate of one kilometer every 5.7 years. Renee the drainage of the glacial lake and the dissection of the underlying sediment must have been accompanied by powerful (catastrophic?} fluvial activity, and such process:es may be responsible in -268 - part for the abundant vertehrate fos.sils w:h.Lch are concentrated in the de.posits associated with the Ançdontq phas.e. ;Finally, be.fore le,a,ying this discussion of dating, we can show reasonable expectations that amino acid racemization meas.urements will eventually contribute to tne resolution of some of our chronological prob- lems (Rutter, et al. 19771_. Rone. has not proved to be a reliable sample material for the use of this-method in the Old.Crow region, but fresnwater molluscs and wood samples have provided useful results when partitioned first by genus (Hughes, et al. 1980). The amino acid measurements have been used for relative dating and correlation in our work thusfar, but chronometrie dates may eventually be forthcoming. Sorne Implications of the Glacial Lakes It is already evident from available radiocarbon dates that the flood- ing of interior lowlands by glacial meltwater in classical Wisconsinan times is responsible for a significant discontinuity in the record of fossil vertebrates in the Old Crow basin. A similar discontinuity is likewise to be expected in the portion of the archaeological record which is recoverable from the valley walls of the Old Crow River, but we do not know how the existence of the lake may have affected large mammal (including human) life on the slopes and uplands which surround the basin. It is likely that such a large body of glacial meltwater had a profound influence on local climatic parameters, and this influence may have ramified through rouch of the neigh- bouring ecosystem. Even today the large lakes on the surface of Old Crow Flats significantly retard the onset of the growing season because the high albedo of the winter ice caver lowers the ambient temperatures of the immed- iate vicinity, and such an effect may have been vastly multiplied for a lake which covered the entire basin. Other than the relatively narrow Arctic coastal plain, only four areas of Yukon Territory lie below 1000 feet (305 m) elevation (Energy, Mines, and Resources Map MCR 25, 1972). Thé largest of these areas is the Old Crow Flats, and the other three comprise portions of the relatively small Bluefish, Bell and Bonnet Plume basins. It has already been shawn that the Old Crow, Bluefish, and Bell basins were inundated by glacial meltwater during classical Wisconsinan times (Fig. 2.1). The Bonnet Plume basin was also occupied by a glacial lake of sorne extent as inferred from our 1976 observations of glacio-lacustrine deposits both above and below a till at a section of Hungry Creek (see Hughes, et al. 1980). Therefore all interior habitats below an elevation of 1000 feet (305 m) were submerged by glacial lakes during classical Wisconsinan times in eastern-most Beringia. This fact must have had a profound effect on biological communities in the region, and the effect would have persisted for 10,000 years or more (Fig. 9.3). Referring to bath the Yukon and Alaska, Ritchie and Cwynar (1978) have provided a provocative assessment of Beringian lowlands in relation to island biogeographie theory and late Pleis.tocene extinctions. They note that the possibility rema:tns strong that the period from about 18,000 B.P. to 14,000 B.P. was marked by a major diminution (X 0.1) of habitat suitable for large herbivorous vertebrates and that this ,/<' /~ ..... l.. i ~ 1.- L ~ t L 1 L ~ 1 ..... ~ 1 ' ~ 1 t i.... i L ! - L i- ~ -269 - restriction was aggravated by fragmentation into island habitats • • • • We suggest, in conclusion, tliat liabitat diminution and frag- mentation should take its place along witli tlie several other paleoecological factors proposed to account for the apparently major changes in fauna (at tlie. end of the Pleistocene) (Ritchie and Cwynar 1978:3). I suggest that the flooding of all interior lowlands in Yukon Territory during classical Wisconsinan times may have l'md similar effects. A major difference between the flooding event and the widespread shifts from herb or steppe tundra to shrub tundra in final Pleistocene times (see Ager 1975; Matthews 1976b, 1977; Hopkins 1g79) is that mammal communities could have resorted to those lowland areas of eastern Beringia which were not affected by flooding. Enlarged coastal plains, the Kobuk, Koyukuk, Yukon Delta- Kuskokwim, Nushagak, Kantishna, and Fort Yukon lowlands (Ritchie and Cwynar 1978) would all have remained available for continued and in fact increased colonization by large herbivorous vertebrates. Presumably these alternatives prevented the extinction of many taxa as flooding occurred in the eastern- most Beringian basins where local or regional extinctions of some lowland plants and animals may have been brought about as the basins filled with glacial meltwater. The flooding of the Yukon basins may have been not only comprehensive but also catastrophic. Feasibility studies by tlî.e Water Resources Branch, Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources, in the 1960's, included a scheme in which the Ramparts of the Porcupine River would have been dammed near the Alaskan border, the headwaters of the Peel River would have been diverted through the Eagle meltwater channel, and the newly created outlet at McDougall Pass would have been dammed with a power generating station on the Rat River which flows to the east from McDougall Pass (see Fig. 2.1; DNANR 1965). Whether or not the planners were aware of it, they were con- templating the re-creation of the classical Wisconsinan glacial lakes, and their data concerning basin morphology and rates of flow are relevant to our understanding of late Pleistocene conditions in the northern Yukon Terri- tory. These data permit the estimate that the basins could be filled in 10-15 years simply with the combined waters of the modern Porcupine drainage and those of the upper Peel. Presumably the augmented discharge provided by glacial meltwater from the Laurentide ice front would have accomplished this task even more rapidly in classical Wisconsinan times, so that it may not be unrealistic to imagine that the glacial lakes were raised in only a few years! Judging from observations made during the flooding of the Kariba reser- voir on the Zambezi River in Africa, such an inundation could have been truly catastrophic for the mammal communities resident in the area (see Child 1968). Operation Noah was launched on the Zambezi to study the behaviour and to accomplish the rescue of as many mammals as possible. At this stage in our study we must ask whether the Zambezi is a suitable analogue for the flooding of northern Yukon lowlands, but some of the general consequences, if not the exact behaviour of the affected vertebrates, are probably similar in the two situations. Vertebrate populations in the lowland areas probably could not simply seek higher ground over the long run since niches on the slopes and upland surfaces would already have been filled by other forms and individuals. Any appreciable topographie relief on the surfaces of the basins would have promoted the formation of islands, boggy areas, and -270 - enlarging coalescent lakes. Increased incidences of miring and drowning or of "entrapment" on islands and points of land could have improved the food procurement opportunities for predators and scavengers during a period of a few years or even a decade or more. We can only wonder whether human hunting societies resident in the Old Crow basin and surrounding areas could have taken advantage of such an opportunity to dispatch vulnerable prey. Perhaps this combination of events is responsible for the 28,000 year old peak in the radiocarbon dates on bone collagen from the Old Crow region (Fig. 9.4). Increased mortality in the large mammal communities of the Old Crow and other basins of the northern Yukon is an expected result of the rapid inundation of these basins whether or not human hunters and scavengers were involved in the demise of the animals. The radiocarbon dates on other organic materials seem to. provide the expected indication that the floor of the Old Crow basin was a stable habitable surface for at least several millen- nia immediately prior to inundation by glacial meltwater, and the area may have afforded an ideal habitat for human hunting societies. Technology and Human Adaptation As I have stated several times in this report, any definition of the "techno1ogy" represented by collections from the Old Crow basin is necessarily based upon the assumption that all (or many) of the specimens belong together. In fact it is obvioUs that the archaeological specimens from the reworked deposits may represent a minimum of 30,000 years, the period extending from Disconformity A to the basal sediments of the upper glacio-lacustrine unit. Fully half (or more) of the known and knowable prehistoric record of the region may be represented by these collections~ In our summary papers con- cerning the Old Crow materials each of us has tended to glass over this problem to various extents (e.g., Bonnichsen 1978, 1979, n.d.; Irving 1978b, 1978c; Morlan 1978a, 1979a, 1979b). The existing Old Crow data cannat pro- vide a basis for writing history, but it can enable the identification of sorne major themes. Bonnichsen (1979:185) has advanced the "theoretical position ••• that the peopling of the New World can be best understood as an adaptive process." He has organized the techniques observable among the Old Crow fossil specimens into a series of "adaptive strategies" and "repertoires" which form the basis for defining 2daptive processes by means of which human societies developed the ability to cope with the environmental limitations and make use of the resources of the "Arctic-Steppe biome" (see Matthews 1976b, 1977; Hopkins 1976; Schweger and Habgood 1976). Irving and I have made similar but somewhat less specifie statements along these lines (Irving 1978c; Morlan 1979b). The salient points of this argument include the observation that an enlarged use of bane, ivory, and antler for a variety of subsistence tasks could free human hunters from constant reliance on suitable lithic resources which may have been somewhat difficult to procure, at least in sorne seasons of the year (Bonnichsen n.d.; Morlan 1979a). A broad intermontane basin such. as Old Crow Flats is nearly devoid of lithic sources which are to be found only in the surrounding mountains where surface outcrops would be buried under snow and ice during nearly half of the year. The ability to _ _,, _, l... l... ç 1 1> 1 - ..... 1 ..... "- i ._ ..... ..... '- 1..... t... l- l... i.... L ..... - -271 - derive a large part of the functional tool kit from the carcasses of animals being butchered for hide and meat would free hunting bands from the need to stockpile and transport supplies of lithic raw material. Many of the tools produced during butchering would simply be expedient tools which could be discarded as soon as the task had been performed. Resharp- ening of blunted bone flake knives might be possible with grinding techniques, but such uses of grinding have not been observed on the specimens from the Old Crow region. Marginal retouch of bone flakes seems to result in a loss of cutting efficiency since the edges become thicker and less regular than those of well-formed unmodified flakes. The disposability of bone cores and flakes may partially account for their apparent abundance in the Old Crow basin. In order to lend weight to this functional interpretation of bone flaking techniques it was necessary to determine whether bone flakes were truly useful in butchering a large mammal, and it was important to establish the ease with which bone could be procured and made ready for flaking during a butchering operation on a large mammal. The Ginsberg experiment (Stanford, et al. 1980) provided an opportunity for such a study, and it is clear that many aspects of elephant dismemberment can be accomplished with such bone tools. It is also clear, however, that the hide and many of the tougher integuments of the carcass are not easily eut with bone tools so that the use of stone flakes and knives should always be considered a normal part of the tool kit • Mammoth and mastodon long bones (like those of modern elephants) are especially well suited for the production of flaked bone tools because of the thickness of their walls and their ability to withstand the concentrated forces delivered during flake production. Bonnichsen (1979:191) has made the interesting point that such massive proboscidean materials require more modification than smaller bones in order to produce useful tools if only because the large pieces obtained from mammoth or mastodon long boues do "not fit nicely into the human hand." It should be expected, then, that primary archaeological assemblages of this kind of material will provide a basis for inferring core reduction strategies peculiar to this kind of raw material. Many of the functionally interpretable artifacts from the Old Crow region can be understood in terms of the adaptive problems which would face human societies living in a cold climate. The caribou tibia flesher, the polished ivory specimen (flesher?) from the mid-section deposit at MlVl-2, the loon bone awl in the University of Toronto collections, and possibly many of the polished bones are related to hide-working techniques which would have been essential for the manufacture of clothing, house covers, and perhaps boat covers. Antler wedges, if they were truly part of the mid- W.isconsinan tool kits, may have been used in working hides as well as in other functions. It is not surprising that such an emphasis on hide-working should be apparent in our first glimpse of this northern technology. An essential aspect of the technology which is not at all evident is the procurement of a carcass for butchering. Bonnichsen (1979; n.d.) has discussed at sorne length the alternatives of skilled hunting, scavenging, or a combination of these practices as that might have characterized societies in the Old Crow region, but primary archaeological sites will be -272 - needed to clarify this important question. It seems doubtful to me that a stable subsistence economy could have been based upon anything but the skilled hunting of many kinds of game, given our present understanding of the environmental conditions of the time; scavenging would often have been possible but surely could not be relied upon as a regular means of obtaining food. Bonnichsen (n.d.) also argues that our view of the early technological products in Beringia should be framed in terms of cultural knowledge which may cross-eut the raw material categories so often used for the archaeological definition of past cultures. Irving (1978d:93) has made a similar.observation in painting out that archaeologists must 1earn to understand "technology" as "all those aspects of culture which have to do with getting and distributing food and shelter." Specifically, in the case of the Old Crow material, an essential feature of the technology is seen as a transfer of rules and pro- cedures from one raw material form to another. Many of the rules for working stone can be transferred to bane, while many distinctive bane working tech- niques can be transferred to wood, etcetera and vice versa (Bonnichsen n.d.). It is the flexibility afforded by this kind of transfer technology that represents the heart of human adaptation to Arctic environments or indeed to many en~ironments (cf. Hutterer 1976). "This flexible repertoire of technological procedures would have readily permitted new tool forms to be created when new problems were confronted and as preferences, needs and changing environmental contexts were encountered in the Arctic-Steppe" (Bonnichsen n.d.). It seems tome that these concepts are neither obscure nor profound, and it is unfortunate that an understanding of these principles seems not to be widespread in archaeological writing. PaleoenvironmentaZ Considerations Bonnichsen (1979:193; n.d.) bas elaborated the concept that the coloni- zation of the New World represents an adaptive response to the hunting opportunities afforded by an enlarging steppe-like habitat which seems to have characterized large areas of Beringia in classical Wisconinan time. There can be little doubt that this habitat supported an enormous wealth and diver- sity of big game (e.g., Guthrie 1968; Harington 1977, 1980; Cinq-Mars 1979), and any hunting society equipped to exploit these resources could have colon- ized large areas of northeastern Asia and northwestern North America bath readily and quickly. The major difficulty with this concept is the link between the initial colonization of the New World and the spread of steppe-like habitat. Fossils on Disconformity A demonstrate that a forest of some kind occupied at least parts of the Old Crow basin approximately 60,000 years ago. ·spruce canes and needles, and forest-dwelling mammals such as snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), red-backed vole (Clethrionomys rutilus), heather vole (Phenacomys intermedius), and lynx (Felis canadensis) (Merlan 1978c) are, respectively, direct and indirect indicators that an open forest was present locally during the time period represented by Disconformity A. On the ether band, the dis- conformity bas also produced a number of obligate tundra forms among both insects and mammals as well as many taxa which are adapted to both forest and tundra. These fossils, along with sedimentary structures, such as ice-wedge pseudomorphs and cryoturbation folds, suggest that the climate and l'~ ~.·~ ... ~ ( L L .... L [ 1 L. l. f ' .... L. i ..... L -, ~ 1 - L L ' L L 1- .... -273 - biota of 60,000 years ago may have been somewhat similar to those of the present t:i..me in this area. Ü this was the time, of initial human colon- ization, we cannat s.uppose that enlarging steppe~like conditions: are part of the picture. ~rlier evidencefor human ocêupation would place the first colonists not in a s:teppe-like environment but in pos-sibly warmer and more dens-ely forested conditions which, seem to have prevailed during portions of the Sangamon Interglacial (}Iatthews 1975). Even on Disconformity A the evidence that the ice wedges melted may indicate a climatic oscillation warmer than present conditions (Matthews 1980). Irving (1978c:334; 1978d:94) has noted that the deep snows and gener- ally low biological productivity of northern forests might have presented formidable barriers to human societies expanding northward from temperate latitudes. Certainly these are characteristics of modern boreal forest and taiga, and deep snows must always have presented a hazard in northern forests of any kind. On the other hand, an open forest, or a mosaic of forest and treeless conditions may have characterized former Beringian land- scapes and supported more diversity of biota at the local and regional levels than can be found today in the highly zonal distributions of major biomes. Less highly zoned environments could even offer the best of several possible worlds, viewed from today's perspective, in that both forest-and tundra- dwellers might be available to a given hunting band which could exploit a wide variety of resources. The potential for colonization of the New World might be enhanced in such a setting if the diversity of resources for food, shelter, and fuel required less specialization of technology and subsistence economy. Fossil evidence above Disconformity A in the Old Crow basin supports the concept of gradually thinning forests and enlarging treeless landscapes as the climate grew cooler and drier early in classical Wisconsinan times. Human societies resident in the area might have found wood in decreasing supply but presumably could have adjusted their lodging and heating techniques as steppe-like conditions developed over larger areas. The use of bane and dung for fuel, and bone and ivory for building materials, seems to have been a widespread adaptation to such conditions in Eurasia so that the Beringian adaptation to the environments of classical Wisconsinan times could be seen as a secondary adjustment which took place in Alaska and the Yukon just as it seems to have occurred in other circumpolar areas which were already colonized. This madel can still accomodate the concept of Beringian pre- adaptation for more southerly grasslands which Bonnichsen (n.d.) has proposed but which is difficult to perceive in the data available thusfar from such areas as the High Plains. Unfortunately we have so little real data con- cerning the temporal and spatial associations which originally prevailed among the fossil specimens from the Old Crow basin that these ideas concerning the peopling of the New World have the hollow ring of scarcely warranted speculation. Other Beringian LocaUties. To whatever extent I have provided a satisfactory demonstration that the Old Crow region was occupied in early and mid-Wisconsinan times, I have also shawn that the classical Wisconsinan glacüi.l lakes which occupied the northern Yukon lowlands represent a significant interruption in the continuity -274 - of the potential archa,eologi.cal recoxd ~:!:"Qlll these low:lands. Rven if the s.lopes and uplands whi.ch SU;I;'round the hq,sins we.re cont:i,nuoùsly occupied h:y people during the cla,ss;tcal Wis:consinan interya,l it w:ilLhe ver':{ diffi.cult to resolve the chronology of the Hur:Eicial depos:Lts whl.ch are preserved there (:[rying and C:inq,-Mars.: 1974}_. It has: already lieen shown that final Wisconsinan occupat:Lon o:t; the a,rea begins. no later tnan 13,000 years ago (Cinq-Mars 197g), but there may long be an apparent hiatus of as much as 15,000 years in the archaeological record of northern Yukon Territory. Scattered finds from other areas of eastern Beringia already show promise for filling in this interval. Fossil bone, ivory, and antler arti- facts have been recovered from a number of general localities in addition to the Old Crow region, and these can be summarized briefly to indicate the extent to which continuity can be expected to emerge from further work. Bonnichsen (1979:Chapter IX) has described materials from Whitestone River, Dawson, Lost Chicken, and Fairbanks. In addition, Stewart River in central Yukon and Jack Wade Creek in eastern Alas.ka can be mentioned. Bonnichsen (1979:169) has reported an ivory core from the Whitestone River, a tributary of the upper Porcupine in the northern Yukon, but I am not entirely convinced that the specimen is an artificially produced core. Four flake scars seen at the smaller distal end of the tusk fragment could have been produced during life by the mammoth itself, and the cone-shaped fracture at the proximal end closely resembles broken tusks seen on living African elephants(Bonnichsen 1979:Pl. IX-1; Douglas-Hamilton and Douglas- Hamilton 1978: plates following pp. 64, 192). A geological section on the Stewart River (HH65-25; KjVd-1) in central Yukon has yielded provocative but inconclusive evidence of possible human activity in close proximity to a volcanic ash thought to be >42,900 years old (GSC-524:Morlan 1977c:39). A caribou long bone fragment with two spiral fractures found in 1975 might be attributable to carnivore gnawing, but the 1977 field season yielded several bison long bones broken when green despite their very thick walls which are probably beyond the range of carnivore fracture capabilities. A large green fractured mammoth or mastodon long bone was recovered from deltaic deposits at the mouth of the gully in which the bison bones were found, and this small delta is believed to have received its fossils from the same deposit as the other bones. In the Dawson area of west-central-Yukon, continuing placer m1n1ng operations produce new paleontological and archaeological specimens annually (Bonnichsen 1979: 169-172). In addition to a previously reported antler "punch" (Harington 1975b; Bonnichsen 1979:171, Pl. IX-1), severa! green fractured mammoth and/or mastodon long bones and an extens.ively eut Bison sp. skull (Morlan 1977b) can be cited as secure evidence of human activity associated with Pleistocene fatina. The first mammoth bone core from this area was recovered in 1979 and will be described els.ewhere. The age of these materials is not well known, and dates have ranged from quite recent Holocene times to beyond the range of radiocarbon dating (Harington 1977:Table 5). Most of the permineralized faunal specimens. have produced ages approximating portions of the classical Wisconsinan interval. Ha ring ton (1978: 58-60) has suggested that the major faunas of the region date to late Wisconsinan times. The Lost Chicken locality in eastern Alaska has also produced.late Û .. -~ . . . 1...... ' ~ l. t- l...i 1.- t l. 1.... l.. i 1 - L. ..... ~ ~ l- 1.... ' 1 - -275 - Wis.consinan faunal rnaterial arnong w.hi.ch_ seye;(&l artifacts haye heen reported (jlonnichsen 1979:172; H.arington 1980:170)_. The mos,t interes.ting pi.eces which_ haye. corne to my attention include seyeral eut antlers. (Bonnichsen 1979.: Pls. IX-2-IX-3}_, & Bi.s.on c:ra.s.sico:rnis tibia. wllich_ exhihited a-mas:s·ive point of impact and was sacrifi.ced for a radiocarhon date of 10,370 ± 160 B.P. CT-85S2l (Jiarington 1980:170., ;Fig. 21, and a massive green fractured malliDloth limb hone fragment (.NMC-25876: Harington 1980:170}. Collecting was begun at this locality in the early part of this century (Whitmore and Foster 1967; Foster 1969), and Lee Porter is carrying out ongoing studies and notes that most of the boues are thought to be older than 25,000 years ago (Porter 1978). Among the thousands of Pleistocene fossils from the Fairbanks area mucks are an unknown number of artifacts of various kinds (e.g., Hibben 1943; Rainey 1939, 1940). A long chronological range, from Illinoian to Holocene, is thought to be represented with most of the finds dating to late Wisconsinan times (Péwé 1975:91-101; Harington 1978:75). The fossils have often been selectively coller.ted and preserved with an eye toward paleontologically significant materials. This collecting procedure must have reduced the potential for archaeologjcal recovery quite considerably, for Bonnichsen (1979) found among material:: sent to the American Museum of Natural His tory in New York only tantalizinb hints of the full range of technological procedures which must have been represented. A previously unpublisJJ.ed packing list of specimens, many of which have never been examined since removal from the field in the 1930's, suggests that carving of bone may have been important in the Fairbanks materials (Bonnichsen 1979:174, Table 30), but I have known some observers who were not familiar with flaking techniques to mistake flake scars as signs of "carving." Surely the Fairbanks mucks can be reexamined for their potential to add to the archaeological picture being developed in the Yukon Territory. The Jack Wade fauna of eastern Alaska is also under study by Lee Porter who reports that the assemblage is unusual because it contains n60% sheep (no other Alaskan site has exceeded 5% sheep), it is stratified, and the bones may be the midden of a human kill-site" (Porter 1978:2). Detailed reports on this material will be eagerly awaited • It should be clear from this brief review that several localities in eastern Beringia are beginning to produce evidence similar to some of the Old Crow region materials. Most of these finds seem to date to classical Wisconsinan times, although chronological control is nowhere as precise as would be desired. The existing finds are probably little more than the tip of the iceberg but it seems noteworthy that the most distinctive aspect of the Old Crow collections is conspicuous for its absence in most of these other areas: the bone cores and flakes which are so common in the Old Crow basin had not been found elsewhere in eastern Beringia until the single example from the Dawson area came to light in 1979. Many other satisfactory comparisons can be made between Old Crow and the rest of these areas -- polished facets on bones and antlers, shaping bone and antler tools and butchering animais with stone implements --but the distinctive procedure of flaking bone s.eems to have a much more restricted distribution than might at first be anticipated. Perhaps a larger perspective can shed sorne light on the possible reasons for this pattern. -276 - Dtd World Precuraers and New Wçrld Deacendenta2 The. data J?Oints needed to understand the Qld World origina o:E the. earliest B.e:r;ingians are siiDJ?l-.y too ;Eew and too wide1-.y·acattered to afford a sati.sfactor:y view: of th.e prohlem. The earlies:t reported sites in Mongolia, th.e Sovi.et Far East, Sihéria, and JaJ?an are J?lagued with .. chronological prob- lems and often by questionable artifact identifications (see summaries by Powers 1973; Chard 1974; Ikawa-Smith 1978a, 1978b). The Diuktai tradition is the earliest well documented archaeological entity in eastern Siberia, beginning approximately 30,000 years ago (Mochanov 1978) and apparently making a considerable contribution to the final stages of Pleistocene archaeology in eastern Beringia (Powers 1978; Anderson 1978, with references). Whether the Diuktai tradition or its predecessors can shed light on the earliest Beringian evidence remains to be seen, but reports of "bifacial" tools of proboscidean tusk at Diuktai Cave (Mochanov 1969:Fig. 4, no. 2) and "a worked mammoth bone of incomprehensible purpose" at Ust-Mil' II (Mochanov 1978:56) can do little more than whet our curiosity without detailed des- criptive statements (see below). A recent major reorientation of concepts surrounding ancient East Asian cultural traditions has been summarized in terms of "Early" and "Late Paleolithic" (Ikawa-Smith 1978c) as distinct from "Lower" and "Upper Paleo- lithic" dichotomies. Irving (1978d) has gone much further than I would dare in suggesting a link between this East Asian Early Paleolithic and our earliest New World evidence: I would like to suggest that the tool kits from Valsequillo, Old Crow, Lower Shukubai, and the two main site areas in the Phillippines, because they include a very small number of types of cutting and scraping implements and no projectile points or specialized scrapers or evidence of the blade and burin technique, could all be part of a single technological tradition. Now, of course, my problem, and I would like to make it everyone's problem, is to demonstrate that this is in fact true (Irving 1978d:93). The link is made more than usually difficult to see because of differences in the preservation of bone in these various areas, and Irving's suggestion would seem to harken back to the idea that each of these sites or localities expresses one or more aspects of a flexible repertoire for generating tools from a variety of raw materials. Thusfar, however, there is nothing especially compelling about this circum-Pacific view, and I would caution that we must avoid cluttering up our view with marginally satisfactory sites which have produced too little evidence to interpret. The circumpolar view which spans northern Eurasia provides no better solution to the problem, and it is further obscured by theoretical consid- erations surrounding the evolution of fully modern man in Europe. Whether earlier forms of man were able to colonize northern latitudes has been debated from several standpoints. (compare Klein 1976h and Bryan 1978a}_. That glacial climates were. successfully colonized during the. Riss glacial complex and perhaps even earlier fs already clear (Bordes and Thibault 19771, but there has been little careful consideration of the differences between glacial stades at 45° N. lat., say, and fnterglacial or interstadial conditions at 60° N. lat. with respect to human adaptation. If fully modern man did not !..... l L L L L 1 < ' ' ... l""' ...... f l 1- ~ ,. L. - !..... L i.w i- i- -277 - emerge :Ln Europe unti1 40,000 years ago (].{lein 1976hl, .;3.re we. to suppose that our 60,000 year old eyidence :Ln eas,te.rn Ber::Lngia, represents. sorne earli.er stage of 'human eyoluti.on? Ne.i.ther the Qld Crow ..màndible (Jrving, et al. 19771_ nor the. huma,n paleontologfcal record f,rom East .Asia, can clarify this problem at the. present tiroe~ The Old Crow indiy:idnal died too young and at an unknown time, and the E.11st .As:·ian record is. s:till subject to a wide variety of interpretations: including the separa.te evolution of fully modern man (Aiguer 1978). Meanwhile the presence of Homo sapiens neanderthalensis in a kind of "tundra-steppe" environment 60,000 years ago at Salzgitter-Lebenstedt (MÜller-Beek 1979) shows that people had by then adapted to truly "northern" kinds of environments and suggests that Europe may hold more potential for the discovery of New World origins than I have sometimes believed (_Morlan 1976b, 1978a). During recent travels in Czechoslovakia and Germany, with the kind assistance of Profs. HansjÜrgen MÜller-Beek, B. Klima, and K. Valoch, I was able to examine the large collections from K&lna Cave, Predmosti, Dolni Vestonice, Pavlov, and Vogelherd. Together these sites span a long Paleo- lithic sequence from Micoquien through Magdalenian, and mammoth borre cores and flakes were seen in each of the collections but were not present in the Magdalenian components. The earliest examples were in the Micoquien levels of Kiilna Cave (Valoch 1979) which date to 50-60,000 years ago, but the best development of bone flaking techniques was observed in the Gravettian kill site of Predmosti which is thought to be approximately 26,000 years old (Absalon and Klima 1977; Jelinek 1975:Figs. 285-289). At Dolni Vestonice, a Gravettian habitation site dating to approximately 25,000 years ago (Klîma 1963), there were fewer borre tools in proportion to lithic specimens, and flaked bone tools were especially less common than at Predmosti. A similar pattern is seen at the nearby Pavlov site which is also a habitation site of similar age. Both Dolni Vestonice and Pavlov are located well up on the valley wall overlooking the broad floodplain of the Tyara River, but Predmosti is located on the floodplain where it is very deeply buried beneath alluvium (redeposited loess) and was found during quarrying for a brick yard. The following speculative comments are taken from notes which I wrote during my stay in central Europe. KÔlna Cave shows that flaked borre tech- niques were being practiced in central Europe at least as early as Disconformity A in the Old Crow region. Well made facially flaked cores are clearly part of the Micoquien technology at KRlna Cave, but such cores are less well represented in the Gravettian sites. Their presence in the Gravettian tech- nology can be inferred from the flakes and from a few poor examples of facially flaked cores. Edge spall cores are present in all these sites, but are not always easy to recognize (this is also true in the northern Yukon). Trans- versely flaked pieces, sorne quite long, are present in Gravettian times and appear to represent primary shaping for the production of "spatulae." The borre spatula is well represented in the Gravettian and has several forms and possibly several functions. Very long, straight, massive examples were made on mammoth. long borre fragments. by flaking their lateral edges: and then finishing them by whittling and polishing. Smaller, lighte.r, curved examples we.re made on mammoth ribs. mainly by polishlng and cutting, and they exhibit bevelled ends with. use wear facets. These were probaoly used as: fleshers and meat strippers during mammoth butchering. Their long, curved forms would be ideal for many of the problems encountered by mammoth butchers-, and they could be especially good for stripping off massive "blocks" of meat where -2}8 - the hand or haft gets. in the. way wi.th smallel;' tools (_a problem noti.ced during the Ginsherg exper:j_ment}. At least one spatula ~rom favloy exhihits ragged convex s.cars on its lateral edges which.mi~hl: haye resulted from heavy "hacking" at tendon or nep,r hone. All three Gravettîan si~tes. contain numerous: segments of tusk approx- imately 10-20 cm long with one or both. ends rounded to form a working surface. Their wear patterns suggest at least three possible functions: (1) a few are polished and could have served as pestles, and one of these from Pavlov was used to powder ochre and has hematite densely adhering to one end; (2) a few are heavily "pocked" as if used as flint knapping billets; and (3) many are neither polished nor pocked and may have been used to detach bone flakes. Two (and perhaps more) antlers have rounded pocked tines suggesting flint-knapping, and these have precisely the same design as the Old Crow billet. At least one antler wedge from Dolni Vestonice is insep- arable from the Old Crow region wedges except that the former is stained with red ochre; it has a uni-bevelled working end and a heavily hammered transverse butt which was hollowed out as if to receive a shock absorber. At Pavlov are many bevelled antler pieces with the bevelling appearing on a tine which is still attached to the main antler beam so that the form of a hoe is achieved. The working end is always bevelled toward the antler base, and one example of resharpening by the removal of an exhausted edge was noted. Numerous bone awls are also seen in these Gravettian sites. A general pattern in the Gravettian data is the relatively great ahun- dance of flaked bone specimens at the kill site of Predmostl, on the floodplain of the Tyara River, as compared with the habitation sites of Dolni Vestonice and Pavlov, well above the valley floor. Is this difference related to the distance from suitable lithic raw material sources and to the scarcity of lithics in the floodplain alluvium near Predmosti? Does it reflect the relative ease of preparing butchering tools of none as compared with trans- porting sufficient stone tools across the broad floodplain of the Tyara River? Is it due to chance alone? With a sample of only three related sites to consider, it is obviously impossible to come to a conclusion as to the significance, if any, of the ratios of bone and stone tools in these Gravettian occupations, but the pattern should be borne in mind in the search for primary archaeological sites in the Old Crow basin and in our patience con- cerning the paucity of lithic tools in the Old Crow valley. The apparent abundance of bone tools might have resulted from the presence of kill sites near the center of the basin. If habitation sites are located in mid- Wisconsinan sediments near the slopes surrounding the Old Crow basin they are either under the upper glacio-lacustrine unit where they will not likely be discovered or they are above the maximum lake level where bone preser- vation would not likely occur. Sites of the latter sort may already have been found during Cinq-Mars' surveys, but we do not know how to recognize them as mid-Wisconsinan occupations. Unfortunately the central European Gravettian sites are simply too far from the northern Yukon Territory to permit s.peculation as to the meaning of either specifie or general similarities between the two areas, and I have seen no comparable materials in the literature on sites in European Russia. Further to the east, however, in western Beringia, Mochanov (1977:Pl. 5, no. 15) has recently illustrated an antler billet from Diuktai Cave which appears to have been made in a manner very similar to the example from the Old Crow basin, and he has noted the transverse and longitudinal -artificial flaking i.... 1 l.. l 1.... 1- ! 1- L L ..... ·- ·- ~ ·~,- 1- i.... ! i.... f t i.... L. ~.... i- -279 - which appears. on a long boue fragment from Ikhine. I, La:yer 3 (Mochanov 1977:44, PL 12, no. 3) which appi3,rentl:y dates at leas,t to lower Sartan times. ( = earl:y part o~ class.ical Wi.scons.inan; cf. Ts~ei.tlin 1979 :Table 16). Addi tional evidence of this, kind will undoubtedly come. to ligh_t as work continues in Siberia. If we have accomplished little by looking west to th_e Old World, I fear we may gain little more from the view to the south in the New World. We can barely glimpse threads of continuity which might indicate a contin- uous record of human occupation from our earliest dates in the Old Crow region through the remainder of the late Pleistocene in eastern Beringia. Presumably people did not abandon Beringia once they had settled the area, but we are a long way from demonstrating an historical development from 30-60,000 years aga in the northern Yukon through the late Wisconsinan to the 12-15,000 year old record which extends into Holocene times. In seeking such evidence we might find some "index fossils" useful, but very few of the Old Crow artifact types clearly qualify for that kind of treat- ment. The caribou tibia flesher can hardly be seen as a diagnostic of mid-Wisconsinan Beringia when a nearly identical tool is "diagnostic" of Late Prehistoric occupations on the northwestern Plains (Frison 1978:Fig. 2.24) and very similar specimens are common in late prehistoric Indian and Eskimo contexts in the north (Morlan 1972:Pls. ld, 4f; Le Mouel 1976). Likewise the known records of caribou antler uni-bevelled wedges, antler billets, and bird bane awls extends throughout prehistoric times and into the ethnographie present (Poplin 1976; Bordes 1974; Deffarges, et aZ. 1974; Giffard 1940:182; Goddard 1903:15). The remarkable spatial and temporal distributions of these tool types are probably results of their elegantly simple designs and specifie functional requirements, and careful stylistic studies would be needed to discriminate portions of the distributions which might have demonstrable historical integrity. Perhaps a more satisfactory index fossil is the bane core and flake complex which is sa well developed in the Old Crow basin. In this sense I am referring not ta the shaping of boue artifacts by flaking techniques (which is common in several late prehistoric contexts, e.g. St Lawrence Iroquois:Wintemberg 1972) but to the production of flakes which are useful without further modification as cutting implements in butchering and other tasks. I have already noted that these procedures have seldom been ident- ified in other Pleistocene Beringian deposits, and they seem to be rare in the known record of other areas as well. The abundant broken boue from Valsequillo, Mexico, does not seem ta include cores and flakes (see Camacho 1978), and the broken mammoth boues in Owl Cave were not treated in this way (see Miller and Dort 1978). Thusfar only two unequivocal examples of mammoth or mastodon bane cores in central North America have come ta my attention: an excellent specimen, as well as associated bone flakes, from the Dutton site in eastern Colorado which underlies a Clovis occupation (Stanford 1979b:Figs. 8, 12} and a core recently recovered in association with a Clovis point at the Kimmswick site in Missouri (see Early Man: magazine of modern archaeology, Summe.r 1979, pp. 1, 25; Stanford, pers. cam. in 1979). Perhaps th_ese are our first glimpses of a distribution which will be better defined in the years ah_ead, and the faunal remains from some of the large and well preserved Clovis sites should be reexamined ta confirm the presence or absence of such specimens. -280 - Recommendqtions qnd Expectati.çn& From my point of view~ the archaeologica,l aspect of the Yukon Refugium Project ha.s been caught up to date with. the completion of thi.s report~ and a lengthy discus:si.on of stratigrapfiy and paleoecology-is also nearing com- pletion (Hugfies, et al. 19801. The multi~dis·ciplinary framework of this project fias paid fiandsome rewards and fias provided specifie guidance for the organization and conduct of a systematic survey of the Old Crow valley designed to search intensively for primary archaeological deposits. Such a survey will begin during the 1980 field season and will focus primarily on the approximately five meters of sediment just below the upper glacio- lacustrine unit and designated here as Units 4 and 5. The silts which immediately overlie the lake clays (Unit 7b) will also be examined. The following search criteria will guide the field work: (1) each of the 60 high bluffs which have been identified on aerial photographe (Merlan 1978b) will be examined; (2) the exposures will be searched intensively for evi- dence of sub-aerial weathering features --pedogenesis, ice-wedge formation, cryoturbation --which would indicate stable habitable surfaces; and (3) large pieces of bone and ivory which appear not to match the hydrodynamic potential of the enclosing sediment will be eagerly sought. Accompanying this search for primary deposits will be further attention to buried materials belonging to the Anodonta phase, and a taphonomic analysis of NbVl-2 will be conducted to investigate the possibility that archaeological specimens can be traced back to their original sources by reconstructing the hydrodynamic characteristics of these transported materials. Similar studies might also be warranted for sorne of the truncated ox-bow scars which are perched on the Holocene terrace remuants. Many other contexts, including the modern banks and bars, can be expected to enlarge our collections of redeposited artifacts and excellent paleontological specimens. We must continue to improve our interpretive analogues and to develop new ones. We need more careful field observations of the precise circum- stances in which polished bones are found, and we need experimental studies of botfi natural and artificial modes of scratching, scraping, grinding, and polishing bones. Abrasion is known to occur very rapidly in many streams (e.g., Schumm and Stevens 1973), but the Old Crow valley is producing a few highly abraded and polished pieces as well as many more examples which exhibit little or no alteration of this kind. Likewise more work is needed on carnivore capabilities and on the effects of trampling on bones. Spiral fractures have been reported on late Pleistocene mastodon and sloth bones at Boney Springs, Missouri (Saunders 1977:105-108) and on mammoth bones from the Hot Springs site in South Dakota (Agenbroad, pers. corn. in 1979). A careful reexamination of these specimens, incorporating the total suite of attributes which I have recommended, could pose a major challenge to one of the fundamental hypotheses in this report; alternatively it might disclose an archaeological record which bas not previously been recognized. Similar reexaminations should be undertaken on the very ancient Ce. g. , Miocenel assemblages reported by Myers, et al. (n.d.)_ and on the faunal remains from Clovis and other early man sites. These fracture patterns are interesting precisely because they are not found in all bone assemblages, but in some cases such fractures and other subtle alterations may comprise th.e only remaining evidence of ancient human ..... ~..... - ~ - i L r li- - L- L ~ f 1.. L. 1.. i 1.... 1.. ~ l- -281 - activity le .• g., Mehl 1966; Chmielewski. a.nd Kuh:i-ak 1962)_. What o:Ç the. many ma&todon ~:i-nds in the Great Lakes region (§ee DreiJ:!lanis. 19_68 ;Çor a s.ummary}? Have we oyerlooked evidence_ ot human. ac tiY:i-ty which_ was: preseryed only in" the forrn o;t; hone fractures and oth.er alterations:-on hone?. In Keringia there are many avenues for s:tudy already given modest attention but susceptible to much. more intensive work with little additional expense of eith.er time or money. The colluvial deposits of the Dawson, Lost Chicken, and Fairbanks areas must be monitored with greater regularity as soaring gold priees encourage more active (even year-around) placer mining of the underlying gravels. The enormous collections from the Fairbanks area (Péwé 1975:92) have never been adequately described and in sorne cases have not even been unpacked! A series of caves overlooking the lower Porcupine River in Alaska bas recently produced faunal assemblages, sorne of which date to the Pleistocene(Dixon, et al. 1979), and disappointment has been expressed over the absence of cultural material in sorne of these contexts. I am not disappointed; I am delighted, because these caves may provide invaluable opportunities to examine the taphonomic history of late Pleistocene na.tural bone accumulations which could be compared with the Old Crow basin materials and the large collection from the Bluefish Caves where archaeological mater- fals have been dated to final Pleistocene times (Cinq-Mars 1979). It seems to me that we are inhibited by the concept of the "archaeological site." Too often we turn away from datable, stratified deposits containing well preserved fossil materials because they are "paleontological•• rather than "archaeological.tt Obviously there can be serious problems with funding agencies if we do not adhere closely to our chosen discipline, but our pro- posals for field work and our definition of problems to be investigated through field work should be framed less in terms of these disciplinary boundaries and more in terms of the ongoing natural {including artificial) processes which are responsible for the creation and preservation of a buried record of the past. Sorne workers have long understood that archaeological sites can make significant contributions to other fields of study (e.g., Wintemberg 1919; Gilmore 1949), but we have been rather slow to take advan- tage of those contributions, on the one band, just as we have rarely realized the potential for non-archaeological deposits to contribute to archaeology, on the other band. Through a more holistic view of the sedimentary matrix and its fossil contents we can hope to give more meaning to the record of the past, and we can hope to attribute no more meaning than the record can support. These ideas have been given a somewhat different expression by Binford who has referred to localizations as opposed to sites (Binford 1977:494) and to geological deposits which include archaeological evidence as opposed to archaeological deposits perse (Binford n.d.). Binford (n.d.) argues that, with the possible exception of Terra Amata, the earliest true "archaeological sitesu are Molodova I and V in the Ukraine. If so, what meaning can we give to the standards of evidence cited in Chapter 17 What are the requirements for our future discoveri.es in the early and mid-W:isconsinan deposits in th.e Old Crow basin? I dream of bouses made of mal!Jliloth_ hones and tusks (cf. Pidiplichko 19761 and red-ochre burials with.strings: o;t; s:hell and bone beads (cf. Rader 19671, but Tawaken to the realization tnat th.e quality of our data from the Old Crow basin migh_t not improve and that the sedimentary record below the glacial lake may never yield more than a glimpse of the peopling of the New World. APPENDIX A. INTEGRATIVE LEVELS IN LONG BONE FRACTURE Introduction In this appendix I have assembled information from a variety of studies of bone in order to show that long bone spiral fracture is best explained at the macrostructural level of analysis. The concept of inte- grative levels has been borrowed from Feibleman (1954) to whom the reader is referred for a theoretical discussion, and the levels which have been considered in this study are as follows: (1) molecular and crystalline, including the elongate protein molecule, collagen, and the tiny crystal, apatite; (2) cellular, including various modes of the bone cell or osteo- cyte, viz., the osteoclast and the osteoblast; (3) histological, including the arrangement of such microstructural components as osteons and lamellae; and (4) macrostructural, including the principal visible structural com- ponents, such as the diaphysis or shaft, the epiphyses, and the medullary cavity. I have considered the nature of bone as a material and then turned my attention to its biomechanical properties. The conclusion that the spiral fracture of long boues cannot be readily explained at the micro- structural and lower integrative levels supports a discussion in Chapter 3 in which the macrostructural fracture of long bones is seen as analogous to the fracture of glass tubes and other cylinders. Bone as a Material Long bone fracture has received extensive study, primarily from the standpoint of clinical diagnosis and treatment. Bone as a material has been analyzed at the molecular, cellular, and histological levels, and whole bones as well as machined samples of bone have been repeatedly tested by means of standard engineering techniques. Most of these studies have contributed to a broadening understanding of ways in which bones, partic- ularly long bones, represent the results of evolutionary adaptation to the forces which normally act upon a skeleton during life. Relatively few of the available analyses are directly helpful in understanding bone as a raw material for prehistoric fracturing and flaking techniques of artifact production. On the other hand, it is possible to assemble sorne basic concepts which are relevant to such archaeological problems by synthesizing a broad range of the available literature so as to eliminate those areas of consideration which do not seem to bear upon the deliberate fracture of bone. The four major constituents of bone are water, the protein collagen, a ground substance consisting primarily of mucopolysaccharides, and an inorganic compound of the apatite family. Water constitutes 20% or more of the weight of a livingbone (Robinson 1952:390). About 70% of dry, fat-free bone is inorganic hydroxyapatite which occurs in both crystalline and amorphous forms with the latter predominating in early bone and being gradually superceded by the former as the bone matures (Sweeney, et al. 1965:3; Posner 1969:778; Posner, et al. 1965). Of the remaining 30%, 90- 96% is collagen with the other 4-10% being comprised of non-collagenous -282 - L l....o ~ l....o r ~ L 1- ' i... i- l- L. l- L L ! .... 1 l ' - f ..... ._ _. -283 - proteins and mucopolysaccharides (Sweeney, et al. 1965:3; Robinson 1960:69). The embryological and ontological details of boue development are beyond the scope of this discussion (see McLean and Urist 1968) and in any case seem to be only vaguely understood. As with any living tissue, the constituents of bone are assembled under the metabolic control of living cells which in the case of bone are called osteocytes. These cells undergo modulation (as opposed to differentiation) from one form to another so that a given osteocyte may at one time be an osteoblast which constructs bone and at another time an osteoclast which resorbs bone (McLean and Urist 1968: 5ff; see also Sweeney, et al. 1965; Robinson, et al. 1973; Pritchard 1956; Hancox 1956). Apparently the organic constituents of bone are laid down as an extracellular matrix on or in wbich the apatite crystals are arranged. The precise steps involved in crystal seeding and growth are unknown, but the osteoblasts must synthesize the collagen matrix as well as the apatite either within the cell from which they are excreted or through construction outside the cell but under cellular control (Posner 19p9:786-787). Since amorphous apatite seems to precede crystalline apatite, the solution and crystallization of this compound must also be under the control of the cell, but the mechanism is unknown; as much as 40% of the mineral in sorne mature bones remains in an amorphous, non-crystalline form (Posner 1969:778). The apatite crystals of mature bone either lie along or are embedded in the collagen fibers, and the C axis of the crystals is laid down parallel to the fiber axis (Currey 1964:8). Indeed there is sorne evidence that the size of the crystals is limited by the length of the tropocollagen period (Herrmann and Liebowitz 1972:773-775; Posner 1969:775-776; Carlstrom and Glas 1959:52). The main structural component of bone is called the osteon, a roughly cylindrical structure in which successive lamellae surround a central Haver- sian canal in which blood vessels and nerves are carried (Fig. Al). The osteoblasts,.guide the formation of the lamellae in such a way as to alter the precise alignment of collagen fibers and apatite crystals from one lamella to the next. This gives the final osteon a layered appearance in spite of its integrity as a single structure (Ascenzi, et al. 1966, 1973). The Haver- sian canal of a given osteon remains in communication with neighbouring osteons through a network of Volkman's canals which extend radially through the osteons, and further commucication occurs through even smaller openings called canaliculi which lie in circumferential orientations within the osteons. By this means, the lacunae, which bouse the osteoblasts, are inter-connected with one another as well as with the central canal. The final osteon and its collagen and apatite components generally lie parallel to the axis of the long bone (Currey 1964:9; Herrmann and Liebowitz 1972:773; Sweeney, et al. 1965:3). As the osteoblasts complete their construction work, they become osteocytes which maintain the bone as a tissue. The boundaries between osteons are lined with mucopolysaccharides which apparently have a cementing function. The deposition of the cement is probably related to the cessation of osteon enlargement. Inorder to acconunodate. growth and as a response to new stresses in the bone, osteons are frequently remodelled. For this purpose the osteocytes become large cells called osteoclasts which cause the mineral and protein contents of one or more osteons to be returned to solution so that new osteons can be built within the remaining cavity in the -284 - VEIN k '\ \\ ':.,'~xE ~1 =ARTERY NERVE LYMPH VESSEL t ~== ~IJ<) ~ HAVERSIAN LAMELLAE ~ INTERSTITIAL LAMELLAE OSTEOCYTES CANALICULI ~-\., JV LACUNAE Fig. Al. Structures in the osteon of Haversian bone (after Bonnichsen 1979:Fig. 4). ---.._-""E-PERIOSTEUM HAVERS lAN f, ' '' . ENDOSTEUM Fig. A2. Transverse section through Haversian bone showing arrangements of osteons at greatly exag- gerated scale (modified after Bonnichsen 1979: Fig. 3). 1 L l... 1- L L ._ L...: ;_ i.- r ! ' ._ ..... L i..., ._ - '- b... -285- bane wall. The remodelling cross.es former cement lines. and creates a tubular space in which osteon construction begins with_ the deposition of lamellae at the outer wall and continues inward until a critical remaining space has been created to form the Haversian canal. As each lamella is laid dawn, small lacunae are left within it to house the remaining osteo- cytes whose long fibrils are interconnected through the canaliculi. Once remodelling has been accomplished, there remains among the osteons portions of former osteons which are no longer under active maintainence and which comprise interstitial bane. Mature cortical bane consists of about 50% Haversian systems (osteons) with the remainder occupied by non-Haversian bane and osteon remnants that have been partially replaced (Currey 1962:122; Robeinson, et al. 1973; Sweeney, et al. 1965:3; McLean and Urist 1968:104 ff; Sissons 1956) • Near the outer limit of the long bane shaft, the Haversian system gives way to circumferential lamellae which encircle the entire shaft and give it a hard cortical outer layer (Fig. A2). This layer is covered by a membrane called periosteum which apparently participates in the construction and maintainence of the lamellae, serves for the attachment of tendons, and carries elements of the circulatory system (Sweeney, et al. 1965:3; McLean and Urist 1968:11-12). At the centre of the bane is the medullary or marrow cavity which is lined with a layer of cells together called the endosteum. Endosteum is also found in the lining of the Haversian canals and covering the trabeculae of cancellous bane. It participates in marrow and bane formation and maintainence and, like periosteum, takes an active part in healing fractures (McLean and Urist 1968:12). These cellular and micro-structural components are combined to form several macro-structural components including the shaft or diaphysis, the ends or epiphyses, and cartilaginous plates at which growth by elongation occurs (Fig. A3). The diaphysis consists of compact bane surrounde9 by periosteum which encloses the marrow or medullary cavity in turn lined by endosteum. The epiphyses are formed by a relatively thin covering of com- pact bane which encloses spongy or cancellous bane. Lengthwise growth occurs at the cartilaginous plates between the diaphysis and epiphyses, and these plates eventually become ossified as an animal matures (McLean and Urist 1968:11~12). Together the structural and cellular components outlined above make up a supportive and connective organ which is remarkable for its strength and its ability to resist stresses imposed during normal living activities. That the strength and tolerance of this organ can be exceeded is demonstrated daily in emergency wards all over the world, and rouch of the study of bane has been directed toward the prevention and treatment of fractures which are so debilitating to those who suffer from them. Our purpose here, how- ever, is to understand the processes of chemical and mechanical alteration which act upon a bane once it has ceased to function as a living organ. Not the least of the considerations will be the manner in which the strength of bane can be systematically and deliberately overcome and employed so as to make it a useful raw material in artifact production and use. -286 - 1 !.~,. J r~ 1 SHAFT or DIAPHYSIS ) 1 ~ ~CARTILAGE DISTAL Fig. A3. Hacrostructural elements of a long bone (modified after Bonnichsen 1979:Fig. 1). L !..... Il.... \._ r: 1 ._ '- ~ r r l- L 1. 1... i ._ ' io.,.; w 1- ~ L i i.., 1... .._ -287 - Mechanical Properties of Bane Severa! characteristics of boue are important for understanding its susceptibility to fracture: structural organization, ultimate strength, orientation of components, and mode of deformation. Severa! models have been proposed to account for the overall structural organization of lamellar boue. Currey (1964) argues quite effectively against models which depict boue as a compound bar (1ike reinforced concrete) or as a prestressed material as hypothesized by Knese (1958). Currey (1964: 6-7) notes that such models assume that collagen and apatite in boue have properties similar to those which they might exhibit in bulk, and this assumption is quite un- likely. Instead the collagen and apatite components should be viewed as two phases of boue, each of which includes the other, and he advances a model of boue as a two-phase material analogous to fiberglass. An important fea- ture of such materials is the great difference in elasticity between the two phases. Elasticity is the ability of a body to return to its original size and shape after removal of a force, and the "modulus of elasticity" is a measurement of the stiffness of a material (Evans 1957:239). "Boue, then, consists of a matrix with a low modulus of elasticity with, embedded in it, discrete crystals with a high modulus of elasticity" (Currey 1964:7). In non-engineering terms, this means that the collagen phase is a highly elas- tic matrix in which the very stiff (non-elastic) apatite crystals are embedded. The resulting two-phase material (boue) has an intermediate mod- ulus of elasticity but much greater strength thau either of the individual components when tested separately (Currey 1964:7-8). That failure of such a material should occur at all implies that dangerous flaws must exist and that such flaws must be capable of enlarging when the material is stressed. It is difficult to determine precisely where such flaws might occur. The apatite crystals are so small as to p.reclude the frequent occurrence of Griffith cracks ("the original cracks present in all brittle materials made without special treatment") (Currey 1964:8), and even if failure began in the crystal the crack would soon spread to its borders where highly el~stic collagen would be encountered and the crack would be arrested or turned. Ascenzi and Bonucci and their colleagues have shown that individual osteons of Haversian bone are variously organized with respect to collagen fiber orientation and that within an osteon "cracks run between, not across, collagen fibrils, separating them and indicating that the interfibrillar substance is considerably less resistant thau the fibrils themselves" (Ascenzi, et al. 1973:232). Furthermore, sorne types of osteons have greatest ultimate compressive strength while other types have greatest ultimate tensile strength under a given loading orientation (Ascenzi, et al. 1973:234, with references). It is possible that the numerous holes such as lacunae and canaliculi produce concentrations of stress which promote the propagation of cracks, but Currey (1962) has shown that such internai holes are so oriented as to reduce their effects as stress concentrators and to enhance their ability to pre- vent cracks from spreading. These findings are consistent with those of Dempster and Coleman (1961) and Evans and Bang (1966:Fig.4) who suggested that fractures tend to follow the cement lines around the Haversian systems although many other courses have also been observed (see Herrmann and Liebowitz 1972). In general there appears not to be an identifiable weak Table Al. Summary of variables consi.dered in selected bane deformation studies reported in the literature. Sample Laa ding M v M Tr M v M v M V Tr Tw M V Tr M V Tr w Tr w v w Tw w v w v w v Tw w Tr w Tw Lege nd Force s D s s s s s D D s D s s s s Deformation Other Variables Te Te B B B B B B B B c c c To To} Temperature Temperature Wet and dry Decalcified To Graft removal (Rat bones) To (Rat bones) Sample: W, whole bone; M, milled sample Loading: V, vertical, Tr, transverse; Tw, twisting Force: S, static; D, dynamic Deformation: Te, tension; B, bending; C, compression; To, torsion References Bonfield and Li 1966 Bonfield and Li 1966 Evans and Lebow 1951; Evans 1964 McElhaney and Byars 1965 Sweeney, Kroon and Byers 1965 Dempster and Coleman 1961 Dempster and Liddicoat 1952 Evans, Hayes and Powers 1953 {Pederson, Evans and Lissner 1949 Evans, Pederson and Lissner 1951 Evans, Lissner and Pederson 1948 Evans and Lissner 1948 Frankel and Burstein 1965 Bell, Cuthbertson and Orr 1941; Bell 1959 Bell and Cuthbertson 1943 Major swronaries Evans 1952, 1953, 1957, 1961 Evans and Lebow 1952 Herrmann and Liebowitz 1972 N 00 00 L ( L .... ' i.... l.- 1- "i...; !.... L l...i ~ - f f 1.... r L !..... ' l.- .._ .... -289 - anatomical unit whi.ch regulai:"ly accounts foi:" bone f.racture, and the. fracture fi:"ont s.imply follows the least co!l).Illon denominator of force resistance within a particular hone and for a pa.rticular or:ientation of force appli.cat:i.on • The. ori.entation of. stress: ür clearly important in that long hones (ils well as other skeletal elements} have evol ved in response to the stresses which are routine1y applied during the normal behaviour of animais. Thus it is not surprising that the strength of a limb bone loaded longitudinally is much greater than that of an identical bone loaded transversely (Dempster and Coleman 1961; Bonfield and Li 1966; Sweeney, et al. 1965; Evans and Bang 1966). This conclusion can be confidently derived from comparisons of the many bone deformation studies which have been published during the last 40 years (see Tables Al-A2). Paradoxically, the importance of orientation is clearly seen in the abortive experimental efforts descr.ibed by Biberson and Aguirre (1965) in which they attempted to fracture a modern elephant femur by striking it with a hand axe on the proximal end. More recent experiments have shown that the enormous strength of an elephant femur may be systemati- cally overcome by loading the bone in a transverse position (Stanford, et al. 1980). The mode of deformation in bone has been a subject of discussion for many years. Early work suggested that bone undergoes elastic deformation up to its ultimate strength when fracture occurs (Bell, et al. 1941; Bell 1959), but more recent studies have clearly indicated the anelastic defor- mation of bone (Bonfield and Li 1966; Currey 1965). Anelasticity is recov- erable strain appearing over a period of time (Currey 1965), and plastic flow appears to be a necessary component of bone deformation because of the different elastic moduli of apatite and collagen (Bonfield and Li 1966:873). It is less clear when plastic strain appears during the deformation of a bone: whereas Bonfield and Li (1966:874) report plastic strain at approximately 400 psi, Currey (1965:281) says that the plastic range begins at about 10,000 psi. Temperature effects have been shown to be important in that energy absorption was not influenced by deep freezing but was eliminated by burning (Bonfield and Li 1966:874). An unusual characteristic of bone, when compared with other brittle materials, is its high tensile strength in relation to its compressive strength. Bone fails in tension at approximately 15,000 psi and in compression at about 25,000 psi (Currey 1964; Simkin and Robin 1973 Table 1; see also Table A2). Most brittle materials have much lower tensile strength. Nonetheless the difference between these two figures would foster the prediction that bone would fai1 first in tension and only later in compression, and the transverse loading studies cited in Table Al seem to support that expectation (but see Bargren, et al. 1974; Reilly, et al. 1974, for opposing views). When human femora were supported as simple beams and loaded transversely, Evans and his colleagues found that the maximum tensile stress occurre.d on th.e side of the bone opposite the impact si.te (Evans, et al. 1953)_; supposedly the bones would have f.a:Ued in thi.s zone of maximum tens.ile stress had loading been increased beyond their ultimate strength in tension (Rerrmann and Liehowitz 1972:811)_. Recent experiments: by Ronnichs,en, Stanford and me, with horse, beef, and e.lephant boues have. he~n filmed at hlgh. speed (5000 frames/second} with the bones supported as simple beams and loaded dynamically with large hammerstones. In several of the films the first sign of failure has been -290 - Table A2. Ultimate strength of various milled bone samples measured in pounds/square inch (psi). These figures are not precisely comparable due to variations in testing apparatus, skeletal element, and other factors. Ultimate stren_gth (psi) Bovine bone (wet)1 Tension Compression Torsion Bovine collagen 2 Tension Bovine apatite 2 Tension Compression Human bone (wet) Tension 3 Compression 4 Human bone (dry) Tension 3 Compression 4 Sources Longitudinal 18,660 31,781 8,502 2,403 983 5,348 13,818 ± 3910 19,007 ± 3100 19,939 ± 3120 29,575 ± 2580 1 sweeney, et aZ. 1965: Table 2 2 Sweeney, et aL 1965: Table 3 3Dempster and Coleman 1961: Table 1 4 Dempster and Liddicoat 1952: Table 4 Transverse 8,135 22,184 848 452 2,818 1,432 ± 420 16,988 ± 4600 1' 648 ± 472 19,203 ± 3139 L ,, L t L L ,..,; i 1 L. L L ~ ...... loo.. L L... '-' L f ' .... ..... i- -291 - seen opposite the point of impact and has. heen most clearly recorded by placing a mirror heneath the bane. Local deformations due to tension at the impact site have als:o been ohserved and were reported in other exper- iments (Evans, et al. 1953:175). Summary There appear not to be anatomical features which generally help to explain bane fracture at the microscopie level. While fractures may follow cement lines and other features, they may also diverge from such features in unpredictable ways. "Bane is almost unique, among materials used to take heavy stresses, in being stiff, brittle, and filled with many tiny hales" (Currey 1962:131), and it seems clear that th-e two-phase structure of bane is responsible for its remarkable strength. This structure is highly anisotropie, however, and the tensile strength of bane which usually determines its failure is lower by an arder of magnitude in transverse as opposed ta longitudinal loading (Dempster and Coleman 1961: Table 1). 11 Cross-grain" tensile fractures are simple cleavages in which the failure occurs transverse to the direction of pull a~d parallel to the Haversian systems, while tension parallel ta the "grain" causes ruptures which are oblique or transverse with the fracture lines generally being straight unless they are perturbed by local resistance (Dempster and Coleman 1961:359). On the basis of the foregoing discussion I have argued in Chapter 3 that long bane fracture is best explained at the macrostructural level and that the fractures of long bane shafts are analogous to the fractures of glass tubes and ether cylindrical materials • APPENDIX B. DESCRIPTIVE MATERIAL FOR REDEPOSITED BONES FROM THE OLD CROW REGION Introduction In this appendix I have assembled verbal descriptions and tabular presentations of data pertaining to the redeposited specimens discussed in Chapter 4. The detailed descriptions have been isolated here to per- mit the reader to gain an overview of the record from the text while still having access to the details in this and other appendices. This appendix is organized in terms of sections which parallel those of Chapter 4 except that classificatory procedures are not given further discussion here. Identical section headings have been used to facilitate cross-references, and all illustrations have been presented with the text discussion. Each section includes tabular data presentations and instruct- ions for reading the tables as well as descriptions of individual specimens which exhibit unique or unusual features. These presentations are given here without comment, and the reader should consult the appropriate sections of Chapter 4 for discussion of the data. Marnmoth Bone Fracture Metric and non-metric attributes are provided for 104 mammoth limb bones in Table Bl. The specimens marked with an asterisk (*) next to the catalogue number of those found in association with the Anodonta phase (Fig. 2.4). These pieces are believed to be at least 10;000 years old on the basis of radiocarbon dates obtained on the molluscs at severa! local- ities, but it is suspected that most of the bone are much older than this date and that they were redeposited near the valley floor early in the downcutting history of the Old Crow River. All other specimens in Table Bl are surface finds. The linear measurements in Table Bl are expressed in millimeters, and weight is given in grams. Two width measurements, chord and perimeter, are indicated for each bone. The chord is a straight line measurement of width as determined on an osteometric board, and the line of measurement is perpendicular to the axis of length and to the general split-line orientation of the bone. The perimeter was measured is the same place as the chord, but a flexible tape measure was used to determine the approximate amount of the cross-section of a bone which is included in a given specimen. The chord can be greater than the perimeter because of the obtuse angles formed between sorne fracture surfaces and outer bone surfaces. In such cases the perimeter measurement refers only to the portion of the perimeter which represents the outer surface of the bone. For bones preserved as cylinders rather than fragments (see below) this measurement is replaced by depth. The occurrence of green and non-green fracture was recorded in the form of a fraction. The denominator of the fraction indicates the total number of margins which have been fractured at any time, and the numerator .designates the number of margins which were fractured when the bone was green. Thus an intact one is designated as 0/0 since none of the margins -292 - 1 r ~ r~-----r--c-r--~~---, r--·-· r~---c-~, r-· --r---r ---r-~--.~-[ --~- Table Bl. Attributes of green-fractured mammoth bones from reworked deposits in the Old Crow ~egion, northern Yukon Territory (see text for explanation). Wall Load ing Point Frac. Cat. No. Length Chorq Perim. Weight Thickness Form Location Diam. Other 1/5 MkVl-4:5.1 (126) (45) (45) 87.5 21.4 1/5 MlVl-5:5 (107) (39) (45) 80.6 13.2 Sc ar End >8 .0 1/4 MjVj-1:1.1 (286) (111) (205) 1792.0 46.1 Co ne End 14.3 Scraped; Pl. 4.3 1/4 MkVl-4:11.17 (31) (18) (18) 8.9 18~9 1/4 MkVl-4:17.2 (410 (55) (57) 637.9 18.4-36.7 1/4 MkV1-5: 11.5 (122) (38) (40) 66.1 17.8 1/4 MkVl-9:16 (226) (60) (63) 363.1 22.8-27 ~ 6 1/4 MkVl-2 7:1.1 (163) (62) (65) 183.4 18.7 Sc ar End 31.0 Rebound scar 1/4 MkVl-27:1.2 (323) (63) (95) 698.7 34.9 1/4 MlV1-1:72 (80) (48) (65) 76.2 9.8 Sc ar End >11.0 1/4 MlVl-2:134 (304) (80) (136) 788.1 29.6-36.9 Broken when dry 1/4 MlVl-7:134 (68) (82) (82) 102~4 10.7-20.6 1/4 MlV1-7: 277 (273) (106) (93) 567.7 22.3 N 1/4 MlVl-7:309 (66) (41) (41) 25.5 12.5-12.9 <.0 w 1/4 *MlV1-12:8 (38) (36) (36) 20.9 >11.8 1/4 *MlV1-12:10 (280) (72) (72) 376.7 27.7 1/4 *MlV1-12:15 (107) (52) (53) 93.5 19.1 1/4 NaVk-1:1. 5 (130) (77) (69) 183.1 21.8 1/4 NaVk-6:3 (132) (76) (81) 204.9 16.8-26.2 1/4 NaVk-6:5 (211) (92) (99) 503~8 thinned Sc ar End >11.0 Rebound scar 1/4 NbV1-5:1 (101) (48) (45) 90.3 13.6-13.8 1/4 NbVm-5:1 (122) (41) (37) 130.1 >27.5 1/3 MlVl-5:7 (132) (46) (46) 139.2 15.6-21.3 1/3 MlVl-7:144 (81) (27) (27) 29.9 13.0-18.9 1/3 MlVl-7:331 (91) (19) (19) 43.7 27.3-31.8 1/3 MlVl-13:13.2 (105) (51) (43) 87.1 18.6 1/3 NbVm-2:4.3 (89) (34) (37) 54.5 24 .o 2/6 MlV1-10:4 (129) (51) (55) 106.4 12.8-19.6 Sc ar End NM Table Bl (Continued). Wall Loading Point Frac. Cat. No. Length Chard Perim. Weight Thickness Form Location Diam. Other 2/5 MiVl-1:11 (230 (95) (121) 562.4 23.6-37.2 2/5 MkV1-8:9.1 (118) (60) (79) 147~0 12.0-25.7 Sc ar End >11.8 2/5 M1V1-1:63 (188) (76) (114) 395.3 21.3-27.5 Co ne End >12. 7 2/5 M1V1-5:1 (214) (83) (120) 359.9 14.2-28.8 2/5 MlV1-5:19 (194) 95 128 656.3 21.8-31.8 Etched on fracture 2/5 M1V1-7:28 (146) (48) (54) 119.9 9.3-22.0 2/5 M1V1-7: 75 (176) {107) (140) 326.1 9.1-15.6 2/5 NaV1-4:9 (138) (71) (107) 211~0 8.5-17.7 2/4 MkV1-3:2.1 (94) (61) (56) 88.5 4.4-22.7 2/4 MkV1-8 :16 (148) 97 127 492.4 13~8-30.2 Ground 2/4 M1Vj-2:2 (186) (59) (69) 206.8 7.8-17.7 2/4 M1Vk-1 :1.1 (138) (45) (37) 75.6 20.1-21.7 Po1ished 2/4 M1Vk-1:1.4 111 (68) (90) 149.4 13~0-24.5 2/4 M1V1-1:67 (90) (55) (32) 90.0 thinned Etched on fracture 2/4 M1V1-5:18 (170) (91) (95) 220.6 10.8-15.3 {Scraped; etched on N fracture 1.0 19.3-20.4 {Cone One end >15. 7 .r;:- 2/4 M1V1-5:24 161 (58) (84) 264.8 Co ne Other end >15.8 2/4 M1V1-5:43 (108) (62) (69) 119.4 11.8-19.0 2/4 M1V1-7:138 (89) (62) (62) 70.9 14.7-17.5 Sc ar Corner 9.0 2/4 M1V1-7:176 (195) (59) (50) 302.7 16.2-29.9 Etched on fracture 2/4 M1V1-7:301 (102) (48) (46) 60.9 11.0-12.5 2/4 *M1V1-12:9 (372) (83) (90) 735.3 12.1-22.9 2/4 *M1V1-12:36 124 (62) (90) 159.3 13.5-25.0 3/5 MkV1-9:22 (253) 66 126 438.9 5.8-19.1 2/3 *M1V1-1:124 127 (59) (84) 123.5 12.2-24.9 2/3 *MlV1-1:144 203 (72) (137) 464.9 17~0-25.6 Co ne End 8.3 Rebound scar; scraped 2/3 M1V1-7:284 (139) (57) (41) 155.3 16.2-17.6 2/3 M1V1-7:329 (78) (43) (63) 38.0 6.3-18.2 2/3 NaVk-1:9 (176) (58) (79) 236.6 12.0-22.5 2/3 NaV1-8:3 (168) 75 79 262.9 15.0-20.3 Etched on fracture 2/3 NbVl-2:19 143 (44) (36) 113.4 20.3-24.4 1 r --~~ c-·~ r--~, r· · · r-·---r~---. r··--, r·---·· ~~ c· -r r --~ r·· · r·--r·----r· --r r·~ - Table Bl (Continued). Wall Loading Point Frac. Cat. No. Length Chord Perim. Weight Thickness Form Location Diam. Other 3/4 MkVl-8:12 156 (53) (56) 131.3 15.8-22.6 3/4 MkVl-23:1 248 (92) (155) 832.5 8.0-22.1 3/4 MkVl-23:2 (206) 130 174 818.7 27.2-38.1 Sc ar Long edge NM 3/4 MlVj-2:1 (248) 82 125 622.1 9.9-29.5 3/4 MlV1-5:11 66 (20) (20) 24.5 9.1-18.1 3/4 MlVl-5:23 113 (60) (60) 144.0 12.8-26.0 3/4 M1V1-7:5 83 (85) (87) 170.9 19.6-25.0 Sc ar Corner 12.0 3/4 MlVl-7:58 47 (70) (59) 58.6 13.3-22.7 3/4 :leMl Vl-12: 11 173 (67) (87) 288.8 20.4-34.3 Pl. 4.4 3/4 MlVl-14:3 141 (115) (1L10) 423.2 23.8-31.9 Sc ar End >19.3 Pl. 4.5 3/4 NaVk-1:15 20 (23) (16) 10.2 22.5 3/4 NaVk-5:38 204 (65) (70) 221.7 17.0-21.4 3/4 NaVk-6 :16 100 (50) (53) 104.4 14.8-22.7 Sc ar Corner NM 4/5 MlVl-7:65 (148) 72 75 141.3 10.8-12.8 4/5 MlV1-7: 77 145 77 77 245.8 13.8 4/5 NaVk-5:7 (92) 64 64 70.1 6.2-14.0 Sc ar End Large Scraped N \.0 4/5 NaVk-6:6 (138) 68 74 156.9 8.5-16.5 V1 4/5 NbVm-4:14 (83) 48 65 72.9 13.0-18.6 5/6 MkVl-8 :24 216 (63) (91) 359.2 10.6-22.6 5/5 MlVl-5:25 (335) 77 145 1101.5 13.4-25.2 Sc ar Long edge NM 3/3 MkV1-3:9 288 77 NM 682.6 14.5-32.0 Sc ar End NM Pl s. 4. 1-, 4 • 2 3/3 MkVl-4: 11.4 95 51 51 114.8 18.6-32.3 Co ne Corner Small 3/3 MkVl-4: 11.6 124 54 72 99.5 15.9-20.4 3/3 MlVl-5:15 101 54 41 71.6 12.5-18.6 3/3 MlVl-7:294 68 56 51 64.7 21.4-25.4 Etched on fracture 3/3 *MlVl-12:6 143 56 69 164.1 16.6-22.3 3/3 NaVk-1:17 157 71 54 170.8 25.1-26.8 3/3 NaVk-5:6 166 65 65 140.9 12.9-19.5 Sc ar End >11.3 Ground 3/3 NbVl-2:11 200 48 75 149.2 6.3-21.2 {Bonnichsen 1979: 103, Pl. VIII-2 Sc ar Corner >23.4 4/4 MkVl-5:13 465 117 248 2433.0 9.9-25.1 {Scar Opp. Corner >7. 2 Scraped; Pl. 4.6 Sc ar Long edge Large Table Bl (Continued). Wall Load ing Point Frac. Cat. No. Length Chord Perim. Weight Thickness Form Location Diam. Other 4/4 MkVl-8 :19 129 70 65 187.7 15.9-25.0 Etched on fracture 4/4 MlVj-2:3 132 60 75 160.9 17.4-25.4 4/4 MlVk-4:1 ll8 74 74 126.3 >25.2 4/4 MlVl-1:70 93 82 82 81.2 thinned 4/4 MlVl-1:71 88 50 82 82.0 15.2-16.7 4/4 MlVl-7:66 110 47 47 58.0 10.4-13.2 4/4 MlVl-7 :281 289 89 144 701.2 16.6-22.7 Sc ar Long edge NM Rebound scar 4/4 MlVl-11:1 130 103 122 272.9 17.9-28.9 Etched on fracture 4/4 NaVk-5:26 94 71 105 126.1 11.3-23.4 Bonnichsen 1979: 118, Pl. VIII-12 4/4 NaVk-6:9 162 67 75 263.2 16.9-18.9 5/5 MlVl-7:285 119 83 88 275.5 17.7-29.7 Chewed 5/5 NaVk-1:11 129 58 45 156.9 21.1-25.9 5/5 NaVk-5:37 133 74 93 154.7 7.5-22.8 5/5 NaVk-6:21 235 101 139 716.3 20.7-42.8 Etched on fracture 6/6 XI-B:366 312 78 200 1390.0 9.8-28.1 N '-Cl (j'\ N 44 37 36 103 100 100 16 Mean 151.4 73.2 95.0 291.6 16.1 23.3 13.9 S.D. 79.0 19.3 46.0 362.6 6.6 6.8 6.3 (measurements in parentheses not included in ca1culations) Bone struck when green, not a11 margins fractured after perminera1ization: 0/4 MkVl-5:4.2 (295) (153) NM 1845.0 Ring Outer 19.7 x . h f (d. 1) crack surface 23 •1 R~g t emur ~sta Legend * with catalogue number marks boues associated with Anodonta phase NM means "not measureab1e" (Diam.) or "not measured" (Perim.) See text for other explanations L L L L r L 1... L r t 1- f l;.,o r L 1 1.... r ~...... 1 L r L ..... ~ i.- ..... -297 - is. fractured. 0/y indicates that one or more margins is. fractured but that none of the fractures was produced when the bone was green. x/y sig- nifies that of "y" fractured margins, "x11 of them were fractured when the bane was green. The distinction betw.een green and non-green fractures is based upon the cons.tellation of attributes in Tables 3. 2-3. 3. The fractional format for fracture coding works well for fragments of bane which are often relatively flat, because a discrete number of margins can be specified for any given specimen. The smallest possible number is three which is the minimum requirement for defining a two dimen- sional plane, and the largest number which I have found it necessary ta define is six. This approach is difficult ta apply ta specimens preserved as cylinders, but there are relatively few such pieces in the sample ta be described here. Binford (n.d.) has recently called attention ta the importance of distinguishing between fragments and cylinders in evaluating the frequency of carnivore induced alterations in bane assemblages, and sorne very complex procedures have been devised for quantifying the shapes and sizes of cranial material and long bane cylinders (Hills and Brothwell 1974; Tomenchuk 1976; Biddick and Tomenchuk 1975; Tomenchuk and Tomenchuk 1976). Since most long bane cylinders have been excluded from this sample on the basis of discrete variables (such as pitting and scoring by carn- ivores), it will not be necessary to introduce such procedures in this report. In addition to the fracture coding, I noted whether the length or the width (or bath) had been reduced by post-permineralization fractures. These observations are of sorne importance since they govern the interpretation of linear measurements. If all margins have been fractured when green, we can infer that the final shape and size of the specimen is that produced by human activity, but reduction of length and/or width by later fractures erases sorne of the patterning which might appear in the record. Measurements in parentheses in Table Bl (and in ether tables) are those which have·been reduced by relatively recent fractures, and these measurements have not been included in the calculations of mean and standard deviation which appear at the end of the table(s). The measurements of thickness in Table Bl refer specifically to the bane wall.adjoining green bane fractures. The range of bone wall thickness was measured adjacent to each green fracture, and the overall variation on all green-fractured margins of a given specimen is represented in Table Bl. A few of the bones could not be measured for thickness since abruptly acute or obtuse fracture margins had the effect of thinning the specimen. In a few cases the lower limit of thickness is indicated due to removal of the outer surface by such processes as exfoliation. The thickness measurements have been recorded here for the purpose of a later discussion of the exca- vated samples. Whenever a.loading point could be observed on a specimen it was categorized as a cane or a scar. When an impact is delivered to a bane wall a cane of force is produced in a manner very similar to the canes observed on cryptocrystalline lithic materials (Crabtree 1972). The total cane is manifested on the outer surface of a bane as a ring crack (see discussion in Bonnichsen 1977:111 ff). If the bane does not completely fail, such a ring crack may be preserved in its entirety as in the last -298 - specimen lis.ted in Table Rl. Separation of fragments. usually divides the ring crack into s.egments., and a portion of the affected area may be pre- served as a cone (Pl. 4.4), if the ring crack was incomplete, or as a scar. The scar is a negative record of a cone segment which has been removed from the specimen. In Table Bl these loading point forms, their locations, and their diameters are indicated for those specimens on which loading points could be observed. In a few cases the diameter was not measurable because of poor preservation of the loading point at the outer surface of the bone, and in most cases the measurement is a minimum one since most cones and scars are only partially preserved. It is noteworthy that the measured loading points are quite large; it is my impression that they are larger than any carnivore tooth contact area, although I have not yet confirmed that with quantifiable data. Three specimens deserve special mention. MkVl-3:9 was recently sac- rificed for a radiocarbon date based on its collagen content~ 29,300 ± 1200 B.P. (I-11,050: Harington, pers. com. in 1980). Before it was sent for dating I photographed (Pl.4.1) and described the specimen and then fractured and flaked it with a 900 g hammerstone. All the resulting frag- ments were typical of post-permineralization fractures with their rectilinear shapes, contrasting colours, rough surface textures, and right angles between the fracture surfaces and the outer surface of the bone (Pl. 4.2). This is the only collagen-based radiocarbon date currently available on an artificially modified bone from the Old Crow valley, but more examples will be submitted in the near future. A very large femur shaft fragment (Pl. 4.6; Mk:Vl-5:13) exhibits three loading points --a poorly preserved one along one long edge, and two well defined ones on opposite sides of the shaft. The opposing points imply that this bone was loaded on a anvil and that one of the points represents the kind of anvil damage often observed on lithic materials. A smaller specimen (MlVl-5:24) exhibits a cone at each end. These cones resulted from loading in the same plane and the same direction, and they have been dup- licated in recent fracture experiments. It may seem strange that only three of the specimens with. all margins fractured when green have preserved loading cones or scars. The absence of such features frequently results from the intersection of fracture fronts which travel in different directions and cause fragmentation bf the bone shaft into many more pieces thari might be expected from only one or two loading points. This is one reason that green fractures on bones smaller than those of mammoths and elephants are so difficult to interpret with confidence. The column of other observations in Table Bl includes a variety of attributes which are important in different ways. References to scraping, grinding, and .polishing mean that the specimens in question will be mentioned again in connection with those alterations. The term "rebound scar" iden- tifies a particular kind of flake scar which occurs adjacent to the ring crack. Upon impact the wall of the bone is flexed inward, and it "rebounds" with such force that a small flake is often detached from the bone surface. Such detachments have recently been observed on high-speed film footage used to document experimental fractures of fresh elephant bones (Ginsberg experiment). The presence of such ascaris a good indication that the L l... i 1 L. L L.. L L L L l- l.,; i... t.. - ' t 1- L· .... ! 1- - -299 - loading of the hone was dynamic. One specimen (MlVl-2:1342 is. beli.eved to have been broken when dry hecaus.e the fracture margin exhibits severa! off-set "jogs.l' which were formed wherever the running crack intersected developing split lines:. All other attributes of the fracture surface and form indicate that the fracture occurred before significant staining and permineralization had taken place. The designation "etched on fracture" refers to the action of plant rootlets (see Chapter 3}. Such etching has never been observed on a fracture surface believed on other grounds to have been produced following permineralization, and it is probable that the etching occurs only when the bone contains sufficient nutrienLS to attract the rootlets of plants to its surface. Although this phenomenon is poorly understood, it may be a secondary indication that a given fracture surface was formed when the bone was green. One bone exhibits evidence of chewing by carnivores (~lVl-7:285), but the bone represents an adult mammoth and the chewing is not associated with the fractured roargins. Despite the evidence of carnivore activity I am confident that this bone was fractured by man in view of the discuss- ion presented in Chapter 3. Mammoth Bane Cores and Flakes In order to reduce the amount of individual description required in the presentation of the cores, they are treated first as green fractured bones with the same attributes which were used in Table Bl. A second tab- ular presentation for each of the four major categories of cores suromarizes the attributes related to the secondary flaking of the bones which has caused them to be classified as cores. Special features will be mentioned where appropria te. Longitudinally Flaked Cores without Preserved Platforms In Table B.2 the green fracture attributes of all the cores lacking platforms are suromarized, and in Table B3 the flaking attributes of these cores are presented. It is noteworthy that all but two of the cores are made on long bone fragments, and the exceptions are segments of maromoth or mastodon scapulae. The column headings in Table B3 (like Tables B5, B7, B9) require sorne explanation. The locations of the flake scars have been identified with respect to the plan view (perimeter) and the cross-section (circumference). The designations of right and left margins have been based upon the same orientation rules used by Bonnichsen (1979:101): with the outer surface of the bone facing up, the platform. area is placed nearest the analyst. The number of scars has been expressed as a fraction in sorne cases, and these fractions must not be confused with those which were used to designate fractured margins. In the case of flake scars, the numerator refers to the number of intact scars, and the denominator refers to the number of partial scars which have been truncated by the intact ones. When a numerator appears alone, it signifies that one or more scars is intact and that multiple scars are adjacent rather than partially or wholly nested within one another. The measurements of maximum length and width refer to Table B2. Green fracture attributes of manunoth bone cores without preserved platforms from the reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory (see text for explanations). Wall Loadin~ Point Frac. Cat. No. Len~th Chord Perim. Weight Thickness Form Location Diam. Other 0/6 *MlVl-12:2 (198) (62) (63) 305.6 1/4 NaVl-12:2 (147) (31) (32) 153.1 33.0 4/6 MkVl-8:13 211 (97) (122) 438.2 9 •2 _20 •8 {Scar} Distal >15. 7 Scar end 31.1 3/4 MlVl-1:102 (116} 50 54 112.9 13.9-18.7 3/4 NaVk-1:12 170 (54) (108) 351.6 17.1-17.8 Co ne End >7 .2 2 rebound scars; Pl. 4.7 4/5 MkVl-8:20 170 (68) (69) 247.9 11.1-26.6 Scapula fragment \ 4/5 NaVl-8:2 186 97 125 408.2 20.5-27.9 5/6 NaVk-6:12 227 49 90 251.3 13.7-16.2 Polished on end 3/3 MlVl-5:28 109 51 52 59.7 8.9-15.4 Etched on fracture w 3/3 NaVk-5:2 186 52 84 279.6 16.3-20.0 0 0 4/4 MlVl-2:189 100 70 74 121.3 18.5-33.3 Sc ar Corner 21.0 4/4 *Ml Vl-12: 16 105 64 70 111.8 16.4-19.3 5/5 *MlVl-1:143 171 77 80 330.9 17.0-25.0 Sc ar Go rn er >12. 7 Polished; Pl. 4.8 5/5 NaVk-6:10 164 78 88 279.3 8.5-30.8 · {Bonnichsen 1979: 105, Pl. VIII-4 5/5 NaVk-9:1 164 45 71 119.7 11.3-13.5 N 12 10 10 15 14 14 5 Mean 163.6 63.6 78.8 238.1 15.4 22.7 17.5 S.D. 40.3 16.9 20.7 118.6 6.3 6.7 9.1 Legend * with catalogue number marks bones found in association with the Anodonta phase. [ L r ,-r ---~~ r~~ f""""-"'" ["~-, 1'"'', ~-' r~· , .~, r-r·~ ,--·-r-···· r~- Table B3. Flaking attributes of longitudinally flaked cores without preserved platforms from the reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory (see text for explanation). Cat. No. MlVl-12:2 NaVl-12:2 MkVl-8:13 MlVl-1:102 NaVk-1:12 MkVl-8:20 NaVl-8:2 NaVk-6:12 MlVl-5:28 NaVk-5:2 MlVl-2:189 MlVl-12:16 MlVl-1:143 NaVk-6:10 NaVk-9:1 Scar Locations No. of Scars Perim. End End End End End Corner End End End End End End End End End N Mean S.D. Circumference Outer Outer Outer 1 1/4 1/1 Left 1 Right 1/1 Outer & Right 1/3 Medial (scapu1a) 1/1 Right Le ft Outer Outer Outer Outer Outer Left Outer Outer 1 1/1 1/2 Many 1 1/1 1/1 1 2 2 Max. Length* (42. 3) 57.3 67.1 52.0 88.9 38.4 62.5 37.5 63.1 19.8 77.3 36.9 39.2 109.0 65.6 14 58.:2 23.6 Max. Width 50.0 26.0 51.8 16.9 34.0 32.0 30.7 22.0 28.2 23.6 64.6 33.3 51.9 36.8 23.7 15 35.0 13.6 Distal Termina tians Deep hinge 1 F, 4 H 2 Feathered 1 F, 2 H 2 F, 2 H 1 F, 2 H Hinge 1 F, 1 H 1 F, 2 H All hinged Hinge 2 Feathered 3 Hinged 1 F, 1 H 1 F, 1 H * By definition, all the lengths measured here have been reduced by p1atform loss. P1atform Loss Recent fracture Facial flaking Tao deep a bite Tao deep a bite Tao deep a bite Tao deep a bite Recent fracture Tao deep a bite Tao deep a bite Facial flaking Tao deep a bite Tao deep a bite Tao deep a bite Tao deep a bite Tao deep a bite ["'"~ l;,) 0 f-' Table B4. Green-fracture attributes of mammoth bone cores with unmodified fracture surface platforms from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. Wall Loading Point Frac. Cat. No. Length Chard Perim. Weight Thickness Form Location Diam. Other -- 2/5 MiVl-1:12 (228) 61 118 487.9 4.0-12.4 Scraped; Pl. 4.9 3/4 MlVl-7:157 125 (42) (42) 54 .o 5.5-10.3 Pl. 5.2 4/5 MkVl-8:17 (143) (81) (86) 257.4 21.6-29.4 Pl. 4 .10 3/3 MkVl-8:18 114 119 128 312.3 24.8-31.0 {Bonnichsen 1979: 109, Pl. VIII-lü 3/3 MlVl-5:29 96 44 53 69.5 12.9-18.4 3/3 M1V1-5:44 111 48 60 136.0 17.3-17.7 \ 4/4 MlV1-5:21 143 51 52 138.0 22.5-23.3 {Bonnichsen 1979: 105, Pl. VIII-4 4/4 MlVl-5:45 122 47 50 106.8 15.8-21.0 5/5 MkVl-10:5.1 205 101 166 495.1 14.4-17.8 Sc ar Long edge NM Rebound scar (.}.) N 7 7 7 9 9 9 0 N Mean 130.9 67.3 89.6 228.6 15.4 20.1 S.D. 35.7 30.1 47.1 170.9 7.2 6.9 \ \ f ( ~---~ r~-c-r~---r--~ r--~-r·--~ [~-~ r~-~ r_--------r~--r-~-r-··-~----r-----~-r·--r·--~-r~- Table B5. Flaking attributes of longitudinally flaked cores with unmodified fracture surface platforms from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. Scar Locations No. of Max. :Max. Distal Approxima te Cat. No. Perim. Circumfererice Scars Leri.gth Width Terminations Platform Angles MiVl-1:12 End Outer & Left 1/1 95.7 36.9 2 Hinged 70° MlVl-7:157 End Left 1 83.2 18.5 Hinged 75° Mk.Vl-8:17 { One end Outer 2/1 37.8 39.7 3 Hinged 45° Other end Outer 1 (53.5) 46.7 Hinged Recent fracture Mk.Vl-8:18 End Outer 2 65.0 41.5 1 F, 1 H 45°-70° MlVl-5:29 End Outer 2/1 12.2 22.5 1 F, 2 H 30°-55° MlVl-5:44 End Outer 2/1 72.4 31.1 2 F, 1 H 70° MlVl-5:21 End {Right 1/2 77.8 23.5 1 S, 2 H 45°-60° Outer 1 22.0 23.2 Hinged 90° 1/2 83.2 1 F, 2 H 85° v.,l MlVl-5:45 End Right 20.1 0 v.,l Mk.Vl-10:5.1 End Left 1/1 110.2 25.0 2 Hinged 50°-75° N 10 11 Mean 66.0 30.0 S.D. 32.0 9.8 Lege nd Distal terminations: F, feathered; H, hinged; S, stepped See text for other explanations. -304 - the larges.t measureahle flake s.cara, and the two dimens.i.ons may be taken from one scar or from different scars. The reason for including such. measurements is to show the much. greater s.izes of most of these flake scars as compared with_, tho se which can he produced hy carnivore gnawing and levering. Such carnivore-induced scars are always short (20 mm or less), and they usually lack the micro-relief features such as ribs which commonly characterize scars produced by dynamic loading as with a hammerstone or billet. Severa! kinds of distal terminations are recognizable on the cores and flakes from the Old Crow valley, but those in Table B3 are either hinged (H) or feathered (F) as defined by Bonnichsen (1977:Fig.ll). Three modes of platform removal have been listed in Table B3. Recent fracture is self-explanatory. Facial flaking refers to the repeated removal of flakes so as to move the platform edge back to the cancellous tissue which lines the medullary cavity of the bane. The phrase "tao deep a bite" is a similar process to facial flaking but occurs as a result of a single flake detach- ment which exhausts the platform area by moving its edge to a cancellous border. This process results in the production of flakes which bear cancellous tissue on their ventral faces (see below). Severa! of the cores without preserved platforms deserve special comment. MkVl-8:13 exhibits two scars at one end which were interpreted as loading points in Table B2 but which could represent platform preparation although no facial flaking is associated with them. The facial flaking identified in Table B3 is on the opposite end of the core. NaVk-1:12 is flaked transversely as well as longitudinally (Pl. 4.7). The transverse flake removals are on the right edge, distal to the longitud- inal flake scars, and they consist of numerous small stepped scars along an area 79.0 mm long. The unmodified outer surface of the bane was used as a platform, the angle of which is approximately 55-65°, and the flakes were detached from the adjacent green-fracture surface. The single flake scar on NaVl-8:2 is coated with an unidentified sub- stance which appears to be organic matter and which is not present elsewhere on the bane. The surface of this coating is cracked into small areas not unlike the appearance of blistered paint. MlVl-1:143 has lest most of its platform due to tao deep a bite, but a very small remnant at the left corner is slightly polished as if for strength- ening of the platform edge (Pl. 4. 8). An effort to rejuvenate the platform area may be represented by four major hinged flake scars which originated from the right proximal corner. The longest of these scars measures 36.8 mm in length and reaches to the midline of the original platform. This flaking procedure was probably meant to remove the entire end of the specimen, but it failed due to the accumulation of hinged distal terminations. Longitudinally flaked cores with unmodified green-fracture surface platforms Table B4 lists the green fracture attributes, and Table B5 displays the flaking attributes of nine cores assigned to this category. The column headings bear the same meaning described for Tables B2 and B3, but an addit- ional distal termination form (S, stepped) is indicated for one specimen ~ .... ' - r L L 1.... i 1 li- i 1.... r 1.- Il...< ~..... l ..... r 1· 1 .... - L L l' 1 i..... ! ..... - - -305 - (see B.onni.chsen 19 77: ~ig. 11). Approxim-a te pla tform angles -were. meas.ured with a bar protractor by placing the har on the flake scar and the pro- tractor hase on the. platform area. Four of the se cores require. s:pe.cial c01Ulllent. MlVl-1: 12 e.xhibits transverse flaking (2/2 scars) near the proximal end of the last longitud- inal flake scar. The maximum scar dimensions are 11.3 X 28.0 mm, and all the scars are hinged or stepped. The unmodified outer surface was utilized as a platform for. this flaking in the transverse direction. The purpose of such flaking may have been to make the longitudinal platform angle more acute. MlVl-7:157 is heavily rounded on all surfaces including its single flake scar (Pl. 5.2). The flaking on the distal end of MkVl-8:17 could be the result of anvil shock, but that possibility is difficult to evaluate since the distal platform area has been removed by a recent fracture. MlVl-5:21 is flaked bath on the outer face and along the right margin, and the marginal flaking appears to truncate the single facial scar. Longitudinally flaked cores with retouched platforms In Tables B.6 and B7 the attributes are displayed for 12 cores in this category, but the column headings in Table B7 have been altered to permit more detailed recording of the platform area. Scar location takes the place of the circumference designation of previous tables, and platform location has been substituted for perimeter. Number of scars, maximum length and width, and distal termination form are given separately for facial and platform scars. In most cases the location of a platform at the end of the bane is clearly identifiable by means of flake scars which extend from the outer sur- face of the bane across a fracture surface to the cancellous tissue which lines the medullary cavity. In such instances there is little confusion between the identification of a platform and the recognition of the facial scars detached by impacts on that platform. Two specimens in Table B7 (NaVk-5:28, NbVm-5:9) present a somewhat different format, however, and it is difficult to decide which surface is the platform and which is the surface to be flaked from the platform. This problem is analogous to the separation of a platform and flaked surface on a dihedral burin, and the distinction is based upon the truncations at the proximal ends of the scars. Those scars which are intact are designated as the facial flake scars, and truncated scars are taken to form the platform. As might be expected, these more complex cores will demand slightly more individual description. MkVl-9:15 exhibits a slightly rougher surface texture on all its flake scars, and the core may have been flaked after dessication had advanced to some extent. On the other hand, all the flake scars are stained to the same degree as the outer surface of the bane. NaVl-7:1 (Pl. 4.11)has an interesting platform formed partially by an unmodified green fracture surface and partially by a flaked area on which numerous small stepped scars had the effect of making the platform angle Table B6. Green fracture attributes of mammoth bone cores with retouched platforms from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, nort hern Yukon Territory. Wall Load in& foin t Frac. Gat. No. Length Chord Perim. Weight Thickrtèss Form Location Diam. Other -- 1/4 MkVl-9:15 (120) (98) (122) 372.9 30.5 1/4 NaVl-7:1 (145) (81) (119) 268.6 15.0-25.4 Pl. 4.11 2/5 NaVk-5:28 (170) (57) (87) 232.1 10.4 {Bonnichsen 1979:104; Scraped 2/4 MkVl-4 :11.8 153 (39) (27) 76.1 9.4-15.1 {Bonnichsen 1979: 129, PL VIII-17 2/3 *MlVl-12:4 (123) 57 66 271.0 23.5-30.0 {Etched on fracture; Pl. 4.12 \ 3/4 MlVl-10:1 (229) 96 128 977.4 26.1-34.0 \ 3/4 *MlVl-12:37 97 (73} (73) 114.2 11.0-13.1 3/3 MlVl-7:192 180 103 121 608.6 8.9-60.2 Sc ar Anterior >16 •3 {Scapu1a fragment; Pl. 5.3 w 3/3 NbV1-9:1 166 40 43 116.9 13.5-23.0 Pl. 4.13 0 0\ 4/4 NaVk-5:31 213 101 119 530.4 16.6-25.0 {Bonnichsen 1979: 104, Pl. VIII-3 4/4 MkVl-24:1 157 101 118 452.6 14.9-43.5 Pl. 4.14 4/4 NbVm-5:9 177 71 68 238.6 8.8-27.2 Sc ar End >18. 9 N 7 7 7 12 12 12 2 Mean 163.3 81.3 94.7 355.0 15.7 28.1 17.6 S.D. 35.3 25.4 34.5 257.3 7.3 13.7 Le genil * with catalogue number marks bones found in association with the Anodonta phase. r r·~--r--~-r~~--r~~-r-~--r .. --, r·--r~-r-· · ·-r-·---~. r··---··· ,--~.---·. r-----· r--···-· r·····-, r-----. r··--r·---·-- Table B7. F1aking attributes Qf lQngitudina,lly fla,ked cores with retouched platforms from reworked deposits in the Old Grow region, northern Yukon Terri tory. Sc ar No. of Max. Max. Dist. Platform No. of Max. Max. Dist. P1atform Gat. No. Location Scars Length Widtn Térm. Location Scars Length Width Term. Angles MkVl-9:15 Outer 2/1 41.1 33.3 lH, 25 End 2 8.0 30.5 2H 65° NaVl-7:1 Outer 5/1 35.6 29.1 All F End Many (small) (small) Stepped 50°-85° NaVk-5:29 Right/ 1/1 9!).6 43.1 2H Left/ 1 41.5 31.5 Hinged 35° Outer Outer MkVl-4: 11.8 Outer 1 21.3 20.5 Hinged End 1/2 24.9 22.8 3H 60° MlVl-12:4 Outer 3/1 37.7 38.1 lF, 3H End 1 14.2 30.3 Hinged 45° MlVl-10:1 Outer 2 {58.4 33.6 Featner End 2/1 38.6 52.2 3H 40°-60° 35.5 60.2 Hinge MlVl-12:37 Outer 1 48.8 33.3 Feather End 2 7.6 18.8 2H 65° {Ant/med. 1 (13. 7) 83.9 Feather (Lost by green fracture) MlVl-7:192 { P~st/med. 4 (32.9) 36.7 4H (Lost to final flaking) 57.9 33.8 IF, 1H (Unmodified fracture surface, anterior) 40° w {D1st/med. 1/1 0 Post. edge 1/1 142.3 22.4 2H Anterior 3/1 18.7 13.0 4H 40° -....) NbV1-9:1 Outer 1 41.1 37.5 Hinge End 1/2 24.5 7.8 lF, 2H 35° NaVk-5: 31 Outer 2/1 88.8 33.2 2f, 1H End 1/2 37.2 25.0 lF, 2H 45° MkV1~24:1 Outer 2 {54.8 51.2 Feather End 1 21.8 41.6 Feather 95° 45.5 50.4 Hinge NbV'Ql-5:9 Le ft 1/1 18.0 17.9 2H Right 1 77.3 28.8 Hinged 30° N 1.5 17 11 11 Mean 54.9 38.7 28.6 27.5 S .D. 32.3 16.0 19.9 12.4 Legend Distal terminations: F, featnered; H, hinged; S, stepped See text for other explanations. -308 - less acute. A large exfoliation scar form.ed recently on the outer face provides. a good contras.t w.i,th_. the. fresh:-hone conahoidal flake. scars with. respect to hoth. colour and surface.. texture. The outer surface of the. bone. is also extensively roughened, and a s;i'milar effect bas heen ohserved when an antler wedge is· us:ed to remove the periosteum from a fresh elephant bone (in the. Ginsberg experimentl; the tendons are literally torn out by the "roots" and have small bits of bone adhering to th.em. MkVl-4:11.8 has a platform which could be interpreted as a loading point scar and associated rebound flake were it not for the multiple flaking of the platform area. Transverse flaking has occurred on the outer face of MlVl-12:37 along the right margin. Two adjacent flake scars~ 14.9 X 50.2 (hinged) and 21.3 X 28.5 (feathered), were detached by impacts on a platform which was appar- ently removed by too deep a bite. MlVl-7:192 is a fragment of the right scapula of a mammoth or mastodon which exhibits four discrete episodes of flake removal (Pl. 5.3). The flake scars appear on the medial face of the scapula in three cases and along the posterior border in the fourth and final flaking procedure. A single large flake was first removed from the medial face by means of an impact on the anterior border of the scapula. This border was then removed by means of a heavy impact which left a prominent loading scar at the intersection of two large green-fractured margins. At least four impacts along the posterior border removed a row of smaller flakes from the medial face, and their plat- form was removed by the final flaking sequence. The green-fracture surface which truncated the distal end of the scapula was used first as an unmodified platform for the detachment of two flakes from the medial face. An adjacent area of this surface was then trimmed to form a platform on which impacts caused the detachment of long flakes which removed the posterior border of the scapula and produced the truncation of the second series of flake scars. This complex treatment of a scapula has been compared with several examples of stream-rolled mammoth scapulae which have been recovered from the Old Crow valley, and it differs markedly from the naturally reduced specimens in exhibiting green fracture characteristics on all surfaces and in revealing complex reorientation to accomplish the flaking. The stream-rolled examples always show a single direction of rotation during which the anterior and posterior borders and the prominent spine are removed, and the fractures on such specimens always post-date permineralization of the bone. MlVl-7:192 can be summarized as follows: facial flake detachment from opposite direc- tions, platform production by means of green fracture, flake detachment from the new platform, platform trimming or rejuvenation, and removal of the posterior border by means of impacts on the new platform. The platform of NbVl-9:1 tould be interpreted as a loading point with an associated very large rebound scar (Pl. 4.13). NaVk-5:31 is a complex core exhibiting transverse flaking (1/1 scars) along the left margin so as to truncate the flake scars which formed the platform for longitudinal flake rem.oval. The longest of the transverse scars is 58.9 1mn long, and the widest measures 13.7 mm; one is feathered and one is hinged. Several small step flakes were also removed from the inner surface of the bone along the right margin. The platform area of this core /. 1... l L.. "- - L.. L \._ f 1.... ~o.. \ u ' loo.. l. 1- '- r L loo.. 1- ...... -309 - has been reduced to a hlunt point b.y longitudinal flake removal, and i_t is possible that platform formation was not a di.s.crete s.tep in the. working of this core. I_ts current condi.tion could haye. resulted from s.traight-on, rather than angled, impacts. wi.th the. core b.as:e res.ted on a firm but yielding surface (there is no anvil shock apparent on the spec:llnenl. This procedure was followed during a recent experiment in which this core was replicated, and the "firm but yielding" surface involved in the replication was the flank of a frozen elephant (Stanford, et aZ. 1980). MkVl-24:1 reveals an example of platform rejuvenation which, once again, was not successful (Pl. 4.14). The detachment of one large flake from the core face removed part of the platform, and a large flake was then detached by means of an impact on the inner wall of the bane. This flake truncated the previous facial scars but left a platform angle of 950 in relation to the outer face of the core. With such an angle it would be very difficult to overcome the massive hinges produced on the outer face by the original flaking of the core. Transversely Flaked Cores An additional attribute needed to characterize transversely flaked cores is the flaking direction (Table B9). A fractured limb bone can be impacted for flake removal on the inner or on the outer side of the bane wall, and these two directions will produce flake scars on the outer surface or on the fracture surface, respectively. Interestingly, all but one example of transverse flaking in Table B9 occurred by means of impacts on the inner side of the bane wall. Unless otherwise specified in the comments which follow, all the transversely flaked cores have platforms comprised of unmod- ified green-fracture surfaces. Retouched platforms seem to be rare among transversely flaked cores. It is possible that MlVl-13:7 is not an artificial core although the primary fracture of the bone was artificially induced. The outer surface of the bone is heavily scored by apparent carnivore gnawing, and the small, scattered flake scars which occur along the right margin might have been produced by carnivores. None of the scars exhibits the ribs which would indicate dynamically applied force. MlVl-5:46 exhibits flake scars of about the same size as those thought to have been produced by carnivores, but these scars are abruptly hinged and are characterized by ribs which indicate percussion flaking. The outer sur- face of this bane is extensively scratched and polished, and the polished facet is truncated by the transverse flake scars described in Table B9. The platform on the right margin of MkVl-10:15 was produced by the detachment of numerous short stepped flakes which trimmed the cortical wall back to the cancellous tissue of the medullary cavity and created a platform area 11,4 mm wide and 3.7 mm deep. The flaking on the right margin is con- tinuous with that on the distal diagonal margin where no clear platform preparation is evident since the flake scars extend to the edge of the cancellous tissue. The entire left margin of this specimen has been removed by a recent fracture, but it is possible that this piece was used as a chopper in butchering • Table B8. Green fracture attributes of mammoth boue cores flaked transversely from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. Frac. 2/4 3/4 3/4 3/4 4/5 4/5 4/5 4/5 5/6 5/5 5/5 5/5 Cat. No. MlVl-13:7 MlVl-5:46 NaVk-6:11 NbVl-11:1 *MlVl-1:142 MkVl-10:15 NaVk-1:7 NaVk-5:4 MlVl-5:27 M1Vl-1:2c MkVl-26:1 MlVl-5:55 N Mean S.D. Wall Loading Point Length Chord Perim. Weight Thickness Form Location Diam. Other (283) 148 127 (239) (130) 287 (144) (262) 177 259 314 128 7 205.7 79.1 (79) (52) 45 101 90 (120) 71 93 (82) 9.6 92 69 (84) (52) 45 122 93 (126) 94 163 (107) 166 111 69 8 8 82.1 107.9 18.9 42.3 670.1 22.2-28.4 129.8 14.8-20.4 122.3 16.5-21.5 738.4 15.2-36.9 292.9 868.9 218.5 789.2 371.7 (cast) 1035.2 226.5 11 496.7 329.4 21.0-24.4 10.8-37.3 13.3-13.7 18.2-23.9 18.9-22.1 16.3-34.6 27.7~38.8 18.4-29.3 12 12 17.8 27.6 4.5 7.9 Sc ar Co ne Sc ar Sc ar End End Long edge End Gnawed, polished {Bonnichsen 1979:137, Pl. VIII-24; polished >12.3 Polished; Pl. 4.15 12 2 {Bonnichsen 1979: . • 125, Pl. VIII-17 {Etched on fracture; >7.6{{Bonnichsen 1979: 124, Pl. VIII-15 {Bonnichsen 1979: 124, Pl. VIII-16 {Bonnichsen 1979: 124, Pl. VIII-16 18 1 {Bonnichsen 1979~ • 105, Pl. VIII-5 Pl. 4.16 4 12.6 * with catalogue number marks boues found in association with the Anodonta phase. w 1-' 0 r f' ---r--~ r·--·~ r··---· r--~ r---r···c r---·._ .. r-~· .. ., r··-·, r----["""' r·-·--·-r~----·· r~-~--r·~~ r----e~ r---·- Table B9. Flaking attributes of transversely flaked cores from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory (see text for explanation). Sc ar Fla king No. of Max. Max. Distal Platform Cat. No. Location Direction Scars Length Width Termina tian Angle MlVl-13:7 Right Inner to outer Scattered 13.0 22.5 All feathered 60° MlVl-5:46 Right Inner to outer 4 12.6 23.7 All hinged 90° NaVk-6:11 Right Inner to outer Scattered (tao heavily rounded and pitted to measure) NbVl-11:1 Le ft Inner to outer 1 19.2 .55.4 Hinged 45° MlVl-1:142 Left Inner to outer 2 (44.0) 68.7 2 feathered Recent fracture MkVl-10:15 Right Inner to outer 4 19.8 37.4 All hinged 65°-70° {Distal Inner to outer 5 9.8 24.1 All hinged ? NaVk-1:7 {Left Inner to outer 1 24.0 56.3 Hinged 30° Right Inner to outer 5/1 19.7 56.2 5F, lH 55°-60° NaVk-5:4 (See text) MlVl-5:27 Right Inner to outer 1 20.5 101.3 Hinged 50° w l-' 75° l-' Left dist. Inner to outer 1 25.6 70.5 Hinged M1Vl-1:2c {iLeft prox. Inner to outer 1 30.0 76.7 Hinged 55° Right Inner to outer Many 9.3 38.6 All stepped 70° MkVl-26:1 {Right Outer to inner 1 48.9 95.2 Hinged 55° Left Inner to outer 1/1 40.3 106.0 2 hinged 60° MlVl-5:55 Le ft Inner to outer Many 22.1 81.7 All hinged 55° N 14 15 Mean 22.5 61.0 S.D. 11.2 28.0 ' " Table BlO. Green fracture attributes of mammoth bone core fragments and miscellaneous "cores" from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. Frac. Cat. No. Length Chord 3/4 MkVl-4:17.1 147 49 3/4 NbVl-2:7 (124) 29 4/4 MlVl-7:282 85 36 4/4 NaVk-1:10 113 40 Miscellaneous "cores" M1Vl-1:3c 148 119 NaVk-5:25 128 89 Perim. Weight 71 174.3 29 137.1 34 53.3 40 79.5 (cast) 218.7 Wall Thickness 18.9-27.5 46.1 25.7 21.3 Loading Point Form Location Diam. Other Cone End (Large) Bonnichsen 1979:103 Pl. 5.4 Bonnichsen 1979: 106, Pl. VIH-5 w 1-' N l ' .... L r 1 ' - "- L l, ë - """' L ,, L ~ \_ ~ L !..... l...o 1 1 ...... 1- ~ i - - -313 - The transverse flake removed near the left margin of NaVk~l:7 could be interpreted as a large rebound flake scar associated with a loading point. The loading point is clearly defined, and it formed the platform for facial flake removal. On the right margin the platform is formed by an unmodified green-fracture surface, but the facial flaking is continuous along a zone 119.7 mm long. NaVk-5:4 is so complexly flaked that its attributes cannot be presented in tabular form. The following sequence of events may have characterized its formation: (1) the right margin was flaked from inner to outer to remove the original fracture surface; (2) cancellous tissue on the inner wall was removed by flakes originating from the left margin; (3) the left margin was further thinned by flaking from outer to inner by impacts on the outer sur- face of the bone (platform angle, 55°). The result is that this end of the bone has been flaked to a point, entirely by means of transverse flaking. M1Vl-1:2c has been described on the basis of an epoxy cast. This is one of the specimens which was sacrificed for a radiocarbon date of 25,750 + 1800 -1500 (GX-1568) on the basis of the apatite fraction of the bone (Irving and Harington 1973:Table 1). MkVl-26:1 exhibits two small longitudinal flake scars on the right fracture surface. Both are hinged, the larger measures 27.5 X 10.7 mm, and their associated platform angle is 40°. A single longitudinal flake scar on the outer surface of MlVl-5:55 measures 13.3 X 24.0 mm, is hinged, and is associated with a platform angle of 45°. Core Fragments with Confusing Features, and Miscellaneous "Cores" MkVl-4:17.1 (Table BlO) is flaked on one end, but its platform is missing and I cannot decide how it should be oriented for description. Although Bonnichsen (1979 :103, Pl. VIII-2) classified NbVl-2: 7 as a dorsally f1aked core, he noted that it lacks "clear-cut fracture orientation features" and that "it is impossible to determine from which end of the core the flakes were removed." I believe that,the confusion arises from the fact that this core is flaked not on the outer surface of the bone but on the very broad fracture surfaces of an unusually thick-walled bone. The left and right margins are primary fracture surfaces on a narrow but thick fragment which was further broken by a heavy blow from left to right, resulting in a distinctive flared cone at the loading point. The loading point area served as an unmodified platform for the detachment of one feathered flake from the left side near the inner wall of the bone (55.1 X 16.4 mm). On the right side, flakes (1/1) were detached from the opposite end by impacts on a platform since removed by a recent fracture. Both of these flakes terminated in hinges, and the longest is 41.2 mm long and the widest is 31.1 mm wide. MlVl-7:282 is probably a thick flake removed from an extensively trimmed core (Pl. 5.4). The core may have had a gabled platform (see below) and may have been shaped in part by transverse flaking as suggested by one scar on the right margin of this fra~ent. Table Bll. Attributes of mannnoth bone flakes f;rom reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Terri tory. P.E. D.E. Length Chord Perim. Thick. Weight P.A. P.S. v.c. Cat. No. Other ------- 1 5 (123) 46 57 28.4 111.2 NM 30% NbVm-2:18 Pl. 4.17 2a 4 44 54 58 12.1 20.6 NM NbVl-1:24 Bonnichsen 1979:118 2a 4 161 66 75 34.0 285.9 NM 10% NbVm-6:1 Edge spa11 2a 3 49 45 46 7.0 12.5 NM 2 MlVl-1:87 Bonnichsen 1979:119, Pl. VIII-13 2b 4&5 191 lOO 108 16.2 270.7 NM 30% M1V1-7:507 Pl. 4.18 2b 5 83 48 48 7.3 20.5 NM 50% NaVk-1:1c 2b 5 106 29 18 15.8 33.3 NM NbVl-2:4 2b 5 79 111 111 18.1 70.5 NM 2 25% NaVk-6:20 Diagonal flake 2b 5 131 40 36 20.8 72.5 NM NaVk-6:15 3 5 90 40 40 9.8 26.1 NM 20% MlVl-1: 53 Bonnichsen 1979:119 3 6 87 65 84 21.0 68.6 NM 1/1 MlVl-1:154 Bonnichsen 1979:119 3 1 (107) 51 52 14.2 63.1 NM MlVl-5:50 Bonnichsen 1979:119 3 6 151 52 59 32~2 178.2 NM 1 10% NaVk-8:1 w 3 4 19 38 27 9~4 5.0 NM 2/1 NbVl-1:17 Transverse flake f-' ~ 4 5 53 93 93 10.3 47.3 90° 1 MkV1 _8 .11 l{Bonnichsen 1979:120; diagonal 30° · · f1ake struc~ from dry bone(?) 4 2 60 40 49 14.0 26.2 MkV1-,12:11 Bonnichsen 1979:120 4 5 248 116 147 36.8 810.6 60° 10% MkVl-24:3 Pl. 4.19 4 3 49 24 24 10.2 10.6 85° NbVl-1:6 Bonùichsen 1979:118 4 4&5 57 83 83 23.2 76.7 55° 10% NbVm-2:11 5 5 79 62 62 10.7 40.2 80° 3/2 MkVl-8:22 {Bonnichsen 1979:121, Pl. VIII-15; Etc.hed on ventral face 5 4 llO 43 24 16.7 61.9 55° MkVl-12 :12 Bonnichsen 1979:120 5 4 95 52 52 15.8 56.1 30° 1/2 MlV1-5:49 Bonnichsen 1979 :119~ Pl. VIII-13 5 4 78 55 58 13.7 47.4 60° 2/1 10% MlVl-7 :79 Pl. 5.5 5 2 119 55 61 15.8 79.5 80° 3 NaVl-1:1 Struck from dry bone(?) 5 5 109 121 121 18.2 108.4 70° 1 NaVk-10:1 Diagonal flake t r~--r~ -r· r·-~-" r r-------r~---r r .·-----r r~~ r r-~--r~--~ r--~ r··~ Table Bll (Continued). P.E. D.E. Length Chard Perim. Thick. WeighJ:, P.A. P.S. v.c. Cat. No. Other 6 5 84 112 112 22.0 131.3 110° 3 30% MkVl-8:21 {Bonnichsen 1979:121 90° Diagonal flake 6 1 (97) 31 35 8.5 26.4 40% MlVl-7:156 Pl. 5. 5 6 5 131 56 71 31.2 174.3 90° 3 NbVm-5:8 {Bonnichsen 1979:118, Pl. VIII-12 Etched on flake scars N 25 28 28 28 28 Mean 98.5 61.7 64.7 17.6 104.8 S.D. 50.7 28.1 32.5 8.4 155.9 Legend P.E. (proximal end): 1, recent fracture; 2a, platform lost because flake snapped at time of detachment; 2b, platform lost because the proximal end shattered at time of detachment; 3, platform area is a sharp- edged remuant too small to interpret; 4, platform remuant is an unmodified green fracture surface; 5, platform remuant is a retouched surface; 6, platform remuant is a gabled surface (see discussion). D.E. (distal end): 1, recent fracture; 2, jagged; 3, stepped; 4, hinged; 5, feathered; 6, bipolar (the distal end exhibits crushing and rebound flake removal). Thick. (thickness) refers to the total flake rather than the bane wall. P.A. (platform angle) is NM (not measureable) for proximal ends of Types 1-3. P.S. (previous scars) are tho se exhibited on the dorsal face of the flake. V.C. (ventral cancellous) is the percentage of the ventral face occupied by cancellous tissue. * with catalogue number marks specimens found in association with the Anodonta phase. See text for other explanations. [~---· w 1-' (JI -316 - NaVk-1:10 is either a flake or a core fragment, but I cannat decide how it should be oriented. Two other flaked specimens are very similar to one another as both are from the proximal end of mammoth or mastodon radii and both have been flaked to blunt points after the primary fracture of the boues. M1Vl-1:3c is represented by an epoxy cast and was sacrificed for a radiocarbon date of 29,100 + 3000 -2000 B.P. (GX-1567) on the basis of the apatite fraction of the bone (Irving and Harington 1973:Table 1). Flakes have been detached from opposite sides of this piece as if to sharpen the fractured end to a point, and the largest scar, which bas a feathered termination, measures 76.7 X 29.6 mm. Bonnichsen (1979:106, Pl. VIII-5) included this specimen among his dorsally flaked cores. NaVk-5:25 is nearly identical to M1Vl-1:3c but is slightly smaller. It exhibits flake scars on opposite sides with the effect of being sharpened to a point on the fractured end. Its largest feathered scar measures 46.0 X 20.0 mm. Flakes The attributes of 28 mammoth bone flakes are displayed in Table Bll. Since we are able to recognize cores which have lost their platforms through "too deep a bite" (Table B3), it is not surprising that variable amounts of cancellous tissue can occur on the ventral faces of flakes. Such specimens create a gray area, however, between flakes and green fractured bone frag- ments, and I have separated these two categories by the dual observation of distal terminations and a 50% eut-off for the amount of cancellous tissue which can occur on the ventral face of a flake. The one flake which bas as much as 50% of its ventral face covered by cancellous tissue (NaVk-l:lc) is classified as a flake because of its long feathered distal end. In a pre- liminary study of these materials, I restricted the definition of flakes ta those specimens which completely lacked cancellous tissue on their ventral faces (Merlan 1979b:25), but I have found this criterion too restrictive in dealing with a larger sample of flakes and cores. One of the proximal end forms requires description since it bas not been defined in the literature on lithic technology. This is the gabled form which is comprised of a series of parallel ridges which span the entire width of the platform remuant on three of the flakes in Table Bll. I am grateful to Tomenchuk (1976) for the ''gable" label, and I have seen gabled bane surfaces produced in three different ways. Probably the most common mode of gable formation is in primary bane fracture when a bane is over- come by sa massive an impact that it fails transversely without the propagation of spiralling fracture fronts. A second way ta form gables is by means of flaking across the end of a bane fragment so as ta build one step fracture inside another, and a third means is through the accumulation of hinge fractures at the distal ends of longitudinally struck flakes. The flake catalogued as NbVm-5:8 bas been replicated experimentally during recent work on modern elephant bone (Morlan 1979a:Fig.8; Stanford, et aZ. 1980), and the gables on the replica were formed by Bonnichsen during the Ginsberg experiment as he flaked across the end of a fragment to create a secure platform for flake detachment. ------ f: ~ f ..... f L r f - - ~ t-.. 1 ..... 1 1 i L... L ' [ loo... 1..... ~ ;..... L L - - -317 - Sever al of the flakes in Table B~l des.erve special comment. NaVk-8: 1 exhibits secondary retouch at its right ventral corner. A single transverse scar, 9.5 X 33.5 mm, has terminated in a hinged fracture on the ventral face. The distal end of this specimen is interesting in that it exhibits hoth crushing and rebound flake scars which indicate a bipolar mode of positioning the core. This evidence is consistent with the form of the proximal end which is a shattered edge below which a bulb of force is well preserved. This sort of platform area has been reproduced experimentally only when bipolar flaking was accomplished by means of straight-on, rather than angled, impacts on the end of the core. MkVl-24: 3 is by far the largest bene flake I have ever seen (PL 4 .19). It is much too large to have been used as a hand-held tool with one hand, but it would have been an excellent cutting implement if equipped with a stout handle. Its proximal end preserves a well formed cane at the loading point, and the cane measures 17.0 mm in diameter. The unmodified fracture surface associated with this cene served as a platform for detaching the flake. MkVl-8:21 has a gabled platform remnant produced by secondary retouch on a green-fracture surface. The retouch caused a series of deep step scars to accumulate and produce a rough gabled form. The dorsal face of the flake bears the scars of three previous flake remo~als, each of which came from a different direction --proximal, distal and right. This is a diagonal flake, and its outline reflects the pronounced influence of bane structure on flake shape as the greatest dimension lies in the long axis of the bane rather than in the plane of force delivery. These attributes combine to suggest that the core from which this flake was detached had been extensively shaped by flaking in several directions. Unfortunately we have not yet discovered a core of the sort which this flake would seem to indicate. Eractured and ltakedMammoth Tusk Ivory Metric data have been summarized in Table Bl2 which also contains non- metric observations on the flakes. Each of the cores will be described individually since they vary considerably and are not readily amenable to tabular presentation. MkVl-26:2 is merely a fragment which is included in this discussion only because both of its ends were fractured when fresh. In each case the fracture surface forms an obtuse angle with the outer ivory surface. MkVl-8:26 is a core with numerous transverse flake scars on the inner face of the left edge. The largest of these scars measures 17.0 X 32.2 mm, and all are hinged or stepped. The associated platform is on the unmodified outer surface of the tusk with an angle of approximately 35°. Recent exfoliation and fracture has altered the overall form of the specimen. One end of the core is polished. MkVl-8: 27 is a core with one flake scar (20.4 X 36.0 mm, feathered) on the outer face. The associated platform was formed hy two main scars of which. the J_argest ]Jleasures 7.5 X 10.6 mm. Bath scars are feathered distally, and the platform angle is 45°. One major scar occurs on the inner Table Bl2. Attributes of ivory cores and flakes from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. Ventral Cat. No. Length Width Thick. Wei~ht Categor}: :rrox. end Distal end Lamellar Other MlVl-1:51 28 74 11.7 19.8 Flake Recent Feathered Bonnichsen 1979: fracture 119, Pl. VIII-13 MlVl-5:48 89 43 17.5 30.7 Flake Recent Feathered 30% Bonnichsen 1979: fracture 118, Pl. VIII-13 NbVm-4:13 62 42 11.1 21.1 Flake Shattered Hinged 25% Bonnichsen 1979: 119 MkVl-26:2 109 40 11.2 36.9 Fragment See text MkVl-8: 26 121 39 16.0 47.5 Core See text MkVl-8: 27 ~n 65 16.9 77.6 Core See text MkVl-12:15 62 40 23.8 44.1 Core See .text Bonnichsen 1979: w 109, Pl. VIII-10 l-' 00 MkV1-25:2 41 31 11.3 9.0 Core See text [ L L L L f L L L 1- L 1- f ~ ....... r L. ï- L ........ 1.- ....... ._ -319 - face (22.3 X 43.1 mm, hinged} in gssociation with_ an e:xfoliated platform area forming an angle of about 30 • MkVl-12:15 is a beautiful and complex core. At one end (which I will call proximal) a platform has been formed by a single blow to produce an area 24.0 mm deep and 38.7 mm wide. An impact on the edge of this platform detached a flake (23.6 X 29.8 mm, hinged) to forman angle of 60°. At the distal end a second platform was created by two long flake scars on the opposite (ventral) face and running in the opposite direction from the dorsal flake scar. The larger of these two scars measures 54.1 X 18.9 mm. Impacts on the edge of this platform detached four flakes (3/1) from the dorsal face, and these run back toward the hinge area of the first flake mentioned above (largest, 26.4 X 13.0 mm, two feathered, two hinged, plat- form angle 35°). Bonnichsen (1979:109, Pl. VIII-lü) suggested that the distal flaking may represent an unsuccessful effort to remove the deep hinge which was produced by the first flake. One transverse scar (8.0 X 13.0 mm) on the left edge of the core may represent an earlier attempt along these lines as its proximal end is truncated by the ventral platform scars. MkVl-25:2 is a core with 2/2 flake scars on the inner face at one end (largest 19.3 X 12.5, one feathered, three hinged). The associated plat- form is on the unmodified outer surface of the tusk, and the platform angle is about 35°. At the other end of the core a single flake scar (8.8 X 12.1 mm, hinged) appears on the inner face, and its platform was removed by a later fracture. Cores and Flakes Made on SmaUer Large Mammal Bones The green fracture attributes and flaking attributes of seventeen cores made on large mammal bones smaller than those of mammoths have been separately presented in Tables Bl3 and Bl4. Little additional comment is required except to note in general that such boues can be flaked with little or no platform preparation • A number of large mammal long boue "cores" in the collection have been placed in limbo as possible artifacts due to signs of carnivore gnawing in association with their flake scars (Table 4.12). Two flakes discovered in 1975 deserve mention. NbVl-2:13 is a struck flake which was recovered from deposits associated with the Anodonta phase, and it exhibits the following attributes: retouched platform, angle 90°; feathered distal end; length, 60 mm; chord, 24 mm; perimeter, 28 mm; thick- ness, 10.6 mm; weight, 12.4 g; previous scars, 1/2; ventral cancellous tissue, 25%. The previous flake scars represent edge spalls removed from the right margin, and it is possible that they were removed after this flake was detached from its core (Pl. 4.20) • The other flake, MkVl-12:13, is from a loading point and has an oblong conoid shape, 20.1 X 12.3 X 4.4 mm (0.8 g). This is the kind of flake which is detached from the inner side of a bone wall to produce a loading point scar during primary green bone fracture (Pl. 4. 20) • Table Bl3. Green fracture attributes of longitudinal and transverse cores made on large mammal bones other than mammoths from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. (Depth*) Wall Frac. Cat. No. LenBth Chard Perim. Weight Thickness Other Longitudinally flaked cores: 0/4 NaVk-5:39 (129) (35) (49) 81.6 Probably Equus sp. tibia 1/4 MlVl-7:32 (83) (32) (46) 31.3 8.3 Etched on outer surface only 3/5 MlVl-7:224-2 62 (24) (24) 12.9 5.6-11.5 4/6 MlVl-5:54 (54) 28 32 14.7 11.6-13.2 Probably Equus sp. metapodial 4/5 NbVl-1:27 91 27 32 35.0 10.1-14.2 {Probably Equus sp. long bone; etched on frac. Bonnichsen 1979:113, Pl. VIII-11 4/5 MlVl-1:100 (89) 48 54 26.3 7.3-12.9 Probably Equus sp. long bane 4/4 MlVl-7:87 42 33 35 14.7 7.3-12.1 4/4 NaVk-5:36 89 42 51 55.2 8.5-17.0 Probably Equus sp. humerus 5/5 MkVl-18:4 69 59 84 68.3 11.0-17.4 Probably Bison sp. long bane {Bonnichsen 1979:109, Pl. VIII-lü w Probably Equus sp. long bane N 5/5 MlVl-5:33 82 44 45 62.6 10.6-17.3 {Bonnichsen 1979:105, Pl. VIII-4 0 1 5/5, MlV1-5:30 94 32 24 38.0 11.3-12.3 {Probab1y Equus sp. long bane; etched scars; Bonnichsen 1979:114, Pl. VIII-11 Cyl. NaVl-4:6 58 67 43* 97.3 7.5-9.9 {Equus sp. phalange, proximal half Bonnichsen 1979:104 Cyl. NaVk-6 :8 236 50 36* 438.6 9.0-15.3 {Equus sp. right radius, distal 2/3 Bonnichsen 1979:105, Pl. VIII-3 Transversely flaked cores: 2/5 MlVl-16:4 (141) (47) (53) 64.7 8.0-12.1 4/4 MlVl-1:86 45 37 43 17.6 7.1-9.3 Etched on fracture 4/4 NbVl-6:1 61 15 21 4.5 3.2-4.6 Rangifer size long bone; Pl. 4.20 4/4 MlVl-1:93 77 20 35 12.4 3.5-4.7 {Rangifer tarandus metatarsal; polished; Bonnichsen 1979:137, Pl. VIII-24 ( r······ r·-· r··-~ c~-· · r~~~ ~-r~-~-r······ r···-~ r~ r~--~ r~·~ r·~~ r~-~ r·--···. r··~-r-~-~ ~• Table Bl4. Flaking attributes of longitudinal and transverse cores made on large mammal bones other than mammoths from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. Longitudinally flaked cores: Scar Locations No. of Max. Max. Distal Plat. Cat. No. Perim. Circumf. Scars Length Width Termin. Platform Angle NaVk-5:39 End Outer 0/3 >22.2 >12.8 Hinges Recent fracture NM MlVl-7:32 End Right 1 >21.2 12.2 Feather Unmodified green fracture surface 85° MlVl-7:224-2 End Right 1 33.2 10.8 Hinge Unmodified green fracture surface 90° MlVl-5:54 End Outer 0/2 25.2 17.6 Feather Removed by green fracture NM NbVl-1:27 Right Outer/ 1/2 >46. 6 11.4 lF, 2H Recent fracture NM fracture MlVl-1:100 End Outer 2/2 49.1 18.3 2F, 2H Recent fracture NM MlVl-7:87 End Outer 2 >8. 9 16.1 2H Removed by green fracture NM NaVk-5:36 Le ft Outer/ 0/1 >60.2 23.1 Hinge Removed by green fracture NM fracture MkVl-18:4 End Outer 2 >40.2 30.5 2H Removed by green fracture NM MlVl-5:33 End Outer 2/3 35.4 10.5 SR Unmodified green fracture surface 90° w N ~ MlVl-5:30 Right Fracture 0/2 >43.0 12.5 2H Removed by green fracture NM NaVl-4:6 End Le ft 1 27.3 21.6 Feather Unmodified green fracture surface 65° NaVk-6:8 End Left 1 55.3 22.1 Feather Removed by green fracture NM Transversely flaked cores: Scar Force No. of Max. Max. Distal Plat. Cat. No. Location Direction Scars Length Width Termin. Platform Angle MlVl-16:4 Right In+ Ou 1 10.0 35.9 Feather Unmodified green fracture surface 60° MlVl-1:86 Right Ou+ In 3 8.6 20.6 3F Unmodified green fracture surface 45° NbVl-6:1 Left üu + In Many 8.3 16.8 All F Unmodified green fracture surface 40°-45° Left Ou+ In Many 3.6 11.6 H & S Unmodified green fracture surface 35° MlVl-1:93 {Right Ou+ In 2 {3.3 9.9 Hinge} Unmodified green fracture surface 35° 3~5 8.3 Hinge Legend: Ou, outer; In, inner; F, feather; H, hinge; S, step; NM, not measureable -322 - Bones and AntZe~s. with. Reduced.and Incis.ed Surfaces In this section we will examine two scratched nones, one scratched tooth, eight seraped nones, two ground bones:, 26 polis:hed nones, five eut and polished antlers, and five eut bones. The elas·sification of the spec- imens is discussed in Chapter 4. Scratched Boues MlVl-7:326 is an unidentified large mammal rib fragment (Table Bl5) which. exhibits numerous straight transverse scratches on its outer surface. All margins were fractured after permineralization, and these fractures truncate the scratches. The scratches range from 0.3 to 1.6 mm apart and span the entire surface of the fragment. All the scratches are approximately parallel to one another. These scratches might have resulted from trans- portation in a stream, but they might have been produced by sorne artificial use of the bone; the specimen is classified as natural or artificial. NbVm-1:3 is the distal two-thirds of an Equus sp. left metatarsal III (Table Bl5; P 1. 4. 21) • A loading point is preserved on the medial si de (diam., 5. 9 mm), and the lateral side has a-· gabled fracture surface. A dynamic load is indicated by hackle marks on the fracture surface, by diag- onal cracks which run toward the anterior and posterior faces, and by the gabled fracture surface. The bone was somewhat dessicated at the time of fracture since the fracture surface is perturbed by jogs at split lines on either side of the gabled area. Thousands of scratches in hundreds of bundles occur on the anterior face of NbVm-1:3, covering the entire face except for the distal condyles. The scratches extend irregularly to but not beyond the medial and lateral sides and they do not occur on the posterior face of the bone. Nearly all the scratches are microscopie and they are associated with a heightened gloss and small local polished facets. They are oriented in every possible direction. Most are straight, but a few have pronounced curves. The lateral, medial, and distal areas of this metatarsal are darkly stained, locally as clark as 2.5YR2/2. Much lighter stain appears on the anterior face on most but not all of the scratched area (2.5Y5/2), and the posterior face has an intermediate colour (5YR4/2). The scratches and clark stain overlap on the medial and lateral sides, but they are nearly exclusive near the distal end of the anterior face. This difference in staining does not resemble the truncated permineralization rinds seen on naturally polished and scratched bones. It is not abrupt, and the relationship between scratch- ing and staining is not exclusive on most parts of the bone. It is possible that the process that produced the scratches altered the chemical and/or physical properties of the affected bone wall so as to change its response to staining processes. Nine rough, irregular, shallow scrapes on the lateral side are probably the results of carnivore gnawing (scoring), and they truncate the scratches on the lateral side. Eight short rootlet etch marks on the anterior face also truncate the scratches. This bone is an artifact of unknown function. The scratching alterations are complex, and they are truncated by other ( r r, __ r ~~""""~, r"""""c~ r=~~ r--~ f"""""/"" r---r· ,-r----,-"" r~ r-~" f"""""n r~ r-~ Table Bl5. Selected attributes of scratched, scraped, and ground bone.s and scratched tooth from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. Cat. No. Frac. Scratched bones MlVl-7:326 0/y NbVm-1:3 Cyl. Scratched tooth NbVn-3:1 ? Length 37 198 30 Chard 26 37.5 17.6 Scraped bones (see also Table Bl6) MlVl-13:13.1 Cyl. 113 24.9 Ground bones NaVk-5:6 MkVl-8:16 Lege nd (see Table Bl) (see Table Bl) Fracture: Cyl., cylinder Depth/ Perim. p 26 D 30.6 D 35.5 Thick.ness 4.4 W9.3-13.1 5.8 Depth/Perim.: P, perimeter; D, depth (as appropria te)_ Thickness: W, wall thick.ness; others, total thickness Weight 3.5 287.4 Elèment Large mammal rib frag. Equus sp. L. metatarsal III 3.3 , Castoroides sp. incisor frag. 82.8 Panthera R. humerus shaft cf. Mammuthus sp. long bone cf. Mammuthus sp. long bone Status: N or A, natural or artificial; Prob. A, probably artificial; Artif., artificial alteration See text for detailed descriptions. Status N or A Art if. N or A Prob. A Nor A Art if. (..ù N (..ù -324 - identifiable alterati.ona (gnaw:ing and rootlet etching} whi.ch are normally associated with fresh. hone. The scratches,. are alao truncated hy the fracture at the proximal end wh.iciL probably occurred when the b.one was relatively fresh but slightly dess:icated. Sorne of the scratches occur in broad bundles within whlch the individual incisions are straigh.t and quite parallel, and these probably were produced when the bane was rubbed against another object. Oth.er scratches have such changeable orientations that they probably result from rubbing other abjects against the bane. Scratched Tooth NbVn-3:1 is probably a Castoroides ohioensis incisor fragment on which the dominant alterations are scratches and polish (Table Bl5). The fracture of the specimen is difficult to evaluate. One major (4.9 X 3.8 mm) and three minor flakes were detached from the lingual face with an unmodified fracture surface comprising a platform at tpe proximal end. The flake scars have reduced gloss relative to the unflaked surfaces, and they may have occurred during fluvial transport. The fractured distal en~ appears to have been partly rounded by polishing, but no striae are visible. Twenty-four single scratches appear on the lingual surface, and most are oriented approximately in the transverse plane while all others more or less point toward the center of the fragment. Only two of the scratches are paired, and they exhibit a distinctive wavy (j) component. Most of the scratches are very narrow and parallel-sided, but a few are more like scrapes with converging sides and "chattered" centres as if a cutting edge had lost purchase during their creation. These features might all be natural, produced either during the life of the animal or during fluvial transport. On the other hand, the chattered and wavy scratches iook like tool marks which might have been created in fashioning the tooth into an engraving tool, so the specimen may have been an artifact. Scraped Bones Of the eight bones in this category, one represents a large field (Table Bl5), and the other seven are mammoth bones (Table Bl6) which have already been described with respect to fracture patterns and flaking attributes. MlVl-13:13.1 is the right humerus shaft of a large cat, probably Panthera Zeo atrox~ which exhibits a green-bane fracture on a portion of its proximal end and a more recent fracture on its distal end. This bone is scraped over much of its outer surface, expecially on the anterior and posterior sides and less on the lateral and medial sides. Most of the scrapes are longitudinal, but a few are oblique. A small polished flat facet occurs on the posterior side near the proximal break; it measures 13.2 X 10.2 mm and exhibits oblique striae. These alterations are probably artificial. Seven scraped mammoth bones are presented in Table Bl6. These have ~,, r·-· r·· r~~-r·····-· f"""• [""~ [~..,-~. r·-r~~ r--·· r·-·· r~·.··· r·--r··~ Table Bl6. Attributes of scraped mammoth long bones from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory Cat. No. MkVl-5:13 NaVk-5:7 MjVj-1:1.1 *MlVl-1:144 MlVl-5:18 Cross- References Table Bl Pl. 4.6 Table Bl Table Bl PL 4.3 Table Bl Orientation of scrapes Extend of scrapes Oblique, transverse Local bundles Longitudinal k of surface Longitudinal ~ of surface Longitudinal 2/3 of surface Longitudinal 2/3 of surface Other attributes 5 broad "cuts" of unknown origin Scrapes truncated by etching Scrapes truncated by etching r__, MiVl-1:12 Table Bl Table Bl Pl. 4.9 Longitudinal, oblique 2/3 of surface Scrapes truncated by flake scars NaVk-5:28 Tables :86-7 Longitudinal 1/3 of surface Scrapes truncated by flake scars * with catalogue number marks a bane found in association with the Anodonta phase. r······· VJ N Ln -326 - already been put forth_ as. artificially modified on the basis of their fracture patterns. and flaking properties as outlined in the. tables cros:s- referenced in Table B16. MkVl-5: 13 differs from th.e others:, and it could have acquired all its surface alterations during fluvial transportation; I do not know whether the alterations are natural or àrtificial. The longitudinal s·craping seen on NaVk,.-5: 7 and MjVj-1 :1.1 is pr6bàoly artificial on the basis of îts extent and continuity across curved surfaces. The remainder I am prepared to declare as artificially modified because of the truncations of the scraping by etching and flake scars. The scrapirig seen on these bones has been replicated by using stone end scrapers to remove periosteum so as to improve the flaking properties of the material (Ginsberg experiment), and I suggest that such a procedure may have been followed with sorne of these specimens. Ground Boues The entire outer face of NaVk-5:6 has been ground down flat with oblique scratches at an angle to the long axis of approximately 15° (Table BIS). Very little polish is seen on the ground surface, and it is not clear whether portions of the permineralization rind have been penetrated. The alteration is quite simplè, and there is no truncation pattern to indi- cate when the alteration was made. The bone could have been altered naturally or artificially. MkVl-8:16 is a much more complex example of bone grinding (Table Bl5, Pl. 4.22). The outer surface has been ground to a nearly flat facet measur- ing 148 X 29 mm along the midline of the fragment with striae oriented obliquely (ca. 50° to long axis) from distal right to proximal left. To the left of the midline, slightly oblique scratches (ca. 15°) appear on the outer surface on an area ca. 88 X 18 mm; these scratches do not form a facet, and their orientation is from distal left to proximal right. At the left distal corner is a third set of scratches which runs from distal right to proximal left (ca. 35°) and covèrs ca. 33 X 26 mm. Scattered transverse scratches also appear near the midline at the proximal end. None of these scratches is associated with polish, but each set of scratches is locally truncated by rootlet etching. The complexity of this arrangement of scratches with the major set accompanied by surface reduction suggests to me a history more complex than reasonably expected from natural processes. Although I cannat suggest a precise function for this piece, I have included it among the artificially altered specimens. The discrete groups of parallel scratches indicate that the bone was used to rub on sorne other abject rather than the other way around. Polished Bones Of 26 bones with polished facets, 14 have been interpreted as artific- ially modified, four exhibit alterations which are probably artificial, and eight are as likely natural as artificial (Table Bl7). These will be des- cribed in four groupings based upon the association between polishing and green fracture. ; 1 u 1.... ..... 1 '- ._. !: 1 L ' Ir... ...... ~ - L l - :.- ·: L. l '- 1.... r i '- -327 - Polished facets on bones not f~actu~ed hlhen g~een MlV1-7:321 is; an unidentified large mammal long hone fragment which was fractured on a11 four margins after permineralization of the bone. A polished facet forms a small bevelled area, 13.6 X 1.7 mm, at one end of the specimen and forms an obtuse angle (145°) with the outer surface. The facet is very darkly stained and exhibits no striae. The facet has been truncated by the post-permineralization fracture and may originally have been much 1arger. I cannat determine whether the specimen was altered naturally (by stream abrasion) or artificial1y (perhaps during a hide rubbing process) • The right humerus of a duck (NaVk-6:22, possibly an o1dsquaw, cf. Clangula sp.) has lost its proximal end to a recent fraèture, but 3/4 of the bone is preserved. A polished facet on the anterior face of the shaft, 17 mm from the distal condyles, measures 5.9 X 2.6 mm, is obliquely oriented from proximal-medial to distal-lateral, and is concave. The facet floor exhibits parallel striae in the long axis of the facet. This alteration could be either natural or artificial. If natural, its cause might be the rubbing of bane on bone within a .sedimentary matrix disturbed by frost action. If artificial, it could have resulted from butchering or from the use of the bane in a rubbing function • M1Vl-1:4 is a fragment of the posterior border of a Bison sp. right scapula blade (Table Bl7, Pl 4.23). A post-permineralization fracture of the proximal end has exposed dense cancellous tissue just inside the glenoid fossa. At the other end an oblique fracture was probably made when the bone was green, but the fracture attributes have been eliminated by polishing on a racet. One main facet, ca. 21.2 X 11.0 mm, at this end forms ari angle of 140° with the lateral face of the scapula and 130° wi~h the posterior border. The facet is flat and exhibits fine lineal striae in the lateral-medial plane of the scapula (perpendicular to the long axis of the facet). These striae are interrupted by two concave polished grooves which partially cross the facet at an angle of ca. 15° to the striae. The grooves are ~ore than 3.1 mm wide and as much as 1.6 mm deep. At the inner edge of the facet a narrow bundle of striae are parallel to the long axis of the facet indicating that polish began with a radically different orientation from later polishing. One corner of the facet at the posterior border is rounded to a convex facet at an angle of ca. 140° to the main facet. The po1ish also extends ca. 38 mm down the lateral face toward the proximal end of the scapula and on the medial face polish occurs on all high spots among a complex series of flake scars probably associated with the primary fracture of the specimen, The complexity of this polished specimen prompts me to refer it to our artificially modified count, but I do not know what its function may have been. MlVl-7:289 is a fragment of an unidentified large mammal rib which has been altered in shape and cross-section to form a blunt point (Table Bl7, Pl. 5.6). The base of the specimen may have been snapped transversely when green, possiblyw:ii:h the aid of transverse grooving, but all diagnostic tool marks have since been obliterated by polishing and s.tream rounding. The specimen has been so reduced .in size that the cancellous core of the rib now appears on its outer surface along both edges, but most of the outer surface is made up of highly polished cortical bone. The outer surfacé is undergoing pro- gressive delamination which has resulted in only spotty preservation of Table J317. Selected attributes of polished bones from reworked deposits in the Old Crow region, northern Yukon Territory. Depth/ Cat. No. Frac. Length Chord Perim. Polished bones not fractured when green: MlVl-7:321 0/y 37 19 p 24 NaVk-6:22 0/y 49.8 5.5 D 5.3 MiVl-1:4 0/y? 198 53 D 23 MlVl-7:289 0/y? 53 22 Thiekness Weight 13.9 9.2 1.3 157.9 14.7 15.1 Polish and green fracture in different locations: NaVk-5:32 Cyl. 127 . 75 D 40 MlVl-1:35 2/4 124 42 P·43 NbVn-1:1 Cyl. 208 13.9 D 28.4 Polish intersects green fracture: NbVl-2:9 Cyl. 94 14.3 MlVl-1:104 4/4 89 43 NaVk-5:1 Cyl. 126 43.0 MlVl-5:46 (see Tables B8-9) MlVl-1:93 (see Tables Bl3-14) Polish on green fracture: MlVl-3:1 5/5 166 MlVl-7:288 2/3 49 NbVl-1:19 3/4 126 MkVl-9:14 Cyl. 202 MlVk-1 :1.1 (see Table Bl) MlVl-13:7 (see Tables B8 MlVl-1:155 Cyl. 244 NaVk-5:33 Cyl. 214 NaVl-8:1 Cyl. 182 NaVl-12:1 2/4 137 41 31 33 45.0 and B9) 37.0 40~6 76.2 44 D 17.3 p 46 D 38.2 p 69 p 42 p 63 D 47.6 D 24.8 D 27.9 D 37.1 p 49 W3.7-4.9 w 14.0 W6.8-10.3 W6.6-16~ 7 W5.6-11.9 W8.2-12.0 W9.7-12.7 W7.2-12.3 211.1 36.4 129.6 27.4 26.8 171.3 156.5 10.2 83.8 422.1 338.7 357.4 216.0 88.3 Element Large mamm.al long bone Clangula sp. R. humerus Bison sp. R. scapula blade Large.mammal rib Bison sp. L. metacarpal III Large marilrnal rib Bison sp. L. ulna Artiodactyl L. humerus Large mammal long bone Equus sp. mand ibl e cf. Mammùthus sp. long bone Large mammal long bone Bison sp. R. radius Large mamma1 humerus shaft Equus sp. L. radius(?) Equus sp. L. tibia cf. Mammuthus sp. long bone cf. Mammuthus sp. long bone Equus sp. L. radius Equus sp~ R. radius Bison sp. R~ metatarsal III Large mammal long bone Status Nor A Nor A Art if. Art if. Prob. A Art if. Art if. Nor A Art if. Art if. Art if. Artif. Nor A Nor A Nor A Prob. A Prob. A Ar tif. Nor A Nor A Art if. Artif. w l'V 00 r r .... [~.·~·~ ['--'" r··--·-r··· r··~·· r·~·· r· .... -~ r··-··· r-· ·:" r·· r··~~-r·~····· r~·· r· Table Bl7 (Continued). Cat. No. Frac. Length Chor:d Depth/ Perim. Thièknéss Wéight Element Polish on green fractures (cont.): *MlVl-1:125 6/6 222 60 PlOO NaVk-6:12 (see Tables B2 and B3) *MlVl-1:142 (see Tables B8 and B9) *MlVl-1:143 (see Tables B2 and B3) Legend W7.1-12.2 169.0 Equus sp. R. tibia cf. Mammuthus sp. long bone cf~ Mammuthus sp. long bone cf~ Mammuthus sp. long bone * with catalogue number marks bones found in association with the Anodonta phase. Fracture: Cyl., cylinder Depth/Perim.: D, depth; P, perimeter· (as appropriate) Thickness: W, wall thickness; others are total thickness Status: Nor A, natural or artificial; Prob. A, probably artificial; Artif., artificial alterations See text for detailed descriptions. r· ... " r~·· Status Prob. A Art if. Art if. Artif. r w N <..0 -330 - faint longitudinal striae w:hi.ch m:ight :repres.ent primar:y shap:ing hy a stone tool or w:hich might hase accompanied the polishing process. Th_e b.lunt tip of the specimen li.es. in the. cortical w:all of the houe as w6uld he required for a functional piercing implB1Uent, but the tip has b.een too extensively damaged hy stream abrasion to warrant any detailed conclusion as to its function. I have clas·sified the piece as artificiéHly altered. Polished Facets and green fractures in different locations NaVk-5:32 is the distal end of a Bison sp. left metacarpal III. A loading point cane, ca. 4.0 mm in diameter, is preserved adjacent to the anterior face, and green fracture margins extend on either side but are truncated distally by post-permineralization fractures. Well preserved hackle marks show that the load was dynamic. Three polished facets occur on the medial trochlea just posterior to the coronal plane. Two of these 0 facets (20.8 X 5~3 mm and 9.0 X 3.4 mm) form one plane at an angle of 65 to the coronal plane and 70° to the sagittal plane. These facets exhibit transverse striae and are floored with compact bone. A third facet (17.4 X 4.7 mm) forms a second plane at angles of 55° to the coronal plane and 40° to the sagittal plane. Striae on this facet are poorly defined, because the facet pertetrates cancellous tissue. In order to produce the polish on these facets, the bane had to be stabilized in two different positions. While it is not out of the question that a natural agency created the facets, the occurrence of two adjacent but discrete planes favours the probably artificial classification of this specimen. Perhaps the rather sharp-edged trochlea w~re seen as suitable scraping edges. This specimen was illustrated as a "hide-working tool" in Canby's (1979:336) discussion, but the polished facets were not mentioned and emphasis was placed on the green fracture (cf. Bonnichsen 1979:132, Pl. VIII-21). MlVl-1:35 is a large mammal rib polished on one ~nd. Radiating cracks extending from one corner of thisspecimen~oint to the location of a loading point, but the latter is not measurable. The long margins of the rib frag- ment have been broken since permineralization, but the end opposite the loading point was broken when green and is highly polished on both its edge and its fracture surface. The polished end has a convex outline but lacks visible striae. It could have made a useful scraping or rubbing tool and has been classified as artificially modified. The scars referred to as "shaping flake" scars by Bonnichsen (1979:127, Pl. VIII-18) appear to me to be normal irregularities in the fracture surface. Nb Vn-1: 1 is a lef t ulna of Bison sp. with a complex polished face t on its distal end. The posterior border at the proximal end was removed by green fracture with an impact on the medial face behind the semi-lunar notch. The anterior portion of the olecranon process was removed by a post-permin- eralization fracture. The distal end of the ulna is formed by a gabled fracture surface as a resultr of transverse bending when the bane was green. Polish occurs on all high spots of the gabled surface as well as on an approximately triangular darkly stained facet on the medial face and along the posterior border (26 X 21 mm). The main facet has a very complex form, convex with respect to a diagonal ridge and concave transversely, ,following the natural contour of the medial face. Polishing fias sharpened the post- erior border and caused it to turn toward the lateral face. No striae are l 1 1..,.. l L L i... L L - ~ ..... l ~.....- ..... t 1- ~.....- f t : ~.....- L 1..,.. [ ,..... - - -331 - visible, and all changes, in sha:pe on the facet are ver:y smooth_and gradual. Six pairs of small scratches on the lateral face res.emble thé toothmarks. of small rodents. The. ver:-t complex f.orm of the J?Olished taèe.t sugges.ts that it was art if icially produced, possibly du ring hide w_orking or fleshing (cf. Bonnichsen 1979.:135, Pl. VITI-22)_. Polish intersects green fractures NbVl-2:9 is the distal half of a left humerus from a small Artiodactyl. The bone was fractured in mid-shaft when green, and a polished facet, 7.9 X 5.1 mm, appears on the posterior face where it truncates a portion of the green fracture surface. The facet is flat, and there are no visible striae. The facet could be natural or artificial. An unidentified large mammal long bane fragment (MlVl-1:104) is polished on the inner surface. All four margins appear to have been fractured when green, but their wall thickness has been reduced by polishing. The entire inner surface has been polished, but no striae are visible. The facets do not form a flat surface but are slightly concave, reflecting the original curvature of the bone wall. The polishing must have been created against a malleable surface, and it seems doubtful that a natural agency could create such extensive polish without flattening the facet. I have classified this piece as artificially modified, and it might have been a hide-rubbing tool (cf. Bonnichsen 1979:137, Pl. VIII-24). Very complex polishing has occurred on the anterior portion of an Equus sp. mandible (NaVk-5:1) in which bath canines are preserved (Table Bl7, Pl. 4.24). Fractures on the left and right mandibular corpus were made when the bane was relatively fresh but possibly somewhat dry, and the polishing of the corpus was clone after the fractures had been created. Three polished facets, all darkly stained, occur on this specimen: 1. Two adjacent facets appear on the superior surfaces of the corpus near the fractures at the posterior border. la. The anterior facet is comprised of two segments which together form a plane at an angle of 160° to the superior border of the corpus. The two segments are on opposite sides of the midline and are sep- arated by a deep sulcus at the mandibular symphysis. The segment of the left corpus measures 30.4 X 7.6 mm, and the right segment measures 29.0 X 8.3 mm. The two segments share faint transverse striae. A projection of the plane of this facet intersecte the two canine teeth ca. 3 mm below their existing tips. lb. The posterior facet consists of two segments on the right corpus separated by an area lost to later fracture (see below). These two segments form a second plane with an angle of 160° to the anterior facet (la, above). The anterior and posterior segments measure 11.1 X 7.1 mm and 12.9 X 7.3 mm, respectively. The orientation of their striae is diagonal to the midline of the mandible and runs from posterior right to anterior left. A projection of the plane of this facet would rise well above the canines of the mandible. -332 - 2. A completely s.eparate :tacet was fo:oned on the anteri.or border of the mandible after all the incisor teeth_ had been pulled or los.t. The alveolar ridges betw.een L:S}LI2 , 1\/R~, and RI1)Rr2 we.re. ground to a flat plane which lacks visible stri.ae. More than 3.5 mm of bone on the LI/LI2 ridge. has been removed. After the facets on the corpus had been created, the mandible was chewed near the break by carnivores, and this chewing removed a few small pieces of bone which truncated facet lb and left some small scars on facet la. In arder to produce these three facets, the mandible had to be stab- ilized in three different positions. Facet 2 could not be produced until the incisor teeth had been removed, and facet la was formed in a plane which intersects the canine teeth although the latter were not damaged. The com- plexity of these factors supports the classification of this specimen as artificially modified. Presumably the facets were formed as a .result of a scraping or rubbing function (cf. Harington 1975a:l21; Bonnichsen 1979:132, Pl. VIII-21). MlVl-5:46 is a green fractured, transversely flaked p.roboscidean long bone core which has already been described (see Tables B8 and B9). Nearly the entire outer surface has been polished, and most of the striae are slightly oblique (nearly transverse). The striae and polish are truncated by the transverse flake scars which supports the view that the bane was artificially polished (cf .• Bonnichsen 1979:137, Pl. VIII-24). MlVl-1:93 is a Ra:ngifer tarandus metatarsal shaft fragment for which metrics and flaking attributes have already been provided (Tables Bl3 and Bl4). Two very long triangular polished facets occupy the entire outer (lateral) face. Both have transverse striae, and each extends to one end of the specimen. I cannat determine whether the fractures truncated pre-existing polished facets or whether the former occurred before the latter. The two facets form planes at an angle of 170° to one another. Two longitudinal cuts occur just outside the natu:ral sulcus on the anterior.surface of the meta- tarsal, but their detailed attributes hav~ been obscured by seéondary rounding of the specimen. The complex combination of flaking, polishing, and cutting processes on this fragment suggests that it was artificially modified, but it is .of unknown function (cf. Bonnichsen 1979:137, Pl. VIII-24). PoZish on green fractures MlVl-3:1 is a Bison sp. right radius shaft with two .s111all polished facets. All five margins were fractured when green, and a loading point sca.r, 25.0 nnn in diameter, is prese.rved on the right margin, Polish occurs on the left edge in two places: a convex area ca •. 28.4 X 5.2 nnn at the distal end, and on the edge itself, ca. 16.1 X 1.8 nnn, at the proximal end. There are no visible striae, and both polished areas could have been produced simul- taneously by rubbing on a malleable surface. I cannat determine whether the polish is natural or artificial. MlVl-7:288 is an unidentified large mammal humerus shaft fragment on which at least two of three margins were fractured when green. One of the 1- L L L. f 1 i....i 11 L r - r [ -- -.. L ~ l. l.. 1- l 1- w 1 - - -333 - green fractured margins is differentiall~ rounded and highly polished, but the polished aréa e.xhibits, no str:!..ae, Ttis alteration could be natural or artificial. NbVl-1:19 is a left radius{_?l shaft fragment of Equus. sp. Three of the four margins were fractured when green. Polish occurs on a 17.0 X 7.5 mm area at the proximal end, and striae are nearly transverse with respect to the bone wall. The polish could be natural or artificial. Mk.Vl-9:14 is a left tibia shaft of Equus sp., fractured when green at both ends (Table Bl7, Pl. 4.25). Polished high spots with no visible striae occur on an area 13.0 X 8.6 mm on the medial side of the proximal fracture. Polished facets appear on the posterior (10.2 X 5.9 mm) and anterior (6.0 X 3.3 mm) fracture surfaces at the distal end, and these facets forma single plane at 55° to the long axis; striae are oblique. The occurrence.of three facets restricted to green fracture surfaces suggests that the alterations are probably artificial. MlVk-1:1.1 is a green-fractured proboscidean long bone (see Tables Bl and Bl7) with a polished facet on the fracture surface at one end. The.facet measures 19.1 X 8.5 mm and is slightly convex with longitudinal striae. In spite of its simple form the presence of a convex facet on a green fracture surface suggests that this modification is probably artificial (cf. Bonnichsen 1979:137, Pl. VIII-23). MlVl-13:7 is a .green-fractured proboscidean long bone (see Tables B8-9, Bl7) on which the green fracture surface at one end is rounded and polished on all edges. No facets or striae can be seen, and this sort of alteration could result from the use of. a sharp edge as a chopper during butchering. I have classified it as an artificially modified bone. MlVl-1:155 is the proximal 3/4 of an Equus sp. left radius. The green bone fracture which.divided this bone exhibits short flake scars which nearly encircle its perimeter as if to make the end transverse. A highly polished facet, 12.2 X 14.6 mm, on the outer and fracture surfaces at the medial/ posterior corner is highly convex with oblique striae. In addition, all high spots on the fractured end are slightly polished. Superficially, one is impressed by the artificial appearance of these alterations (cf. Bonnichsen 1979:139, Pl. VIII-25, 11 80-1545011 ), but the form and placement of the frac- ture surfaces at the distal end of the shaft are typical of carnivore gnawing. Only the highly polished facet suggests that artificial alterations may be involved in the history of this specimen, and we need to learn whether carn- ivores can create.such polished surfaces through prolonged chewing (possibly with solution effects brought about by saliva). I have classified this polished specimen as either natural or artificial until such information becomes available. NaVk-5:33 is the proximal half of a right Equus sp. radius on which a polished facèt, 12.8 X 8.6 mm, occurs on the medial/posterior corner of the green fracture surface and exhihits oblique striae. A loading scar on the medial side of the anterior face is not measureable. The polish on the facet continues over a hinge on th~ fracture surface and appears on an adjacent high spot. The polish also appears on the outer surface at th~ loading poi!lt where it forms a small conve.x facet, 7.9 X 4.1 mm, without visible striae. This facet is continuous with the polish on the high spot. ..... 334 - The medial edge of the main :!;ac et Ls. cru shed only wh.ere polish occurs. This specimen is very similar to :MlVl-1 :155 C_ahove}_ except for it;$ more extensive flaking at the. fractured end, and I. find it eq_ually difficult to interpret. All the features: could ne produced ny using the hone as an ax-li.Îœ chopper or cleaver during nutcherfng (cf. Bonnichsen 1979:134, Pl. VIIT-231, out its classi.fi.cation must remain in doubt (riàtùràl or artificial) until we learn more about carni.vore capabilities. NaVl-8:1 is the distal half of a Bison sp. right metatarsal III. A green fracture forms one long diagonal side,on which two polished facets occur in association with the green fracture surface. The distal one (ca. 22.4 X 13.3 mm) is on the outer bone wall just below the fracture surface and is slightly convex and has caused visible thinning of the bone wall. The proximal facet (ca. 33.0 X 10.4 mm) is on the inner wall of the bone which was exposed by virtue of the spiralling green fracture. These two facets are in slightly different parallel planes, and they could be simul- taneously produced only by rubbing on a malleable surface such as a hide. In addition to miscellaneous scratches, the facets share longitudinal striae. Both are truncated posteriorly by a recent fracture surface. Both the outer and green fracture surfaces are etched by rootlets. I have classified this specimen as artificially modified (cf. Bonnichsen 1979:135, Pl. VIII-22). NaVl-12:1 is an unidentified large mammal long bone fragment on which two of the four margins were formed by green fractures. The green fracture surface at one end is polished, especially on high spots, to a convex facet (ca. 55 X 10 mm) wit:hscattered striae parallel to the long axis of the facet or oblique to both the facet and the bone wall. The facet forms an angle of 130° with the outer wall. Faint transversescrapes could represent carnivore gnawing but are more regular than most such alterations and may represent artificial scraping. This specimen is unusual for its very light stain (7.5YR5/6). I have classified it as artificially modified because of the convex form and different striae orientations on the facet. M1Vl~l:l25 is a right tibia shaft fragment of Equus sp. (Table Bl7, Pl. 4.26). All six margins were fractured when green~ and the bone was polished on the outer and fracture surfaces at the distal end with transverse striae on the outer surface. Scattered polish also occurs on other green fracture surfaces~ and general polish appears on the outer surface of the proximal third of the specimen and exhibits longitudinal striae. Polish in both the proximal and distal areas is truncated by carnivore gnawing and by rootlet etching. In view of the clear truncation of polish by the carnivore gnawing marks and the longitudinal orientation of the proximal striae, I believe that the polish is probably artificial; after the polishing was created, carnivores gnawed this bon!=, and rootlets etched it. NaVk-6:12 is a green-fractured proboscidean long bone (see Tables B2-3, Bl7) on which fractures and the outer surface converge to a blunt point which is polished on all sides. General polish appears on about 50 mm of the specimen neares.t the tip, but no definition of facets or striae is possible due to rootlet etching which has truncated the polished features. I have classified the specimen as artificially modified. MlVl-1:142 is a green-fractured proboscidean long bone (see Tables BS-9, 1 ' L.. l L 1 i.... ~ .... f; - i L ~ - L... r L. ( ' ...... L ' ~ r [ L - - -335 - Bl7}_ on which the proximal-right margin is. heavily polished on the fracture. surface adjacent to a loading :point. Both inner and outer edges of the. frac ture. surface a, re also polish.ed in this area. The polished area measures 40.5 X 20.0 mm and is: truncated by a green fracture on the. right margin. The.re are no v:isîb.le striae, and the polis:h_ cou;Ld have result~d from use of the steep edge. for scraping. I have classifîed ît as a.rtifièüilly modified. MlVl-1:143 is a green-fractured proboscidean bone (see Tables B2-3, Bl7, Pl. 4.8) with a polished facet on a small (11.6 X 11.0 mm) remuant of the core platform. There are no visible striae, and it was suggested above that this polishing. may have been used to strengthen the platform edge. On the right margin, a second platform edge is polished, especially on high spots, where an effort at platform rejuvenation was made. I believe that this polish, as well as the green fractures, is artificial. Cut and Polished Antier Antler 11Pestle 11 NbVl-2:6 is a Rangifer tarandus left antier base. Metrics: length, 197, medial-lateral diameter, 27.4; anterior-posterior diameter, 39.9; weight, 228.5 g. The fracture of the bearn is probably recent, and breaks at the bases of the brow and bez tines are tao poorly preserved to evaluate. Most of the surface of the antler has been lost to recent exfoliation except on the polished base. Five darkly stained polished facets are clearly preserved on the base which measures 35.3 X 32.2 mm overall: (1) the anterior-most facet, 27.5 X 8.5 mm, is adjacent to the base of the brow tine, lacks visible striae, and forms and angle of 160° with .•. ; (2) a large central facet, 29.5 X 15.3 mm, which occupies half of the basal area with striae oriented diagonally from anterio-medial to posterior-lateral and forms an angle of 165° with ••. ; (3) a posterior-medial facet, 20.3 X 8,0 mmà with nearly transverse (slightly diagonal) striae, forming an angle of 175 with ••• ; (4) a posterior-lateral facet, 11.1 X 16.7 mm, with frankly transverse striae, forming an angle of 170° witp the central facet; (5) a lateral convex facet, 27.1 X 6.1 mm, rounds the lateral edge and lacks visible striae. Antler billet NbVl-2:15 is a right antler base of Rangifer tarandus with a section of the bearn and a large portion of the bez tine preserved (Pl. 4. 2 7; Mor lan 1978a:Fig. 6). Metrics: Length of bearn, 182; medial-lateral width, 24.0; anterior-posterior depth, 36.2; length of bez tine ca. 185; weight, 199.8 g. The distal end of the bearn may have been fractured when fresh, but it is tao poorly preserved to be certain. The bez tine terminates in a relatively recent break. Cuts occur in four locations: (1) the brow tine was eut off by means of three major chop~like cuts; (2) the burr was trimmed off with many di.screte cuts whichhave since been obscured by pocking of the base; (3) the bez tine is eut and polished on two 1 Table Bl8. Attr:;i.butes of Rcmrr?fer tara;ndus antler wedges found on the banks of the Porcupine River, northèrn Yukon Territory. Length Angle Long est Cat. No. Length Width Depth Weight of Bevel of Bevel Flâke Scar Polish MiVl-1:1 203 28.2 38.4 130.8 88.0 25° 19.6 Obscured by pitting MjVj-6:1 248 29.0 36.7 156.7 66.8 25° 19.1 Obscured by exfoliation MjVl-1:26c 190 32.1 39.5 140.1 121.6 30° 76.4 Well preserved Table Bl9. Attributes of eut bones found in reworked deposits in the Old Crow valley, northern Yukon Territory. Cat. No. Frac. Length Width Depth Thickness w_eigh!: Element Status -----~-------~-~---- MkVl-12 :16 0/y 137 9.6 10.5 11.6 Anser aZhifrons L. humerus Art if. MlVl-5:56 0/y 107 7.6 6.5 4.4 Anser aZbifrons R. tibiotarsus Art if. MlVl-1:64 Cyl. 141 29.5 22.2 w4.9-6.9 65.5 Rangifer tarandus R. tibia Artif. *NbVl-2:12 0/y 55 60 17.1 37.2 Large mammal innominate frag. Artif. MlVl-l:lc Cyl. 247 20.4 18.7 W2.8-4.1 (cast) Rangifer tarandus L. tibia Artif. Lege nd Fracture: Cyl., cylinder Thickness: W, wall thickness; other, overall thickness Status: Artif., artificial alteration * with catalogue number means bane was found in association with the Anodonta phase. See text for detailed descriptions. w w 0\ L L L t..... ' t... ~..... \...... \ .._ f L ..... i ._ i f-t. ..... L t L- i - L ' '· L L ....... -337 - darkly stained glossy facets on the medial-inferior border ca. 65 mm from the beam. Longitudinal striae are visible on these facets, and each facet measures ca. 41 X 6 mm. These facets may have resulted·from the removal of a supernumery tine; (4) most of the superior edge and the distal 54 mm of the inferi6r edge of the bez tine are roughened by nicking and polishing. Antler wedges (Table E18) MiVl-1:1 is modified by pitting on its entire outer surface, so that the slight amount of polish now visible must be regarded as secondary although it is concentrated mainly at the ends. It is impossible to say how the bevel was formed, but it was not ground flat. Most of the bevel forms a plane which would have positioned the working edge at the edge of the cancellous tissue in the center of the beam, so the plane was altered to create the working edge within the compact wall. ~t the butt, the outer wall is locally bevelled, possibly as a result of the original groove which was made to snap the beam. The inner walls of the butt are regularly bev- elled toward the center of the cancellous tissue, and the cancellous tissue is gouged out through the entire length of the specimen. This wedge may have been fitted with a shock absorbing plug of wood or bone in arder to preclude serious damage to the butt. One major and several minor incipient flake scars are visible on the butt which also exhibits a heavily crushed area. MjVj-6:1 has lost much of its outer surface to exfoliation, but local areas with tool marks and polish are preserved, especially at each end. Much of the antler face above the bevel was removed by a groove-and-splinter technique, and remuants of the grooves are visible on bath sides. The splinter was apparently levered out with some sort of punch which left two flake scars on each groove wall. The resulting opening measures approximately 123 X 19 mm. Apparently the bevel was eut after the splinter was·removed, and the bevelling tool was operated obliquely across the end of the antlet beam with the result that the bevel is 13 mm longer on one side than on the other. The antler is locally beve1led outward to place the cutting edge of the wedge within the compact wall. The butt preserves a bevel on the outer wall which resulted from circumscribing the ant1er so as to snap the beam. A very slight inward bevel is locally evident, and cancellous tissue in the center has been hollowed out to a depth of 35.5 mm. Two major ·and several minor flake scars are present around the butt, and one which terminated in a sharp hinge may have fractured within a collar designed to hold a shock absorber in place. Tool marks in several local areas on the outer surface show that the cutting teeth on the shaping tool were evenly spaced, per- fectly parallel, and 0.5 mm apart. These marks suggest that a metal file was used to shape this wedge. MjVl-1:26c has a well preserved outer surface on which polish is restricted to the working edge, the bevel, and the outer surface opposite the bevel but near the working edge. This polish is so intensive that tool marks have been locally obliterated. The two compact walls which converge to form the bevel were separately scraped ·. to the ir final form. These walls and·the outer surface near the tip exhibit numerous tool marks as if the antler were shaped by a stone scraper. Chatter marks indicating the loss of purchase during cutting are abundant on this wedge. Tool marks are also -338 - preserved locally around a portion of the butt and show that the antier was grooved for transverse snapping, but most such marks are obscured by subsequent crushing of the butt. Ralf of the butt has been removed by heavy pounding which detached five flakes from the side eq. which the bevel occurs. The roughening of the outer surface seen near the butt may be scarfing for the positioning of a collar which held a shock absorber in place, but there is no well defined inward bevel for the insertion of a plug. The tip of the working edge is crushed as if by heavy use, and rootlet etching is visible on a portion of the outer surface, on eut surfaces, and.on the flake scars near the butt. This wedge was found on the gravel beach b.elow the late prehistoric Klo-kut site (MjVl-1; Morlan 1973), but the antler is better preserved than any found in place in the site excavations. Cut Bones Selected attributes of five eut bones are presented in Table Bl9, and more detailed descriptions will be given for each piece. All of them are artificially modified. Measurements of eut width, depth, and wall angle were made with the aid of an eyepiece reticule and goniometer on the microscope. MkVl-12:16 is the left humerus of a white-fronted goose on which cuts occur in two major locations (Table Bl9, Pl. 4.28). Two separate strokes of a cutting tool converged to make a single eut 3.1 mm long and 0.62 mm wide on the anterior edge 4.8 mm above the distal end of the bone. The eut walls forman angle of 46° where theyconverge. The main eut has a U-shaped cross-section and is approximately 0.31 mm deep. In addition there are four oblique cuts on the posterior/medial corner of the shaft approximately 19.5 mm from the distal end. These are very shallow, have U-shaped cross-sections, are about 2.5 mm long, and measure <0.16 mm in width and depth. This bone is very darkly stained (2.5YR2/2). All these cuts are typical of those seen on bird bones in recent archaeological sites where they are supposed to have resulted from butchering. MlV1:....5:56 is a right tibiotarsus, probably from a white-fronted goose, and its distal condyles are eut transversely (Table Bl9, Pl. 4.28). These cuts are not precisely aligned.with one another but could have resulted from a single slice intended to separate the tarsometatars~s from the "drumstick." The cuts appear on the distal-posterior corners of the condyles, are 3.6 mm long on the medial condyle and 2.0 mm long on the lateral one. Width and depth measure 0.62 mm and 0.31 mm on the medial condyle and 0.78 mm and 0.16 mm on the lateral condyle, respectively. In bath cases the cross-section is a bread V-shape, and the eut walls form angles of 27°. This bone has a relatively light red-brown stain (5YR3/4). These cuts are undoubtedly related to butchering with a very sharp tool such as an unmodified stone flake. MlVl-1:64 is the right tibia: shaft of a caribou and is so lightly stained (5YR4/6) that one must suspect a Holocene age for the specimen. Four transverse cuts are present of the anterior face, and one is truncated by a green bane fracture at the proximal end of the specimen. The cuts range from 8.0 to 10.5 mm in length, up to 0.31 mm in width, and up to 0.16 mm ~ i !.... i' ..... - L f L j t - r L i- ..... i- ~ ...... L. 1 . - i- L L i..... !.... -339 - in depth with V-shaped cross-sections and wall angles of 45°-55°. The cuts are sufficiently narrow in relation to their depth that they might have been made with a metal blade, but the possibility cannat be eliminated that they were made with stone. NbVl-2:12 is an unidentified large mammal innominate fragment on which five subparallel cuts appear on the outer surface, oriented generally parallel to the long axis of the ilium (Table Bl9, Pl. 4.29). All the cuts are truncated by post-permineralization fractures, and their visible lengths range from 9.3 to 31.0 mm. The two longest cuts converge on the specimen, but the others remain independent of one another. The cuts are 0.16-0.62 mm wide and up to 0.31 mm deep. They have U-shaped cross-sections and wall angles of 30°-40°. I do not know of a specifie butchering task which might be represented by these cuts, but they could be produced either during butchering or in connection with the preparation of a bone for tool manu- facture. This bane fragment is darkly stained (5YR3/2) and was found in association with the Anodonta phase. MlVl-l:lc is the famous flesher {Irving and Harington 1973) which was made on the left tibia of a caribou (Table Bl9, Pl. 4.30). The manu- facture of this specimen was initiated by fracturing the proximal end of the bone, probably with an impact on the anterior crest of the tibia. This fracture created a bevelled area approximately 47 mm long which was smoothed and shaped on both the anterior and posterior bane walls by whittling with a stone tool. At least four discrete eut facets were left on the anterior wall and at least two fac.ets appear on the posterior. walls, and these are 0.8-2.7 mm wide with gently undulating surfaces. There are no transverse chatter marks which would indicate a loss of purchase by the cutting edge, and it is possible that the bane was softened in arder to accomplish such expert cutting. The working edge was shaped to a convex outline and finally equipped withaseries of.delicate denticulations. The denticulations range from 1.4 mm apart at the edges of the row to 2.0 mm apart in the center, and they were formed by cutting 1.5 mm deep V-shaped notches in the end of the bane. Such notches might have been eut into a softened bane by means of a sharp stone flake or a saw made of twisted sinew. Eight denticulations are preserved on the specimen, and a broken area of the edge may have accom- modated an additional four or five. The resulting serrated cutting edge was 26 mm wide. APPENDIX C. DESCRIPTIVE MATEIUAL FOR EXCAVATED BONES FROM MlVl-2 Introduction In this appendix I have assembled descriptions and discussions of excavated specimens from MlVl-2 to support the more general discussion in Chapter 6. The same section headings which appear in Chapter 6 have been used here to show the relationship between these two bodies of text, but only those sections which require individual specimen description are included in this appendix. Bane Flaking: "Cores '1 These chipped and flaked pieces are presented with respect to green fracture attributes in Table Cl with their flaking attributes appearing in Table C2. MlVl-2:88-1 could be regarded as a "bifacially" flaked bone fragment since the flaked edge is crushed on one face and flaked on the opposie face (Pl. 6.3). This specimen could be either natural or artificial. MlVl-2:97-4 is a "burinated" rib fragment with two transverse "cuts" just below the distal termination of the longest flake scar (Pl. 6.3). The ncuts" are not clearly the result of stone tool work, nor were they clearly p~oduced by carnivore gnawing. Four very faint darkly stained lines are visible on the outer face of the bane, and these probably resulted from differentiai staining of "bruised" areas on the bone surface where carnivore teeth raked across the bane without leaving the usual scrape marks clearly defined. Since the "cuts" may also have been produced by carnivore chewing and since the flake scars could have been made by the chipping back of the bone often seen on chewed specimens, this piece was probably naturally modified. MlVl-2:4-1 exhibits a single flake scar which could easily be pro- duced by carnivore gnawing, and it is probably naturally modified (Pl. 6.4). The same is true of MlVl-2:49-1 on which differentiai staining also occurs (Pl. 6.5). MlVl-2:66-5 is distinctive in that its entire remaining outer surface is highly polished with small bundles of lineal striae lying in transverse and oblique orientations. This polished area is truncated at bath ends by longitudinal flake scars, and I do not know how to explain this combination of f~atures (Pl. 6.5). Whereas I am sure that carnivores could have pro- duced the flake scars, I am less certain that they could be responsible for the polish, so I have classified these modifications as either natural or artificial. MlVl-2:15 is modified in several ways and is the largest of the "cores" from Disconformity A at MlVl-2 (Pl. 6.4). One end of the specimen exhibits two adjacent loading points. One of these points preserves a small cane in the bone wall and resulted from a load with a contact area of about -340 - / [ f 1... l L... [ ~.....; f L L... " L.. i .... f ' - L L L i ' - L... 1 i - .... L- l L -341 - 7.8 mm diameter. The adjacent point is a s.car w:ith_ a diameter of 7 mm, and the fracture surfaces at this. end of the bane were propogated from this scar. The centres of these two loading points are 7.3 mm apart. At the opposite end of the bane is a third loading point whi:ch is pres.erved as a scar and which resulted from a contact area of >8.3 mm. Fractures were propogated in bath directions from this point, and they intersect the fracture surfaces produced by loading the other end of the bone. Prior to the loading of the third point, a large flake was detached in a trans- verse direction from the outer surface of the bane, and the resulting scar was truncated by the final fracture so that a remuant 10.0 X 30.7 mm now remains on the specimen and reveals a feathered distal termination. The last modification occurred along the opposite edge of the specimen where a longitudinal flake was detached as indicated in Table C2. This flake may have been detached after the bone had become somewhat dessicated, because the scar exhibits a slightly darker stain than the outer surface of the bone and a series of small side-wise steps along the edge of the scar may have resulted from displacements of the fracture front by split line fea- tures which had already formed in the bone wall. While it is not entirely out of the question that a large carnivore could produce these modifications, the apparently massive impacts required to produce the fractures on this specimen (probably a large Bison sp. humerus) suggest that the fracturing and the flaking of this boue was doue by man. I have classified the piece as a probable artifact. This was the first indication of a possible arch- aeological record seen on Disconformity A, and the specimen has been illustrated elsewhere (Morlan 1978a:Fig 7; 1979a:Figs. 4-5). The transverse flaking on all three remaining pieces (MlVl-2:47-2, 61-2, and 75-6) could readily be accomplished by carnivores while the small s.izes of the specimens would seem to make them quite difficult to manipulate in the human hand (Pl. 6.5). They have been classified as probably natural. Bones with Reduced and Incised Surfaces Metric and non-metric data are presented for three scratched, three scraped, and 15 polished bones from MlVl-2 in Table C3. Scratched Boues Disconformity A MlVl-2:4-9 exhibits hundreds of very fine scratches, most of which cannat be seen without magnification and many of which are truncated by post-permineralization fractures (Pl. 6.9). The scratches tend to occur in groups with highly variable orientations most of which are at angles from 10° to 45° with respect to the long axis of the rib fragment. Most of the scratches are straight and approximately 10-15 mm long, but a few of the longer scratches are gently curved. The scratches cross-eut one another in myriad ways, and I have not been able to decipher a pattern in their sequence of production. There are also many longitudinal scrapes which resemble those which can be readily produced on boue with a stone tool. Both the scrapes and the scratches appear to have been made before the bone was permineralized since their floors are evenly stained in comparison with Table Cl. Green fracture attr:;i.butes for large mammal bone "cores" from MlV1~2, Dif:lconformity A~ Old Crow River, nort hern Yukon Terri tory. · Frac. Cat. No. Length Chord Longitudinally flaked "cores": 1/5 2/4 4/4 4/4 4/4 6/6 MlVl-2:88-1 97-4 4-1 49-1 66-5 15 (31) (33) 35 43 20 76 Transversely flaked "cores": 1/4 2/4 4/4 MlVl-2:47-2 61-2 75-6 (24) 28 15 (27) (25) 21 28 11 63 (9) (10) 7 Per::im. (27) (28) 21 35 11 88 (9) (10) 9 Weight 5.2 5.9 4.8 8.7 0.8 60.6 1.4 1.5 0.2 Wall Thickness Other 6.1-6.3 Probably proboscidean long bone fragment 2.8-6.3 "Cut"; large mammal rib fragment 7.4-7. 9 Etched on fracture; long bone fragment 4.7-7.2 Differentiai. staining; long bone fragment 5.3 Polished; long bone fragment 4. 9-14.0 {cf. Bison sp. humerus fragment; 3 loading points (see text) 5.7-6.8 3.3-3.7 1.5-2.8 Long bone fragment Etched on fracture; long bone fragment Rib fragment w .p. N r [ c-~~ r,~--, r~ rdd--.-~ r-·---~---r -r--~ r~--r---~ r~~---r----r--~ r·""---r~-- Table C2. Flaking attributes of large mammal bone "cores" from MlVl-2, Disconformity A, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Longitudinally flaked "cores": Scar Location No. of Max. Max. Dist. Plat. Cat. No. Perim. Circumf. Scars Length Width Termin. Platform Angle MlVl-2:88-1 End Outer 2 { 8.4 16.5 Hinge } Crushed area on inner surface 75° 3.1 6.0 Hinge 97-4 Right Outer 1/3 11.0 4.7 4 Hinges Unmodified green frac. surface 90° 4-1 Le ft Fracture 1 15.9 4.8 Hinge Removed by green fracture NM 49-1 Left Outer/ 1 11.4 10.0 Hinge Unmodified green frac. surface 90° Fracture 66-5 {P~ox. Outer 1/1 5.0 3.1 Feather Unmodified green frac. surface 60° D~st. Outer 1 6.0 7.4 Hinge Removed by green fracture NM 15 Left Outer/ 1 55.2 18.1 Feather Removed by green fracture NM Fracture 1 w Transversely flaked "cores": .+:--w Sc ar Force No. of Max. Max. Dist. Plat. Cat. No. Location Direction Scars Length Width Termin. Platform Angle - MlVl-2:47-2 End Rt. to Lf. 1 7.3 6.2 Hinge Removed by recent fracture NM 61-2 Left In. to Ou. 2 { 4. 6 10.5 Feather} Unmodified inner wall 55°-60° 3.8 7.3 Feather 75-6 Right In. to Ou. 1 3.0 5.8 Feather Unmodified green frac. surface 75° -344 - the res.t of the b.one. A low glosa as.socia ted with_ the sligh.t r.ounding of the specimen has not heen heightened even locally hy the scratching and scraping, and the glos.s was probably acqui.red hy the specimen during fluvial redepos.ition. I have clas.sified this specimen as a probable: artifact because of the complexity of thes.e features, and i.t is quite. similar in the form and distribution of its alterations to a horse metatarsal found in redepos- ited sediments at NbVm-1 (see Appendix B; Pl. 4.21). MlVl-2:75-9 exhibits scratches nearly identical to those seen on MlVl-2:4-9, but the scratching is less intensive on the former than on the latter. (Pl. 6.9). The scratches lie in many orientations, are truncated by post-permineralization fractures on all sides of the bone, and they cross-eut the joints formed by the reconstruction of this specimen from three pieces found separately on Disconformity A. There is a very slight tendency for polished patches to appear in association with some of the bundles of scratches, but the bone is generally not polished except for the low gloss which accompanies slight rounding. No longitudinal scrapes have been seen on this long bone fragment, but the scratches were probably produced in the same manner as those on MlVl-2:4-9; therefore I have c1assi- fied the specimen as a probable artifact. MlVl-2:115-17 is 1ess heavily scratched than the two specimens described above. Two main bund1es of scratches are oriented transversely and obliquely with respect to the long axis of the bone. None of the three green-fractured margins of the specimen clear1y truncates the scratches. Since this specimen would seem to require stabilization in only two orien- tations in arder to produce the scratches, it does not stretch the imagination greatly to imagine that fluvial proêesses might have produced these features. On the other hand, the scratches might have resulted from an artificial use of the specimen as suspected for the bones described above. Renee I have classified the piece as either natural or artificial. Scraped Boues Disconformity A MlVl-2:17-7 is intensively scraped and po1ished on its outer surfaces CYl. 6.10). One side of this rib fragment is much less deeply stained than the other side (lOYRS/3 vs. 7.5YR3/2), and one might suppose that the dif- ference reflects the orientation of the bone in its primary burial environment. The light-stained side, however, exhibits two small areas of scraping and polishing, and these areas are as darkly stained as the other side of the rib. The dark-stained side of the rib is covered with scrape marks and prominent polishing so that the staining appears to be related to these alterations of the bone. The scrape marks vary from straight to wavy and lie in many different orientations although most of them are generally sub-parallel to the long axis of the rib. Another noteworthy feature of this specimen is the intensive po1ishing of one edge of the rib in marked contrast to the other edge which is not polished at all. This combination of attributes might have resulted from use of the rib as a cutting and rubbing implement, and I can think of no natura1 agency which would produce such differentiai modification of the bone. Therefore I have classified the alterations as ( r~--r---,----r~~-: r--" r· ~ r--r --~ ~--~ c-··-r~· r~----r~--r··--r--r--' r--r= Table C3. Attributes of scratched, scraped, and po1ished bones from MlV1-2, Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Thickness was measures at the edges of green-fractured bane walls and through the total cross- section of other specimens. A11 specimens are from Disconformity A except 144-21. 144-22, and 167-8 which were recovered from the mid-section deposit. Location of Cat. No. Length Chard Perim. Thickness Weight Frac. Element Alteration Status Scratched bones Ml V1-2 :'4-9 (109) (24) (30) 4.3 17.8 0/y Rib Outer Prob. Artificial 75-9 (109) (22) (34) 5.4 22.0 0/y Long bane Outer Prob. artificial 115-17 29 (14) (14) 4.6-5.1 2.7 3/4 Long bane Outer Nat. or art if. Scraped bones 17-7 (93) 32 NA 7.1 11.8 0/y Rib Outer Prob. artificial 71-14 48 (15) (15) 8.4-11.6 7.1 2/4 Long bane Outer Nat. or art if. 107-9 23 12 12 1.5-2.5 0.6 5/5 Long bane Outer Nat. or art if. Polished bones not fractured when green 16-3 (16) (11) (11) 3.3 0.5 0/y Long bane Outer & Frac. Prob. natural 27-6 (27) (15) (15) 15.4 5.7 0/y Long bane Outer Nat. or artif. 61-45 (16) (11) (11) 4.9 0.7 0/y Long bane Outer Nat. or ar tif. 83-2 (19) (7) (7) 7.3 0.6 0/y? Long bane Prob. natural w Fracture .p.. \..J1 91-1 (50) (15) (25) 9.7 6.1 0/y Rib Inn er Nat. or ar tif. Polish intersecting green fracture 9-3 (26) (19) (19) 9.8 3.6 1/4 Long bane Outer Prob. natural 39-21 (9) (4) (4) 4.1 0.1 1/4 Long bane Outer Nat. or ar tif. 66-5 (see Tables Cl-C2) Outer Nat. or art if. 105-12 (35) (23) (23) 3.7-4.5 3.5 1/5 Rib Outer Nat. or artif. Polish separated from green fracture 167-8 (78) (25) (30) 7.6-9.5 26.2 1/4 Long bane Outer & Frac. Prob. natural Polish on green fracture 35-10 (18) (8) (8) 3.5-3.9 0.7 2/4 Rib Fracture Nat. or artif. 105-9 (see Table 6.16) Fracture Artificial 105-11 (see Table 6.16) Fracture Artificial 144-21 (80) (20) (50) 6.3-8.3 19.9 2/4 Rib Fracture Prob. artificial 144-22 (56) 35 40 6.9-8.3 19.2 3/4 Long bane Fracture Prob. natural -346 - probably artificial. MlVl-2: 71-14 has been s.craped diagonally and polishe.d in association with, the green fracture margin at one. end, and the scrape marks appear to have been truncated by th.e adjacent post-permineralization fracture of the side 0?1. 6.11). The polishing forms, a contrast with the general low gloss produced by slight rounding of the bone. Such a scraped and polished cor- ner could have resulted from use of the bone as a rubbing tool but these alterations tnight also result from intensive carnivore gnawing on an exposed end. The scrape marks are not closely parallel to one another and appear to have resulted from a process which could alter the orientation of the bone during the production of the features. Either man or carnivore could accomplish this, and I have classified the specimen as either natural or artificial. The outer surface of MlVl-2:107-9 is heavily scraped and polished with the scrape marks lying in a diagonal orientation to the long axis of the original bone. The scrape and polish features are truncated on all sides by the green bone fractures, implying that a large piece of bone was employed by man in sorne kind of rubbing function or that a carnivore gnawed and fractured a larger piece of bone. I have classified this specimen as either natural or artificial. Polished Bones Not Fractured When Green Disconformity A The alterations on MlVl-2:16-3 are probably natural. Darkly stained polish on the outer surface of the fragment extends around the broken edge onto a post-permineralization fracture, showing that sorne natural agency must be capable of producing this kind of polish. Perhaps partial burial and differentiai exposure to fluvial processes could explain these features. Another possibility is that a carnivore gnawed this bone after dessication was sufficiently advanced to produce the non-green fracture attributes on which the polish occurs. MlVl-2:27-6 is highly polished on all remaining portions of its original outer surface (Pl. 6.11). The polished facet is truncated on all sides by post-permineralization fractures, but the polish does not extend onto the fracture surfaces. The thickness of this specimen suggests that it was derived from a proboscidean long bone. I have classified it as either natural or artificial. MlVl-2:61-45 is intensively scraped and polished with the scrapes being oriented parallel to the lorig axis of the original bone. Along one edge of the piece is a second set of striations, much finer than the scrape marks and more difficult to see without magnification, and these are oriented perpendicular to the long axis of the bone and are associated with a higher degree of polishing than the rest of the outer surface. The frag- ment is too small to identify a function or cause of alteration, but the altering agency had to be capable of s.ecuring the bone in two orientations which were perpendicular to one another. Either man or carnivore could readily accomplish this, and I have classified the piece as either rtatùral or artificial (Pl. 6.12). Il L 1 ~ . ~o... L ! . L L l l... r L... i- i- ,. 1 L 1 - ~ '- L L L L. - ..... -347 - MlVl-2:83-2 is highly polished on a fracture surface which forms one long margin of the specimen. The other margins were fractured after permineraliation, but the polished facet obscures the fracture attributes of the altered surface (hence the question mark adjacent to "0/y" in Table C3). The alterations could be natural or artificial. MlVl-2:91-1 exhibits a peculiar scratched and polished concavity near one end, and this concavity is located on the inner (cancellous) sur- face of the rib fragment (Pl. 6.11). It forms a groove 7 mm wide and 1 mm deep with a long axis about 30° to the long axis of the rib. This groove is highly polished, and numerous scratches parallel to the axis of the groove are visible under magnification. The ends and one side of the groove are truncated by post-permineralization fractures. Perhaps carnivore gnawing and an artificial rubbing function on hides or on wood are valid candidates for the origin of these features. I have classified the alterations as either natt!tal .0.:r artificial. Polish Intersecting Green Fractures Disconformity A MlVl-2:9-3 is polished on the outer surface to form a facet which has a higher gloss than that conferred by the slight rounding which gener- ally characterizes the specimen. Associated with the polish are both transverse and oblique scratches and the facet is interrupted by a deeply scraped area which resembles carnivore gnawing damage. These alterations are probably natural, although I have not seen a demons.tration of this kind of polish and fine scratching on boues gnawed by carnivores. The tiny fragment labelled MlVl-2:39-21 is very highly polished on all remaining portions of its outer surface. The polish is truncated by green bone fractures at both ends and by post-permineralization fractures on the two sides. It is too small to interpret and could be either natural or artificial. MlVl-2:66-5 is both flaked and polished and was described as a "core" (~ables Cl-C2) on which the flaking, if not the polishing, could have been done by carnivores. The polishing might be either natural or artificial. MlVl-2:105-12 exhibits a highly polished facet ca. 2 mm wide adjacent to the only marginof the specimen which was fractured when green (Pl. 6.11). The facet is truncated by the adjoining post-permineralization fractures. The polishing has been intensive enough to flatten the natural contour of the outer surface, and very faint lineal striae are visible under high mag- nification with an orientation oblique to the long axis of the rib fragment. There is no sign of carnivore gnawing, but either fluvial processes or artificial use of the rib could have produced this polished facet when the bone was fresh; hence it is either natural or artificial. -348 - Polish Separated from Green Fracture Surface Mid-section One end of MlVl-2:167-8 exhibits scattered polish on the edge between the outer surface and a post-permineralization fracture. Short, faint, oblique lineal striae extend from the polished facets onto the outer surface of the bane. Such features might be produced in a fluvial environment if the bane were stabilized in one appropriate position and were subjected to moving sand and silt particles or pieces of ice; the alterations are probably natural. Polish on Green Fracture Surfaces Disconformity A MlVl-2:35-10 was fractured when green on one end and one side, and at the intersection of these green fractures is a highly polished facet which occurs on the fracture surface but does not extend onto the outer surface of the bane. Fluvial action, carnivore gnawing, or human use might explain this feature, but in any case the dark stain on the facet suggests that the polish was acquired either naturally or artificially when the bane was fresh. Two of the green-fractured proboscidean boues from Disconformity A (105-9 and 105-11) each exhibits a differentially polished edge at the intersection of the outer and green fracture surfaces (Pl. 6.2). Although there might be a natural means of producing such polish, I suspect (partly on the basis of comparison with experimentally induced polish) that these edges were used by man in sorne sort of cutting or scraping function; they have been classified as artificially modified. Mid-section M1Vl-2:144-21 is even more intensively polished on its edges where two green fractured margins converge to form a blunt point. The polish has advanced enough to alter the shape of the point so that the fractured margin is evenly rounded with the polish ext ding onto the outer surface of the bane. The extent of polish decreases away from this point suggesting that it was the shape of the end of the specimen which was significant in sorne sort of polishing process. This polishing process must have brought the bone into contact with a malleable surface such as a hide in order to create the complex convex facet seen on the boue. I have classified the alteration as probably artificial. MlVl-2:144-22 exhibits a s1ight amount of polish on high spots which occur on a ragged green fracture surface. A deep short scrape on the outer surface of the bone suggests carnivore gnawing in direct association with the green fracture surface, and such gnawing might have produced the local polish as we11 as the fracture on which it occurs. I have classified the piece as probably natural. ! 1 1.-; L L L f: L !' ~ L ~ i 1 l- L.. ~ L; ' ~ l... L f l... 1...1 L .... -349 - Cut B.ones DisconformitY, A MlVl-2:25-3 is a triangular large ma.mmal rib fragment whî.ch was fractured when green on one.margin. A straight eut 10.0 .mm long penetrates the outer lamellae of the bane and appears ta have. influenced the position and form of the green fracture. It is truncated at bath ends by post- permineralization fractures. Two tiny discontinuous grooves form the surviving wall of the eut, and such grooving is typical of cuts made with stone tools. I suspect that the eut was an accidental butchering scar rather thau a deliberate groove designed ta guide the fracture of the bane, but in either case it is artificial. MlVl-2:27-1 is the anterior half of a Bison sp. olecranon process from the left ulna. It exhibits a complex eut pattern on its anterior border (Pl. 6.13). This pattern is clearly formed by cutting in that bane material has been removed along the grooves. The variable groove width seen in root- let etching is not characteristic of this alteration, and the removal of bane shows that the grooves were not formed by cracking. Local discontin- uities and changes in the cross-section of the grooves are typical of cuts made with a stone tool, and bath are seen on this specimen. Stone tool cutting also yields a slight deepening of the groove at convex areas and a slight shallowing at concave areas of the surface being eut, and bath effects are visible on this specimen. Dr. George Swinton, Professer of Art History, Carleton Univerisy, believes that this sort of cutting on bane is typical of prehistoric artistic expression; I believe that at the very least the cutting is artificial. MlVl-2:61-3 is a metatarsal shaft fragment of an unidentified large mammal on which a portion of the anterior sulcus has been preserved. In this sulcus are two separate cuts which together form a nearly straight line ca. 20 mm long (Pl. 6.14). The cuts are truncated by a post-permineralization fracture at one end but do not extend as far as the other end of the specimen. One eut is locally truncated in the middle of the specimen by small exfoliation features, indicating that weathering of the bane continued after the eut was made. I ·suggest that these alterations are butchering marks made with a stone tool, and they are classified as artificial. 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Postscript Only a few days after this monograph was completed, I received a copy of the oft-cited and long-awaited Fossils in the Making: Vertebrate Taphonomy and Paleoecology, edited by Anna K. Behrensmeyer and Andrew P. Hill (University of Chicago Press, 1980). The paper by Klein (cited above as 1976a) had been available to me in the form of a preprint and is now published as a chapter of this volume, but many other papers in this important book should also be consulted by readers who are interest in the many aspects of taphonomic analysis. L L.. ~ l' i L L L w r i 1- L - ~;...; 1 L L '1 i i..... ii...,j L L L '--- MERCURY SERIES PUBLICATIONS Each component of the Na- tional Museum of Man, (the History and Communications Divisions, the Canadian Ethnology Service, the Archaeological Survey of Canada, the Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies and the Canadian War Museum), provides papers for publication in the Mercury Series. These are available from the fol- lowing address on receipt cheque made payable to Receiver General of Canada. Order Services of a the National Museums of Canada 300 Laurier Avenue West Ottawa, Ontario KlA OH8 At present the Archaeological Survey of Canada Mercury Series consists of the following papers: -381 - 1-.21.?.. PUBLICATION DE LA COLLECTION MERCURE Chaque division du Musée nat- ional de l'Homme, (l'Histoire, les communications, le Service cana- dien d'ethnologie, la Commission archéologique du Canada, le Centre canadien d'études sur la Culture traditionnelle et le Museé canadien de la Guerre), fournit des articles à la Collection Mer- cure. On peut les commander de la source ci-dessous, en adressant une demande accompagnée d'un chèque libellé au nom du Receveur Général du Canada. Service de commandes Musées nationaux du Canada 300 ouest, avenue Laurier Ottawa, Ontario KlA OM8 La Commission archéologique du Canada a déjà contribué à la Collection Mercure avec les numéros suivants: No. 1 "An Archaeological Survey between Cape Parry and Cambridge Bay, Nl-IT, Canada in 1963" by William E. Taylor, Jr. , 106 p. , 15 plates, 24 figures. $2.00 Account of site description of Thule, Dorset, and Arctic Small Tool Tradition materials on Victoria Island and Cape Parry. No. 2 "The Aberdeen Site, Keewatin District, NHT" by J.V. Wright. 98 p., 7 plates, 3 figures, 7 tables. $1.75 Examination of multi-component caribou crossing site on the Thelon River Keewatin District. No. 3 "The Cadzow Lake Site, (MjVi-1): A Multi-Component Historie Kutchin Camp" by RichardE. Merlan. 91 p., 5 plates, 17 figures. $1.50 Description and analysis of artifacts and fauna in components of a stratified site on the Porcup_ine Territory. three historie River, Yukon -382 - No. 4 "The Knetchel I Site, Bruce County, Ontario" by J.V. Wright. 70 p., 6 plates. 6 figures, 10 tables. $1.00 Report on a stratified Archaic site on the shore of Lake Huron. No. 5 "NbVk-1: An Historie Fishing Camp in Old Crow Flats, North- ern Yukon Territory" by Richard E. Merlan. 44 p., 11 figured, 5 tables. $0.75 Description and analysis of artifacts, fauna and features in a smaller summer season occupation. No. 6 1973 "Archaeology of the Lake Harbour District, Baffin Island" by Moreau S. }1axwell. 362 pq 72 figures, 36 tables. $4.00 Examination of a number of Pre-Dorset and Dorset sites ranging 2500 B.C. to A.D. 480. Little cultural change is seen within transition from Pre-Dorset ta Dorset. from the No. 7 "A Technological Approach ta Lithic Artifacts Territory" by Richard E. Morlan. 44 p., 21 table. $1.00 from Yukon figures, 1 A list of 26 categories for the descriptive presentation of the morphological and technological attributes of stone artifacts from Yukon Territory. No. 8 "The Roebuck Prehistoric Village Site Rim Sherds An Attri- bute Analysis" by James F. Pendergast. 59 p., 6 figures, 14 tables. $1.00 An attribute analysis of the rim sherds from the Roebuck St. Lawrence Irquois site in south-eastern Ontario. No. 9 "Haida Burial Practices: Three Archaeological Examples: The Gust Island Burial Shelter, The Skungo Cave North Island, Mass Burials from Tanu" by George F. MacDonald and "The Gust Island Burial Shelter: Physical Anthropology" by Jerome s. Cybulski. 113 p., 32 plates, 2 figures, 10 tables. $2.00 Part I is an analysis of Haida mortuary practices using data from historical sources and from three excavated burial locations. Part II is the osteological analysis of one of these sites -The Gust Island Burial Shelter, Queen Charlotte Islands, B.C. No. 10 "Archaeological Survey of Canada: Annual Review 1972" edited by George F. MacDonald. 46 p. on request. 1 - il i.... 1 w L ' 1 l.. [ 1.... l. L ; l t.... ~ \ i.... f 1 L 1 1...< - i.... i 1 L .... { : ..... L . -383 - No. 11 "The Later Prehistory of the Middle Porcupine Drainage, Northern Yukon Territory" by RichardE. Norlan. 583 p., 24 plates, 46 figures, 81 tables. $5.50 Description and analysis of artifacts and faunal remains from the Klo-kut site. Other sites in the middle porcupine drainage, north- ern Yukon Territory, are also mentioned in an attempt to reconstruct the subsistence economy, annual cycle, and settlement patterns of the late prehistoric Kutchin Indians. No. 12 "Cow Point: An Archaic Cemetery in New Brunswick" by David Sanger. 214 p., 20 plates, 6 figures, 29 tables, 11 histo- grams. $2.75 A detailed description and analysis of an Archaic cemetery near Grand Lake, New Brunswick. No. 13 "Archaeological Investigations in the Hecate Milbanke Sound area of British Columbia" by Simonsen. 117 p., 23 figures, 1 table. $1.75 Strait Bjorn o. Results of archaeological investigations in 1969 in the Hecate Strait ~ Nilbanke Sound area of British Columbia including the excavation report for FcTe-4, a site occupied continuously for 3500 years. No. 14 "The Archaeology and Prehistory Reflec ted by Ceramics" by \.Jilliam 729 p., 27 plates, 42 figures, 28 of Southern Alberta as J. Byrne. Three volumes, tables. $8.50 This three volume monograpk contains a detailed review of the abo- riginal ceramics of southern Aloerta, as well as an interpretation of late prehistoric, protohistoric and ethnohistoric developments on the Canadian plains as reflected by an analysis of these ceramics. 1974 No. 15 "A'rchaeological Sal v age Proj ec ts 19 72" compiled by W. J. Byrne. 174 p. $2.25 This report contains brief summaries of the archaeological salvage projects undertaken by the Salvage Section, Archaeological Survey of Canada, in the summer of 1972. No. 16 uFaunal Remains from Other Sites in Bruce 149 p., 7 figures. the Nodwell Site (BcHi-3) and from Four County, Ontario" by Frances L. Stewart. $2.00 A study of five sites from Bruce County, Ontario revealed changes in the use of the fauna through time. Emphasis was given to the animal remains from the Nodwell Site (BcHi-3) and to the methods of faunal analysis. -384 - No. 17 "Les schèmes d'établissement à la fin de la préhistoire et au début de la période historique: le sud du Québec par Roger J.M. Marois. 433 p., 37 figures, 88 tableaux. $5.25 Distribution géographique par bande, voisinage et par langue des Amérindiens du 17e siècle au sud du Québec; rapprochements entre les schèmes d'établissement de la période historique et ceux de la pré- histoire. No. 18 "Archaeological Collections from Norutak Lake on the Kobuk- Alatna River Portage, Northwestern Alaska" by Donald W. Clark. 67 p., 2 figures, 4 tables, 9 platès. $1.25 ~futerial from small-scale excavations near the Eskimo-Indian inter- face relates to several periods of Eskimo prehistory but shows also interior or non-Eskimo influence. No. 19 "Crowsnest Pass Archaeological Project 1972 Salvage Excava- tions and Survey Paper No. 1 Preliminary Report" by B.O.K. Reeves. 67 p., 6 figures, 5 tables, 9 plates. $1.50 The monograph constitutes a progress report on an extensive examina- tien of occupations dating back some 8,000 years along the eastern shores of Crowsnest Lake in southwestern Alberta. No. 20 "Contributions to the Later Prehistory of Kodiak Alaska" by Donald W. Clark and Frederick A. Milan. 17 figures, 8 tables, 30 plates. $2.75 Island, 183 p.' Minor excavations and surface collections are described. report focusses on material of the second millennium A.D. and concurrent question of local variation. This the No. 21 No. 22 "Archaeological Survey of Canada: edited by George F. NacDonald. 51 p., "The Nodwell Site" by J.V. Wright. 21 figures, 9 charts, 22 plates. Annual Review on request. 335 p.' $4.00 51 1973" tables, The Nodwell Site is a mid 14th century ancestral Huron-Petun village site that was almost completely excavated in 1971 by a joint Nation- al Museum of lian and Royal Ontario Museum expedition. No. 23 "The Belly River: Prehistoric Northwestern Plains Transitional 165 p., 26 photographs. Population Dynamics Zone" by J. Michael $2.00 in a Quigg. This report summarizes the archaeological salvage investigations undertaken along the Belly River in southwestern Alberta. In the course of the project numerous archaeological sites were located eroding into the river, and sorne of the more important localities were excavated. 1 L L L.. L r L. L i- L i ~ t 1.... L L L ~...... L. ._ [ L. :.... -385 - No. 24 "Crowsnest Pass Archaeological Project 1973 Salvage Excavations and Survey paper No. 2 Preliminary Report" by B.O.K. Reeves. 95 p.5 6 plates, 8 photographs. $1.25 This report constitutes a statement on the progress of archa~ logical salvage operations at a number of important archaeological sites situated in the vicinity of Crowsnest Lake in southwesteron Alberta. These sites, endangered by highway construction, have provided important information about the 8000 year occupation history of this region. No. 25 "The McCluskey Site" by K.C.A. Dawson 116 p., 5 figures, 20 tables, 4 plates. $2.00 A detailed description of a Blackduck tradition site contained Laurel tradition and transitional materials. occupation is assigned ta the Western Area Algonkian northwestern Ontario. which also The majcr culture af No. 26 "Archaeological Salvage Projects 1973" complied by Byrne. 182 p., 2 plates, 14 maps, 24 photographe. W.J. $2.50 In 1973 the Salvage Section, Archaeological Survey of Canada, Na- tional Museum of Man, instituted 31 archaeological salvage projects across the country. This report contains summary articles dealing with 29 of the 31 projects. 1975 No. 27 "Archaeological Reconnaissance in Northern Interior District of Mackenzie: 1969, 1970 and 1972" by Donald W. Clark. 397 p., 16 plates, 13 tables, 20 figures. $4.25 Approximately 75 prehistoric sites and nearly 50 historie or recent camps are reported for the areas north and west of Great Bear Lake, Collections are small and in most cases superficial, but groupings and periodization are attempted. No. 28 "Of Men and Herds in Barrenland Prehistory" by Gordon. 541 p., 1 map, 20 figures, 48 tables, $5.75 Bryan H.C. 38 plates. This study attempts to elucidate the temporal and spatial inter- relationships between the barrenland Pre-Dorset peoples, climates and caribou herds in the period 1500 -700 B.C. Items such as discreteness of herds and human bands, band movements and commu- nication and differing cultural patterns as ev~denced in artifacts, are discussed. All are used in the formulation of the discrete band/discrete herd relationship. No. 29 -386 - 11 The Prehistory of Lake Athabasca: J.V. Wright. 189 p., 22 tables, $2.50 An Initial Statement" by 6 figures, 19 plates. The position of Lake Athabasca relative to the Plains, Boreal Forest, and Arctic physiographic zones, which have changed through time in response to climatic fluctuations, has resulted in cultures adapted to these three zones occupying areas of the lake during certain periods. During the later prehistory the western half of the lake was exploited by a Plains-derived, bison hunting culture whereas the eastern half of the lake was exploited by a Boreal Forest-derived, caribou hunting culture. No. 30 "Skeletal Variability in British Columbia Coastal Popula- tions. A Descriptive and Comparative Assessment of Cranial Morphology" by Jerome S. Cybulski. 319 p., 68 tables, 13 figures. $3.75 Metric and non-metric techniques of analysis are used to study the interrelationships of the Haida, Kwakiutl, Nootka, and Coast Salish ethnie divisions of British Columbia. Bath between and within group variation is considered based on crania in museum collections. No. 31 "Archaeological Survey of Canada: Annual Review 1974" edited by George F. MacDonald. 64 p., 16 photographs; on request. No. 32 "Prehistory of Saglek Bay, Labrador: Eskimo Occupations" by J.A. Tuck. 272 plates. $2.75 Arc haie pq 8 and Palaeo- figures, 27 Description of Maritime Archaic, early Palaeo-Eskimo, and Dorset Eskimo occupations of Saglek Bay in northern Labrador with comment on settlement -subsistence, culture history, and possible pre- historie Indian and Eskimo contacts. No. 33 "Salvage Contributions: Prairie Provinces" Wilmeth. 206 p., 12 figures, 17 plates. edited by R. $3.00 The six archaeological reports in this issue pertain to salvage operations carried out under contract with the Archaeological Survey of Canada, National Museum of Man. Three of the projects were located in southern Alberta, one each in northern and southern Saskatchewan, and one in southern Manitoba. No. 34 "An Archaic Sequence from the Strait of Labrador" by Robert McGhee and James A. Tuck. tables, 3 figures, 28 plates, 2 appendices. Belle Isle, 254 p.' 6 $3.25 The evidence is presented for man's continuous occupation of the Strait of Belle Isle region of Labrador from approximately 8,000 9,000 years ago until 3,000 -2,000 years ago when the local Mari- time Archaic tradition was interrupted by a possible environmental change and the appearance of Dorset Eskimos. i ' - i- i....i 1 i.... f L l L f :' f ' lw. r 1 ._ 1 L - ! t L.. !.... [ 1.... f !.... L w """' ..._ -387 - No. 35 "Koniag-Pacific Eskimo Bibliography" by Donald W. Clark. 97 p. $1.50 This anthropological bibliography of the Pacifie Eskimo area of Alaska also features an extended historical coverage for Kodiak and adjacent Islands. Many of the nearly 500 entries are annotated. No. 36 11Archaeologocial Salvage Projects 1974 11 compiled by Roscoe Wilmeth. 92 p., 29 figures, 3 tables. $1.25 In 1974, the Salvage Section, Archaeological Survey of Canada, Nat- ional Museum of Han, instituted nine archaeological salvage projects across the country. These ranged from a brief survey of one portion of the l1ackenzie Highway to the extensive survey and excavations on the Suffield Hilitary Reserve in southeastern Alberta. This volume contains summary articles describing these projects No. 37 "An introduction to the Ecology of Early Historie Communal Bison Hunting Among the Northern Plains Indians" by George W. Arthur. 144 p., 1 figure. $1.50 This study uses archaeological, ethnohistorical and ecological data in an effort to understand the nature of early historie communal bison hunting among the northern Plains Indians. No. 38 "Thule Eskimo Prehistory of Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island, Canada" by Peter Schledermann. 297 p., 4 tables, 48 figures, 50 plates. $2.50 A study of prehistoric cultural development of the Thule tradition in southern Baffin Island and its relationship present inhabitants of the region. Eskimo to the No. 39 "The Beaches: A Multi-Component Bonavista Bay" by Paul Carignan. Habitation 233 p., 13 Site tables, in 6 No. figures, 38 plates. $3.00 The stratified Beaches site, Newfoundland, was occupied over the past 5,000 years by Maritime Archaic, Dorset and Boethuck popula- tions. 40 "Quelques techniques de décoration impressionée: correspondance des anglais" par Roger J.M. Marois. 113 planches. $1.25 Suite à l'examen de quelques ouvrages en cette étude dégage les différents sens reliés aux techniques de décoration, céramique impressionée, et indique à quel correspondanée dans les deux langues. de la céramique termes français et p., 32 figures, 8 anglais et en francais, que revêtent les termes particulièrement de la niveau ces termes ont une -388 - No. 41 "Indices de manifestations culturelles région de Trois-Rivières" par Roger Ribes. 107 p., 36 figures, 12 planches de J.M. l'archa!que: la Marois et René $1.75 Cette étude permet de croire que les peuplades de la région de Trois-Rivières one été soumises influences culturelles, particulièrement de laurentienne et de 1 1 Archa~que des maritimes. l'Archa~que dans à différentes la Tradition No. 42 "The Boys Site and the Early Ontario Iroquois Tradition" by C.S. Reid. 129 p., 43 tables, 32 figures. $2.25 A report on the lOth century Pickering branch village (early Ontario Iroquois tradition) that provides data on settlement trade, sub- sistence and artifact patterns. No. 43 ''A Paleoecological Knut R. Fladmark. Model for Northwest Coast Prehistory" by 328p. , 15 figures. $4. 25 The evolution of the Northwest Coast cultural pattern from two different archaeological traditions, one in the north and one to the south, is discussed in terms of environmental and subsistence factors. No. 44 "L'Archéologie des provinces de Québec et Roger J. M. Marois. 117 p. , 20 figures. d'Ontario" par $2.00 Cet ouvrage comprend l'historique et le bilan archéologiques dans les provinces d'Ontario et de 1968. des recherches Québec jusqu'en No. 45 "Origins and Development of Early Northwest Coast Culture to about 3000 B.C." by Charles E. Borden. 137 p., 6 figures, 3 tables. $1.75 Based on a synthesis of current archaeological evidence B.C. to 3000 B.C. a hypothesis on the origins of early Coast culture is developed, and is seen as an integration Boreal and Protowestern cultures occurring in the central of British Columbia. from 8000 Northwest of Early coast area No. 46 "The Cactus Flower Site in Southeastern Alberta: Excavations" by John H. Brumley. 244 p., 17 1972-1974 tables, 16 figures, 36 plates. $3.25 A report on three years of intensive excavation of a deeply strati- fied site on the South Saskatchewan River. The major occupation belongs to the McKean complex and is dated between 3000 and 1500 B.C. Late spring to early autumn hunting activity is represented. [ t ~...... r L L L t L [ 1.,.., ~ ~..... t -389 - 1976 No. 47 "The Grant Lake Site, Keewatin District, N.\'f.T." by J.V. $1.75 Wright. 122 p., 10 figures, 2 maps, 10 plates. The Grant Lake site, located on the Dubawnt River in west-central Keewatin District, consists of a number of horizontally discrete living floors that pertain to the Agate Basin complex of the Palaeo- Indian period. It is proposed that the environment during the occupation between 6000 and 7000 B.C. was similar to present conditions. The following papers distributed gratis by Archaeological Survey National Museum of Man: are the of being Chief, Canada, Les dossiers suivants sont distri- bués gratuitement par le Chef de la Commission archéologique du Canada, ' Musée national de l'HoiilDl.e: """' * No. 48 "Algonkians of Lake Nipigon: An Archaeological Survey" by ~ t ~ - ' ~ ~ 1.... r L L.; 1.... i - L K.C.A. Dawson. 151 p., 10 figures, 19 tables, 4 plates. Archaeological survey and excavation at Lake Nipigon has revealed the presence of Shield, Laurel and Algonkian cultures with the most intensive occupation during the Terminal Woodland period. Evidence is also presented for the interaction of the Western Algonkians of the area with Northern, Southern and Eastern Algonkian groups. * No. 49 "Contributions to Anthropology: The Interior Northern Alaska" edited by Edwin S. Hall Jr. figures, 37 tables. Peoples 391 p.' This volume consists of a series of papers aspects, archaeological and ethnographie, of and their neighbours of northern Alaska. that examine the interior of 29 va rio us Eskimos * No. 50 "The Excavation of Water-Saturated Archaeological Sites (Wet Sites) on the Northwest Coast of North America" edited by Dale R. Croes. 351 p., 139 figures, 16 plates, 1 map. A compilation of thirteen papers dealing with the techniques of ex- cavation, kinds of artifacts recovered, and methods of preservation of perishable materials from water-saturated sites on the Northwest Coast, originally presented at the 29th Annual Northwest Anthropo- logcal Conference in l974. * These publications are not available. Ces publications ne sont pas disponibles. * No. 51 -390 - "The Potato Island Site, District Polly Koezur and J.V. Wright. 51 plates. of Kenora, Ontario" by p., 4 tables, 2 figures, 5 "Albany River Survey, Patricia District, Ontario" by K.C.A. Dawson. 54 p., 6 tables, 1 figure, 3 plates. A number of aspects of the prehistory of Northern Ontario are con- sidered in these reports. Of central concern are the spatial variations of the Terminal Woodland ceramics and the evidence for the transition from the Laurel assemblage into Blackduck assemblage. No. 52 "The Glenrose Cannery Site 11 by R.G. Matson. figures, 37 tables. 329 p.' 82 A report on the Glenrose Cannery Site (DgRr6) which spans over 6000 years of Fraser Delta prehistory from circa 8000 B.P. -2000 B.P. The analysis concentrates on the reconstruction of prehistoric sub- sistence patterns evidenced from the site. * No. 53 "The Prehistoric Occupations of Saskatchewan" by Sheila J. Minni. figures, 5 plates. Black 182 Lake, p.' 6 Northern tables, 19 Black Lake was occupied on a discontinuous basis from approximately 6,000 B.C. to the historie period by cultures originating from a number of different physiographic zones. An economical madel out- lines the historie and late prehistoric dependance of the Chipewyan on the barren ground caribou herds. * No. 54 "The Culture History of Kirkland Lake District, Northeastern Ontario" by John William Pollock. 249 p., 52 tables, 64 figures. The thesis attempts to delineate a cultural-chronological sequence from northeastern Ontario extending from the historie period to approximately 5,000 B.C. Four phases representing three cultural traditions are defined. * No. 55 "Ramillies: A Late Prehistoric Bison Kill and Campsite located in southeastern Alberta, Canada" by John H. Brumley. 137 p., 18 plates, 9 figures, 6 tables. Description of a unique style of bison pound, involving enlargement and modification of a natural depression near the edge of a deep coulee. The pound and a nearby campsite were used during the Avon- lea and Old Women's phases. r L L ! 1- J ~ ...... -391 - * No. 56 "Higod -8,000 years of Barrenland Prehistory" by Bryan H.C. Gordon. 310 p., 22 illustrations, 35 tables, 49 plates. The discrete band/discrete herd association is used to explore 8,000 years of barrenland prehistory at the Migod site, west-central Keewatin District, N.W.T. The association appears applicable in the Four traditions represented -Agate Basin, Shield Archaic, Pre- Dorset and Taltheilei • 1977 ! * No. 57 "Pre-Dorset Settlements at the Seahorse Gully Site" by David ' ~ A. Meyer. 293 p., 31 figures, 21 tables, 21 maps. r ..... i i- i-: >.-; :_ i- A study of technology, subsistence and settlement patterns of late Pre~Dorset people who occupied a large coastal site Churchill Hanitoba around 3000 years ago. the near * No. 58 "The Princess Point Complex" by David 11arvyn Stothers. p., 43 plates, 12 figures, 8 maps. 503 This study defines an early Late Woodland manifestation in south- western Ontario, the Princess Point Complex. This complex is seen as an early developmental stage of the Ontario Iroquois Tradition. Evidence is presented for changing subsistence and settlement patterns in response to the introduction of maize horticulture. * No. 59 "The Development of Caribou Eskimo Culture" by Brenda L. Clark. 169 p., 9 figures, 9 plates, 2 tables. The origin and development of historie Caribou Eskimo culture prehistoric classic Thule is explained using archaeological ethnohistorical evidence. * No. 60 "Models for Deriving Cultural Infomation From Stone Tools" from and ! by Robson Bonnichsen. 262 p. 18 plates, 12 figures, 4 tables. - f \ 1 ~....! i.- 1...' L l lw ......., A model relating human cognition to decisions made in tool manufac- ture is advanced as a substitute for those approaches to artifact classification which rely only on morphology. The madel is related to experiments designed to link specifie input conditions (in stone fracture) with particular output features (flake and core attri- butes) and is used to resolve processual questions concerning projectile points from four Palaeoindian localities. * No. 61 "The Saugeen Culture: A Middle Woodland Manifestation in Southwestern Ontario" by William David Finlayson. 701 p., 50 plates, 35 figures, 123 tables. The Saugeen culture of southwestern Southern Ontario (circa 700 B.C. to 800 A.D.) is examined at intrasite and intersite levels of comparisons. It is suggested that the Saugeen, Point Peninsula and North Bay cultures should be considered as Middle · Tier cultures which interacted to varying degrees with the Southern Tier Hope- wellian cultures and the Northern Tier Laurel culture • ..., 392 - No. 62 "The Majorville Cairn and Medicine l\lheel site, Alberta" by James M. Calder. 310 p., 27 tables, 57 figures. Majorville is a large cairn situated in the centre of a medicine wheel. Stratigraphie excavation indicates initial construction in Oxbow times, with additional accretions ending in the Historie Period. Cultural continuity in ritual practice in the Plains over a period of 5,000 years is thus established. * No. 63 " Refinement of Sorne Aspects of Huron Ceramic Analysis" by Peter George Ramsden. 305 p., 29 tables, 114 figures. Using selected ceramic attributes from twenty-eight prehistoric and historie Iroquoian sites in Ontario an attempt is made to demonstrate the existence of clusterings of historically related sites. These data are then used to outline the economie and political processes which produced the mid-17th century Huron-Petun populations. * No. 64 "The Skeletal Biology of Archaic Populations Lakes Region" by Susan Pfeiffer. 370 p., 3 tables. of the Great figures, 108 Ten skeletal samples are described and examined with regard to cre- mation techniques, pathological conditions, dental characteristics and population affinities. A Number of similar activity patterns are found. Apparent breeding isolates as well as population similarities covering great distances complicate the pattern of populution interrelationships. * No. 65. "Archaeology and Ethnohistory in the Arrow Lakes" by Christopher J. Turnbull. 307 p., 57 figures, 23 plates. Archaeological and ethnohistoric evidence is presented to conclude that the Arrow Lakes region of southeastern B.C. has been an inte- grated part of the Columbia Plateau for at least 3,300 years. No. 66 "Archaeological Survey of Canada: Annual Review 1976" edited by George F. MacDonald. 113 p., 1975 and * No. 67 "The Harder Site, A Middle Period Bison Hunters' Campsite in the Northern Great Plains" by lan G. Dyck. 325 p., 34 plates, 18 tables, 32 figures. An analysis and functional interpretation of the culural from a Middle Period (Oxbow complex) bison hunters' situated in the parklands of central Saskatchewan. ~: remains camp site \..,; i ' ~ .... ~ i- ~....... i L 1 L... ~ ..... 1...... I..J l L i.- L ~ ..... l- L -393 - No. 68 "The Estuary Bison Pound Site in Southwestern Saskatchewan" by Gary F. Adams. 204 p., 5 tables, 34 figures • The Estuary Pound Site~ located on the just below its confluence with the Red major levels. The upper level relates while the lower level contains elements phase and the Avonlea phase leading to former developed out of the latter. South Saskatchewan River Deer River, contains two to the Old Women's phase of both the Old Women's the suggestion that the No. 69 "Beothuck Archaeology in Bonavista Bay" by Paul Carignan. 273 p., 8 tables, 45 figures, 32 plates. Data are presented on four sites in Bonavista Bay ranging from A.D. 210 to A.D. 905 in age. It is suggested that the historie Beothucks were derived from preceding Mariti~e Archaic tradition and that they also cohabitated the region with Dorset Eskimos. No. 70 "Thule Eskimo Prehistory along Northwestern Hudson Bay" by Allen P. McCartney. 485 p. 7 tables, 108 figures, 105 plates. Thule house ruins were excavated at Silumiut and two ether major winter settlements along Roes Welcome Sound and northwestern Hudson Bay. Radiocarbon dating places the occupation of these sites at about the end of the 12th century A.D. This work expands Mathiassen's original investigation of Thule culture southward from Repulse Bay. No. 71 "Hahanudan Lake: An Ipiutak-Related Occupation Interior Alaska" by Donald W. Clark. 153 p., 9 figures, 14 plates. of Western tables, 32 Five small house pits excavated near Huslia in the Koyukuk River drainage of weste~ interior Alaska have produced lithic assemblages with Norton and Ipiutak culture characteristics. Radiocarbon dating indicates that cross ties are with the latter. This work extends the previously known inland range of Ipiutak culture which is known primarily from coastal sites in northwestern Alaska. No. 72 1978 "L'Archéologie des Kitselas d'après Gituas (GdTc:2) sur la rivière Britannique" par Louis Allaire. 364 tableaux, 23 planches. le site Skeena p.' 12 stratifié de en Colombie figures, 30 Cette monographie est la reproduction d'une thèse de mattrise présentée au.départment d'anthropologie de l'université de Montréal en 1970. L'ouvrage constitue le rapport de fouilles exécutees durant l'été de 1968 sur le gisement de Gitaus (GdTc:2) dans le canyon des Kitselas de la rivière Skeena (Colombie-Brittanique) par George F. MacDonald du Musée National de l'Homme, auxquelles l'auteur participait. * No. 73 "Reports of the Lillooet Introduction and Setting" Stephen Lawhead. 125 p., -394 - Archaeological Project. No. edited by Arnoud H. Stryd 25 figures, 4 tables. I. and Introduction to the 1969-1976 Lillooet Project and research area in British Columbia. Four papers pertain to the present-day ecology, geologie history, and ethnography of the area and recount the objec- tives and history of the Project. No. 74 "Prehistory of the Aishihik-Kluane Area, Territory" by William B. Workman. 592 p., figures, 30 table. Southwest Yukon 48 plates, 62 A detailed survey of the archaeology of Southwest Yukon Territory, based upon excavations in 1966 and 1968 as well as laboratory analysis of all sizeable collections obtained earlier. Archaeologi- cal, ethnographie, and paleoenvironmental data are integrated into a synthetic view of prehistory in northwestern North America. No. 75 "Le Gisement Beaumier: Essai sur l'évolution des décors de la céramique" par Roger Marois. 299 p., 120 figures, 28 planches. L'analyse de la céramique du gisement Beaumier constitue un effort pour développer une méthode de travail susceptible de favoriser la comparaison des données fournies dans les ouvrages pertinents. Les caractères morphologiques et décoratifs ont servi à établir une séquence culturelle des Iroquois du Saint-Laurent pour la région de Trois-Rivières. Le lecteur en désaccord avec l'interprétation de l'auteur aura la liberté de regrouper les caractères à sa façon afin de justifier ses affirmations. No. 76 "Etude archéologique de sites T.N.O." par Joseph Benmouyal. cartes, 4 plans, 14 tableaux. eskimo 260 aux Îles Belcher, p., 15 planches, 4 A partir du matériel excavé de plusieurs habitations Eskimo par feu Claude Desgoffe, ce mémoire, montre que la culture Manitunik n'a probablement pas existé et qu'il s'agit plutôt d'un mélange artificiel d'outils provenent de sites de cultures et d'époques diverses. No. 77 "Canadian Archaeological Radiocarbon Dates Version)" compileg by Roscoe lVilmeth. 218 p. (Revised An expanded version of the 1969 publication, including all dates published in Radiocarbon and unpublished dates from National Museum of Man files. Sites are arranged alphabetically by province or territory. An index of Borden Site Designation System numbers is provided. * These publications are not available. Ces publications ne sont pas disponibles. r \..... f L... ' l - L L r L L f 1 - f L L ' \ ' ~ L 1 - r i t - !.... 1 .... l' L... L. ;.... -395 - No. 78 "Archaeological Investigations at the Antigun Site, Central Brooks Range, Alaska" by lan R. Wilson. 244 p., 36 tables, 35 figures. The Antigun site is marginal to both Indian and Eskimo territory, thus the primary concern of this analysis is the cultural af- filiation o_f its occupants. Conclusions point to la te summer oc- cupation of the site by Athapaskans between A.D. 1400 and A.D. 1800. This period is defined as the Kavik phase. * No. 79 "The Saamis Site: A Late Prehistoric-Protohistoric Campsite in Medicine Hat, Alberta" by Laurie Hilne Brumley, with ap- pendix by Babs Congram. 278 p., 48 plates, 32 figures, 33 tables. Excavations at the Stampede Camp and the Saamis sites, located in Medicine Hat, Alberta, are described, and especial attention is given to features. Together, the two sites were occupied during the Middle Prehistoric, Late Prehistoric and Protohistoric periods. No. 80 "Late Prehistory of Point Pelee, Ontario, and /David L. Keenlyside. 374 p., 71 plates, 14 tables. Environs" by 37 figures, Research at Point Pelee in extreme southern Ontario has revealed a unique sequence of prehistoric occupation at three major multi- component sites. This sequence has been divided into four periods, commencing in the 6th century A.D. and teroinating about the 15th century A.D. No. 81 11 The Development and Distribution of Discontinuous Morpho- logical Variation of the Human Infracranial Skeleton" by Shelley Rae Saunders. 549 p., 48 plates, 20 figures, 40 tables. Over 1400 skeletons from three major populations approximately 50 infracranial non-metric traits. are studied for side, sex and age differences, lations, and association with bone robusticity. studies are performed using various combinations two distance statistics. are examined for Trait frequencies trait intercorre- Skeletal population of the traits and *No. 82 "Anahim Lake Archaeology and the Indians" by Roscoe Wilmeth. 252 22 tables, 46 figures. Early Historie p., 35 plates, Chilcotin 2 maps, Excavation of a number of pit house sites at Anahim Lake in the central Plateau of British Columbia has resulted in the definition of five components, the last two attributed to the Chilcotin Indians. There are significant resemblances between these two components and Athabaskan complexes recorded elsewhere in North America. -396 - "Vertebrate Faunal Remains from the Potlatch Site (FcSi-2) in South Central British Columbialt by Frances L. Stewart, 103 p., 4 appendices, 13 maps, 5 plates, 10 tables. Analysis of the vertebrate remains from Potlatch site revea1 much about the subsistence of the Chilcotin Indians through time. Significant changes occurred in the percentage of vertebrate remains through time. Evidence for butchering and artifactual modification are discussed. Range changes of several species are of zoological interest. * No. 83 "An Experimental Study of scrapers" by John W. Brink. tables. Microwear Formation on End- 238 p., 54 plates, 1 figure, 2 This experimental lithic study tests the hypothesis that wear patterns which form on stone tools are diagnostic of the material on which the tool was used •. The results of the experiments indicate that the hypothesis is substantiated, or not refuted. 1979 No. 84 "Of Hen and Herds in Canadian Plains Prehistory" by Bryan C. Gordon. 117 p., 7 figures, 2 tables. This is a preliminary study of temporal and spatial relationships between Canadian Plains peoples, climates and bison populations over the past 10,000 years. Discreteness of two bison populations, hunting band movements and communication are discussed together with the probable ro1e of grassland faciation as a control on bison migration. No. 85 "Archaeo1ogical Haterial from Creswell Bay, N.W.T., Canadan by William E. Taylor, Jr. and Robert HcGhee. 171 p., 32 figures, 18 plates, 2 tables. Description and analysis of Thule and Dorset culture material, in- cluding bouse structures, excavated at three archaeological sites. No. 86 "Ocean Bay: An Early North Pacifie Maritime Culture" by Donald W. Clark, with Appendix " ••• Prehistory and Contact History at Afognak Bay" by William B. Workman and Donald W. Clark. 404 p., 47 figures, 40 plates, 53 tables. Investigation of three 4000 to 6000-year-old sites of the North Pacifie maritime Ocean Bay culture, located on the Gulf of Alaska, is described. The development of ground slate technology is discussed. An appendix documents subsequent occupations at one locality. L f ~..... [ L l L L L ~ L f ! ~ i< L L ' t.... 1;... L... '- 1;... """ L ...... No. 87 -397 - 11 Skeena Riyer Prehistory" co-edited by Richard George F. ~cDonald. 260 pages, 85 plates, 5 tables. Inglis and 16 figures, Survey and excavation along the Skeena River, northwestern British Columbia, bas revealed a 4000-year occupation of this area which bas direct ties to cultural events on the coast. No. 88 "Thule Eskimo Culture: An Anthropological Retrospective" edited by Allen P. HcCartney. 586 pages. This volume is the proceedings of a symposium devoted to the pre- historie Thule culture and related northern studies, held at the lOth annual meeting of the Canadian Archaeological Association in Ottawa during May, 1977. It contains 31 papers. No. 89 "Pleistocene Bone Technology in the Beringian Refugium" by R. Bonnichsen. 296 pages, 40 plates, 13 figures, 30 tables. Examination of vertebrate faunal remains held in museum collections is reported. To understand or identify human modification of bone and antler, the analysis emphasizes post-mortem processes including geological, biological and cultural ones that have led to the alter- ation and distribution of boue elements. In addition, to provide analogs for this analysis, boue breaking experiments were conducted. No. 90 "Patrimonio Cultural" by Daniel Rub:!n de la Borbolla and Roger J.H. Harois. 138 pages. This publication presents in Spanish, French, English and Portuguese the proceedings of the Interamerican Seminar on Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage and of the Technical Heeting on Rescue Archaeology, held jointly in the Panamanian 1-nseum of Man in February 1978. No. 91 "Dakah De'nin 's Village and the Dixthada Site: A Contribu- tion to Northern Athapaskan Prehistory" by Anne D. Shinktvin. 197 pages, 38 figures, 32 tables. Archaeological remains from two late prehistoric/early historie Athapaskan sites in east central Alaska are presented. These data and those from the late prehistoric to historie Kutchin Athapaskan Klok-ut site in the Yukon Territ ory (ASC 11ERCURY No. 11) are examined for the comparativ~ perspective that they offer on Northern Athapaskan prehistoric and very early historie culture. No. 92 "The Palaeoeskimo Occupations at Port Refuge, High Arctic Canada" by Robert }1cGhee. 176 pages, 33 figures, 12 plates. Archaeological work at six Arctic Small Tool tradit-ion components is reported. Five of these are ascribed to the Independence I, and one to the Pre-Dorset variants of the ASTt. An attempt is made to inter- pret the social" 9-nd economie patterns of early Palaeoeskimo occupants of the afea • -398 - No. 93 "A Report on the Banting and Hussey Sites: Two Paleo-Indian Campsites in Simcoe County, Southern Ontario" by P.L. Storck. 123 pages, 13 figures, 33 plates, 26 tables. These sites were briefly occupied on several occasions by Paleo- Indian peoples between 11,500 and 10,500 years ag;o. In addition, the Hussey site was visited by later peoples. At both sites diagnostic areas or individual campsites are identified by the presence of discrete concentrations of material. No. 94 "Taphonomy and Archaeology in the Upper Pleistocene of Northern Yukon Territory: a. Glimpse of the Peopling of New World" by Richard E. Morlan. 407 pages, 79 tables, figures, 77 plates. the the 19 The concept of taphonomy has been borrowed from paleontology and applied to the analysis of vertebrate fossils from the Old Crow region of the northern Yukon Territory. By means of this approach, archaeologically significant specimens have been isolated from the larger suite of materials which can be explained entirely in terms of natural processes. The analysis indicates that human occupation began in eastern Beringia more than 50,000 years ago and probably was continuous from that tL~e onward, but primary archaeological deposits will be needed tb clarify the historical and paleo- environmental significance of these finds.