Radiocarbon dating of charcoal on podzols along a transect reaching 280 kilometers north of the present tree line from Ennadai Lake indicates that former forests were burnt about 3500 years ago and again about 900 years ago. These forests probably were associated with periods of relatively mild climate.
The evidence presented here indicates that man lived in the eastern part of the Beringian refugium before the peak of the late Wisconsin glaciation (27). He had sharp, stone tools intended for working bone and means of breaking large mammoth bones. Probably he hunted mammoth and caribou, and prepared the skins of the caribou for use as clothing and perhaps shelter. It is possible that he migrated to southern North America, although evidence for the presence of man there prior to the peak of the Wisconsin glaciation is at present in dispute (28). We do not know whether his culture should be classified as Mousteroid or Aurignacoid in Müller-Beck's scheme (23), whose criteria are taken from stone implements of which we have none, although we infer their presence. Our data suggest that in Beringia, and therefore probably in Siberia and the Far East, the transition from Middle Paleolithic to Upper Paleolithic levels of technology occurred at a relatively early date. This raises the larger question: Did the transition from Middle to Upper Paleolithic occur simultaneously in many parts of the world, or did it begin in and spread from one area (23)?
The stratigraphic position of artefacts of undoubted Pleistocene age found in the Old Crow Basin has long been in question. We report on geological, palaeontological and archaeological excavations and studies there which show that artefacts made by humans occur in deposits of Glacial Lake Old Crow laid down before Sangamonian time, probably during a phase of the Illinoian (=Riss) glaciation. The geological events surrounding and following the deposition of Glacial Lake Old Crow were complicated by a changing lake level, localized soft-sediment flowage, pingo formation and dissolution, and by the colluvial transport of vertebrate fossils and artefacts. Following deepwater stages of the Lake, an environment not greatly different from that of the present is suggested by the excavated vertebrate fauna and by permafrost features, although warming during the succeeding Sangamon can be considered likely. Sangamonian and later phenomena in the Old Crow Basin are referred to briefly; they show that humans persisted in the area for some time. RÉSUMÉ. Depuis un certain temps, une incertitude regnait tant au contexte stratigraphique de temoins façonnes datant du Pleistocene, dans le bassin de la riviere Old Crow au Yukon. Nous prtsentons des donnees gkologiques, paleontologiques et archCologiques qui dtmontrent que des objets de fabrication humaine se trouvent dans des depots du lac glaciaire Old Crow, qui dateraient d'avant I'interstade de Sangamon, probablement pendant une phase de la glaciation d'Illinois (Riss). Les evenements gkologiques pendant et suivant la deposition des sediments du lac glaciaire Old Crow furent compliques par des changements du niveau lacustre, le mouvement restreint de depots, la formation et dissolution de pingos et le transport colluvial de fossiles vertebrees et ttmoins façonnes. A en juger, de la faune vertebree, des indices de pergtlisol et des temoins façonnees, l'environnement apres les phases profondes du lac aurait et6 trks semblable A celui d'aujourd'hui. De plus, pendant laperiode suivante du Sangamon, un rdchauffement semble probable. Des phhomenes du Sangamon et post-Sangamon sont brievernent traitts. Ceux-ci demontrent la persistance de l'homme dans cette region pendant une duree de temps considtrable. Traduit par les auteurs.
A cursory survey of the archaeology of parts of the Endicott mountains was made by the writer during 1950. It served to confirm a belief that the mountain region is and in the past has been hospitable to small groups of people dependent on hunting and fishing. Ten sites near the Anaktuvuk and Killik rivers were examined, and the probable locations of several others were obtained from local Eskimos. Recognizable culture phases encountered include types comparable with the modern and recent-prehistoric Eskimo, and Denbigh Flint complex, as described by Giddings (J. L. Giddings, “Early Flint Horizons on the North Bering Sea Coast,” Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, Vol. 39, No. 3, March 15, 1949, pp. 85-90). In addition, a number of flint implements which are not readily identifiable were found in the sand dunes along the Killik River (Fig. 34). No evidence of ground slate or jade was found anywhere, and implements of organic materials were preserved only in the most recent sites.
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