Periglacial geoarchaeology at the Dog Creek site, Northern Yukon

Abstract

The Dog Creek archaeological site (NcVi-3), located in the northern Yukon, provides evidence of complex site transformational processes related to microclimatic conditions occurring since the mid-Holocene. Geoarchaeological research at Dog Creek sought to interpret site formation processes in order to understand the relationship between surficial artifacts, buried artifacts, and stratified sediments. It also attempted to reconstruct the periglacial processes that were active in transforming the site and their relationships to microclimatic conditions. Sedimentology and fabric analysis show that artifacts were buried by solifluction and disturbed by frost heave and cryoturbation. Radiocarbon dating and pollen analysis demonstrated that solifluction took place approximately 5200-2000 years ago when a spruce forest existed at the site. This evidence suggests an onset of cooling conditions that continues to the present. After the mid-Holocene, the spruce treeline began to move south toward its present position.

Late Quaternary Vegetation History of Northern North America Based on Pollen, Macrofossil, and Faunal Remains*

“…Abundant sites indicate higher than present treelines in the Cordillera and more northern treelines in the Northwest from 9 to about 5 ka BP. As before, these sites are distributed from Alaska to Colorado (Detterman, 1970;Esdale et al, 2001; citations earlier in paragraph). The relative paucity of sites dating between 5 and 3.5 ka BP possibly indicates that treeline was near its present elevation at that time.…”

Palaeoeskimo site burial by solifluction: Periglacial geoarchaeology of the tayara site (KbFk‐7), Qikirtaq Island, Nunavik (Canada)

“…It contributes greatly to the development and evolution of slopes, and is the combined result of frost-creep and gelifluction (French, 1996). From a geoarchaeological standpoint, solifluction contributes to (1) archaeological sedimentogenesis and stratogenesis with partial or complete site burial, (2) disturbance of archaeological deposits and palaeosols, and (3) spatial modifications of archaeological remains (Mackay, Mathews, & MacNeish, 1961;Texier et al, 1998;Esdale, LeBlanc, & Cinq-Mars, 2001;Lenoble & Bertran, 2004). Consequently, any archaeological site in high northern latitudes (such as the Neo-and Palaeoeskimo sites of the Canadian Arctic) may be affected (e.g., buried, disturbed, or destroyed) by solifluction, especially where local site and climatic controlling factors are favorable.…”

Fabric of Palaeolithic levels: methods and implications for site formation processes

“…It was first used in archaeology by Isaac [20], Bar Yosef and Tchernov [1], Schick [36], and Kaufulu [22] to understand the formation of the Early Palaeolithic sites that have been found in alluvial deposits from Africa and the Near East. For slope contexts, application to archaeology is more recent [4,5,15,24,33], and has benefited from a review of fabrics in active slope milieux by Bertran et al [6]. This paper emphasises the recent advances in fabric analysis and tries to show the potentialities of the method through case studies.…”