THE MICROBLADE INDUSTRY FROM SWAN POINT CULTURAL ZONE 4b: TECHNOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS FROM THE EARLIEST HUMAN OCCUPATION IN ALASKA

Abstract

Swan Point in central Alaska contains the oldest recognized human occupation in Alaska (Cultural Zone 4b [CZ4b]), dating to circa 14,000 cal BP. This component consists of a microblade and burin industry with clear technological ties to the Siberian Upper Paleolithic Diuktai Culture. Through the systematic use of the Yubetsu method for the production of microblades, Swan Point is technologically more similar to Siberian microblade sites than to later-age (Denali complex) microblade sites in Alaska. The Yubetsu method is the hallmark of the Diuktai Culture, and in Alaska, Swan Point CZ4b is the only component with systematic production of microblades using the Yubetsu method. Other late Pleistocene and Holocene microblade sites in Alaska have an industry based on Campus-style, conical, or tabular microblade cores. Analysis of the collection furthers our understanding of how CZ4b relates to previous Siberian Diuktai-related assemblages and to later Alaskan Denali-related sites. We interpret the CZ4b component as representing a brief single event that has major cultural and technological implications for the early colonization process of North America.

Late date of human arrival to North America: Continental scale differences in stratigraphic integrity of pre-13,000 BP archaeological sites

“…The ideal way to do so would be systematic refitting of chipped stone artifacts with the goal of searching for refits between components to determine to what extent items are moving vertically in these sites. There is a long tradition of such studies in archaeology, including Paleoindian archaeology both north and south of the ice sheets [ 39 , 42 , 46 , 80 – 85 ]. If little vertical distance separates refitting and conjoining artifacts, it might be shown that artifacts have not moved significantly.…”

The Swan Point Site, Alaska: The Chronology of a Multi-Component Archaeological Site in Eastern Beringia

“…The Swan Point archaeological site, in interior Alaska, has become a prominent fixture in discussions about terminal Pleistocene human colonization and migrations into Eastern Beringia (Alaska and Yukon) and the Americas from northeastern Asia. The site contains some of the earliest unequivocal evidence of occupation in northern North America and late Pleistocene connections to stone tool traditions in eastern Siberia and Japan (Potter et al 2017; Gómez Coutouly and Holmes 2018). Holmes and others (Holmes et al 1996; Holmes 2001; Potter et al 2014) previously reported that the earliest component, here referred to as a “Cultural Zone” (CZ), dates back to ∼14,000 cal BP.…”

Does the Locally-Adaptive Model of Archaeological Potential (LAMAP) work for hunter-gatherer sites? A test using data from the Tanana Valley, Alaska

“…Our test region consists of 7,000 km 2 of the valley of the Tanana River in central Alaska ( Fig 1 ). The study area contains a 14,500-year-long sequence of hunter-gatherer archaeological sites [ 23 , 24 ], many of which can be dated through radiocarbon or typological cross-dating. The region has experienced minimal disturbance by modern industry and, unlike many parts of the world, there is no overlay of agricultural settlements to obscure earlier hunter-gatherer sites.…”