Publication Date

4-30-1970

Abstract

The dissertation presents new archaeological evidence from the Arctic Slope of Alaska which bears on previously unsolved problems of the origin and development of the early Paleo-Indian cultures of the New World. It proposes the hypothesis that these first American cultures originated in the Upper Paleolithic of eastern Europe and spread into the interior of this continent through Siberia and northern Alaska. The hypothesis is based on archaeological reconnaissance and excavation conducted during two field seasons in the Utukok River basin, northwest Alaska. The earliest widespread and distinctive New World culture reliably dated thus far is that of the Clovis Paleo-Indian hunters. This tradition, dating between 11,000 and 11,500 years ago, contains specialized fluted projectile points which must have passed through a considerable period of development, yet no precursors for Clovis have been discovered, and Clovis artifacts have never been found stratigraphically above any other cultural remains. Theories proposing an early Wisconsin peopling of North America and an interior origin for Clovis fall to account for this evidence, and are reexamined in the light of new finds from Alaska. The Arctic Slope was selected for study because of its critical location between the Old World and interior North America. The region was directly linked to the Siberian mainland during Wisconsin glaciation by the emerged Bering land bridge, and remained unglaciated throughout the Pleistocene. It forms a part of the nearly continuous belt of tundra extending from northern Europe to eastern Canada which contained all the necessary ecological prerequisites to support Upper Pleistocene large game hunting economies. Twenty-three prehistoric sites were discovered in the survey of this area, ranging in size and composition from small concentrations of chipping debris to extensive areas littered with artifacts and flaking. The methodological framework utilized stresses both functional and detailed comparative typological analysis. A functional study of site and artifact utilization suggests that many of the smaller localities were secondary developments from large full band campsites. Although the effects of mechanical weathering on the thin veneer of topsoil have eliminated stratigraphy on the Utukok sites, these large, single component base camps permit the comparison of whole and unmixed cultural inventories with complete artifact assemblages from other North American and Eurasian collections. The 12,350 artifacts recovered cluster into six recognizable cultural complexes, reflecting a temporal span extending from late prehistoric Utorquarmiut Eskimo culture back to 15,000 B.C. or earlier. Detailed comparative analysis of these complexes reveal that the Arctic Slope was occupied by at least two major pre-Eskimo cultural traditions. The earliest, designated the Northern Paleo-Indian Tradition, is characterized by Clovis fluted points in association with technologically distinctive blade tools of Upper Paleolithic type. This strongly suggests that the original inhabitants of the New World originated in the Gravettian cultures of northeast Europe and moved through Siberia, across the Arctic Slope of Alaska and into the interior of North America already equipped with their distinctive fluted-point and blade technology. Subsequently, the Arctic Slope was occupied by cultures of the Paleoarctic Tradition whose sophisticated micro-tool industry was a specific adaptation to the Arctic environment. These cultures, closely related to late Pleistocene traditions of Siberian and Japan, contributed significantly to the Arctic Small Tool Tradition and later Eskimo cultures who inhabited the Arctic Slope in post-Pleistocene times. This profusion of sites and cultural complexes indicates that the Arctic Slope of Alaska has been occupied by human populations for the past 15,000 years, and suggests that it formed a major, if not the original migration route of prehistoric hunters from Siberia, across the Bering land bridge and into the North American interior.

Project Sponsors

The Arctic Institute of North America, The Explorers Club, a National Science Foundation Dissertation Research Grant

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Anthropology

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Anthropology

First Committee Member (Chair)

John Martin Campbell

Second Committee Member

Harry Wetherald Basehart

Third Committee Member

Frank Cumming Hibben

Download

Included in

Anthropology Commons

Share

COinS