Early Beringian Traditions: Functioning and Economy of the Stone Toolkit from Swan Point CZ4b, Alaska
Abstract The pressure knapping technique develops circa 25,000 cal BP in Northeast Asia and excels at producing highly standardized microblades. Microblade pressure knapping spreads throughout most of Northeast Asia up to the Russian Arctic, and Alaska, in areas where the human presence was unknown....
Published in: | American Antiquity |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2024.10 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0002731624000106 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/aaq.2024.10 2024-06-09T07:44:12+00:00 Early Beringian Traditions: Functioning and Economy of the Stone Toolkit from Swan Point CZ4b, Alaska Gauvrit Roux, Eugénie Gómez Coutouly, Yan Axel Holmes, Charles E. Hirasawa, Yu 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2024.10 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0002731624000106 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 American Antiquity volume 89, issue 2, page 279-301 ISSN 0002-7316 2325-5064 journal-article 2024 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2024.10 2024-05-15T13:08:59Z Abstract The pressure knapping technique develops circa 25,000 cal BP in Northeast Asia and excels at producing highly standardized microblades. Microblade pressure knapping spreads throughout most of Northeast Asia up to the Russian Arctic, and Alaska, in areas where the human presence was unknown. Swan Point CZ4b is the earliest uncontested evidence of human occupation of Alaska, at around 14,000 cal BP. It yields a pressure microblade component produced with the Yubetsu method, which is widespread in Northeast Asia during the Late Glacial period. Through the techno-functional analysis of 634 lithic pieces from this site, this study seeks to identify the techno-economical purposes for which the Yubetsu method was implemented. Data show that the microblade production system is related to an economy based on the planning of future needs, which is visible through blanks standardization, their overproduction, their functional versatility, and the segmentation of part of the chaîne opératoire . This expresses the efficiency and economic value of the microblade production system. The flexible use of pressure microblades identified at Swan Point CZ4b is also found in Japan, Korea, Kamchatka, and the North Baikal region, suggesting that their modes of use accompany the spread of early microblade pressure knapping over an immense territory across Beringia. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Kamchatka Alaska Beringia Cambridge University Press Arctic Swan Point ENVELOPE(110.500,110.500,-66.367,-66.367) American Antiquity 1 23 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract The pressure knapping technique develops circa 25,000 cal BP in Northeast Asia and excels at producing highly standardized microblades. Microblade pressure knapping spreads throughout most of Northeast Asia up to the Russian Arctic, and Alaska, in areas where the human presence was unknown. Swan Point CZ4b is the earliest uncontested evidence of human occupation of Alaska, at around 14,000 cal BP. It yields a pressure microblade component produced with the Yubetsu method, which is widespread in Northeast Asia during the Late Glacial period. Through the techno-functional analysis of 634 lithic pieces from this site, this study seeks to identify the techno-economical purposes for which the Yubetsu method was implemented. Data show that the microblade production system is related to an economy based on the planning of future needs, which is visible through blanks standardization, their overproduction, their functional versatility, and the segmentation of part of the chaîne opératoire . This expresses the efficiency and economic value of the microblade production system. The flexible use of pressure microblades identified at Swan Point CZ4b is also found in Japan, Korea, Kamchatka, and the North Baikal region, suggesting that their modes of use accompany the spread of early microblade pressure knapping over an immense territory across Beringia. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gauvrit Roux, Eugénie Gómez Coutouly, Yan Axel Holmes, Charles E. Hirasawa, Yu |
spellingShingle |
Gauvrit Roux, Eugénie Gómez Coutouly, Yan Axel Holmes, Charles E. Hirasawa, Yu Early Beringian Traditions: Functioning and Economy of the Stone Toolkit from Swan Point CZ4b, Alaska |
author_facet |
Gauvrit Roux, Eugénie Gómez Coutouly, Yan Axel Holmes, Charles E. Hirasawa, Yu |
author_sort |
Gauvrit Roux, Eugénie |
title |
Early Beringian Traditions: Functioning and Economy of the Stone Toolkit from Swan Point CZ4b, Alaska |
title_short |
Early Beringian Traditions: Functioning and Economy of the Stone Toolkit from Swan Point CZ4b, Alaska |
title_full |
Early Beringian Traditions: Functioning and Economy of the Stone Toolkit from Swan Point CZ4b, Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Early Beringian Traditions: Functioning and Economy of the Stone Toolkit from Swan Point CZ4b, Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Early Beringian Traditions: Functioning and Economy of the Stone Toolkit from Swan Point CZ4b, Alaska |
title_sort |
early beringian traditions: functioning and economy of the stone toolkit from swan point cz4b, alaska |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2024.10 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0002731624000106 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(110.500,110.500,-66.367,-66.367) |
geographic |
Arctic Swan Point |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Swan Point |
genre |
Arctic Kamchatka Alaska Beringia |
genre_facet |
Arctic Kamchatka Alaska Beringia |
op_source |
American Antiquity volume 89, issue 2, page 279-301 ISSN 0002-7316 2325-5064 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2024.10 |
container_title |
American Antiquity |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
23 |
_version_ |
1801372992667648000 |