Two Early Sites of Eastern Beringia: Context and Chronology in Alaskan Interior Archaeology
Between the Alaska Range to the south and the Brooks Range to the north, the Yukon River and its tributaries form an extensive network of waterways leading through the lowlands of interior Alaska deep into the North American continent (Fig 1). Despite the extremely cold winters of this arctic and su...
| Published in: | Radiocarbon |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1991
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0033822200013199 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033822200013199 |
| Summary: | Between the Alaska Range to the south and the Brooks Range to the north, the Yukon River and its tributaries form an extensive network of waterways leading through the lowlands of interior Alaska deep into the North American continent (Fig 1). Despite the extremely cold winters of this arctic and subarctic landscape, much of the region remained unglaciated during the last 50,000 years. The central Alaskan lowlands are at the west end of the “ice-free corridor,” thought by most prehistorians to be the pathway to the Americas for Asian hunter-gatherers crossing the continental Beringian “landbridge.” Until recently, relatively little was known of the early human prehistory of Alaska's interior. Growing interest in the timing, nature and paleoecological context of the initial peopling of the Americas has prompted excavation at a number of early sites in central Alaska and the adjacent Yukon (see Powers & Hamilton 1978; West 1981; Fagan 1987: 119-134; Hamilton 1989; Powers & Hoffecker 1989). |
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