Barren Ground Caribou (Rangifer arcticus) from an Early Man Site in Southeastern Michigan

• Published in: American Antiquity
• Main Author: Cleland, Charles E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1965
• Subjects: Museology; Archeology; Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); History; Glacial Lake; Plano; caribou
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/278816; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0002731600019053

Abstract The identification of a phalanx of a barren ground caribou ( Rangifer arcticus ) from the Holcombe site in southeastern Michigan is perhaps the earliest association of man and an animal species in the eastern United States. This phalanx was excavated from a small pit which contained four fragments of unifacially worked artifacts, a number of plano-convex spalls typical of the Holcombe lithic complex, and a small amount of beech charcoal. Association of this site with a beach of glacial Lake Algonquin places its occupation at approximately 9200 B.C.