Late Pleistocene Settlement in the Nenana Valley, Central Alaska

Ongoing research in the Nenana Valley is uncovering a complex record of Late Glacial settlement in the foothills of the Alaska Range. A local eolian sequence provides relatively precise stratigraphic and chronological control, permitting integration with regional paleoclimatic history. Initial occup...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:American Antiquity
Main Authors: Powers, William R., Hoffecker, John F.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1989
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/281707
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0002731600074163
Description
Summary:Ongoing research in the Nenana Valley is uncovering a complex record of Late Glacial settlement in the foothills of the Alaska Range. A local eolian sequence provides relatively precise stratigraphic and chronological control, permitting integration with regional paleoclimatic history. Initial occupation seems to have occurred approximately 12,000 years ago, and is represented by several assemblages containing bifacial points. Microblade technology did not appear until ca. 10,500 B.P. The valley probably was exploited on a seasonal basis for large mammal procurement.