EAGER: Upward Sun River (Xaasaa Na') Exploratory Excavation

University Of Alaska Fairbanks Campus, Fairbanks AK

Investigators

Abstract

This project consists of excavation of a residential structure associated with a burial/cremation pit feature, well-dated to 10,000 RCYBP (~11,500 calendar years ago) found by our team last summer at Upward Sun River (Xaasaa Na?) (49XBD-298), a multi-component site in the Tanana Basin, central Alaska. The feature is in buried contexts, over 1 meter below surface, in deposits relatively undisturbed by cryoturbation. After consultation with federal, state, and Native officials (stipulated in the Section 106 MOA), all parties agreed to excavation of the feature. Four additional features (to the burial/cremation pit) have been observed to date, and all appear to be outdoor unlined firepits. This proposed excavation is designed to excavate the residential structure, and collect additional geoarchaeological samples to increase our knowledge of site formation, post-depositional disturbance, technology, and subsistence, as well as to specifically evaluate the child cremation to the rest of the structure. At present, no burials have been found in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene contexts in Eastern Beringia, so our knowledge of an entire suite of mortuary-related behaviors is essentially unknown. This excavation has the potential to contribute transformative data to our understanding of this time period in the Western Hemisphere.