Doctoral Dissertation Research: Seasonal Projectile Point Use in Eastern Beringia During the late Pleistocene/early Holocene: An Experimental Approach

Washington State University, Pullman WA

Investigators

Abstract

Human migration into new territories is relevant for people in all times and places. How do people exist in lower population densities? How do they adapt to new contexts and subsistence resources? With Alaska representing an entrance point for some of the first people coming to the Western Hemisphere, approximately 14,000 years ago, Alaskan archaeology becomes a natural laboratory for understanding these adaptive behaviors. This investigations examines adaptive strategies through the analysis of archaeological and experimental tools kits used by the first inhabitants of Alaska. Within the broader context of this project implications regarding the peopling, and colonization, of Alaska and the highly flexible nature of their toolkits that persisted through much of time are examined through a unique experimental archaeology approach. Examining how, and by what means, these individuals were able to adapt to this harsh frontier is of keen interest to understand the flexible, and complex nature of humans exploring and utilizing a new landscape. Based on artifact form and assemblage structure it has been inferred by some researchers that different cultural complexes may have existed during the late Pleistocene/early Holocene. However, can an examination of certain artifacts at archaeological sites really be indicative of different cultural complexes? Is it feasible that different migrations of people into Alaska would have different toolkits? These interpretations seem to limit the adaptable nature of humans to different situations and not view the entire archaeological system. It seems highly likely that multiple facets (e.g., situational tasks, prey type, seasonality, and others) impacted the assemblage structure of hunter-gatherers in the past and each needs to be explored on its own terms. Within this project experimental archaeology will be implemented to examine the way that different projectile technologies fare in different temperatures, based on seasonality. The project will investigate seasonality from current seasonal data, archaeological sites that have seasonal evidence, the ethnographic record, and an experimental approach to solidify seasonal implications for Alaska during the late Pleistocene/early Holocene. For instance if certain tool stone becomes brittle and fractures in a specific way when propelled in a controlled context it may be possible to examine the breakage and compare it back to an archaeological site with no seasonal data and assign a seasonal occupation, elucidating hunter-gatherer lifeways in prehistory. This approach will address questions regarding the aspects of different groups of people on the landscape or a single group using different adaptive strategies based on situational factors, fracture patterns of projectile technologies, the performance of different projectile systems, and the susceptibility of different types of tool stone to cold weather. Data generated through this study will serve as a novel approach to interpreting human behavior during the earliest periods of occupation on the landscape of Alaska and hunter-gatherer studies as a whole.