A team that includes two UA archaeologists has made an unusual discovery for North American archaeology: a central Alaska dwelling dating to the end of the last Ice Age, when Asia and North America were connected land masses.
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| UA doctoral student Joshua Reuther, sitting, and University of Alaska anthropology professor Ben Potter study the excavated dwelling, which is about 11,500 years old. It's an especially rare find given its semi-subterranean structure - unusual for the time period [Credit: Vance Holliday] |
Vance Holliday, University of Arizona professor of anthropology and geosciences, and UA anthropology doctoral student Joshua Reuther were part of the team that also included principal investigator Ben Potter, an anthropology professor at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.
The team found an 11,500-year-old dwelling along with the cremated remains of a 3-year-old child in a fire pit.
Researchers also found a variety of stone tools within the dwelling, as well as animal remains and even salmon - some of the earliest identified in Alaska, Reuther said.
The dwelling sits atop older, 13,000-year-old archaeological remains, all of which are at the Upward Sun River site.
Potter and Reuther have conducted research at the site since 2006 as part of a cultural resource management project with Northern Land Use Research Inc.
With funding secured by Potter in 2010 from the National Science Foundation, members of the new group continued excavation last summer. Their findings were recently published in the journal Science.
Despite the work on other parts of the site, Reuther said the discovery of the dwelling and remains was unexpected.
"We were excavating and exploring (the older) component when we decided to look beyond the main excavation area," he said. "That's when we ran into the residential structure and human remains."
Holliday said the site is interesting for a number of reasons.
"One thing is that early human remains from this period are pretty rare - maybe two dozen that span 10,000 years and older," he said. "This one's (almost) 12,000. Biologically, physically, who were these people? We know little about it."
Holliday said the site is the first in Alaska's interior and carries an important date: Alaska and Siberia were a solid landmass just before the time of the dwellers. The Beringia land bridge that connected Alaska and Siberia was eventually submerged by rising seas, separating the two.
"These are the first human remains of someone who actually lived in Beringia - the people that helped populate the Americas," Holliday said.
"The remains aren't in great shape because they were burned, but if we can get DNA out of it, we can learn about their biology."
Holliday said the structure is unusual, making the find even rarer.
"I don't think there are any sites from this time period in North America that have semi-subterranean structure, where they dug a hole in the ground and had roofing," he said. "There was evidence for support poles."
Few structures like this exist anywhere in North America, Holliday and Reuther said, though a similar site was found in eastern Russia.
Potter said both discoveries are spectacular, and the data yielded provides a comprehensive picture. "The importance of each (discovery) becomes even more elevated in the context of each other."
The child could have died from sickness, trauma, or in any number of ways, Potter said.
He said the child was purposefully buried, with the fire being immediately backfilled and the structure abandoned soon afterward.
Potter said the group had close consultations with the local residents to ensure that their questions were being addressed.
"It's not the case where we come in and leave," he said. "We live here. We're part of the community."
The group also is investigating other sites in the area and collaborating with other archaeologists, Reuther said.
But the significance of the current discoveries is evident, Holliday said.
"We've got evidence of how these people lived on this landscape in a cold, unpleasant place," he said.
