Geologic contexts of archaeological sites in Beringia

Abstract

Abstract From reviews of Beringian archaeology (for example, West, 1981, 1983; Morlan, 1986; Dumond, 1980; Dixon, 1985) we know that thousands of sites occur in diverse geologic settings throughout the region (Fig. 1). Examples include artifact horizons within tephra layers in the Aleutian Islands, cave detritus from Yukon Territory, muck deposits in Siberia, abandoned beach ridges along the Bering Sea, between reported glacial tills in southeast Alaska, and in eolian and fluvial sediments of the Alaskan interior. Sites of all ages are most frequently located in river valleys and mountain passes, along stable coastlines, and in quarry and overlook settings, locales comparable to those documented in the ethnographic literature (VanStone, 1974). The chronologic range of sites, however, remains controversial. Proponents of an early human presence (for example, Morlan, 1986; Bonnichsen and others, 1987) rely on patterned modifications of bones from extinct fauna and more recently on the presence of microflakes in securely dated pre-late Wisconsinan contexts. Proponents of a terminal Pleistocene entry (for example, Haynes, 1982; West, 1983) rely on a variety of sites for which the oldest radiocarbon dates associated with diagnostic artifacts range from about 11.5 to 10.5 ka. Chronologic patterns of site distribution during the Holocene are even more enigmatic. Did an existing human population become locally extinct during full-glacial times (Schweger and others, 1982; Hamilton, 1978)? To what extent did the early Holocene reforestation (Barnosky and others, 1987) and insolation-driven climatic changes (Heusser and others, 1985) affect site distribution in space and time (Aigner, 1986)? Were sea-level

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