UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
Grant: $91,039 - National Science Foundation - Aug. 14, 2009
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Award Description: This project consists of test excavations at the Little Delta Dune Site, a Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene site in central Alaska. The cultural remains consist of stone tools and animal remains associated with hearth features. At least four prehistoric occupations are deeply buried in well-stratified contexts, the oldest dating to over 13,300 years ago. The geological context (inactive loess-mantled sand dune) is unique for a site of this age in Alaska. Preliminary testing indicates well preserved remains of waterfowl, small mammals, and large mammals. The proposed project is designed to evaluate site formation and post-occupation disturbance, as well as prehistoric technology and subsistence strategies. Considerable ambiguity exists in our understanding of this time period in the Western Hemisphere. These test excavations have the potential to contribute valuable data to inform current debates about Late Pleistocene technological variability, subsistence economies, and land use strategies in Northwest North America. This research will provide empirical data on early components within well-stratified and securely dated contexts. The well-preserved faunal remains and apparent lack of post-occupation disturbance indicates good potential for evaluating spatial organization. The PIs anticipate that the site may predate the Clovis Complex sites in lower North America, considered by many to represent the earliest colonizers of the Americas. These test excavations will build on initial results by the PI and a geoarchaeology PhD student in anticipation of a more comprehensive multi-disciplinary research program for this site and the region. The results of this test excavation will be of great interest to many researchers across local, regional, and international scales, and to the general public interested in the first peoples of Alaska and the Americas.
Project Description: See Award Description. Project not started.
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Project Status: Not Started
This award's data was last updated on Aug. 14, 2009. Help expand these official descriptions using the wiki below.
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