GEOARCHEOLOGY OF 49-PET-408: EVIDENCE FOR EARLY MARITIME ADAPTATIONS IN SE ALASKA

49-PET-408 (On Your Knees Cave)is an archeological and paleontological cave site located on Prince of Wales Island, Southeast, Alaska. Bone and shell tools from different chambers of the cave have been 14C AMS dated to 10,300 +/- 50 BP (CAMS-42381), 5780 +/- 40 (CAMS-42382), and 1,760 +/- 40 BP (CAMS-64540) suggesting several periods of use/occupation of the cave. Human remains of an adult male dated to 9,880 +/- 50 BP delta 13C -12.1 o/oo (CAMS-32038) (pelvis) and 9,730 +/- 60 BP delta 13C -12.5 o/oo (CAMS-29873) (mandible) have been excavated from the deposits (Dixon et al, 1997, Dixon 1999). AMS 14C results indicate these are oldest reliably dated human remains yet recovered in Alaska and Canada. Delta 13C values demonstrate a diet based on marine foods and suggest that the 14C age should be adjusted to c 9,200 based on the regional marine carbon reservoir extrapolated from the Queen Charlotte Islands (Fedje et al. 1996). The human remains are contemporary with a cultural occupation dated by three 14C AMS dates on charcoal (8,760 +/- 50 BP (CAMS-43991), 9210 +/- 50 BP (CAMS-43990) and CAMS-439899, 9,150 +/- 50). Obsidian, microblades, bifaces, and other tools have been recovered from this statigraphic unit. An undated underlying stratigraphic unit contains bone fragments, charcoal and other evidence suggesting an earlier human occupation. Trace element analysis documents two sources for obsidian artifacts recovered from the site; Mount Edziza on the British Columbia mainland and Sumez Island in Southeast Alaska. Collectively these data indicate that by c 9,200 BP humans along the Northwest Coast of North America were coastal navigators with established trade networks for obsidian and a subsistence economy based primarily on marine resources. Because earlier human occupation of the Northwest Coast was necessary in order to establish this broad regional adaptation by 9,200 BP, this evidence strengthens the theory that humans may have first entered the Americas using watercraft along the Northwest Coast of North America during the late Pleistocene (Fladmark 1979).

References Cited

Dixon, E. James, T. H. Heaton, T. E. Fifield, T. D. Hamilton, D. E.Putnam and F. Grady 1997 Late Quaternary Regional Geoarchaeology of Southeast Alaska Karst: A Progress Report. Goearchaeology: An International Journal 12(6):689-712.

Dixon, E. James Dixon 1999 Boats, Bones, and Bison: Archeology and the First Colonization of Western North America. University of New Mexico Press,Alberquerque.

Fedje, D. W., A.P. Mackie, J. B. McSporran, and B. Wilson 1996 Early Period Archaeology in Gwaii Haanas:Results of the 1993 Field Program. In: Early Human Occupation in British Columbia. Roy L. Carlson and Luke Dalla Bona, eds. pp. 133-150. University of British Columbia Press.

Fladmark, K. R. 1979 Routes: Alternative Migration Corridors for Early Man in North America. American Antiquity 44:55-69.