ALEUTIAN

PROJECTILES:

SQUARE BUTT, TANGED

ROUND BUTT, TANGED

SQUARE BUTT, UN-TANGED

ROUND BUTT, UN-TANGED

KNIVES:

Tanged Knives: "ESKIMO CROOKED KNIFE"

characterized by one edge being larger than the other, Flaking over both surfaces, and a tang.

Tailoring Knifes: Consists of those blades each of which has two sedges which meet at a point, either at 90deg. or less. The blade as a whole may be either square or triangular

Flaked Ulu Knives: Curved Edge: Semi-Lunar ,Straight edged

Both of which may have the back worked for hafting

Lamellar Graver: A lamellar graver is characterized by retouching along both edges to form a sharp point or a snub-nose tip on one end of the flake. All retouching is on only one face of the flake

Lamellar Scrapers:  A lamellar scraper is  retouched along one or both edges of the flake, but without a definitely pointed or tapered working end. All retouching is on the non-core surface of the flake

References

Laughlin, W.S. and G.H. Marsh

1954. The lamellar Flake Manufacturing Site on Anangula Island

in the Aleutians. American Antiquity, Vol. 20. pp.27-39. Salt Lake City

TERMS

Burination: is a specialized form of retouch which

removes material along the long axis of the edge. Burination of implements permits the resharpeing of the edge with a single flake removal rather than the numerous flakes required to retouch the same edge via facially oriented retouch.

Burins represent the most highly curated artifact at the Anangula Site

Alaskan notched-points derived from one but two archaeological manifestations.

Cape Krusenstern Old Whaling Culture 3500 to 3300 B.P.

Palisades: Anaktuvuk Pass "Tuktu Assenblage6500

Palisades Points found: Onion Portage, Kobuk River 6000

Kelly River

  Chagvan Beach

Similar to:

Brooks River Falls: Stemmed point variety 4(Ackerman 1988:177.Figure 4:D)

Brooks River Falls: Contracting Stemmed point (Dumond 1982:263 Plate X)

King Salmon Site

Ekseavik Point

AD 1420–1620

Cape Lisburne, Uivaaq site, located about 60 miles north of Point Hope, Alaska.

Hungry_Fox_Point

This style is typical of late pre-historic and historic period Iñupiaq sites

 and compare well with artifacts recovered from Iñupiaq sites on the Kobuk River, the vicinity of Barrow and across northern Alaska

 (Ford1959, Giddings 1952, Hall 1971, Murdoch1892).

Walker Lake

PALISADES

Straight-Based Oblanceolate points

Stemmed Points

Point Transition between notched and stemmed point assemblages of Palisades and the pentagonal-point assemblages of Portage

Characterized by: high shouldered Oblanceolate points, all lacking traces of wear along the margins

Stemmed points with plano-convex cross section (in contrast to the lenticular cross-sectioned stemmed points from earlier phases

Characterized by: high shouldered Oblanceolate points

Mesa point

The Walakpa site

Late Thule Points

KAVIK

It is clear that the Dyuktai culture made it to Alaska. Their tool assemblage, composed of wedge-shaped cores, microblades, and bifaces appear in the technocomplexes known as Denali, Akmak, and Gallagher. The similarities between the Alaskan and Siberian tool kits are so great, some have suggested they part of the same assemblage (Haynes 1982). This tradition appears as early as 10,600 rcbp (perhaps 11,600 at Swan Point) in the New World (Hamilton & Goebel 1999). The "core-and-blade"tradition, as it has referred, appears at sites like Swan Point and Healy Lakes (charcoal association dated at 11,800 - 11,000 rcbp), Campus in the Tanana Valley, Panguingue Creek, Tangle Lakes, and Gallagher in Northern Alaska (Goebel and Slobodin 1999). All of these sites contain characteristics that seem to point toward Dyuktai origins. They are all broadly referred to "Denali." Curiously, they all reside south of the Brooks (mountain) Range which runs through central Alaska. These early Alaskan lithic traditions do not resemble the Clovis culture, but rather represent a possible precursor to the Stemmed-Point Tradition. Over time, the Denali tool industry evolves into the technocomplexes known as Agate Basin, Scott"s bluff, and the Cody complex. These assemblages are found in Canada and North America (Faught, lecture, 2000). The Nenana complex in Alaska is represented by tool industries found at Dry Creek at Orion Portage, Walker Road, Moose Creek, Mesa and Owl Ridge. These sites have consistently dated between 11,300 and 11,000 rcbp. This complex contains retouched flakes and blades, bifacial implements, end and side scrappers. Additionally, Nenana points are small triangular or teardrop-shaped projectiles, while microblades are absent from the assemblage. Although no fluted points are found among these sites, some researchers suggest the Nenana complex is a regional precursor and that flutes developed slightly later in New World complexes. That said, fluted points have been found Alaska at Girls Hill (4,440 rcbp), Putu (stemmed and fluted points at 5,700 rcbp), Bonanza Creek (700-1,800 rcbp), Batza Tena (1,800-21,600 rcbp), and North Fork on the Koyukuk River (12,300 rcbp) (Goebel and Slobodin 1999). All of these sites are located in the foothills or north of the Brooks Range. These sites are too late in age to represent a pre-Blackwater Draw occupation, with the exception of North Fork, where only one stratigraphically equivocal fluted-point was found. Most of the Alaskan fluted-points (some with multi-flutes) appear about 8,400 rcbp (Faught, lecture, 2000).

Other sites located in the Far West provide some understanding of the early Alaskan finds. At Charlie Lake Caves in Canada, in an area where the Ice Free Corridor once opened, stubby-fluted points associated with bison are dated to 10,500 rcbp. Similar finds have turned up at Sibald Lakes, Canada. A 9,700 rcbp shell midden in British Colombia exhibits marine mammal remains associated with microblades and stemmed-points. This site, called Namu, indicates a West Coast, southern migration by the Denali tradition. Vermillian Lakes, Canada, has evidence of sheep procurement at 10,700 to 9,600 rcbp and is related to the Stemmed-Point Tradition. Smith Creek Cave in Nevada has stemmed-points appearing at 10,600 rcbp. Stemmed-points (11,000-9,000 rcbp) also appear in the San Diegiato, Lake Mohave, Intermontaine Western, and Western Pluvial Lake traditions. These complexes are all in the Far West and possess burins, crescents, and humped-scrapper. However, microblade tools and ivory use seem to vanish from the Denali-derived assemblages. At Wenatchee, Washington, fluted points, bone shafts and tools (pins, etc.) have been found directly on an ash layer dating to 11,200 bp. Anzick, Montana, has a subadult burial dated to 10,600 rcbp which contains red ocher, bone tools and a cache of large biface preform-projectile points related to the Clovis tradition. Although the evidence strongly suggests the existence of two distinct tool traditions in the West, sites like Borax Lake, California, confuses matters with tools representing both Clovis and Stemmed-Point traditions. Some researchers have suggested the adoption of certain techniques, like fluting, by people who had traditionally not used such methods (Faught, lecture, 2000).

In conclusion, it seems apparent that two distinct culture traditions existed in Beringia during the late Pleistocene, the Denali and Nenana. The Denali tradition seems to have unequivocally derived from the Dyuktai complex of Northeast Asia. The complex most likely evolved into the Stemmed-Point Tradition (and its varieties) and migrated South along the western seaboard. Linguists have associated this tradition with the Nadene language family. While it remains unclear where the Nenana complex originally appeared, some have suggested a tie to the Kostenki group of the Russian Steppes. Fluted-points seems strangely absent in early Beringia assembles, but do appear later in the foothills, and north of the Brooks Range--the mountains themselves seeming to create a cultural boundary from other traditions (Faught, lecture, 2000). To date, the earliest fluted-points still appear in the American Southeast and Southwest. This fact seems to suggest a northern migration of the fluted point tradition, or a northern diffusion of flute technology, during the early Holocene. Nevertheless, Clovis sites in New Mexico still are the oldest unequivocal sites in the New World and the origin of flute technology remains elusive. Why does the Nenana tradition in Alaska, similar to Clovis in many ways, lack characteristic fluting? Perhaps fluting was a New World adaptation, or perhaps the Nenana is a tradition separate from Clovis altogether.