Animal Resources and Technology in Eastern Beringia During the Late Pleistocene

Summary

Bone technology is often omitted from discussions about technological variability and functionality in eastern Beringia, where recovered organic artifacts are rare. However, based on discoveries in Northeastern Eurasia with good organic preservation, it can be surmised that bone technology was similarly important to Beringian hunter-gatherers during the Final Pleistocene.

Here we present the results of faunal and spatial analyses of the site of Swan Point CZ4b, the oldest known archaeological site in eastern Beringia (~14,000 cal. BP). Faunal and spatial evidence highlight the function of the site as a specialized organic raw material workshop. Beringian people possessed a breadth and depth of technological skills, and this investment suggests that bone technology formed a major part of their economy. Mammals and birds were clearly regarded as raw material sources in addition to nutritional resources.

Most models describing the process and timing of the colonization of Beringia deal with technological change in terms of lithic technology only. The idea that Beringian people relied heavily on bone technology, in a context where the nature and abundance of animal resources were rapidly and dramatically changing, has important bearings on our understanding of this period.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Human Adaptations to Lateglacial and Early Holocene Climate and Environmental Changes: Towards a Trans-Atlantic Perspective (Part 2)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage