The Holzman Site: Faunal Remains from a Late Pleistocene Occupation in the Tanana Valley, Alaska

Summary

The earliest archaeological sites in eastern Beringia occur at the gateway of the ice free corridor in interior Alaska. The Holzman site was discovered in 2015 along Shaw Creek in the Tanana Valley and dates to the late Pleistocene. Bison and caribou remains as well as mammoth ivory in the lowest components of the site demonstrate the importance of big game hunting during the colonization of Beringia and the interaction of humans with mammoths during the last phase of their extinction in interior Alaska. Abundant gastroliths suggest birds were also processed at the site. Zooarchaeological analysis, bone hearths, and associated lithics indicate definitive use of the materials by the earliest Alaskans.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16376