A Late Pleistocene Snapshot: Feature 134 at Cooper's Ferry (Nipéhe), Idaho

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Cooper’s Ferry (Nipéhe), located in the Lower Salmon River Canyon in western Idaho, is currently the oldest published radiocarbon-dated archaeological site in North America, with dates as early as ~16,000 cal BP. As this site is south of the southernmost extent of the continental ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum and given that the earliest dates at the site predate the opening of the Ice-Free Corridor, Cooper’s Ferry provides critical evidence for studying the timing, route, and nature of the initial human migration into the Americas. The most recent seasons of excavation at Cooper’s Ferry (2009–2018) uncovered several archaeological features in the earliest levels of the site, including a cylindrical pit feature (F134). This pit contained 131 debitage fragments, 15 FCR fragments, and 8 stone tool fragments, as well as bone and charcoal. The pit also included six human-transported basalt boulders that show evidence of percussive impacts. The current project is a description, analysis, and interpretation of the stratigraphy, artifacts, and context of pit feature F134, which provides a rare snapshot into Late Pleistocene human life in the Lower Salmon River Canyon.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32579