Results from Test Excavations of NAB-00533: Apparent Nenana-Aged Occupation from the Northern Copper River Basin

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

NAB-533 is a buried multi-component prehistoric site located in the northern Copper River Basin. National Park Service archaeologists engaged in compliance testing originally recorded the site in 2016. During the 2017 and 2018 field seasons NPS Archaeologist Lee Reininghaus led a project to conduct test excavations at NAB-533. These excavations revealed a feature interpreted as a fire hearth and dated to 11,324-12,188 calendar years ago. In 2019 a team from the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M University initiated test excavations to establish the stratigraphic context of the artifacts and cultural features, collect geoarchaeological samples, obtain additional radiocarbon dates, and increase the sample of artifacts. We excavated 4.75 m2, stratigraphically identifying multiple cultural components. Here we present the results of our analyses which may prove highly significant. Data from this site have the potential to shed light on the processes involved in the initial peopling of Alaska, and more broadly of the American dual continent. We present these results in the hope that they contribute to the ongoing debate which seeks to expand our understanding of the First Americans and the earliest inhabitants of Alaska.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33419