Technological Origins of the Denali Complex

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of Alaska, the Gateway to the Americas" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Our understanding of the origins of early Alaskan assemblage variability is challenged by the co-occurrence or absence of two key lithic technologies—microblades and bifacial projectile points—and the variety of morphologies and production strategies within these categories. Alaskan archaeological complexes that existed prior to the 12,000-year-old Denali complex do not contain the breadth of artifact types found in Denali sites. For example, Denali sites have produced stemmed/lanceolate projectile points, several microblade core forms, and tools such as Denali burins, not found elsewhere. In 1967, F. H. West stated that Denali artifacts, including those from the Donnelly Ridge site, most closely resemble examples from the Shirataki Complex of Hokkaido. Here we explore the technological origins of Denali from a regional perspective, paying special attention to lithic assemblages from northern Japan.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeology of Alaska, the Gateway to the Americas   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36220.0