Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T03:13:19.024Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Reported Early-Man Site Adjacent to Southern Alaska's Continental Shelf: A Geologic Solution to an Archeologic Enigma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert M. Thorson ,
David C. Plaskett  and
E.James Dixon Jr.
Robert M. Thorson
Affiliation:
Geology Department, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901
David C. Plaskett
Affiliation:
University of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, Alaska 99701
E.James Dixon Jr.
Affiliation:
University of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, Alaska 99701
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An extensive ancient archeologic site containing lithic artifacts and associated with mammoth remains was reported at Chinitna Bay, southern Alaska in 1943. The presence of such a site adjacent to the continental shelf at the base of the rugged Aleutian Range suggested that humans may have inhabited the inner shelf environment during the late Pleistocene at times of lowered sea level. Because of the site's potential significance, an interdisciplinary research team relocated and reinvestigated the area in 1978, but failed to find evidence of prehistoric human habitation. Geologic studies and radiocarbon dating indicate that the strata reported at the site are intertidal in origin, very late Holocene in age, and have undergone significant tectonic movement in the recent past. These observations indicate that the previously published observations of the Chinitna Bay site are probably invalid.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , March 1980 , pp. 259 - 273
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Borden, C.E., (1979). Peopling and early cultures of the Pacific Northwest: A view from British Columbia, Canada. Science 203 963 971 Google Scholar
Clark, J.A. Farrell, W.E. Peltier, W.R., (1978). Global changes in postglacial sea level: A numerical calculation. Quaternary Research 9 265 287 Google Scholar
Detterman, R.L. Hartsock, J.K., (1966). Geology of the Iniskin-Tuxedni Region, Alaska U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 512 Google Scholar
Fladmark, K.R., (1978). The feasability of the northwest coast as a migration route for early man. Bryan, A.L. Early Man in America: From a Circum-Pacific Perspective. Occas. Paper No. 1 Dept. of Anthropology, University of Alberta Google Scholar
Fladmark, K.R., (1978). The feasibility of the north-corridors for early man in North America. American Antiquity 44 55 69 Google Scholar
Guthrie, R.D., (1976). Terrestrial vertebrates and their effect on the distribution of human habitation sites. James Dixon, E. Jr. Bering Land Bridge Cultural Resource Study Final Report. Outer Continental Shelf Office Anchorage, Alaska Report submitted to the Bureau of Land Management Google Scholar
Hibben, F.C., (1943). Evidence of early man in Alaska. American Antiquity 8 254 259 Google Scholar
Hibben, F.C., (1946). The Lost Americans Crowell New York Google Scholar
Hibben, F.C., (1978). Letter of May 17, 1978 to E. James Dixon, Jr. Univ. of Alaska Museum Copy on file, Univ. of Alaska Museum Google Scholar
Hibben, F.C., (1978). Letter of April 13, 1978 to E. James Dixon, Jr. Univ. of Alaska Museum Copy on file, Univ. of Alaska Museum Google Scholar
Karlstrom, T.N.V., (1964). Quaternary Geology of the Kenai Lowland and Glacial History of the Cook Inlet Region, Alaska U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 433 Google Scholar
Plafker, G. Kachadoorian, R. Eckel, E.B. Mayo, L.R., (1969). Effects of the Earthquake of March 27, 1964, on Various Communities U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 542-G Google Scholar
Schmoll, H.R. Szabo, B.J. Rubin, Meyer Dobrovolny, E., (1972). Radiometric dating of marine shells from the Bootlegger Cove Clay, Anchorage area, Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin 83 1107 1113 Google Scholar
Thorson, R.M. Plaskett, D.C. Dixon, E.J. Jr. (1979). Chinitna Bay cultural resource study: The geology and archeology of the southern shore of Chinitna Bay, Alaska. James Dixon, E. Jr. Lower Cook Inlet Cultural Resource Study (Final Report). Outer Continental Shelf Office Anchorage, Alaska Report submitted to the Bureau of Land Management Google Scholar
Wormington, H.M., (1957). Ancient Man in North America Denver Museum of Natural History Popular Series, No. 4 Google Scholar