Prehistoric Colonization of Southcentral Alaska: Human Adaptations in a Post Glacial World A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology by Brian T. Wygal Committee Advisor Dr. Gary A. Haynes University of Nevada, Reno May 2009 © by Brian T. Wygal 2009 All Rights Reserved THE GRADUATE SCHOOL We recommend that the dissertation prepared under our supervision by BRIAN T. WYGAL entitled Prehistoric Colonization Of Southcentral Alaska: Human Adaptations In A Post Glacial World be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Gary A. Haynes, Advisor Michael R. Bever, Committee Member Ted Goebel, Committee Member David E. Rhode, Committee Member G. Richard Scott, Committee Member Scott A. Mensing, Graduate School Representative Marsha H. Read, Ph. D., Associate Dean, Graduate School May, 2009 i Abstract This dissertation presents results from four recently discovered archeological sites in southcentral Alaska. The sites range from the Younger Dryas to middle Holocene in age and provide valuable contextual information for the human process of colonizing a region that was heavily glaciated during the LGM. The deglaciation and human colonization of southcentral Alaska is one of the most significant aspects of the settling phase in eastern Beringia not only for its potential to inform about the human response to post-glacial landscapes but also for what we can learn about subsequent migrations to the southern coast of Alaska. Understanding how early foraging societies spread throughout eastern Beringia, after its initial colonization, requires new models for and approaches to the interpretation of technological variability, especially the enigmatic microblade industries that represent an essential subset of nearly all of the northern prehistoric toolkits. This work presents an ecological approach to the interpretation of assemblage variability in central and southcentral Alaska. Climate and seasonal changes had significant impacts on small- scale foraging societies and undoubtedly played a decisive role in the successes and failures of the earliest Alaskans. This was certainly the case during transition from the Pleistocene to Holocene as major climatic oscillations were underway and foothold communities north of the Alaska Range began dispersing south into the recently deglaciated territories of southcentral Alaska. ii Acknowledgements This research was made possible by the National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs Grant # 0520559. The grant proposal was prepared by Ted Goebel and me in 2004 and emerged from previous work by Fran Seager-Boss at the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Cultural Resources Division who was awarded a Federal Coastal Zone Management grant to conduct the 2004 survey. I am ever grateful to Fran Seager-Boss for placing me and an excellent crew (Kathryn Krasinski, Dan Stone, and Randolph Tedor) in the position to discover the Trapper Creek sites and for continued support of further investigations by the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). Additional funding was provided by several UNR entities including the Sundance Fund, Graduate Student Association, Summer Sessions Program, Academy for the Environment, and the Department of Anthropology. The Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M and the Alaska Humanities Forum also provided funding for this research. Significant funding and support has come from the National Park Service, Alaska Regional Office, which provided a four-year Systemwide Archeological Inventory and Monitoring award that, in part, allowed a search for new sites related to my dissertation research in Denali National Park and Preserve. Although still ongoing, the Denali project has substantially improved this research and for this I am extremely grateful. For making the Denali survey possible, I thank the former and current cultural resources managers Ann Kain and Amy Craver, archeologist Jeremy Karchut, and helicopter pilots George Houke and Shane Herron. I sincerely thank all of the fieldschool students, volunteers, and team supervisors (Kathryn Krasinski, Dan Stone, and Sam Coffman) who labored tirelessly and enthusiastically at these sites. The work of field and lab technicians Richie Bednarski, David Aonga, Jennifer Kielhofer, Evan Pellegrini, Kelly Eldridge, and Travis Shinabarger is also greatly appreciated. Although we may disagree on some aspects, I am grateful to Richard Reger, Randolph Tedor, and Kelly Graf for their contributions and discussions on the sedimentology of the TCO site. iii Acknowledgments are due for the specialized analyses by Elmira Wan at the USGS lab in Menlo Park, Kristi Wallace with the Alaska Volcano Observatory, Anchorage, Steve Forman at the Luminescence Dating Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Chicago, and to Beta Analytic and University of Arizona radiocarbon laboratories. Peter Wigand and his students have been conducting pollen analysis on the Trapper Creek bog cores and John McCormak, Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering at UNR, provided assistance in confirming raw material varieties and elemental characterization of grease residues. I particularly want to thank Rodney “Norwood” Marsh and the community of Trapper Creek, Alaska for their hospitality and for sharing their extensive local knowledge of the area. Chad Valentine of Denali Anglers in Talkeetna provided river boat transportation to many survey areas throughout the Susitna River lowlands. Chad’s extensive knowledge of river currents and logistics were invaluable during the Trapper Creek phase of this research. Several specialists in Alaskan archeology and geology have offered enlightening comments on my research including David Yesner, Becky Saleeby, Charles Holmes, Richard VanderHoek, Bob Gal, Owen Mason, William Workman, Douglas and Richard Reger, Don Dumond, and Richard Knecht. Although we may have differing interpretations of the data or hypotheses presented here, their discussions have provided valuable insights and greatly improved my research. I especially want to thank Kathryn Krasinski for her patience and meticulous revisions on early drafts and also to my family for their unlimited support and encouragement. I am thankful for my committee advisor, Gary Haynes, for his attention to detail and editorial skill. His efforts have greatly improved the overall organization and writing of this dissertation. I am also indebted to my graduate committee members Michael Bever, Ted Goebel, Scott Mensing, David Rhode, and Richard Scott for their conversations and perceptive comments related to this research. Finally, I would like to thank my entire committee for their considerable support and advice which has been essential to my academic development. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract............................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. ii Table of Contents.............................................................................................................. iv List of Tables......................................................................................................................vi List of Figures...................................................................................................................viii I. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………….. 1 Environment and Setting………………………………………………….3 History of Research……………………………………………………….6 Central Alaska…………………………………………………………. 6 Southcentral Alaska…………………………………………………... 11 Conceptual Framework…………………………………………………. 17 Research Objectives…………………………………………………….. 20 Dissertation Organization……………………………………………….. 21 II. PALEOECOLOGY OF SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA……………………….. 22 Deglaciation of Eastern Beringia……………………………………….. 24 Southcentral Alaska…………………………………………………... 27 The Aleutians and Southeast Alaska…………………………………. 28 Climatic Oscillations……………………………………………………. 29 Paleoecology of the Mammoth Steppe………………………………….. 32 Volcanism……………………………………………………………….. 39 Primary Evidence for Volcanism in the Trapper Creek Locality…….. 41 Conclusions……………………………………………………………... 44 III. ARCHEOLOGY OF THE SUSITNA RIVER LOWLANDS………………….. 46 Study Area………………………………………………………………. 48 Excavation History……………………………………………………… 49 Stratigraphy……………………………………………………............... 51 Methods………………………………………………………………. 52 Stratigraphic Analysis………………………………………………... 53 Dating…………………………………………………………………… 58 Artifact Assemblages…………………………………………………… 66 Methods………………………………………………………………. 67 Susitna River Overlook………………………………………………. 68 Trapper Creek Overlook, Component I……………………………….73 Trapper Creek Overlook, Component II……………………............... 77 Discussion………………………………………………………………. 80 Conclusions……………………………………………………............... 92 IV. UPLAND LITHIC PROCUREMENTAND HUNTING STRATEGIES……… 94 Study Area………………………………………………………………. 95 Research History………………………………………………............... 97 v Stratigraphy and Dating…………………………………………………. 99 Bull River II…………………………………………………………... 99 Costello Creek……………………………………………….............. 103 Artifact Assemblages…………………………………………............... 105 Methods……………………………………………………............... 105 Bull River II…………………………………………………………. 106 Costello Creek……………………………………………………….. 108 Discussion……………………………………………………………… 109 Upland Kill Sites……………………………………………………….. 116 Analogous Prehistoric Kill Sites…………………………………….