Brian T. Wygal

Early Prehistoric Archaeology of the Middle Susitna Valley, Alaska

The early prehistory of the Susitna River region, near the place where three major rivers, the Susitna, Talkeetna, and the Chulitna, converge, provides important regional information about the movement of small-scale foraging societies in southcentral Alaska as well as specific data concerning lithic use. Since 2004, ongoing research at the Trapper Creek Overlook (TCO) and Susitna River Overlook (SRO) sites has revealed three primarily lithic artifact assemblages from stratigraphically sealed cultural occupations spanning the early to middle Holocene (ca. 10,000–5000 cal B.P.). Radiocarbon, tephrochronology, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating techniques provide context for interpreting these sites with a focus on geomorphic and stratigraphic contexts, geochronology, and lithic analyses. Results suggest an initial migration from the north and similarities between early and middle Holocene lithic industries in the period prior to the development of riverine salmon economies.

Holzman South: A Late Pleistocene Archaeological Site along Shaw Creek, Tanana Valley, Interior Alaska

ABSTRACT This report introduces the newly discovered Holzman South site with Pleistocene-aged components dated prior to the appearance of Clovis in North America. The site contains evidence for mammoth–human interaction, hearth activity areas, marrow extraction, and localized stone utilization in the middle Tanana Valley of Alaska, the northern gateway of the interior Canadian Ice Free Corridor.

Detecting Late Holocene cultural landscape modifications using LiDAR imagery in the Boreal Forest, Susitna Valley, Southcentral Alaska

The subarctic boreal forest, or taiga, is the largest biome in the world but has received minimal archaeological research because of its remoteness and difficult working conditions. In Southcentral Alaska the most common archaeological sites are surface manifestations of proto-historic semi-subterranean caches once used for food storage and living structures. However, in dense summer vegetation, these small-scale features are difficult to locate without high intensity pedestrian survey. To test the usefulness of LiDAR data for archaeological prospection in the taiga, we compare LiDAR imagery to the known distribution of small-scale semi-subterranean cultural features. The use of LiDAR, when complemented with Sky-View Factor, has proven valuable in identifying relatively small semi-subterranean features though it does not replace on-the-ground investigation. Nevertheless, the application of LiDAR to locate low density and small-scale cultural features is widely applicable across the subarctic in densely vegetated contexts and may assist in significantly expanding our current knowledge of land-use patterns and site distributions in logistically challenging places.