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Task-Specific Sites and Paleoindian Landscape Use in the Shaw Creek Flats, Alaska

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Abstract

The Shaw Creek Flats and nearby middle Tanana river, in central Alaska, constitute one of the areas in the Americas with the densest known distribution of Late Glacial (about 14,500–11,700 cal. B.P.) archaeological sites. Local high rates of sediment deposition and low post-depositional disturbance allow for the interpretation of the function of archaeological occupations within larger economic and mobility strategies. Residential sites used over the long term seem to be located near critical but immovable resources such as clear water and vegetation. The spatial association of artifacts and faunal remains at other sites in the Flats suggest that they were specialized, short-lived locations dedicated to a single or few activities. For instance, the site of Swan Point Cultural Zone 4b is interpreted as a workshop related to the production of composite tools, particularly on mammoth ivory, and the site of Keystone Dune is interpreted as a camp related to wapiti (Cervus elaphus) hunting. These task-specific sites and others were probably used as part of a predominantly logistical mobility and economy strategy, which maximized efficiency in harvesting and processing resources that were distributed heterogeneously on the landscape.

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Data Availability Statement

Artifacts and associated spatial data from the Keystone Dune and Swan Point sites are curated at the University of Alaska Museum of the North in Fairbanks.

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Acknowledgements

This project received support from the National Science Foundation grant BCS-1504654, the Lewis and Clark Fellowship of the American Philosophical Society, the Otto Geist Fund of the University of Alaska Museum of the North, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute and the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona.

This article greatly benefited from discussions with Mary Stiner, Steven Kuhn, Vance Holliday, and John Olsen (University of Arizona), Ben Potter (University of Alaska Fairbanks), Richard VanderHoek (Alaska Office of History and Archaeology), David Yesner (University of Alaska Anchorage), and from comments from three anonymous reviewers. Help with conducting this research was provided by Meredith Wismer (University of Iowa), Amy Clark, Benjamin Bellorado, Ismael Sánchez Morales, and Jennifer Kielhofer (University of Arizona); Matthew Pailes (University of Oklahoma); and Robert Bowman and David Plaskett (University of Alaska Fairbanks).

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Lanoë, F.B., Reuther, J.D. & Holmes, C.E. Task-Specific Sites and Paleoindian Landscape Use in the Shaw Creek Flats, Alaska. J Archaeol Method Theory 25, 818–838 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-017-9360-0

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