Ben A Potter
Biographic Data
| ID | 333783 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ben A Potter |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ben A |
| FAMILY NAME | Potter |
| SIGNATURE | POTTER B A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Alaska Fairbanks |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4749-0428 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 137 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 26 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Alaska Natives and Mammoths
Interactions between Native North Americans and extinct megafauna—including proboscideans (mammoths, mastodons, and gomphotheres)—tend to be portrayed only as predatory and only during a short period at the very end of the Pleistocene. In this article, we review the evidence of interaction between mammoths and Alaska Natives in subarctic/arctic North America to discuss how mammoths have held larger cultural significance both during the period of …
Exploratory Models of Social Organization and Adaptive Responses to Risk in Subarctic Alaska
Cultural stability and change in subarctic Alaska are often couched in terms of archaeological constructs derived from lithic typologies, migration, and (to a lesser extent) diffusion. Major problems explaining material-culture continuity and transitions remain largely unresolved. To address these problems, models of resource management strategies (RMS) are developed for the two major cultural systems: a Late Pleistocene / Early Holocene (LP/EH) …
A model of the origins and development of Aleut
It has long been thought that Unangam Tunuu (Aleut) must have undergone substantial language contact at some point, given its divergent lexicon, features seemingly shared with Dene languages, and a single feature shared with Eyak, Tlingit, and Haida. To date, however, the nature of prehistoric language contact event(s) has remained unclear. Collaboration between the authors has resulted in a cohesive model of language contact mechanisms, together…
Ancient Burials at Upward Sun River, Central Alaska
In the late summer about 11,500 years ago, probably in the space of a few weeks, three young Paleoindian children died and were buried in a residential camp alongside Xasaa Na’ (Upward Sun River). An infant and neonate were buried together with associated funerary objects below a central cooking hearth, and later a ~three-year-old child was cremated and buried above the same feature. This article explores the lifeways of the Ancient Beringians th…
Mid-Holocene Language Connections between Asia and North America
Current Understanding of the Earliest Human Occupations in the Americas
Various chronologies of the earliest Native American occupations have been proposed with varying levels of empirical support and conceptual rigor, yet none is widely accepted. A recent survey of pre-Clovis dated sites (Becerra-Valdivia and Higham 2020) concludes a pre-Last Glacial Maximum (>26,500–19,000 cal yr BP) entry of humans in the Americas, in part based on recent work at Chiquihuite Cave, Mexico. We evaluate the evidence used to develop t…
Pioneers from Northern Japan in Idaho 16,000 Years Ago? A Critical Evaluation of the Evidence from Cooper’s Ferry
Davis et al. (2019) recently presented the results of excavations at the Cooper’s Ferry site, located beside the Salmon River in Idaho. They claim that initial occupation of this site dates from ∼16,000 calendar years ago, that the first inhabitants came from northern Japan, and that this site conclusively demonstrates that “humans initially migrated into the Americas along the Pacific coast.” Here, we critically examine the chronological, geoarc…
Evaluating Claims of Early Human Occupation at Chiquihuite Cave, Mexico
Archaeologists working in Mexico recently claimed evidence for pre-Last Glacial Maximum human occupation in the Americas, based on lithic items excavated from Chiquihuite Cave, Zacatecas. Although they provide extensive array of ancillary studies of the cave's chronostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental record, the data they present do not support their central argument, that these lithic items are anthropogenic and represent a unique lithic indus…
The micromorphology of loess‐paleosol sequences in central Alaska
The middle Tanana Valley of central Alaska contains a well‐preserved record of human occupation and paleoenvironmental change since the Late Glacial period (c. 16,000 cal yr BP) and is a critical region for understanding human dispersal into the Americas. Micromorphology analysis of soils and sediments from six archaeological sites yields valuable information about soil formation processes and landscape evolution during the Late Glacial and into …
Small mammals and paleovironmental context of the terminal pleistocene and early holocene human occupation of central Alaska
This paper explores paleoenvironmental and paleoecological information that may be obtained from small‐mammal assemblages recovered at central Alaska archaeological sites dated to the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene (14,500–8,000 cal B.P.). Small‐mammal remains in these open‐air sites are primarily related to deposition by natural death causes and as such provide information on site paleoenvironments and landscape heterogeneity. Their pre…
A track in the Tanana
Terminal Pleistocene Alaskan genome reveals first founding population of Native Americans
The Early Holocene-aged Component at the Jay Creek Ridge Site, Middle Susitna River Valley, Alaska
The Jay Creek Ridge site is an early Holocene stratified site located in the Middle Susitna River Valley in central Alaska. Two components, the Lower and Upper, were defined through several years of testing and excavation in the 1980s (1982–1983 and 1986). Accelerator mass spectrometry dating of the Lower Component indicates the site is around 11,000 calibrated years before present, placing it among the oldest upland sites in the central Alaska R…
Strontium and Oxygen Isotope Profiles of Sequentially Sampled Modern Bison ( Bison bison bison ) Teeth from Interior Alaska as Proxies of Seasonal Mobility
Studies addressing prehistoric mobility in animals typically use isotopic analyses of sequentially formed tissues, such as the growth layers in teeth, to infer physical movement on the landscape. Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr values), which vary geographically, are particularly useful for this purpose, especially when paired with stable oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O), which vary seasonally. Together, these two isotope systems can provide info…
Late Pleistocene lithic technology and human adaptation in Northeast China
Early colonization of Beringia and Northern North America
Postglacial viability and colonization in North America’s ice-free corridor
During the Last Glacial Maximum, continental ice sheets isolated Beringia (northeast Siberia and northwest North America) from unglaciated North America. By around 15 to 14 thousand calibrated radiocarbon years before present (cal. kyr bp), glacial retreat opened an approximately 1,500-km-long corridor between the ice sheets. It remains unclear when plants and animals colonized this corridor and it became biologically viable for human migration. …
The Rosa-Keystone Dunes Field
Stabilized sand sheets and dunes hold a remarkable amount of information on paleoenvironmental conditions under which late Quaternary landscapes evolved in northern subarctic regions. We provide the results of a project focused on understanding the development of lowland environments and ecosystems, including dunes and sand sheets, which were critical habitat for early human occupations in subarctic regions. Our study area is the Rosa-Keystone Du…
High Resolution Radiocarbon Dating at the Gerstle River Site, Central Alaska
Early Holocene cultural material at Gerstle River, central Alaska, provides excellent contextual controls for examining variability in radiocarbon dating. Over 4,000 bone and teeth fragments are directly associated with over 7,000 lithic artifacts and 10 discrete charcoal-rich hearths in a thin occupation layer (∼10 cm vertical thickness) within well-stratified loess deposits. Radiocarbon dating of the hearth features indicates overlapping ages a…
Assessing the reliability of pRIA for identifying ancient proteins from archaeological contexts
Exploratory Models of Intersite Variability in Mid to Late Holocene Central Alaska
IInterrelated aspects of technology, site structure, and subsistence patterns in central Alaska are synthesized using a comprehensive database of radiocarbon-dated components. Microblade technology is examined with respect to broad patterns of technology, settlement, and subsistence. Striking changes in the archaeological record during the Late Holocene (~1000 cal BP), including the loss of microblades, are explored through three general models: …
Radiocarbon Chronology of Central Alaska
This research presents the first comprehensive radiocarbon chronology for central Alaska, encompassing the late Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological record. Dated component distributions, comprised of 274 14 C dates from 160 components, indicate changing land-use strategies and subsistence economies, reflecting primarily lowland exploitation of bison, wapiti, and birds prior to 6000 cal B P, followed by increasing caribou and fish exploitation…
A First Approximation of Holocene Inter-Assemblage Variability in Central Alaska
Ben A. Potter Ben A. Potter, Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 310 Eielson Building, P.O. Box 757720, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775–7720
Geological and Cultural Context of the Nogahabara I Site
Interpretation of the Nogahabara I assemblage as a Late Pleistocene abandoned toolkit rests primarily on the premise of a single brief occupation at the site. The limited contextual data presented do not discount a palimpsest of noncontemporaneous assemblages in secondary contexts associated with a lag deposit. Spatial patterning, lithic assemblage patterning, artifact surface alteration, and disparate radiocarbon dates at the site, as well as ge…
Models of faunal processing and economy in Early Holocene interior Alaska
This study represents the first detailed published analysis of a relatively large archaeologically derived faunal assemblage in eastern Beringia for the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene. The faunal remains, dated to 10, 100 cal. BP, are well preserved and have highly resolved spatial association with lithics and hearth features. Factors in the formation of the assemblage are assessed through analyses of weathering, presence/absence of carnivore da…
Early colonization of Beringia and Northern North America
Radiocarbon Chronology of Central Alaska
This research presents the first comprehensive radiocarbon chronology for central Alaska, encompassing the late Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological record. Dated component distributions, comprised of 274 14 C dates from 160 components, indicate changing land-use strategies and subsistence economies, reflecting primarily lowland exploitation of bison, wapiti, and birds prior to 6000 cal B P, followed by increasing caribou and fish exploitation…
Models of faunal processing and economy in Early Holocene interior Alaska
This study represents the first detailed published analysis of a relatively large archaeologically derived faunal assemblage in eastern Beringia for the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene. The faunal remains, dated to 10, 100 cal. BP, are well preserved and have highly resolved spatial association with lithics and hearth features. Factors in the formation of the assemblage are assessed through analyses of weathering, presence/absence of carnivore da…
Evaluating Claims of Early Human Occupation at Chiquihuite Cave, Mexico
Archaeologists working in Mexico recently claimed evidence for pre-Last Glacial Maximum human occupation in the Americas, based on lithic items excavated from Chiquihuite Cave, Zacatecas. Although they provide extensive array of ancillary studies of the cave's chronostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental record, the data they present do not support their central argument, that these lithic items are anthropogenic and represent a unique lithic indus…
A First Approximation of Holocene Inter-Assemblage Variability in Central Alaska
Ben A. Potter Ben A. Potter, Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 310 Eielson Building, P.O. Box 757720, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775–7720
The micromorphology of loess‐paleosol sequences in central Alaska
The middle Tanana Valley of central Alaska contains a well‐preserved record of human occupation and paleoenvironmental change since the Late Glacial period (c. 16,000 cal yr BP) and is a critical region for understanding human dispersal into the Americas. Micromorphology analysis of soils and sediments from six archaeological sites yields valuable information about soil formation processes and landscape evolution during the Late Glacial and into …
Exploratory Models of Intersite Variability in Mid to Late Holocene Central Alaska
IInterrelated aspects of technology, site structure, and subsistence patterns in central Alaska are synthesized using a comprehensive database of radiocarbon-dated components. Microblade technology is examined with respect to broad patterns of technology, settlement, and subsistence. Striking changes in the archaeological record during the Late Holocene (~1000 cal BP), including the loss of microblades, are explored through three general models: …
Geological and Cultural Context of the Nogahabara I Site
Interpretation of the Nogahabara I assemblage as a Late Pleistocene abandoned toolkit rests primarily on the premise of a single brief occupation at the site. The limited contextual data presented do not discount a palimpsest of noncontemporaneous assemblages in secondary contexts associated with a lag deposit. Spatial patterning, lithic assemblage patterning, artifact surface alteration, and disparate radiocarbon dates at the site, as well as ge…
Small mammals and paleovironmental context of the terminal pleistocene and early holocene human occupation of central Alaska
This paper explores paleoenvironmental and paleoecological information that may be obtained from small‐mammal assemblages recovered at central Alaska archaeological sites dated to the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene (14,500–8,000 cal B.P.). Small‐mammal remains in these open‐air sites are primarily related to deposition by natural death causes and as such provide information on site paleoenvironments and landscape heterogeneity. Their pre…
High Resolution Radiocarbon Dating at the Gerstle River Site, Central Alaska
Early Holocene cultural material at Gerstle River, central Alaska, provides excellent contextual controls for examining variability in radiocarbon dating. Over 4,000 bone and teeth fragments are directly associated with over 7,000 lithic artifacts and 10 discrete charcoal-rich hearths in a thin occupation layer (∼10 cm vertical thickness) within well-stratified loess deposits. Radiocarbon dating of the hearth features indicates overlapping ages a…
The Rosa-Keystone Dunes Field
Stabilized sand sheets and dunes hold a remarkable amount of information on paleoenvironmental conditions under which late Quaternary landscapes evolved in northern subarctic regions. We provide the results of a project focused on understanding the development of lowland environments and ecosystems, including dunes and sand sheets, which were critical habitat for early human occupations in subarctic regions. Our study area is the Rosa-Keystone Du…
Technical aspects of a worked proboscidean tusk from Inmachuk River, Seward Peninsula, Alaska
A track in the Tanana
Late Pleistocene lithic technology and human adaptation in Northeast China
Assessing the reliability of pRIA for identifying ancient proteins from archaeological contexts
Technical aspects of a worked proboscidean tusk from Inmachuk River, Seward Peninsula, Alaska
Models of faunal processing and economy in Early Holocene interior Alaska
This study represents the first detailed published analysis of a relatively large archaeologically derived faunal assemblage in eastern Beringia for the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene. The faunal remains, dated to 10, 100 cal. BP, are well preserved and have highly resolved spatial association with lithics and hearth features. Factors in the formation of the assemblage are assessed through analyses of weathering, presence/absence of carnivore da…
Radiocarbon Chronology of Central Alaska
This research presents the first comprehensive radiocarbon chronology for central Alaska, encompassing the late Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological record. Dated component distributions, comprised of 274 14 C dates from 160 components, indicate changing land-use strategies and subsistence economies, reflecting primarily lowland exploitation of bison, wapiti, and birds prior to 6000 cal B P, followed by increasing caribou and fish exploitation…
A First Approximation of Holocene Inter-Assemblage Variability in Central Alaska
Ben A. Potter Ben A. Potter, Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 310 Eielson Building, P.O. Box 757720, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775–7720
Geological and Cultural Context of the Nogahabara I Site
Interpretation of the Nogahabara I assemblage as a Late Pleistocene abandoned toolkit rests primarily on the premise of a single brief occupation at the site. The limited contextual data presented do not discount a palimpsest of noncontemporaneous assemblages in secondary contexts associated with a lag deposit. Spatial patterning, lithic assemblage patterning, artifact surface alteration, and disparate radiocarbon dates at the site, as well as ge…
Assessing the reliability of pRIA for identifying ancient proteins from archaeological contexts
Exploratory Models of Intersite Variability in Mid to Late Holocene Central Alaska
IInterrelated aspects of technology, site structure, and subsistence patterns in central Alaska are synthesized using a comprehensive database of radiocarbon-dated components. Microblade technology is examined with respect to broad patterns of technology, settlement, and subsistence. Striking changes in the archaeological record during the Late Holocene (~1000 cal BP), including the loss of microblades, are explored through three general models: …
High Resolution Radiocarbon Dating at the Gerstle River Site, Central Alaska
Early Holocene cultural material at Gerstle River, central Alaska, provides excellent contextual controls for examining variability in radiocarbon dating. Over 4,000 bone and teeth fragments are directly associated with over 7,000 lithic artifacts and 10 discrete charcoal-rich hearths in a thin occupation layer (∼10 cm vertical thickness) within well-stratified loess deposits. Radiocarbon dating of the hearth features indicates overlapping ages a…
Postglacial viability and colonization in North America’s ice-free corridor
During the Last Glacial Maximum, continental ice sheets isolated Beringia (northeast Siberia and northwest North America) from unglaciated North America. By around 15 to 14 thousand calibrated radiocarbon years before present (cal. kyr bp), glacial retreat opened an approximately 1,500-km-long corridor between the ice sheets. It remains unclear when plants and animals colonized this corridor and it became biologically viable for human migration. …
The Rosa-Keystone Dunes Field
Stabilized sand sheets and dunes hold a remarkable amount of information on paleoenvironmental conditions under which late Quaternary landscapes evolved in northern subarctic regions. We provide the results of a project focused on understanding the development of lowland environments and ecosystems, including dunes and sand sheets, which were critical habitat for early human occupations in subarctic regions. Our study area is the Rosa-Keystone Du…
Early colonization of Beringia and Northern North America
Terminal Pleistocene Alaskan genome reveals first founding population of Native Americans
The Early Holocene-aged Component at the Jay Creek Ridge Site, Middle Susitna River Valley, Alaska
The Jay Creek Ridge site is an early Holocene stratified site located in the Middle Susitna River Valley in central Alaska. Two components, the Lower and Upper, were defined through several years of testing and excavation in the 1980s (1982–1983 and 1986). Accelerator mass spectrometry dating of the Lower Component indicates the site is around 11,000 calibrated years before present, placing it among the oldest upland sites in the central Alaska R…
Strontium and Oxygen Isotope Profiles of Sequentially Sampled Modern Bison ( Bison bison bison ) Teeth from Interior Alaska as Proxies of Seasonal Mobility
Studies addressing prehistoric mobility in animals typically use isotopic analyses of sequentially formed tissues, such as the growth layers in teeth, to infer physical movement on the landscape. Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr values), which vary geographically, are particularly useful for this purpose, especially when paired with stable oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O), which vary seasonally. Together, these two isotope systems can provide info…
Late Pleistocene lithic technology and human adaptation in Northeast China
Small mammals and paleovironmental context of the terminal pleistocene and early holocene human occupation of central Alaska
This paper explores paleoenvironmental and paleoecological information that may be obtained from small‐mammal assemblages recovered at central Alaska archaeological sites dated to the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene (14,500–8,000 cal B.P.). Small‐mammal remains in these open‐air sites are primarily related to deposition by natural death causes and as such provide information on site paleoenvironments and landscape heterogeneity. Their pre…
A track in the Tanana
The micromorphology of loess‐paleosol sequences in central Alaska
The middle Tanana Valley of central Alaska contains a well‐preserved record of human occupation and paleoenvironmental change since the Late Glacial period (c. 16,000 cal yr BP) and is a critical region for understanding human dispersal into the Americas. Micromorphology analysis of soils and sediments from six archaeological sites yields valuable information about soil formation processes and landscape evolution during the Late Glacial and into …
Pioneers from Northern Japan in Idaho 16,000 Years Ago? A Critical Evaluation of the Evidence from Cooper’s Ferry
Davis et al. (2019) recently presented the results of excavations at the Cooper’s Ferry site, located beside the Salmon River in Idaho. They claim that initial occupation of this site dates from ∼16,000 calendar years ago, that the first inhabitants came from northern Japan, and that this site conclusively demonstrates that “humans initially migrated into the Americas along the Pacific coast.” Here, we critically examine the chronological, geoarc…
Evaluating Claims of Early Human Occupation at Chiquihuite Cave, Mexico
Archaeologists working in Mexico recently claimed evidence for pre-Last Glacial Maximum human occupation in the Americas, based on lithic items excavated from Chiquihuite Cave, Zacatecas. Although they provide extensive array of ancillary studies of the cave's chronostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental record, the data they present do not support their central argument, that these lithic items are anthropogenic and represent a unique lithic indus…
Current Understanding of the Earliest Human Occupations in the Americas
Various chronologies of the earliest Native American occupations have been proposed with varying levels of empirical support and conceptual rigor, yet none is widely accepted. A recent survey of pre-Clovis dated sites (Becerra-Valdivia and Higham 2020) concludes a pre-Last Glacial Maximum (>26,500–19,000 cal yr BP) entry of humans in the Americas, in part based on recent work at Chiquihuite Cave, Mexico. We evaluate the evidence used to develop t…
Ancient Burials at Upward Sun River, Central Alaska
In the late summer about 11,500 years ago, probably in the space of a few weeks, three young Paleoindian children died and were buried in a residential camp alongside Xasaa Na’ (Upward Sun River). An infant and neonate were buried together with associated funerary objects below a central cooking hearth, and later a ~three-year-old child was cremated and buried above the same feature. This article explores the lifeways of the Ancient Beringians th…
Mid-Holocene Language Connections between Asia and North America
A model of the origins and development of Aleut
It has long been thought that Unangam Tunuu (Aleut) must have undergone substantial language contact at some point, given its divergent lexicon, features seemingly shared with Dene languages, and a single feature shared with Eyak, Tlingit, and Haida. To date, however, the nature of prehistoric language contact event(s) has remained unclear. Collaboration between the authors has resulted in a cohesive model of language contact mechanisms, together…
Alaska Natives and Mammoths
Interactions between Native North Americans and extinct megafauna—including proboscideans (mammoths, mastodons, and gomphotheres)—tend to be portrayed only as predatory and only during a short period at the very end of the Pleistocene. In this article, we review the evidence of interaction between mammoths and Alaska Natives in subarctic/arctic North America to discuss how mammoths have held larger cultural significance both during the period of …
Geography (22 works) · Archaeology (20 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (20 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (18 works) · Geology (17 works) · Holocene (13 works) · Paleontology (11 works) · Biology (9 works) · Indigenous Studies and Ecology (9 works) · Pleistocene (9 works)