Flake Dispersal Experiments

Noncultural Transformation of the Archaeological Record

Bibliographic Data

ID2574875
AuthorsPeter M Bowers (0000-0002-4990-7100, Bureau of Land Management, corresponding author), Robson Bonnichsen (University of Maine), David M Hoch
Year1983
Volume48
Issue3
Pages553-572
Publication date1983-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/280562
OpenAlexW1573969809
LanguageEN
Citations received35
References cited27

Time lapse studies of frost action effects on arctic and subarctic surficial archaeological sites have been conducted from 1973 to the present. Test plots of experimentally produced flakes were constructed in 1973 in the Tangle Lakes Region of the Central Alaska Range and subsequently remapped and photographed in 1974, 1976, and 1980. Similar test plots were laid out in the arctic foothills province of the Brooks Range. Observations made during the study period include: (1) flake displacements of as much as 20 cm/yr; (2) average minimum movement is 4 cm/yr; and (3) upslope movements were observed, suggesting that slope is not the primary factor in flake displacements. Frost heave, needle ice and, possibly, wind appear to be the dominant forces responsible for dispersals. It is argued that these and other natural processes can restructure the archaeological record into patterns that easily can be mistaken for those produced by human activity

Archaeology · Arctic · Biological dispersal · Cartography · Flake · Foothills · Frost (temperature) · Frost weathering · Geography · Geomorphology · Period (music) · Physical geography · Prehistory · Range (aeronautics) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Climate change and permafrost · Geology · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Oceanography · Paleontology

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