Unresolved Questions about Site Formation, Provenience, and the Impact of Natural Processes on Bone at the Bluefish Caves, Yukon Territory
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2620340 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kathryn E Krasinski (Adelphi University, corresponding author), John C Blong (0000-0002-3868-807X, Adelphi University) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-21 |
| Publication date | 2020-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Arctic Anthropology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0066-6939 • E-ISSN: 1933-8139 |
| Publisher | University of Wisconsin Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.3368/aa.57.1.1 |
| OpenAlex | W3119107923 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 12 |
Recent reanalysis of material excavated from the Bluefish Caves, Yukon Territory claims to have identified culturally modified bone dating to 24,000 cal. BP, thereby providing evidence for continuous human occupation of eastern Beringia from the Last Glacial Maximum. However, the recent research largely ignores the history of criticisms of the site and leaves outstanding questions about the site context, associations of lithic artifacts and Last Glacial Maximum radiocarbon dates, and the impact of natural processes on the faunal assemblage, and therefore, how the site fits into the broader Beringian archaeological record. This paper critically analyzes the archaeological record from Bluefish Caves by focusing on evidence for significantly disturbed archaeological contexts and alteration of bone by nonanthropogenic processes. We offer alternative hypotheses explaining the archaeological record at Bluefish Caves based on published data that were not considered in the recent reanalysis. These alternative hypotheses must be addressed before Bluefish Caves can be considered evidence for a Last Glacial Maximum occupation of Beringia. Bluefish Caves remains provocative but unconvincing archaeological evidence for the Beringian Standstill supported by genetic data
Archaeology · Assemblage (archaeology · Beringia · Cave · Context (archaeology · Geography · Glacial period · Holocene · Last Glacial Maximum · Natural (archaeology · Pleistocene · Radiocarbon dating · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Paleontology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
Taphonomy of Beringian Karstic Sites
Mind the Guardrails
The Contributions of Luminescence Dating of Sediments to Understanding the First Settlement of the Americas
Current Understanding of the Earliest Human Occupations in the Americas
Experiments suggest rockfall an improbable cause for bone surface modification on 24,000-year-old bone at Bluefish Caves, Canada
Terminal Pleistocene human occupation of the upper Copper River basin, southern Alaska
Sites in the Americas with Possible or Probable Evidence for the Butchering of Proboscideans
Does the evidence at Arroyo del Vizcaíno (Uruguay) support the claim of human occupation 30,000 years ago
Evaluating Claims of Early Human Occupation at Chiquihuite Cave, Mexico
Questioning the Anthropic Nature of Pedra Furada and the Piauí Sites
Initial Human Colonization of the Americas, Redux
Stone and mammoth ivory tool production, circulation, and human dispersals in the middle Tanana Valley, Alaska
| Citations per year | 2.4 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Highly cited | No |