Sourcing Dacite from the Nenana Complex Occupation at Moose Creek, Central Alaska

ABSTRACT

This study reports the first results of geochemical sourcing of artifacts recovered from the 13,000-year-old occupation at Moose Creek in central Alaska, an assemblage assigned to the Nenana complex. During raw-material survey in the Nenana valley, we discovered a previously unrecognized source of dacite, and through portable X-ray fluorescence, here we present its geochemistry. Geochemical comparison of this source to artifacts in the Moose Creek assemblage indicates that the site’s Nenana-complex occupants used this raw material to produce both formal and informal tools, including a diagnostic triangular-shaped Chindadn point.

KEYWORDS:

• Beringia
• Alaska
• X-ray fluorescence (XRF)
• Nenana complex
• lithic procurement

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant number 1838679, the American Philosophical Society Lewis and Clark Fund, and the Dr. Roy J. Shlemon Field Geoarchaeology Fund, Center for the Study of the First Americans. Special thanks to Dr. Kelly Graf for logistical support, field assistance, project guidance, and helpful manuscript comments. Thanks to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum of the North for providing access to collections, Sam Coffman for his accommodating help, and Joshua Lynch for his field assistance. Thanks to Dr. John Hoffecker and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful insights that greatly improved this research brief.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Precisely how the two lanceolate artifacts from the original test excavations match with Pearson’s (1999) more detailed stratigraphic work is unclear; however, Pearson (1999) did find two lanceolate-point fragments in C2 and one nearly complete lanceolate point in C3. Recently, Pratt et al. (2020) noted that the lanceolate points from Hoffecker’s (1996) test excavations likely came from Pearson’s (1999) C2 context.

2 The program GAUSS is available at http://archaeometry.missouri.edu/datasets/GAUSS_download.html.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by American Philosophical Society; National Science Foundation: [Grant Number 1838679]; Center for the Study of the First Americans.