Middle Holocene Lithic Technological Organization and Upland Land Use in the Upper Susitna River Basin, Alaska

ABSTRACT

The middle Holocene period is marked by an apparent increase in the use of upland subsistence resources across North America. This pattern has also been observed in the uplands of central Alaska; however, we have limited understanding of the nature of upland hunter-gatherer land-use strategies during this time. This study presents a lithic technological organization analysis of three middle Holocene sites in the upper Susitna River basin, central Alaska Range, to evaluate middle Holocene land-use strategies. The Middle Holocene lithic assemblages presented here have characteristics of a low mobility land-use system in contrast with preceding periods. An important driver of middle Holocene upland land-use intensification may have been a warming climate and associated shift in vegetation patterns and caribou range. Understanding the intensity with which hunter-gatherers in the past utilized upland landscapes has implications for understanding ecological change in marginal ecosystems.

KEYWORDS:

• Lithic technology
• Alaska
• Holocene
• hunter-gatherer
• landscape

Acknowledgements

The Upper Susitna River basin is in the traditional homelands of the Cantwell-Denali Band of the Western Ahtna. I am deeply indebted to Ahtna Incorporated, the Ahtna Inc. Board of Directors, and the Cantwell Native Village Council for teaching me about the importance of consultation when planning archaeological field research. The University of Alaska Museum of the North provided access to the Butte Lake collection, and Jeff Rasic, Josh Reuther, and Sam Coffman provided the obsidian pXRF analysis reported here. Ted Goebel, Mike Waters, Kelly Graf, Nancy Bigelow, and Fred Smeins provided feedback on an earlier draft of this manuscript. This project would not have been possible without the work of the 2010, 2011, and 2012 Texas A&M University field crews and volunteers.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR) at https://doi.org/10.48512/XCV8468022, reference number 468022.

Geolocation information

Upper Susitna River Basin, Alaska; northern boundary: 63.228; southern boundary: 63.042, eastern boundary: –147.133, western boundary: –147.901.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Science Foundation Arctic Social Sciences Program: [Grant Number DDIG #1217575]; Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research; Frison Institute Patrick Orion Mullen Fund; Center for the Study of the First Americans Roy Shlemon Scholarship; Elfrieda Frank Foundation; Arctic Institute of North America Grants-in-Aid.