An archaeological survey of Noatak drainage, Alaska
Anderson DD. 1972. An archaeological survey of Noatak drainage, Alaska. The Arctic Anthropology. 9(1):66-118
Surveys and brief excavations in the Noatak River valley, northwestern Alaska were carried out by the author in 1961,1964, 1965, and 1966. Numerous sites were located; these were mainly chipping stations on chert outcrops or near rivers with chert deposits. Most of the sites likely served as caribou lookouts, providing panoramic views of known caribou migration routes. Though too scanty to reveal much about living or hunting patterns, the finds are sufficiently distinctive to suggest cultural historical relationships. They appear to represent eight or nine different groups of assemblages, each from a different time period. The earliest are sites related to the American Paleo-Arctic components at Onion Portage, dated to between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago. Next oldest is a Northern Archaic component stylistically like phase 2 of Palisades complex at Onion Portage, dated to 3,600 or 3,700 years ago. The third and fourth groups are apparently Denbigh Flint related; the fifth is a series of recent Eskimo occupations (500 years ago to the present). Groups of assemblages for which no dates are assigned include one related to Kayuk from Anaktuvuk Pass and three others which have no known counterparts. One of the latter are assemblages with microblade cores that have stylistic features of both Campus and Denbigh type microblade cores. It is suggested that these assemblages represent transitional American Paleo-Arctic and Arctic Small Tool components.