Researchers converge in the Gates of the Arctic to search for traces of the earliest Eskimos. On the shores of Matcharak Lake, one team unearths ancient artifacts and other clues.
Jeffrey T. Rasic, National Park Service, is finding hearths. Rasic spoke at the Alaska Anthropology Association Conference on March 24, 2018. Rasic’s talk was titled Great When You Can Find Them: Case Studies in Hearth Detection Using Magnetic Survey Methods. Rasic said, “Prehistoric hearth features can yield troves of information about past human behavior, archaeological […]
The countryside around the excavation is “A lot of tundra and tussocks, it’s a lot of swampy material, a lot of inlets and outlets. I’ve actually walked all around the lake which was a day–long process.” Joe Keeney said “It’s just a grassy landscape with tall willows that come up to head level and a […]
“Up until the point that the Matcharak Peninsula Site was found, you could essentially fit all the identifiable materials from these Northern Archaic sites into a shoebox,” archaeologist Joe Keeney said. The Matcharak Peninsula site is “A very unique site that has such good preservation, and such high numbers” of bones. The site’s details shed […]
Enjoy FRONTIER SCIENTISTS: SEASON 2 on Alaska Public Media KAKM–TV. From polar bears to grayling, engage in the Artic’s newest discoveries with Frontier Scientists. The series airs Wednesdays at 8pm beginning June 15th. Alaska PBS Programming is available in the state of Alaska. Episodes are scheduled 8pm Alaska time on PBS KAKM Science Wednesday. The […]
The 2008-2009 excavations at Matcharak Lake confirm many assumptions about the Denbigh people 4000 years ago. We have shown the Denbigh to be specialized caribou hunters at least when they are in the mountains. We have shown the extensive use of organics as tools and that these earliest of Paleo-Eskimos were skilled artisans. Although research […]
Ancient Hunters of the Western Brooks Range: Integrating Research and Cultural Resource Management by Jeff Rasic for Alaska Park Science – {Title Image: Screening sediment to retrieve small artifacts at the Tuluaq Hill site. Wrench Creek and the De Long Mountains in the background.} “Look at this one!” “Hey, here’s another over here!” “This one […]
Excavations at the Hungry Fox Archeological Site, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve by Jeff Rasic for Alaska Park Science – Gates of the Arctic National Park, spanning the central portion of the Brooks Range in northern Alaska, is filled with remote river valleys that are hundreds of miles from the nearest city […]
By investigating material culture, technological remains from our human past, we can better understand the way people interacted with the environment thousands of years ago. It can give us answers to how people adapted to change, whether it is climactic, technological, or interactions with other cultures. We as a global society are still facing these […]
When we were working at the Matcharak Lake Denbigh Site in 2009, we noticed on a map that there are other spots around the lake which look like promising spots where people might have lived. So one day instead of excavating, Victoria and I took our boat across the lake and went on a short […]
The results of my studies identified four species of fish, dominated by arctic grayling, burbot, lake trout and northern pike, two species of bird, mostly willow ptarmigan, but a few duck bones (species unidentified) were recovered as well. This is important because ducks are migratory species only found in the Brooks Range in warmer months […]
A midden is basically a prehistoric trash dump. After processing animals for consumption, the unusable remains were often discarded in an area of the camp where people were not working and sleeping. Normally in the harsh arctic environment, bones on the surface waste away rather quickly. At Matcharak Lake, however, conditions were just right to […]
The Denbigh Flint Complex is the term used to define artifacts left behind by the earliest group of Paleo-Eskimos in Alaska. More broadly, the Denbigh are part of the Arctic Small Tool tradition, the first group of people to colonize arctic America from Alaska to Greenland, after the retreat of the massive ice-sheet that once […]
Does watching the archaeologists featured in Paleo-Eskimo videos hard at work– peeling away earth, getting excited over discovering an artifact– summon feelings of jealousy for anyone else? It does for me. The three archaeologists are working to uncover truths 4,000 years old. Situated in Gates of the Arctic National Park, their dig site reveals an […]