Area less than one acre Added to NRHP 26 September 2008 | NRHP Reference # 08000929 Nearest city Big Delta | |
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The Swan Point Archeological Site is located in eastern central Alaska, in the Tanana River watershed. It is one of a collection of sites in the area that have yielded the oldest evidence of human habitation in the state, and provide the only evidence to date of megafauna no longer found in Alaska, including extinct varieties of wapiti (elk), bison, and mammoth. Finds colocated with human artifacts at the site have given radiocarbon dates of 14,000 years, indicating the site was occupied around 12,000 BCE.
Contents
- Occupation
- Terminal Pleistocene
- Latest Pleistocene
- Mid to Late Holocene
- Late Holocene
- Historic
- Artifacts and features
- References
The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
Occupation
Swan Point has been occupied at least five times since ca 14,500 cal yr B.P. with evidence of charcoal that has been radiocarbon dated to approximately 14,000 B.P. The charcoal dating makes this the oldest known site in the Tanana River Valley. The five occupation times include:
Terminal Pleistocene
This is the oldest cultural level from approximately 11,660 cal yr B.P. to 10,000 cal yr B.P. Artifacts found at this level include worked mammoth tusk fragments, microblades, microblade core preparation flakes, blades, dihedral burins, red ochre, pebble hammers, and quartz hammer tools and choppers. The microblades found at this zone are significant as they are the oldest securely dated microblades in eastern Beringia.
Latest Pleistocene
A variety of bifacial points were found at this level, which dates to approximately 10,230 ± 80 cal yr B.P, including lanceolate points with convex to straight bases, along with graver spurs, quartz pebble choppers and hammers. The mammoth artifacts found in the Latest Pleistocene zone date to approximately 14,000 cal yr B.P. With no other mammoth remains found beyond tusk ivory, it is assumed that the people who lived on the site scavenged the ivory rather than hunting the mammoth themselves.
Mid to Late Holocene
Artifacts found at this level include lanceolate points with heavy edge grinding, sub-conical microblade cores, microblades and scrapers. The upper layer of this level also has notched points, lanceolates, flake burins, microblades, a microblade core and a graver spur on a flake.
Late Holocene
This level represents the last 1,700 years of the Holocene with artifacts including pecked stone fragments, scrapers, straight-based lanceolate points and microblades.
Historic
Site use in historic time is indicated by the presence of artifacts such as tin cans, 30-30 rifle cartridges, an iron knife tang, an early-historic glass bottle and a moose bone flesher.
Artifacts and features
The remains of several hearths were found at Swan Point. Hearths found in the Holocene period have mostly charcoal while earlier hearths at the site include charcoal and some bone. The earliest zone, dating to the Terminal Pleistocene, had no signs of traditional hearth. Some burned residue was found at this zone, implying that before the mid to late Holocene the site was only used as a temporary occupation without repeated use of fire.
An analysis of the lipids and fatty acids in these hearths was conducted in 2008. The report concluded that the bones of animals not only contributed to the diet of the occupants but the marrow and grease was a fuel source. One hearth sample 19792, is believed to come from a large animal, similar to the Red Deer. Hearth samples 19413 and 19421 also have lipids of animal origin from a monogastric herbivore. Sample 19529 contained lipids from a ruminant herbivore and plant material from seeds, indicating that bones from more than one species of animal fueled the fire of early Swan Point occupation hearths.
The lithics in the earliest levels at Swan yielded microblades, which were not found at nearby Broken Mammoth and Meade sites. Lithics of this time period include bifacial tools, blade and microblades, choppers and scrapers of varying size; tools made of ivory are also present. Carbon residue of a chert platform rejuvenation flake has been radiocarbon dated to 13,800 B.P. an indication over the age of the pre Terminal Pleistocene lithics.
The next time period where significant lithics have been found at Swan Point was between 13,000 and 9,500 C. yr B.P. when the Chindadn point type 3 is prevalent. Microblade technology is associated with this period at Healy Lake site but not Broken Mammoth. Swan Point also yields some unique triangular bifaces with corners and broken tips reworked into graver spurs.
Obsidian lithics made from material from the Wrangell Mountains have also been found at Swan Point in the lowest levels of the loess, comparable to the lithics found at Broken Mammoth. The obsidian microblades found at Broken Mammoth were made from the same Obsidian material as the ones found at Swan Point indicating a strong connection between the two sites.