At a site called Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ (which means "They Were There" in the Alaska Native Athabascan language), about 34 miles (55 kilometers) southeast of Fairbanks, archaeologists have excavated an encampment that some of the first people to settle in North America used off and on for a millennium.
"I expected we'd find hunting tools and knapping [stone tool making] debris surrounding a hearth or two, but I had no idea that we'd stumble into a base camp with tens of thousands of artifacts," study first author Kelly Graf, an archaeologist at the University of Kansas, told Live Science in an email. "It was a total surprise!"
The researchers found a hearth, a small pit, and a dirt stain where a wooden post had once stood, likely the remains of a lean-to or early tent house. Additionally, the archaeologists unearthed stone tools, bone needles and a pendant made from an antler. Nearby, they found an earth oven, which was full of charcoal and animal bones and was likely used to slow-cook meat for a large family group.
The archaeologists were also surprised by the stone tools recovered at Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ because they are distinctively shaped and unique to central Alaska. Known as diamond-shaped hafted bifaces, the tools were crafted from rhyolite and basalt and are similar to those typically found much farther west in Beringia, in modern-day northern Siberia. Additionally, obsidian artifacts discovered at Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ reveal that people brought the volcanic rock to the site from a geological source hundreds of miles to the northwest.
"Like humans, potentially, the canids of Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ and other early Alaskan sites were recent immigrants from Asian Beringia," the researchers wrote.
One clue to these connections is the presence of bone artifacts in a sewing kit. The archaeologists found eight bone needle fragments at Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ. Previously, the only recovered eyed needles had come from Paleoindian sites in temperate North America. Therefore, the needles from Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ are the oldest needles ever discovered in the Western Hemisphere, and they reveal connections with sites farther south, according to the study.
"The co-occurrence of these cultural features at the single site of Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ is truly notable," the researchers wrote, and they "highlight the strong cultural connection between early Beringians and Americans."
Archaeologists recovered bison bone and a hearth, among other things, at the Beringian site. (Image credit: Kelly Graf)
Further work in Beringia is needed
Future excavations in Beringia could help archaeologists learn more about the earliest people in the Americas, according to Graf. "Alaska is a big place and so remote, so there are really just a few small areas that have been intensively investigated," she said.
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Graf is already planning future archaeological excavations in the area. "We're hoping to bring some younger Alaska Native folks out with us in the coming summers," she said, as incorporating local knowledge is important to the project. "Two of our co-authors are elders from Alaska Native corporations nearest to the site," she said. Elders named the Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ site and have visited it to discuss where to excavate and what the archaeologists might find.
How much do you know about the first people to reach the Americas? Find out with our First Americans quiz!
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