Swan Point Archeological Site

About this property

The Swan Point Archeological Site, discovered in 1991, is an open-air site composed of several Late Pleistocene and Holocene layers, located in Alaska. The site, in the Tanana Valley, has yielded the earliest known evidence of human habitation in Eastern Beringia, being dated to circa 14,000 cal BP. Swan Point is the oldest archaeological site in the Americas whose age is not disputed. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. This is the oldest cultural sequence present, dating from approximately 11,660 RCYBP to 10,000 RCYBP. 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. 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. Artifacts found at this level (7500-8200 cal BP) include bifaces, unifaces, and microblade cores. This level is associated with high mobility behaviors. Artifacts found at this level (2500-5500 cal BP) 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. The lower levels reveal artifact scatter patterns suggestive of tent rings. This level represents the period between 700 and 2100 years of the Holocene with artifacts including projectile points, pecked stone fragments, scrapers, straight-based lanceolate points and microblades. This occupation includes the remains of an early semi-subterranean house (1850-1900 cal BP). A footprint matching a pre-teen individual was recovered in association with the house remains. 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. Unlike the Broken Mammoth site, the remains of fauna and flora at Swan Point are comparatively few and poorly preserved. The remains that were discovered include swan, goose and moose recovered from the mid to late Holocene zone.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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