Technology and Human Response to Environmental Change at the Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary in Eastern Beringia: A View from Owl Ridge, Central Alaska

Abstract

Paleoecological records indicate that from the Allerød to early Holocene interior Alaska underwent significant climatic changes that affected local environments. How did prehistoric Alaskans respond to these shifts between 14,000 and 10,000 cal BP? This paper examines the lithic record at the Owl Ridge site, central Alaska, from a human ecological perspective to explain changes in adaptive behaviors of prehistoric Alaskans. Owl Ridge is a multicomponent site located along the Teklanika River with three cultural components dating to the late Allerød (about 13,000), end of the Younger Dryas (about 12,000), and the very beginning of the Holocene Thermal Maximum (about 11,200 cal BP). We characterize and compare toolstone procurement and selection activities between these components to explore human response to changing climate at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary. This study shows there were differences in technological organization and land-use patterns between the first occupation and subsequent occupations of the site. Initial occupants of Owl Ridge, utilizing the Nenana technocomplex, were not as familiar with the local lithic landscape as later counterparts. Later occupants, using the Denali technocomplex, exploited a higher degree of local toolstones and had become much more familiar with the local lithic landscape. We argue these changes in lithic technology and raw material procurement and selection behaviors reflect shifting land-use strategies used by interior Alaskans as they responded to climate-induced resource distribution shifts at the very end of the Pleistocene.