CAST #P-34

MICROBLADE
DENALI COMPLEX I
10,600 B.P.
MOOSE CREEK SITE
NENANA VALLEY, CENTRAL ALASKA
Microblade from the Moose Creek site in central Alaska.
CAST #P-34
MICROBLADE
DENALI COMPLEX I
10,600 B.P.
MOOSE CREEK SITE
CENTRAL ALASKA

   This microblade is one of many discovered during the 1996 re-excavation of the Moose Creek site. It was found in the oldest of the two Denali occupations. All microblades from the Moose Creek site were unearthed above the Nenana complex level dated at c. 11,200 years B.P. These microblades are believed to be 10,600 radiocarbon years old based on similar material from the Dry Creek site. (Georges A. Pearson)
   This small gray microblade is curved on one end indicating an overshot as it detached from the core. It measures 3/4 inch (2 cm) long.

Microblades from the Moose Creek site in central Alaska.
 MICROBLADES
DENALI COMPLEX I
MOOSE CREEK SITE--CENTRAL ALASKA
 1996 RE-EXCAVATION

    Both of these microblades were recovered from component I in the lower Denali occupational level on the Moose Creek site. The small gray one (cast #P-34) is curved on one end indicating an overshot as it detached from the core. The other tan blade is a good straight example. Two previous blade removals can be seen on its surface. The smaller blade measures 3/4 inch (2 cm) long.

THE MOOSE CREEK 
DENALI & NENANA COMPLEX OCCUPATIONS
 11,190 B.P.
CENTRAL ALASKA

   The Moose Creek site was discovered in 1978 by J.F. Hoffecker and C.R. Waythomas during the North Alaska Range Early Man Project. The site was re-excavated in 1996 by Georges A. Pearson (University of Kansas). Moose Creek is a Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene multi-component site that contains a Nenana complex occupation overlaid by two superimposed Denali complex components.

"REFERENCES"

1991, "Clovis Origins and Adaptations," "The Nenana Complex of Alaska and Clovis Origins," by Ted Goebel, Roger Powers and Nancy Bigelow, pp 49-76.
1993, "From Kostenki to Clovis," "The Ones That Will Not Go Away," by J.M. Adovasio, pp. 203-204.
1997, "Expedition Affirms Significance of Moose Creek Site," Mammoth Trumpet, Vol. 12, No. 4, October, pp. 13-18.
1997, "new Evidence for a Nenana-Complex Occupation at the Moose Creek Site, Central Alaska: Preliminary Results of the 1996 Re-excavation," Archaeology, CRP 14, by Georges A. Pearson, pp. 72-74.
1999, "Early Occupation and Cultural Sequence at Moose Creek: A Late Pleistocene Site in Central Alaska," Arctic Vol. 52, No. 4, by Georges A. Pearson, pp. 332-345.
2002, "Late-Pleistocene and Holocene Microblade Industries at the Moose Creek Site," Archaeology, CRP 17, by Georges A. Pearson, pp. 64-65.
Personal communications with Dr. Georges A. Pearson.

HOME    ORDERING