2001 JUNE

THE MESA SITE
"The first well documented Paleo-Indian SITE to be found in the North American Arctic!"
NORTHERN ALASKA--ARCTIC CIRCLE SUMMER EXCAVATIONS
Typical summer time snow on the Mesa site.

TEN VIEWS OF THE MESA SITE
 CLICK ON PICTURES FOR IMAGES OF EXCAVATIONS AND VIEWS OF THE SITE.
 Aerial view of the Mesa site looking south. Mesa site and camp looking north. Aerial view of the Mesa site and camp looking west. The Mesa camp looking south. Looking south towards the Mesa site in the background. 
Excavating on the Mesa site looking south. The Mesa site and camp looking north. Excavating on a nice day in the saddle area in 1999 looking south. Typical summer snow storm at the Mesa site looking north. Excavating on the Mesas site looking west.

THE MESA SITE
A PALEO-INDIAN HUNTING LOOKOUT
ARCTIC CIRCLE
NORTHERN ALASKA
11,700 to 9,700 years ago
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

    The Mesa site was discovered in 1978 by Bureau of Land Management archaeologist Michael Kunz in the northern foothills of Alaska's Brooks Range above the Arctic Circle. The site was tested in 1979 and 1980. Full scale summer excavations began in 1991 and continued through 1999. Several years of excavations eventually produced 51 carbon dates that range from 11,700 to 9,700 years before present. The best estimated core record of time for the Paleo feature of this site seems to be somewhere between 10,400 and 9,800 years ago. The Mesa site is recognized as the first well-documented Paleo-Indian site to be found in the North American Arctic.
   The Mesa site is located on a high plateau approximately 200 feet above the rolling Arctic tundra. It was periodically used as a hunting lookout that provided a 360 degree view of the treeless plains below for more than 60 square miles.  These early people were hunting big game animals such as caribou, musk oxen, extinct bison and mammoths. This lookout provided them with a convenient way to locate animals in the area.
   The Mesa site produced a classic Early-Paleo stone tool assemblage. Leading North American Paleo-Indian archaeologists Dr. George Frison, Dr. C. Vance Haynes and Dr. Dennis Stanford have visited the site and studied the artifacts and have concluded that the Mesa tool assemblage is typically Paleo-Indian.  Also, other archaeologists have studied the tool assemblage and have reached the same conclusion. This site produced gravers of a type that have been found in Clovis tool assemblages from coast to coast in the United States. End-scrapers with and without spurs were also found. End-scrapers or so-called thumbnail scrapers are found in tool kits on the majority of very early Stone Age sites in North America.
   The more than one hundred projectile points that were found on the Mesa site are very similar to Agate Basin points, although they seem to average slightly smaller. This may be a factor directly caused by chert availability in the area. These projectile points were most probably hafted on spears and thrown with an atlatl or throwing stick. They may have even been hafted onto short fore shafts that could have quickly and easily replaced a broken point on a larger spear shaft. The "Mesa points" are lanceolate in outline and have heavily ground or smoothed basal edges where they were hafted to a spear.  These points were resharpened and repointed uniformly by pressure flaking without beveling like some later types of spear points.
   Only two later period features were found on the Mesa site. One is in locality A where a late northern Archaic micro-blade feature was found that dates to approximately 3500 years ago. Most of the artifacts found there were 120 micro-blades. Another item, a 45-70 cartridge, was also found on the Mesa site. This fairly recent artifact probably indicates that sometime between 1885-1910 an Eskimo had climbed to the site and fired at an animal on the Arctic tundra below.
   The Mesa site was an important discovery. It has contributed new theories and insights into how these early people lived and were colonizing the New World.

Mesa site spear point.

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MESA SITE POINT (cast available)
NORTHERN ALASKA ABOVE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
 BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

   This spear point is complete but has been heavily resharpened. It measures 2 11/16 inches long.

Mesa site heavily resharpened spear point.

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MESA SITE POINT (cast available)
NORTHERN ALASKA ABOVE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
 BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

   This spear point is complete but has been heavily resharpened. So much so that it may have been seen as no longer useful and finally discarded for a newer point.

Mesa site projectile point.

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MESA SITE POINT
NORTHERN ALASKA ABOVE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
 BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

   This spear point is complete but may have been resharpened at least once and the tip of the point appears to possibly have suffered some impact damage.


Mesa site projectile point.

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MESA SITE POINT
NORTHERN ALASKA ABOVE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
 BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

   This concave base spear point is complete but like several of the points from this site has been heavily resharpened. One ear is also broken off.

Two gravers from the Mesa site.

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GRAVERS
MESA SITE
NORTHERN ALASKA ABOVE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
 BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

   These are very typical examples of a tool that was used all across North America during the Early Paleo-Indian time period. The tiny "points" were used as the cutting surface for grooving or engraving materials like bone, ivory or wood. The smallest example measures only slightly more than 1/2 inch wide.

Mesa site micro-blade core showing blade removals.

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BIPOLAR FLUTED OBJECT
MESA SITE
NORTHERN ALASKA ABOVE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
 BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

   This is one of the most unique objects found on the Mesa site. It was found in a late northern Archaic micro-blade feature that dates to approximately 3500 years ago. Unlike the earlier features on this site this one was not associated with a hearth. 120 micro-blades were found in this area. Half of them are made of exotic materials brought into the area from somewhere else. This bipolar fluted object is not believed to be a micro-blade core. It's so uniformly flaked that it was apparently made for some specific purpose. No other similar artifacts have been discovered to compare it with so at this time its intended function is not understood.

MORE MESA SITE ARTIFACTS
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Three broken projectile point bases from the Mesa site. Five points from the Mesa site. The largest point from the Mesa site. Two views of a broken projectile point base from the Mesa site. Large broken biface from the Mesa site.

"REFERENCES"

1993, "Archaeology Magazine", Brian Fagan, pp 42 & 43.
1993 October, "Science & Children" Richard Brook & Mary Tisdale, PP 33-40.
1995, "Mammoth Trumpet", David Stepp, Page 1 and 6-11.
2001, Personal communication with Dr. Michael Kunz.

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