DOI: 10.18739/a2r20rx8r
title: Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Microblades, Bifaces, and the Chindadn Complex: Reinvestigating the Healy Lake Archaeological Record, Alaska

description: Beringian archaeology has long been dominated by questions surrounding the meaning of variability in early prehistoric lithic assemblages. Microblade technology, present on both sides of the Bering Land Bridge, would seem to indicate a cultural continuity between the modern-day continents of Siberia and North America. However, early assemblages in Beringia dating between 14,000 and 13,000 calendar years ago (cal BP) complicate this interpretation. With the exception of Swan Point and possibly the Healy Lake Village site, the earliest assemblages in Beringia do not contain microblades but instead are characterized by small triangular, teardrop-shaped, or stemmed bifacial points; in Alaska these are typically called Chindadn points. The key to our understanding of the significance of these early bifacial-point assemblages may be found along the shores of Healy Lake, unexplored since original surveys and excavations in 1967-1972. Imprecise recording of artifact and feature provenience in the early excavations have long hindered interpretations of the site's record, because of a somewhat compressed stratigraphic context, equivocal archaeological associations, and contradictory radiocarbon dates. However, in recent years two new research opportunities have emerged that could help elucidate the place of Healy Lake in the prehistory of central Alaska. First, the collection and archives related to J. Cook's original excavation are now available for study, and, second, new field investigations by archaeologists from the Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) at the nearby Linda's Point site on the north shore of the lake have led to the discovery of a geological and cultural stratigraphic record corresponding to that reported for the Village site. This project supports the research of A. Younie, a Ph.D. candidate at Texas A&M University (TAMU), to conduct dissertation research that includes two separate by closely related activities. First, with T. Gillispie (geoarchaeologist at TCC), she will direct excavations at the Linda's Point site, and, second, under the direction of T. Goebel (her Ph.D. advisor at TAMU), she will conduct detailed analyses of both the new Linda's Point assemblage and the existing Village site assemblage from Cook's early excavations. This research will be conducted with three main research problems in mind: the significance of lithic assemblage variability in early prehistory, the prehistoric settlement and subsistence strategies in lakeshore and wetland settings, and the role of education and community involvement in archaeological research. Goals of the proposed project include: 1) to define the stratigraphic context of the Linda's Point deposits; 2) to determine the sequence of cultural occupations at Healy Lake; 3) to characterize the lithic assemblages in a technological framework; 4) to assess site organization in response to changing environments; and 5) to consider the results in the context of multivocality and local interests. These goals will be reached specifically through fieldwork to define geological and cultural stratigraphy, laboratory analysis for characterization of lithic technological activities, spatial analyses for assessment of site organization, and incorporation of community involvement into the archaeological research.