Swan Point Archaeological Site

Swan Point Archeological Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
File:SwanPointExcavation.jpg
Excavation takes place at Swan Point
Nearest city	Big Delta, Alaska
Area	less than one acre
NRHP Reference #	08000929
Added to NRHP	September 26, 2008

The Swan Point Archeological Site is located in eastern central Alaska, in the Tanana River watershed. It is one of a collection of sites in the area that have yielded the oldest evidence of human habitation in the state, and provide the only evidence to date of megafauna no longer found in Alaska, including extinct varieties of wapiti (elk), bison, and mammoth. Finds colocated with human artifacts at the site have given radiocarbon dates of 14,000 years, indicating the site was occupied around 12,000 BCE.

The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska

Bibliography

• Holmes, Charles E. 2011. The Beringian and Transitional Periods in Alaska: Technology of the East Beringian Tradition as Viewed from Swan Point. In From the Yensei to the Yukon: Interpreting Lithic Assemblages Variability in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Beringia, edited by T. Goebel and Ian Buvit, pp. 179-191. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.
• Kedrowski, B.L., B.A. Crass, J.A. Behm, J.C. Luetke, A.L. Nichols, A.M. Moreck,and C.E. Holmes 2009. GC/MS Analysis of Fatty Acids from Ancient Hearth Residues at the Swan Point Archaeological Site. Archaeometry 51(1):110-122. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4754.2008.00384.x
• Hirasawa, Yu and Charles Holmes 2015. Microblade Production Technology at Swan Point from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Middle Holocene. Paper presented at 42nd Annual Meeting of the Alaska Anthropology Association, March 4-7, Anchorage, Alaska.

External links

• Quartz Lake - Shaw Creek Flats Multidisciplinary Project