92 Alaskan Science Conference 



The stratigraphy of these caves does not permit a close isolation 

 of the sorts of artifacts used at one time, as does that of Cape 

 Denbigh, nor is the aggregate of materials secured there com- 

 parable in size to that of the latter site. A radiocarbon date has 

 been reported at about 6000 years ago for charred organic 

 materials collected from an older level of one of the cave de- 

 posits. An absence of burins of the several types of the Denbigh 

 Flint Complex may mean a later age for all of the cave de- 

 posits, or it may simply mean that the caves were occupied 

 sporadically by hunters who had no need of burins on their 

 inland excusions. 



Sites were discovered during 1950 along the exposed ridges 

 of the Brooks Range and in a divide at the head of Anaktuvuk 

 River, that yielded in the one case apparently a pure site of the 

 Denbigh Flint Complex, and, in the other, channeled points 

 and other objects relatable as an aggregate to the same source. 

 Work on one of these sites is in progress by the discoverer, 

 Wm. Irving, as this is written in August of 1951. 



One sees at this time a relative time scale forward that would 

 reduce the importance of the older techniques (those demon- 

 strably old in terms of Old World and Southwestern prehis- 

 tory), or that would remove these farther from the Bering 

 Strait. This is to say, the focal position of Bering Strait at a 

 point where ideas from two continents are blended would tend 

 to reflect dynamically on culture. Innovations of the Neolithic, 

 such as ground tools and pottery, would replace older tech- 

 niques here and elsewhere along currents of strong diffusion, 

 while a lag in replacement might be expected in peripheral 

 areas. The degree of replacement, expressed statistically, might 

 be expected to clarify factors of both time and distance. In 

 order to apply this tentative scale, however, we need to re- 

 examine two basic concepts of American archaeology. 



