• Site: Mead Site

Description:

Mead site is a multicomponent site consisting of at least 4 components dating from 14,000 to 1,400 years ago in deeply buried stratified contexts in the mid Tanana Basin, near Delta Junction, Alaska. Excavations by the PI between 2009 and 2016 have yielded lithic tools, organic tools, and faunal remains from multiple components. Along with Broken Mammoth and Swan Point, this is one of the oldest sites in northwest North America, and indeed in the Western Hemisphere. The presence of faunal remains and lithic artifacts within stratified contexts provides an opportunity to document patterning in site use and test hypotheses about technology, subsistence, and settlement of ancient populations in Interior Alaska.

The Mead excavations are designed to better understand activity areas and technological and subsistence change through time. We are actively conducting laboratory analyses on faunal, lithic, spatial, geochemical, aDNA from eight cultural occupations dating from 13,500-2000 cal BP. This includes numerous faunal remains (bison, waterfowl, small game, and fish) dating to ~12,500 cal BP, that may represent multiple ancient house floors. In the past several seasons, we encountered multiple hearth features with associated fauna, including (1) a Pre-Clovis horizon associated with bison and quartz lithics dating to >13,300 cal BP, (2) an early horizon with 8 hearths dating to over 13,000 cal BP, (3) a Younger Dryas horizon (Folsom age) with 17 hearth-related activity areas dating to 12,500 cal BP, and (4) a middle Holocene layer with an associated cache pit, the earliest of its kind in this region. All of these areas have associated well preserved faunal remains.

Stratigraphy at the site consists of a series of aeolian sediments up to four m thick with several buried paleosol complexes. Given the complexity and time depth of the site, students have developed excavation skills useful for many different archaeological problems (i.e., zooarchaeology, stratigraphy, spatial analysis, etc.). This is one of few sites in Interior Alaska with excellent faunal preservation, micro-stratigraphic and numerous radiocarbon and OSL dating controls.

Publications about Mead:

Peer-Reviewed Articles

(5) Potter, Ben A. (2016) Holocene Prehistory of the Northwestern Subarctic. In Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic, edited by O. K. Mason, and M. T. Friesen, pp 531-555. Oxford University Press.

(4) Ted Goebel and Ben A. Potter (2016) First Traces: Late Pleistocene Human Settlement of the Arctic. In Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic, edited by O. K. Mason, and M. T. Friesen, pp 223-252. Oxford University Press.

(3) Potter, Ben A., Charles E. Holmes, and David R. Yesner (2013) Technology and Economy Among the Earliest Prehistoric Foragers in Interior Eastern Beringia. In Paleoamerican Odyssey, pp. 81-103. Texas A&M Press.

(2) Potter, Ben A. (2011) Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Assemblage Variability in Central Alaska. In From the Yenisei to the Yukon: Interpreting Lithic Assemblage Variability in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Beringia, edited by Ted E. Goebel and Ian Buvit. Texas A&M Press, College Station, pp. 215-233.

(1) Potter, Ben A., Phoebe J. Gilbert*, Charles E. Holmes, and Barbara A. Crass (2011) The Mead Site, a late Pleistocene - Holocene stratified site in Central Alaska. Current Research in the Pleistocene 28:73-75.

M.A. Theses

(2) Little, Allie (2013) Lithic Analyses at the Mead Site, Central Alaska. MA Thesis, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

(1) Gilbert, Phoebe (2011) Micromorphology, Site Spatial Variation and Patterning, and Climate Change at the Mead Site (XBD-071): A Multi-Component Archaeological Site in Interior Alaska. MA Thesis, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Presentations

(10) Potter, Ben A (2015) Recent Discoveries in the Tanana Basin, Eastern Beringia. Paper presented at the 80th Annual Society for American Archaeology Meetings, San Francisco, California.

(9) Potter, Ben A., and Holly J. McKinney (2015) Late Pleistocene art and domestic activity areas at Mead site, central Alaska. Paper presented at the 42nd Annual Alaska Anthropological Association Meetings, Fairbanks. AAA Program 42:98

(8) Potter, Ben A., Charles E. Holmes, and David R. Yesner (2013) Technology and Economy Among the Earliest Prehistoric Foragers in Interior Eastern Beringia. Paper presented at the Paleoamerican Odyssey Conference, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

(7) Potter, Ben A., Allison Little, and Crystal Glassburn (2013) Site Structure and Organization at Mead, central Alaska. Paper presented at the 40th Annual Alaska Anthropological Association Meetings, Fairbanks. AAA Program 40.

(6) Little, Allison and Ben A. Potter (2013) Lithic Analyses at Mead, central Alaska. Paper presented at the 40th Annual Alaska Anthropological Association Meetings, Fairbanks. AAA Program 40.

(5) Gilbert, Phoebe J. and Ben A. Potter (2011) Geoarchaeology at the Mead Site. Paper presented at the 38th annual Alaska Anthropological Association Conference, Fairbanks, Alaska. AAA Program 38, p. 31.

(4) Potter, Ben A., Phoebe J. Gilbert, Charles E. Holmes, Barbara A. Crass, and Robert Bowman* (2010) The Mead Site, a Late Pleistocene-Holocene Stratified Site in Central Alaska: Preliminary Results from the 2009 Excavation. Paper presented at the 37th annual Alaska Anthropological Association Conference, Anchorage, Alaska. AAA Program 37, p. 63.

(3) Potter, Ben A., Phoebe J. Gilbert*, Charles E. Holmes, and Barbara A. Crass (2010) Recent Archaeological Research at the Mead Site, central Alaska. Poster presented at the 75th annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, St. Louis.

(2) Crass, Barbara A., Charles E. Holmes, and Ben A. Potter (2010) Experimental Archaeology at the Mead Site. Poster presented at the 75th annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, St. Louis.

(1) Gilbert, Phoebe J., Joshua D. Reuther, and Ben A. Potter (2010) Occupation and Climate change at the Mead Site: A Geoarchaeological Approach. Poster presented at the 37th annual Alaska Anthropological Association Conference, Anchorage, Alaska.

Presentations related to Mead investigations

(13) Potter, Ben A., Joshua D. Reuther, Vance T. Holliday, and Charles E. Holmes (2016) Colonization of Northern North America. Paper presented at the 49th Annual Canadian Archaeological Association Meeting, Whitehorse, Yukon.

(12) Potter, Ben A., Joshua D. Reuther, Vance T. Holliday, and Charles E. Holmes (2016) Colonization of Northern North America: A View from Eastern Beringia. Paper presented at the 81th Annual Society for American Archaeology Meetings, Orlando, Florida.

(11) Potter, Ben A (2016) Interdisciplinary Arctic Research and the Role of Social Sciences: Archaeological Experiences. Invited presentation at the Reframing Understandings of the North, International Arctic Science Committee and University of the Arctic, Arctic Science Summit Week. Fairbanks, Alaska.

(10) Potter, Ben A (2016) East Beringian Archaeology and Adaptive Strategies: Implications for the Beringian Standstill Model. Invited presentation at the Beringian Standstill Workshop, Boulder, Colorado.

(9) Potter, Ben A (2015) Transformations in Subarctic Prehistory: Ice Age Infants, Ancient Houses, and the Peopling of the New World. Murie Science and Learning Center Summer Speaker Series, National Park Service, Denali, Alaska.

(8) Potter, Ben A, and Joshua D. Reuther (2015) Climate Change and Human Land Use in Ice Age Alaska. UA Museum Discovery Lecture Series, Fairbanks, Alaska.

(7) Potter, Ben A. (2014) Social Organization and Adaptive Responses to late Pleistocene Climate Change in Beringia. Paper presented (and discussant) for the Arctic Roundtable: The Peopling of the Americas, sponsored by the Arctic Institute of North America.

(6) Potter, Ben A. (2014) Responses to Risk in Eastern Beringia during the terminal Pleistocene. Paper presented at the 79th Annual Society for American Archaeology Meetings, Austin, Texas.

(5) Potter, Ben A. (2014) Social Organization and Responses to Risk in Eastern Beringia. Paper presented at the 41st Annual Alaska Anthropological Association Meetings, Fairbanks. AAA Program 41:43.

(4) Potter, Ben A. (2013) Social Organization and Adaptive Responses to Climate Change in Beringia. Special Lecture to the Department of Archaeology, School of Ethnology and Sociology, Minzu University of China, Beijing, P.R. China.

(3) Potter, Ben A. (2013) Traces from Northern Forests: An Emerging Synthesis of Beringian Prehistory. Special Lecture to Institute of Global Ethnology and Anthropology and Ethnic Minority Study Center of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China.

(2) Potter, Ben A. (2012) An Emerging Synthesis of Beringian/Western Subarctic Archaeology. Invited presentation for the University of Michigan, Department of Anthropology, December 7, 2012, Ann Arbor.

(1) Reuther, Joshua D., Ben A. Potter, and Carol Gelvin-Reymiller (2011) Landscape Evolution and Hunter-Gatherer Occupation of the Middle Tanana Valley. Paper presented at the 38th annual Alaska Anthropological Association Conference, Fairbanks, Alaska. AAA Program 38, p. 45.

Photos from the 2009-2016 Field Schools at Mead: