Arctic Small Tool Tradition (ca. 2000-800 BC)
By 2000 BC a new distinctive stone toolkit appeared along the Bering strait coast and in Alaska that replaced the Paleo-Arctic tradition. The so-called Arctic Small Tradition included microblades, and small arrow heads pointed at both ends used in bone arrows or spear heads.
Arctic Small Tool Innovations
It seems that the people related to the Arctic Small Tool tradition entered Alaska from the Bering strait, and brought with them one of the most important innovation in North America prehistory: the bow and arrow. This fast and lethal hunting implement was useful against caribou and other land mammals and rapidly spread into all North America.
Arctic Small Tool Sites
In the Alaska Peninsula, Arctic Small Tool sites occur especially along rich salmon streams an along the coast. These sites include hunting camps, with some evidence of more permanent structure. Among these we can include the Brooks River site, and the Kachemak Bay site, where many sod houses have been dug, and the Iyatayet site, a hunting camp where numerous microblades have been found.
It seems that for a long time the people related to the Arctic Small Tool tradition lived alongside local Arctic population, who still employed the earlier Paleo-Arctic stone technology.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to the Arctic Cultures and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Fagan, Brian, 1991, Ancient North America. The Archaeology of a Continent. Thames and Hudson, London & New York.
Gibbon, Guy, ed, 1998, Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America. An Encyclopedia. Garland Publishing, Inc, New York & London