The Upward Sun River Mouth Site, called Xaasaa Na'in (haw-SAW NA) in Athabaskan, the Little Delta Dune site or 49XBD-298, is a buried prehistoric site located near the confluence of the Little Delta and Tanana rivers in central Alaska. The site is buried within a linear, loess-mantled sand dune, which has been geologically stable since the late Pleistocene.
Four archaeological occupations have been identified within the 260-centimeter-thick loess mantle of the dune, dated between 11,420 and 8800 radiocarbon years before the present (RCYBP). The oldest occupation (Component 1), is a pre-clovis site represented by chert waste flakes and animal bone fragments associated with a hearth. Animals represented in the Component 1 assemblage include waterfowl, large mammals such as a bison, moose or elk, fox, and other small mammals. Scholars point to a fall occupation for Component 1, based on the presence of bearberry seeds and waterfowl.
Stratigraphy of the Upward Sun River Mouth Site
- Component 4, ca 80 cm below modern surface (b.s.), 8880 +/- RCYBP
- Component 3, ca 100 cm b.s., 9990 RCYPB, hearths, house and burial
- Component 2, ca 140 cm b.s., 9670 +/-40 RCYBP
- Component 1, ca 240 cm b.s., 11,250-11,420 RCYBP, hearth
Child Burial at Upward Sun River Mouth Site
Excavations conducted during the summer of 2010 by the University of Alaska focused on Component 3, where a burial pit-hearth was identified within a semi-subterranean house feature. The burial pit-hearth is an oval depression, some 45 cm deep by 130 cm wide at the top and 80 cm wide at the base. Cremated remains of a human child were identified within the top of the deposit; and at its base were animal bones, suggesting that this pit was not created specifically to inter the child's remains, but was probably originally a cache or storage pit.
Twenty radiocarbon dates taken on charcoal from the pit and associated areas within and near the house returned an average of 9990+/- 30 RCYBP, which calibrates to about 11,280-11,620 years ago. The child was placed in the pit and burned; only approximately 20% of the skeleton is left. Researchers believe this child was between 2-4 years old at the time of the burial. The child's unerupted shovel-shaped incisors have a "Sinodont" pattern, supporting the interpretation that this child was related to northeastern Asia peoples and Native Americans. The Upward Sun River Mouth individual (called Xaasaa Cheege Ts’eniin (haw-SAW CHAG tse-NEEN) or Upward Sun River Mouth Child) represents one of the earliest (and youngest) human burials reported in the North American continent.
Animal bones identified in the hearth pit include salmonid fish and small mammals, including ground squirrels and waterfowl, primarily ptarmigan. This collection suggests a summer occupation for Component 3. Stone tools recovered from the site include bi-pointed bifaces, most closely associated with the Denali Complex or Paleoarctic Tradition. Ochre recovered near the burial may represent ritual activities, an aspect of human burials noted at many paleoindian sites.
Subterranean House at Upward Sun River Mouth Site
The people living at Upward Sun River Mouth Site during Component 3 times excavated their house some 27 centimeters below the surface of the ground. The house plan was roughly circular and about 3 meters in diameter; six postmolds were identified. Researchers believe the house was typical of a semi-subterranean pithouse, as seen at other houses in the region of the Beringia Strait such as at Ushki Lake 6 in the Kamchatka peninsula of Siberia. Ushki Lake 6 also has human burials, including one child burial within the house floor, although it is not a cremation.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to Paleoindians, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Potter BA, Irish JD, Reuther JD, Gelvin-Reymiller C, and Holliday VT. 2011. A Terminal Pleistocene child cremation and residential structure from Eastern Beringia. Science 331:1058-1062.
Potter BA, Reuther JD, Bowers PM, and Gelvin-Reymiller C. 2008. Little Delta Dune Site: A Late-Pleistocene Multicomponent Site in Central Alaska. Current Research in the Pleistocene 25:132-135.
