Interior Alaska camp from 13,800 years ago yields the oldest known needles in the Western Hemisphere
Kelly Graf and co-authors report a 13,800-year-old camp in interior Alaska holding the oldest known needles in the Western Hemisphere. Stone tools from the camp resemble Siberian types, a link between eastern Beringia and northeast Asia.
The Scientist · Science desk
The earliest occupation of the interior Alaska camp dates to around 13,800 years ago. Recent studies suggest the ancestors of today's Indigenous Americans entered the continent around 21,000 years ago. Archaeologists found eight bone needle fragments at the site.
| Figure | Value | Note | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earliest occupation of the Alaska camp, around | 13,800 years ago | 3 | |
| Ancestors' entry to the continent, around | 21,000 years ago | recent studies suggest | 5 |
| Bone needle fragments | 8 at the site | 15 |
What happened
- Excavators found a hearth, a small pit and a dirt stain where a wooden post stood, likely the remains of a lean-to or early tent house.
- Bones from more than a dozen wolf-like animals came out of the site, and a jaw analysis placed one in a population unique to central Alaska.
- Obsidian artifacts show people carried the volcanic rock to the camp from a source hundreds of miles to the northwest.
- The study appeared Oct. 14 in Science Advances and concentrates on the earliest occupation, which the authors present as evidence of people "settling in."
Why it matters
- What doesn't add up contradiction Live Science's headline calls the find the oldest dwelling in the Western Hemisphere, while the authors wrote only of the earliest potential habitation structure in North America.
- What it limits constraint The needle record is a ranking of the eyed needles recovered so far, so the "oldest" label lasts only until an older one turns up elsewhere in the Americas.
- What's now possible capability A long-used base camp gives researchers a large assemblage to set beside the small seasonal hunting camps that make up much of the Beringian record.
The camp is far younger than the first entry into the continent. Recent archaeological and genetic studies suggest the ancestors of today's Indigenous Americans arrived around 21,000 years ago [5], so the 13,800-year-old occupation comes about 7,200 years after that [17]. The site, called Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ ("They Were There" in the Alaska Native Athabascan language), was used off and on for a millennium [1][2].
Kelly Graf, the study's first author and an archaeologist at the University of Kansas, had expected hunting tools and stone-working debris around a hearth or two [16]. "I had no idea that we'd stumble into a base camp with tens of thousands of artifacts," he told Live Science in an email [7]. Live Science's own opening paragraph puts the count at thousands of artifacts and fossils [4].
The case for dogs rests partly on evidence from outside the bones. Current genetic evidence suggests early domesticated dogs in North America came from Siberian wolves, and Live Science says the site's timing and location give circumstantial evidence that the people may have been dog owners [11]. The researchers wrote: "Like humans, potentially, the canids of Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ and other early Alaskan sites were recent immigrants from Asian Beringia" [12]. Live Science's account does not describe a test of whether any of the animals was domesticated, or how the 13,800-year date was reached.
The two tool types pull in different directions. The diamond-shaped bifaces, made of rhyolite and basalt, are distinctive to central Alaska yet similar to tools found much farther west in northern Siberia [8]. The needles point south. Eight bone needle fragments were recovered [15], and the study reads them as evidence of connections with early American sites south of the Canadian ice sheets [14].
In our view the tools and needles are the firmest results, because both are objects that can be set beside collections from other sites. The dwelling and the dog readings depend on how a post stain [18] and a jaw analysis [10] are interpreted.
What to watch
- Direct testing of the wolf-like bones for signs of domestication would settle or sink the dog reading.
- The paper's dating and feature details for the post stain and hearth, and any independent excavation of similar features at other Beringian sites, would test the dwelling reading.
- An older eyed needle or habitation structure reported from elsewhere in the Americas would displace the two "earliest" labels.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence62
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives
- Not scored
- Confidence55
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
Archaeologists excavated a 13,800-year-old site in interior Alaska called Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ, which means "They Were There" in the Alaska Native Athabascan language, about 34 miles (55 km) southeast of Fairbanks.
- [2]
The encampment was used off and on for a millennium by some of the first people to settle in North America.
- [3]
In a study published Wednesday (Oct. 14) in Science Advances, Graf and co-authors detailed the discoveries, focusing on the earliest occupation, around 13,800 years ago, as evidence of people "settling in" to new territory.
- [4]
Live Science's opening paragraph says the archaeologists unearthed thousands of artifacts and fossils.
- [5]
The most recent archaeological and genetic studies suggest that the ancestors of today's Indigenous Americans entered the continent around 21,000 years ago.
- [6]
Beringian sites are often the remains of small seasonal hunting camps scattered across a large geographic area, so much is still unknown about the earliest people who lived in the Western Hemisphere.
- [7]
"I had no idea that we'd stumble into a base camp with tens of thousands of artifacts," Graf said.
- [8]
Diamond-shaped hafted bifaces made of rhyolite and basalt are distinctively shaped and unique to central Alaska, and similar to tools typically found much farther west in Beringia, in northern Siberia.
- [9]
Obsidian artifacts at the site show people brought the volcanic rock from a geological source hundreds of miles to the northwest.
- [10]
Bones from more than a dozen wolf-like animals were found; analysis of one jaw showed it was not a dire wolf, a Pleistocene Beringian wolf or a gray wolf, but a population of wolf-like animals unique to central Alaska.
- [11]
Current genetic evidence suggests early domesticated dogs in North America came from Siberian wolves; the site's timing and geographic location provide circumstantial evidence that the people may have been dog owners.
- [12]
"Like humans, potentially, the canids of Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ and other early Alaskan sites were recent immigrants from Asian Beringia," the researchers wrote.
- [13]
Previously the only recovered eyed needles came from Paleoindian sites in temperate North America, so according to the study the needles from this site are the oldest ever discovered in the Western Hemisphere.
- [14]
The study found evidence of connections with early American sites south of the Canadian ice sheets, and says the needles reveal connections with sites farther south.
- [15]
The archaeologists found eight bone needle fragments at the site.
- [16]
Graf expected to find hunting tools and knapping debris surrounding a hearth or two.
- [17]
The 13,800-year-old occupation comes about 7,200 years after the roughly 21,000-year-ago entry date.
- [18]
The researchers found a hearth, a small pit and a dirt stain where a wooden post had once stood, likely the remains of a lean-to or early tent house, plus an earth oven full of charcoal and animal bones.
- [19]
The researchers wrote that the complex feature represents "the earliest potential case of a habitation structure in North America."
- [20]
Live Science headlined its report "Archaeologists discover the oldest dwelling in the Western Hemisphere at a 13,800-year-old site in Alaska."
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