Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ: the oldest known dwelling site in the Western Hemisphere, found in Alaska

A camp at the heart of Beringia

The Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ site, whose name means "They were there" in the Athabaskan language spoken by Alaska's Indigenous peoples, lies about 50 kilometers southeast of Fairbanks. According to the archaeologists, it served as a camp for some of the first inhabitants of North America, intermittently over a millennium.

The site belongs to eastern Beringia, the vast region that connected northeastern Asia with northwestern North America during the last glacial period. Sites in this area are often small seasonal hunting camps scattered over an immense territory, which makes them difficult to study.

An excavation that exceeded expectations

The study's lead author, archaeologist Kelly Graf of the University of Kansas, told Live Science that she expected to find a few hunting tools around one or two hearths. She actually uncovered a true base camp yielding tens of thousands of artifacts.

Among the remains of the first occupation, dated to about 13,800 years ago, the researchers identified a hearth, a small pit and a wooden post trace, probably the remains of a lean-to or a tent. An earth oven, filled with charcoal and animal bones, appears to have been used to slow-cook meat for a large family group.

Objects that reveal cultural links

The diamond-shaped chipped stone tools, made of rhyolite and basalt, resemble those found much further west, in what is now northern Siberia. Fragments of obsidian, a volcanic rock, were brought from a geological source several hundred kilometers to the northwest.

Eight fragments of bone needles were recorded. Until now, the known eyed needles came from Paleoindian sites in temperate America, further south. These needles are therefore the oldest discoveries in the Western Hemisphere. A pendant made of deer antler, pierced with a hole, also recalls ornaments found further south.

Canids from Asia

The remains of more than a dozen wolf-like animals were identified. Analysis of a jaw shows that they were neither the dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus) nor the Beringian grey wolf, but a population specific to central Alaska.

Current genetic data suggest that the first domesticated dogs of North America descend from Siberian wolves. The chronology and location of the site therefore suggest that its occupants may have owned dogs, though this has not been demonstrated.

An excavation still to be pursued

The researchers stress that Alaska remains a vast and very isolated territory, where only a few areas have been intensively excavated. According to Kelly Graf, it is difficult to say whether these populations moved from one place to another during their lives, but the connection is well attested.

In a commentary published with the study, archaeologist Spencer Pelton of the University of Wyoming considers that ancient Indigenous sites in Beringia are essential for understanding the peopling of the Americas. New excavations could refine this still fragmentary account.