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MOOSE CREEK SITE
DENALI & NENANA OCCUPATIONS
CENTRAL ALASKA
11,19O B.P.
PAGE 2 OF 6 PAGES
COPYRIGHT FEBRUARY 28, 2003 PETER A. BOSTROM

Excavating on the Moose Creek site, high above the valley.
PICTURE CREDIT AND COPYRIGHT, DR. GEORGES A. PEARSON
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE IMAGE
MOOSE CREEK SITE--CENTRAL ALASKA
1996 RE-EXCAVATION

   Over 45 one meter squares were excavated in 1996, more than twice as many as the two previous excavations by John F. Hof4fecker. The above picture shows the 1996 excavation in progress and the Nenana Valley to the southwest in the background.

 

   The 1996 re-excavation of the Moose Creek site was part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Summer Session's archaeological field school. The project was headed by Dr. Georges A. Pearson and included Robert A. Beck as crew chief along with 15 students.

Excavation profile at terrace edge, Moose Creek site.
PICTURE CREDIT AND COPYRIGHT, DR. GEORGES A. PEARSON
EXCAVATION PROFILE
1996 RE-EXCAVATION
MOOSE CREEK SITE
--CENTRAL ALASKA

   The Moose Creek site is composed of seven stratified geological units. This picture shows the excavation near the edge of the terrace, where these strata become compressed as they near the bluff's edge.

   One of the goals for the 1996 project was to excavate at least twice as much area as the two previous excavations. This, in theory,  would raise the chances of finding more identifiable tool types from specific complexes. Over 45 additional square meters were excavated around the earlier 1979 and 1984 units. This method produced one large comprehensive map that includes both the earlier and more recent finds.

1996 members excavating on the high terrace, Moose Creek.
PICTURE CREDIT AND COPYRIGHT, DR. GEORGES A. PEARSON
EXCAVATING ON THE HIGH TERRACE AT MOOSE CREEK, 1996
1996 RE-EXCAVATION

    1996 Moose Creek team members working near the edge of the bluff.

   Very detailed excavation methods were used in 1996. The two lowest cultural features were excavated by trowel and sifted through a 1/8 inch screen. The depth of all the artifacts below the sand were measured using three different methods: below surface, below datum and below sand.

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"REFERENCES"

1991, "Clovis Origins and Adaptations," "The Nenana Complex of Alaska and Clovis Origins," by Ted Goebel, Roger Powers and Nancy Bigelow, pp 49-76.
1993
, "From Kostenki to Clovis," "The Ones That Will Not Go Away," by J.M. Adovasio, pp. 203-204.
1997
, "Expedition Affirms Significance of Moose Creek Site," Mammoth Trumpet, Vol. 12, No. 4, October, pp. 13-18.
1997, "new Evidence for a Nenana-Complex Occupation at the Moose Creek Site, Central Alaska: Preliminary Results of the 1996 Re-excavation," Current Research of the Pleistocenn,14, by Georges A. Pearson, pp. 72-74.
1999, "Early Occupation and Cultural Sequence at Moose Creek: A Late Pleistocene Site in Central Alaska," Arctic Vol. 52, No. 4, by Georges A. Pearson, pp. 332-345.
2002, "Late-Pleistocene and Holocene Microblade Industries at the Moose Creek Site," Current Research of the Pleistocene, 17, by Georges A. Pearson, pp. 64-65.
Personal communications with Dr. Georges A. Pearson.

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