![]() | Mesa SiteAncient Hunting Lookout |
Brochure of Alaska's Mesa Site: Ancient Hunting Lookout in northern Alaska. Published by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
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Other Types of Artifacts
Help Us Preserve and Protect the Past!
Also found at the Mesa Site are various large stones
from the nearby creek that were used as hammers
or anvils. Other stones were brought in from greater
distances, and their use at the site is unknown. These
include 11 quartz crystals not otherwise found naturally
nearby. We can only speculate that they might have had
some type of religious or other cultural use.
All archaeological sites of Alaska are important for the
scientific information they contain about our state’s
fascinating past. If you see historic or archaeological
remains, please don’t disturb them. Enjoy looking at
them and taking photographs, but leave them intact
for future generations. If possible, please report their
location to the nearest state or federal land manager.
With your help, we can protect Alaska’s past for the
future!
Other Cultures at the Mesa Site
During the first few years of excavation, only
Paleoindian style artifacts like those described above
were found at the mesa. This led to the presumption
that only the ancient Paleoindians had used the site.
But later, in a few locations away from the Paleoindian
activity areas, very different styles of artifacts were
found. These were made by a much more recent
cultural group that briefly utilized the site about 3,500
years ago. These people based their stone tool industry
around small stone flakes, called “microblades,” which
they inserted into wooden or bone handles and shafts
for use as cutting and piercing implements. These
microblades, flaked off of specially prepared rock
cores, also may have been used for engraving and
other special culturally distinct purposes. Microbladebased cultures were common throughout northern
and interior Alaska during this time. While Paleoindians
occupied the North Slope, a microblade-producing
culture closely related to those in Siberia was present
in interior Alaska, primarily in the Nenana and Tanana
valleys. It is unknown if the Mesa people and the
Nenana people with apparently different cultures were
closely related to each other. There is no evidence how
(or if) they may have interacted. Equally unresolved
are whether they dressed alike, shared similar beliefs,
or spoke the same language. Future archaeological
discoveries may help answer such mysteries.
Mesa Site
Ancient Hunting Lookout
Northern Alaska
Mesa Site biface tool over 11,700 years old.
Learn More About It
For further information about the Mesa Site, including
a downloadable 82-page report entitled “The Mesa
Site: Paleoindians above the Arctic Circle,” by Michael
Kunz, Michael Bever, and Constance Adkins (originally
published April 2003 as BLM Alaska Open File Report
86) visit:
http://www.blm.gov/alaska/archaeology/mesa-site
For printed copies of Mesa Site information contact:
Fairbanks District Office
222 University Ave.
Fairbanks, Alaska 99709
907-474-2200
Cover photo: Excavator working
at the Mesa archaeological site in
the Central Arctic Management
Area Wilderness Study Area.
Mesa archaeological site.
U.S. Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management
BLM/AK/Gl-04/010+8100+930 REV 2020
The Mesa Site
Importance and Location
The Mesa Site is a scientifically important ancient
archaeological site located on land managed by the
Bureau of Land Management on the northern edge of
the Brooks Range in arctic Alaska.
The site lies on a ridge nearly 150 miles north of the
Arctic Circle and 160 miles from the nearest road.
Between roughly 11,700 and 13,600 years ago, hunters
used this site, located atop a mesa-like ridge, as a
lookout to spot game. What they left behind, including
distinctive stone tools and the remnants of ancient
campfires, is among the oldest evidence of human
presence in the Western Hemisphere. From discoveries
made at the Mesa Site, archaeologists have learned how
some of the very first Alaskans lived.
Intriguing Connections Elsewhere
Many of the stone tools found at the Mesa Site are
of the same style and type as those found in the
ancient Paleoindian sites on the North American High
Plains. Artifacts from those sites suggest an economy
based primarily on hunting Ice Age big game animals.
Finding artifacts like these in Alaska has very important
implications. It suggests that the “Mesa Paleoindian
people” also may have relied on late Ice Age animals,
including now extinct bison, mammoth, and horse.
It also suggests a close cultural relationship between
inhabitants of these two diverse geographic regions.
Exactly what such a relationship might mean is a
fascinating mystery tied to when and how the first
people came into the Western Hemisphere.
How Was the Mesa Site Found?
The Mesa Site was discovered in 1978 by archaeologists
working for the Bureau of Land Management. They
were looking for remains of past human use of the
foothills region of the North Slope in the National
Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, so that such places could
be protected during future oil and gas exploration
activities. When archaeologists first climbed this ridge,
which provides a spectacular 360-degree view of the
surrounding valley, they found distinctive Paleoindian
style stone tools with the small flakes resulting from
their manufacture.
Archaeological Work
Archaeologists began work at the Mesa soon after its
discovery to determine its size, amount and type of
cultural materials, and scientific importance. Excavation
of the Mesa Site required 13 field seasons, which were
spread out over a period of 22 years between 1978
and 1999. The work was done by federal archaeologists
and experienced volunteers under the direction of the
Bureau of Land Management.
2. unifacial tools, where a stone was flaked on just one
surface to fashion an artifact (e.g. some scrapers for
processing hides or shaping wood and bone artifacts,
plus various informal flake tools including gravers
crafted from sharp spurs on flakes),
3. flaking debris, the stone flakes and chunks resulting
from the manufacture of the tools. These three
categories comprise well over 90% of all artifacts found
at the Mesa Site.
Artifact Types & Lifestyle
Bifacial Tools
Artifacts recovered from the Mesa Site tell us about
past human activities there. The primary artifact
types found were flaked stone tools used for hunting.
The remnant charcoal of the ancient campfires was
radiocarbon dated to determine the site’s age. Only
stone tools, and not organic artifacts like clothing,
bones, or wooden items, survived at the site. Organic
artifacts like clothing, bones, or wooden items are
gone because of the shallow soil and natural decay of
the non-stone objects. Thus, we can never know with
certainty everything used by the people at the Mesa
Site. The Mesa Site’s arctic location suggests that it was
used only during the warmer months.
Bifacial Tools, including spear and dart points, and some
knives, are the most distinctive Paleoindian artifacts
found at the Mesa Site. In general, projectile points
are lanceolate (lance blade-shaped) in outline and
manufactured by removing parallel flakes perpendicular
to the long axis of the point. This results in a ridge
down the centerline of the point, creating a lenticular
to diamond-shaped cross section. The bases of most of
the points were thinned resulting in a concave shape,
although some are flat or convex. Most of the projectile
points were edge-ground (dulled) on the lower half so
that the edges would not cut through the sinew that
bound them to the shaft. Many of the points were also
resharpened after the tips were broken during their
first use. Thus, many Mesa Points are “recycled” and
consequently shorter than they were
when first used.
Mesa Site Stone Tools
The stone tools made by the Mesa people include three
major categories:
1. bifacial tools, where a stone was
flaked on two surfaces to form an
artifact (e.g. projectile points used
for spear tips),