• Image of mountains and river

    Gates Of The Arctic

    National Park & Preserve Alaska

Discovery and Investigation

Discovery and Investigation | Artifacts | Multimedia | Back to Main

 

In the summer of 2007, NPS archaeologists discovered bone and stone artifacts eroding out of a lake side bluff near the Noatak river. Over the course of the next two summers intensive investigations at the site would expose a frozen and stratified deposit preserving the remains of a 4000 year old Denbigh Flint Complex Paleo-Eskimo camp.

AMR-186, as the site is officially known, is the only Denbigh Flint Complex site with such excellent organic preservation ever discovered. In addition to the thousands of faunal remains and stone tools, hitherto unknown engraved bone artifacts were discovered, representing the only such artifacts ever found in a Denbigh site.

The following images were selected to present some of the aspects of the fieldwork activities involved in the discovery and investigation of the site.

 
 

Discovery and Investigation | Artifacts | Multimedia | Back to Main

Did You Know?

Chert projectile point

Chert is a fine-grained rock used by the prehistoric inhabitants of the Brooks Range to create tools like scrapers, knives and spear points.  The Brooks Range contains one of the richest deposits of "tool quality" chert in the world.