Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Whitehorse – Two papers detailing what we know of the lives of the first Canadians are being included in a new textbook on the archaeology of Beringia.
The papers, written by Yukon College anthropology instructor Norm Easton and his co-researchers, are published in “From the Yenisei to the Yukon: Interpreting Lithic Assemblage Variability in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Beringia”, from the Texas A&M University Press.
Researchers from the United States and Russia also contributed chapters to the book.
“It really shows that Yukon research is recognized as meeting scholarly standards and is internationally important,” says Easton. “This recognition is very gratifying.”
The book is a compendium of knowledge about the pre-historic people, cultures, economy and technology of the Beringia area. It reflects the state of knowledge up to 2009, when a conference on the subject was held in Vancouver.
Easton has been conducting research and summer digs at a site near the Alaska-Yukon border known as Little John, part of the White River First Nation territory, since 2002. The papers published include information on tool use, diet, and cultural habits that can be gleaned from the evidence, some of which date back 14,000 years.
Beringia is the name of the region that made up a land bridge between North America and Asia during the last ice age. First seen simply as a quick route to southern latitudes, Beringia is now understood as a place where humans also settled, learning to live and adapt to a harsh and changing climate. The Little John site is contributing important new information about who these people were, how they lived, and their relation to other people living in the region at the time.
“The Little John site is a site of international scientific interest, that’s what it says to us,” says Easton.
Getting published in “From Yenisei to the Yukon” is an important step for that changing understanding about the region to trickle down to the classroom.
“It sets us up for the next stage, which is integrating this information into textbooks and popular history accounts,” he says.
Former Yukon College students Glen MacKay, Peter Schnurr and Patricia Young contributed to the chapters, as well as colleagues from the University of Alaska, Anchorage. Easton says the researchers’ understanding of the site is also greatly assisted by members of the White River First Nation, some of whom still use the Little John site to this day.
“It reflects a lot of how Yukon College tries to approach scholarly research,” says Easton. “It’s a good demonstration that you can have community involvement and support and get good, top-notch science done.”
Copies of the book can be ordered from Mac’s Fireweed in Whitehorse. For more information on the Little John site, visit http://dl1.yukoncollege.yk.ca/anth225/
