(Fairbanks, Ak) A University of Alaska Fairbanks lead research team has found the earliest-known evidence of freshwater fishing in the Americas. UAF anthropology professor Ben Potter says bones of species, including whitefish, burbot and pike were discovered at long studied ancient encampments along the Tanana River between Fairbanks and Delta Junction.
“All of the major fish species used by Dene peoples in the region, now, traditionally, are also found in the very earliest record, to 13 thousand years ago.”
Potter says the freshwater fish bone finds follow the earlier discovery of later era salmon bones, expanding understanding of fishing at the end of the last ice age.
“It seems like it’s a response to climate change at the end of the last ice age, where people expanded their diet to include more fishing, particularly freshwater fishing early on. And then after the onset of the Holocene, the spread of the boreal forest, you don’t see evidence of fishing until much later in time, so it seems like it’s a response to climate conditions.”
He says fishing during this dry cold period indicates a decreased availability of the primary food source: large mammals.
“If there’s fewer bison or elk on the landscape, then you turn to other resources. And I would say these very early Alaskans are extremely adaptable. You know the suite of technological adaptations that they developed. Very sophisticated stone technology, and probably resource management strategies too. And so we’re just beginning to get glimpses of this complexity in some of the work that we’re doing.”
Potter says no evidence of fishhooks or spears has been found suggesting the fish were harvested with nets or weirs that did not survive. He emphasizes that the latest findings are the product of a team of researchers working at one of the densest concentrations of ice age sites in the Americas. Potter is the co-lead author of the study, which was recently published in the journal Science Advances. ###