Get Outdoors - Destinations: Cultural Prehistory of the Gates of the Arctic

Northern Alaska is not the trackless wilderness that many people perceive it to be, it is a fertile area, rich in resources and history. Theories of human migration suggest that this area between Alaska and Asia was once connected and that the land bridge that existed at one point saw many types of peoples cross it. The diversity of the remnants that remain in these lands reflect its history.It has been well established that the great continental glaciers of the last ice age locked up vast amounts of water as ice, and consequently lowered sea levels, creating a large land mass between Alaska and Siberia, called the Bering Land Bridge or Beringia. This land mass, more than 1,000 miles wide at one point, was above sea level from 25,000 to 14,000 years ago. Even though the rising seas broke through this land mass about 14,000 years ago, the present sea levels were not reached until 4,500 years ago. It was across the Bering Land Bridge and later across the strait itself that groups of people entered northwest Alaska. As successive waves of immigrants arrived in the Arctic, earlier immigrants moved southward across North America. Other groups stayed to explore, settle, and adapt to Alaska and the Arctic.

The earliest traces of human occupation in the central Brooks Range are still somewhat controversial. Artifacts from the Brooks Range, similar to those found in Paleo-Indian sites of temperate North America which contain the remains of extinct mammoths and bison, have led some to argue for an ancient Indian tradition over 12,000 years in age. Other archeologist believe these finds to be later in time, or only about 8,000 years old. The Putu site, located just northeast of the park and estimated to be over 11,000 years old, may be an example of a Paleo-Indian site in the vicinity of the park and preserve.This controversy aside, the first demonstrable use of the area is by people of the American Paleo-Arctic tradition, which probably has its origins in northern Asia. They were nomadic hunters and gatherers, living off the land and traveling in small groups. Unlike many later groups, these early people did not depend on sea mammal hunting for their subsistence, but hunted caribou and other land animals. Northern Alaskan examples of this tradition include the Akmak and Kobuk assemblages from the Onion Portage site on the Kobuk River that are between 7,800 and 9,600 years old, and an assemblage from the Gallagher Flint Station, just northeast of the park, that is 10,500 years old.

The next wave of people apparently moved into northern Alaska from the forested regions to the south and east. These Northern Archaic people arriving about 6,500 years ago, had a distinctively different material culture, and apparently depended on caribou and fishing in rivers and streams for their livelihood, staying inland and near the trees most of the time. Many archeologists believe that these people represent an Indian culture rather than an Eskimo culture.

At Onion Portage the Northern Archaic tradition persists from 6,000 to 4,200 years ago. Within the park the Tuktu-Naiyuk site (near Anaktuvuk Pass), with radiocarbon dates from 6,500 years ago is a site from this time. Elsewhere within the unit, undated sites relating to the Northern Archaic tradition have been found along the upper Kobuk and the North Fork of the Koyukuk rivers, Kurupa Lake, and others.

About 4,200 years ago, arctic-oriented cultures again appeared in northern Alaska. Either a new wave of people or new ideas came into Alaska from Asia. The Arctic Small Tool tradition, so named because of their finely made stone tools, was a dynamic one, adapting to make efficient use of a wide range of arctic resources. The earliest culture of this tradition spread as far south as Bristol Bay and as far east as Greenland, occupying interior and coastal areas. These people moved throughout the Arctic over a long time span (the tradition lasted over 1,000 years). They were adept at the use of both the coast and the interior.

The earliest of these cultures, the Denbigh Flint complex, lasted at Onion Portage from 4,200 to 3,800 years ago, while at Mosquito Lake, just northeast of the park, it has been dated at about 2,200 years. The Ipiutak complex, the last complex of the Arctic Small Tool tradition, is represented at sites at Itkillik Lake and near Anaktuvuk Pass and continued until about 1,500 years ago.

By about 1,000 years ago, with the development of the Western Thule culture, the beginnings of modern Eskimo culture became visible in the archeological record. Over the centuries, these people learned to fully exploit both the resources of the coast and the interior. They spread across the Arctic, eventually reaching as far east as Greenland and Labrador and as far south as the Alaska Peninsula. Local specializations developed. The people who lived along the coast of the Arctic Ocean were the Northern Maritime culture, while those who lived along the Noatak and Kobuk rivers are named the Arctic Woodland culture. The group that lived mostly in the interior part of the northern Alaska--in the Brooks Range and on the North Slope--are called the Arctic Tundra culture.

Within the park area, the historic Nunamiut Eskimos were the descendants of these groups. They spent most of their time in the mountains and on the tundra. However, they maintained cultural ties, through extensive travel and trading, with other groups in northern Alaska.The south side of the Brooks Range and central Alaska has been inhabited by Athabaskan peoples for at least a thousand years. Several times in those centuries Athabaskan groups have moved into the Brooks Range. In historic times, such groups as the Dihai Kutchin also lived in the central Brooks Range and on its southern flanks.

Thus, the park and preserve contain archeological sites representative of every cultural tradition known in northern Alaska. This important record will be expanded in the coming years, providing a more complete understand of the complicated history of human use of the region.