Bluefish Caves is an archaeological site in Yukon, Canada, located southwest of the Vuntut Gwichin community of

Old Crow Old Crow is a low-priced brand of Kentucky-made straight bourbon whiskey distilled by Beam Suntory, which also produces Jim Beam and several other brands of whiskey. The current Old Crow product uses the same mash bill and yeast as Jim Beam, bu ...

, from which a jaw bone of a

Yukon horse ''Equus lambei'', commonly known as the Yukon horse or Yukon wild horse, is an extinct species of the genus '' Equus''. ''Equus lambei'' ranged across North America until approximately 10,000 years ago. Based on recent examinations of the mtD ...

has been

radiocarbon Carbon-14, C-14, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and co ...

dated to 24,000 years before present (BP). There are three small caves in the area.

Context

Bluefish Cave was initially known to the local First Nations, but was popularized by a fishing expedition in 1976, and later by researchers. This site is made up of three small caves, ranging from . The first cave contains various animal bones that appear to have been dragged there by predators; findings of tool marks and some tools themselves point to a human presence. The

Old Crow Flats Old Crow Flats (''Van Tat'' in the Gwichʼin language) is a wetland complex in northern Yukon, Canada along the Old Crow River. It is north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Beaufort Sea, and is nearly surrounded by mountains. Site The sit ...

, another important area with early human presence, are located about 75 km northeast of the Bluefish Caves.

Dating

The site was excavated by archaeologist

Jacques Cinq-Mars Jacques Cinq-Mars Born: 1941/42 (died 27 November 2021, aged 79) was a Canadian archaeologist specializing in Canada, especially Yukon. Cinq-Mars excavated the Bluefish Caves site in the Old Crow area from 1977 to 1987. His careful research showed ...

between 1977 and 1987, and the initial radiocarbon dating suggested an age of 24,000 before present (BP). This was considered controversial as it was in contrast to the Clovis-First theory, widely accepted by academics at the time, which considered the earliest settlement date of North America to be around 13,000 BP. A review of the site in 2017 found it to be 24,000 years old, lending support to the "Beringian standstill" hypothesis — that the ancestors of Native Americans spent considerable time isolated in a Beringian refuge during the Last Glacial Maximum before populating the Americas. A later paper questioned the dating (based on claimed disturbances) and the culturality of the faunal remains, but support for the 2017 study was reiterated by the author of that report.LaurianeBourgeon. 2021. "Revisiting the Mammoth Bone Modifications from Bluefish Caves (YT, Canada)," ''Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports'' 37, 102969. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102969

Context

Dating

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Further reading