Bluefish Caves is an archaeological site in

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

, Canada, located southwest of the Vuntut Gwichin community of Old Crow. It has been suggested that human occupation dates to 24,000 years

Before Present Before Present (BP) or "years before present (YBP)" is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Because ...

(BP) based on radiocarbon dating of animal remains, but these dates are contested due to the uncertain stratigraphic context of the archaeological remains relative to the dated animal remains. There are three small caves in the area.

Context

Bluefish Cave was initially known to the local

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

, 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 cut marks may point to a human presence. The Old Crow Flats, 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 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 The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Last Glacial Coldest Period, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period where ice sheets were at their greatest extent between 26,000 and 20,000 years ago. Ice sheets covered m ...

before populating the Americas. A later paper questioned the dating (based on claimed disturbances) and the culturality of the faunal remains,Kathryn E. Krasinski and John C. Blong. 2020. "Unresolved Questions about Site Formation, Provenience, and the Impact of Natural Processes on Bone at the Bluefish Caves, Yukon Territory," ''Arctic Anthropology'' 57(1): 1 1-21. doi: 10.3368/aa.57.1.1 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

References

External links

Investigating Ice Age America’s Ancient Abattoir
at

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, January 30, 2023 {{Authority control Archaeological sites in Yukon Prehistory of the Arctic Geography of Yukon Pre-Clovis archaeological sites in the Americas Caves of Canada

Context

Dating

See also

References

Further reading

External links