Old Crow Flats (''Van Tat''
[Vuntut Gwich’in Waters]
/ref> in the Gwichʼin language
The Gwichʼin language () belongs to the Athabaskan languages, Athabaskan language family and is spoken by the Gwich'in First Nation (Canada) / Alaska Natives, Alaska Native People (United States). It is also known in older or dialect-specific ...
) is a wetland
A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
complex in northern 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 along the Old Crow River. It is north of the Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle.
The Arctic Circl ...
and south of the Beaufort Sea
The Beaufort Sea ( ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Alaska, and west of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The sea is named after Sir Francis Beaufort, a Hydrography, hydrographer. T ...
, and is nearly surrounded by mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...
s.
Site
The site is protected by the Yukon Wildlife Ordinance and Migratory Birds Convention Act. It was identified as part of the International Biological Program inventory, and was designated a wetland of international importance via the Ramsar Convention
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar site, Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on We ...
on May 24, 1982.
The habitat is an important breeding area for aquatic mammals and peregrine falcon
The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...
s, is used for summer moulting by waterfowl, and is an autumn staging site for various species of birds.
Archaeology
The archaeological sites in the area demonstrate some of the earliest human habitation in North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
. More than 20,000 fossils have been collected in the area, including some never before reported in North America.[J. Cinq-Mars (2001)]
On the significance of modified mammoth bones from eastern Beringia.
/ref>
Fossils and artifacts
Many northern Yukon rivers, including Old Crow River and Porcupine River, changed course relatively recently, and cut through the fossil-bearing deposits. As a result, millions of fossils were eroded from the bluffs and redeposited in new riverbanks.[Richard E. Morlan (2012)]
Old Crow Basin.
The Canadian Encyclopedia
Many animals are represented in fossils uncovered in Old Crow Flats, including mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus.'' They lived from the late Miocene epoch (from around 6.2 million years ago) into the Holocene until about 4,000 years ago, with mammoth species at various times inhabi ...
s, mastodon
A mastodon, from Ancient Greek μαστός (''mastós''), meaning "breast", and ὀδούς (''odoús'') "tooth", is a member of the genus ''Mammut'' (German for 'mammoth'), which was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to ...
s, giant beavers, ground sloth
Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. They varied widely in size with the largest, belonging to genera '' Lestodon'', ''Eremotherium'' and ''Megatherium'', being around the size of elephants. ...
s, camel
A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...
s, horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...
s, giant bison, short-faced bears, American lions, and short-faced skunks, among others. Mammoth bones radiocarbon dated between 25,000 and 40,000 years old display signs of human tool production and butchery.
See also
* Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation
References
Further reading
* Morlan, Richard E. ''NbVk-1 An Historic Fishing Camp in Old Crow Flats, Northern Yukon Territory''. Ottawa: National Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada, 1972.
External links
*
{{Coord, 67.441, -139.82, type:landmark_region:CA-YT, display=title
Ramsar sites in Canada
Geography of Yukon
Important Bird Areas of Yukon
Prehistory of the Arctic
Pre-Clovis archaeological sites in the Americas