article

The Dixthada site: results of 1971 excavations

western Canadian journal of anthropology5 (3-4) • Published In 1975 • Pages: 148-158

By: Shinkwin, Anne D..

Abstract
Shinkwin briefly describes the findings of the 1971 excavations at Dixthada, a site on Fish Creek near Mansfield Village in the Tanana River Valley in Alaska. Rainey, who excavated mostly in the middens, first excavated the site in 1936 and 1937. Cook and McKennan revisited the site in 1971 to determine if an earlier microblade component could be isolated from the later Athapaskan material. The microblades were mostly found in a strata of yellow silt which contained mostly lithics and no copper. Shinkwin analyzed the 1971 assemblage with Rainey's and divided the artifacts into two levels, the Upper, with a date of 470 ± 60 B.C., and the Lower, with dates of A.D. 1560 ± 50 and A.D. 1180 ± 40. Their collections are described. Dixthada is compared to a few other sites. Shinkwin concludes the Upper Level (A.D. 1000 - 1800) is Northern Athapaskan.
Subjects
Identification
Prehistory
Bone, horn, and shell technology
Lithic industries
Metallurgy
Weapons
General tools
Chronologies and culture sequences
Cultural stratigraphy
tradition
Proto-Athapaskans
Region
North America
Sub Region
Arctic and Subarctic
Document Type
article
Evaluation
Creator Type
Archaeologist
Document Rating
5: Excellent Primary Data
Notes
Anne D. Shinkwin
Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-158)
LCCN
81039011
LCSH
Athapaskan Indians--Antiquities