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Since 1997, more than 207 archaeological objects and 1700 faunal remains have been recovered from 43 melting ice patches in the southern Yukon. The artifacts range in age from a 9000-year-old (calendar) dart shaft to a 19th-century musket ball. This paper provides an update on Yukon ice patch research and summary data on select areas of research conducted since 2003. More than 200 radiocarbon dates have been run on ice patch archaeological and faunal materials, and these data allow us to observe and comment on apparent temporal trends. Analysis undertaken since 2003 has improved our understanding of the development and maintenance of hunting technologies, including dart shaft design, wood selection, and point styles. Of particular interest is the description of three different techniques for the construction of throwing darts and the observation of stability in the hunting technology employed in the study area over seven millennia. Radiocarbon chronologies indicate that this period of stability was followed by an abrupt technological replacement of the throwing dart by the bow and arrow after 1200 BP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the original 1997 discovery of ancient hunting implements in melting alpine ice patches of southern Yukon, approximately 146 well-preserved, organic artifacts have been recovered. Most of the artifacts, variously made of antler, bone, wood, and stone, represent complete or partial examples of throwing-dart (atlatl) and bow-and-arrow technology. Radiocarbon dates obtained thus far range from 8360 BP to 90 BP (uncalibrated). Our research indicates that in southern Yukon, throwing-dart technology persisted from at least 8360 BP to approximately 1250 BP, when it was abruptly replaced by bow-and-arrow technology. The collection has afforded archaeologists and First Nation researchers a unique opportunity to learn about past hunting technologies and practices and thus greatly improve our understanding of the enduring relationships between humans and caribou. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Subarctic hunter-gatherers used exotic obsidian through the Holocene. • Historical networks of coastal-interior exchange existed for millennia. • A large-scale volcanic eruption caused a temporary displacement of hunter-gatherers. • Existing kin and exchange networks influenced responses to ecological disturbances. • Disturbances stimulated developments including bow and arrow transmission. Lithic provenance analyses offer means to reconstruct ancestral social relationships in Subarctic North America. We summarize sourced obsidian data from 462 archaeological sites in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, Canada, and interpret obsidian distribution through the Holocene with particular attention to the volcanic White River Ash East event of A.D. 846–848. We argue that social mechanisms explain overlapping occurrences of exotic and local obsidians and that the volcanic ash fall triggered changes to obsidian exchange patterns. Following the volcanic event, obsidian from British Columbia moved north into the Yukon with higher frequency. Instead of a population replacement, persistent patterns in the distribution of some obsidian source groups suggest that the ash temporarily pushed some Yukon First Nations south where they strengthened networks of exchange that were retained upon their return. The short-term displacement may also have facilitated the movement of bow and arrow technology into the Yukon, which appears concurrent with the volcanic event. The large-scale eruption had the potential to sever connections between a small group of ancestral Dene (Athapaskans) and their homeland, which culminated in a continent-wide migration in the Late Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recovery of an ancient hunting artifact in an active Wolf den indicates that Wolf denning sites may be reused for many centuries. It also suggests that traditional practices of predator management by humans may have great antiquity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]