54. Possible Relatives in the Americas

Bluefish caves (Yukon, Canada)

by George Weber

Location of Bluefish Cave  in the Canadian Yukon Territory

The Bluefish Caves were discovered in 1976 by a fishing expedition and first excavated 1978-1979 by a team led by Dr. Jacques Cinq-Mars. The excavators found the caves to have the oldest known accumulations of archaeological evidence in arctic America; stone and bone tools, bones with cut marks, etc. The lowest layers go back as far as 25,000 years but what evidence there is in these low levels sof human presence is controversial and hard to interpret. The oldest widely accpeted evidence goes back to around 13,000 years and belongs to the palaeoarctic culture that had previously been known to date back only to 8000 years.

Unfortunately, no human remains have been found in the caves. This would make it seem more likely that the human presence there was used for short stays and as butchering station by smal hunting groups. The permanent or winter homes for families may well have been further south; they have not been found yet.

Left: View of the three Bluefish caves. Most artefacts were found in caves 1 and 2. Inset a more detailed view of cave 1. Below the stratification of cave 3

The large piece on the left is a broken mammmoth bone found at Bluefish Cave in 1985, the small pieces were chipped off the he main bone and used as tools

A bone bed in the Cave 1 as found by the excavators (composite photograph) may be evidence of a butchering station.

Stone tools found at the Bluefish caves

Among web-sites with further information are:

- http://www.civilization.ca/academ/articles/cinq1_1e.html

- http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/northamerica/bluefishcaves.html

- http://www.sfu.museum/journey/03middle/bluefish_caves.php

- http://www.palanth.com/forum/upload_download/articles/cinqmars_morlan_newrapp_99.pdf

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Last change 5 April 2007