Abstract

In 1997 well-preserved prehistoric organic artifacts and faunal material were discovered melting out of a permanent snow patch in the Kusawa Lake area of the southwestern Yukon. Radiocarbon dates on caribou fecal remains from stratified deposits within the snow patch indicate that these animals were present in the area at least 2500 years ago, although they are absent in the region today. A wooden dart/arrow shaft recovered from the edge of the snow patch dates to 4300 years ago, and is a rare example of mid-Holocene organic technology in North America. The exceptional preservation of archaeological remains and high quality paleoenvironmental data at the Thandl‰t site offers a rare opportunity to explore a number of questions regarding human use of montane sites, the ecology of prehistoric caribou, and implications of climate change on caribou populations.