Abstract

The earliest cultures of the B.C.-Alaska coast north of the Strait of Juan de Fuca are more similar to Nenana than they are to the early cultures of adjacent regions. Because of the nature and availability of the data, comparisons are limited to lithic types and assemblages. Types typical of both cultures include scraper-planes (core scrapers), foliate and tear-drop bifaces, perforators, and scrapers. Microblade technology is either absent or very rare. Nenana begins by 11,800 cybp and according to some researchers continues in some regions of central Alaska to 8500 cybp and thus overlaps with the earliest dated Northwest Coast assemblages which begin about 10,000 cybp and continue little changed for some 1500 years. In this paper we explore the degree of similarity between the early Northwest assemblages and Nenana and suggest an historical relationship in which Nenana is at least in part antecedent.