This is a pilot archaeological research project of two recently discovered early pre-historic archaeological sites in south central Alaska. In addition to the planned excavation of these sites, including a field school, the research team will do systematic survey of the region in the hopes of uncovering additional sites. The proposed research will give new insights in to "pioneering" hunter-gatherer populations as they colonized the deglaciated landscapes during the terminal Pleistocene in Alaska. In addition to the insights the research can provide on early hunter-gatherer social organization, economic adaptation, and settlement patters, the data may open up new avenues of inquiry into the ongoing investigations of the first colonizers of the Americas.
