Scottie Creek Culture History Project - Yukon College Field School
Location: Yukon Territory, Canada
Season dates: June 01, 2010 - August 30, 2010
Session dates: Two week non-credit experiential course available from course start date
Application Deadline: Exact date - May 01, 2010

http://dl1.yukoncollege.yk.ca/anth225/

Program Type
Field School
Volunteer

Affiliation
Yukon College and White River First Nation

Project Director
Norman Alexander Easton, Yukon College

Description
In collaboration with the White River First Nation of Beaver Creek, Yukon, and the Village Councils of Northway, Tetlin, and Tanacross, Alaska, Yukon College offers an exciting and unique opportunity to participate in ethnographic and archaeological research in the Mirror Creek and Scottie Creek valleys of the upper Tanana River watershed.

During summer 2010, continuing excavation at the Little John site will focus on recovery of the 11,000 to 14,000-year-old Pleistocene stone tools and faunal remains from the site, further investigations of Holocene occupations, and documentation of contemporary and traditional land use, language, and culture. This joint White River First Nation - Yukon College project involves students and local First Nation youth and elders in integrated investigations of the region's history, language, and culture.

Field school students will receive training in all aspects of archaeological excavation, survey, and field laboratory techniques, ethnographic observation through participant observation, developing field notes, and primary analytical techniques. Field lectures will be cover a range of topics as detailed in the course outline.

The Yukon-Alaska borderlands is the traditional homeland of the Upper Tanana Dineh, a social and linguistice sub-group of the subarctic Athapaskans, and lies within the administrative boundaries of the White River First Nation and Northway Village Council.

Pre-historic and early historic aboriginal occupations of the Mirror and Scottie Creek valleys will be investigated through archaeological survey and excavations. Oral history, place names, and contemporary ethnography of the region will also be recorded. Fieldwork in 2009 will focus on further excavation of the late Pleistocene/early Holocene Little John site (KdVo-6), and additional survey and excavation of related local sites. Ethnographic documentation of ethnobotanical knowledge and cultural geography will also be undertaken.

Papers related to the Scottie Creek Culture History Project are available on the project director's website.

Period(s) of occupation
Late Pleistocene to Historic (Nenana complex, Denali complex, Northern Archaic, Late Prehistoric, Historic components)

Minimum length of stay for volunteers
2 weeks for volunteers or non-credit, 7 weeks for credit option

Minimum age
High School graduates

Experience required
None, willingness to live and work in a wilderness environment

Room and Board arrangements
Students and participants are responsible for room and board prior to arrival at the field camp. Living conditions in field are by tent and camp food; costs for field food,transportation, and equipment is included in field activity fee. Optional attendance at Dawson City Music Festival at Student's expense.
Cost: Canadian Students $2,100; International fees waived for this course; contact Easton for non-credit Research Intern fee.

Academic credit
Number of credits: 6 - 9 university transfer credits (2nd year)
Offered by: Yukon College
Tuition: $2,100 includes course registration and field activity fee

Contact information
Norman Alexander Easton
500 College Drive, P.O. Box 2799
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory Y1A 5K4
Canada
867-668-8770
867-668-8805
northeaston@gmail.com

Bibliography
Easton, N. A., G.R. MacKay, P.B. Young, P. Schnurr, and D. R. Yesner, "Chisana In Canada—Emergent Evidence Of The Pleistocene Transition Of Southeast Beringia as Revealed By The Little John Site (KdVo-6), Yukon Territory, Canada." Ted Goebel and Ian Buvit (eds.), From the Yenisei to the Yukon: Interpreting Lithic Assemblage Variability in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Beringia. Chapter 17. Center for the Study of the First Americans, Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas, 2009.

Easton, Norman Alexander and G. R. MacKay, "Early Bifaces from the Little John Site (KdVo6), Yukon Territory, Canada." In R. Carlson and M. Magne, Projectile Point Sequences in Northwestern North America,. 263-282. Simon Fraser University Press, Burnaby, B.C., 2008.

Easton, N. A., D. R. Yesner, V. Hutchinson, P. Schnurr and C. Baker, "Wisconsin Interstadial(?), Terminal-Pleistocene, and Early-Holocene Radiocarbon Dates from the Little John Site, Southwest Yukon Territory, Canada." Current Research in the Pleistocene. Vol. 26. Volume 26, Pages 47-50. Center for the Study of the First Americans, Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas, 2009.

Easton, Norman Alexander, "King George Got Diarrhea: The Yukon-Alaska Boundary Survey, Bill Rupe, and the Scottie Creek Dineh." Alaska Journal of Anthropology. Volume 5, Number 1.. 5(1): 95-118. Anchorage, Alaska, 2007.

Easton, Norman Alexander, "It's Hard Enough to Control Yourself - It's Ridiculous to Think You Can Control Animals: Competing Views on the Bush in Contemporary Yukon ." The Northern Review. 29 (Fall): 21-38. Whitehorse, Yukon, 2008.

Return to Search Results

The icons above provide a quick view of certain project characteristics (size, academic credit, youth participation). Hover over the orange icons for a description.