The Icon in Canada: Recent Findings from the Canadian Museum of Civilization (Mercury Series)

This site report describes excavations from 1963 on Kodiak Island, Alaska, and defines an early local phase of the Kachemak tradition called the Old Kiavak phase. Information remains insufficient to fully describe this phase as well as the third and fourth millennium B.P. occupation at the site owing to poor recovery of organic artifacts and a very sparse inventory from the earliest levels. Comparisons with other Early Kachemak components found on Kodiak Island and elsewhere show considerable variation within the tradition. The local Old Kiavak phase represents the early to middle time range of the Kachemak tradition and is part of a more broadly defined Early Kachemak regional phase. Donald W. Clark has been a curator of archaeology at the Canadian Museum of Civilization since 1968.