Dry Creek Archeological Site National Historic Landmark

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Yukon-Koyukuk, Alaska

Significance:

When the Dry Creek archeological site was designated in 1978, it was the oldest site in Alaska.

Designation:

National Historic Landmark, since June 2, 1978

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

MANAGED BY:

State of Alaska

When archaeologists first discovered the Dry Creek site in the early 1970s, its 11,000 year old archaeological artifacts were the first pieces of evidence to confirm that people migrated across the Bering Land Bridge and hunted Pleistocene megafauna in Alaska.

The site validates a long standing cultural connection between Asia and Alaska, and informs us on the earliest trade, communication, and migrations between Alaska and the rest of the Americas. The Dry Creek site is significant to our understanding of the earliest Americans.

Additional Information

Dry Creek: Archaeology and Paleoecology of a Late Pleistocene Alaskan Hunting Camp, by W. Roger Powers, R. Dale Guthrie, and John F. Hoffecker, edited by Ted Goebel, 2017

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