A 14,000-year-old campsite in Alaska’s Tanana Valley, Holzman site, shows a long-lived presence with hearths, stone debitage, and a nearly complete mammoth tusk in the oldest layer, offering insights into early North American peopling.

Ivory tools found at Holzman resemble Clovis-era artifacts and date to about 14,000 years ago, suggesting advanced ivory working and tool manufacture in the region at that time.

The deepest occupation level contains campfire remains, bird and large mammal bones, quartz debitage, and a nearly complete mammoth tusk, indicating food preparation and tool use at a single campsite near Shaw Creek and the Tanana River.

Analysts conclude the ivory rods were produced with carving techniques characteristic of Clovis culture, implying cultural transmission from Asian migrants who crossed Beringia into North America.

The study positions Alaska as an active center of technological development, linking Siberian-Beringian adaptations to later expansions across North America.

Readers are directed to the original Quaternary International article for fuller detail and related perspectives on the Americas’ peopling.

Mammoth ivory and lithic material may have played a role in resource exchange across eastern Beringia and relate to later dispersals into the Rocky Mountains and Northern High Plains.

By 14,000 years ago, humans inhabited eastern Beringia, with migrations between 14,000–13,000 years ago potentially following coastal, interior, or mixed routes, helping trace Paleoindian technological roots.

Holzman does not settle the peopling question, but it strengthens the view that Interior Alaska was a crucial hub for early movement and technology in the late Pleistocene.

Ivory technologies at Holzman resemble later Clovis methods, suggesting northern roots for hunting gear techniques and foreshadowing components of Paleoindian weaponry.

The findings hint at a sophisticated organic-technology tradition in eastern Beringia, especially ivory working, predating and informing later Paleoindian tool traditions like Clovis.

Stone tool analysis shows production sequences and material transport by mobile groups in eastern Beringia, reflecting shared technical traditions and resource exploitation.