Impact of Climatic Change on Conservation

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CCI Newsletter, No. 26, November 2000

Impact of Climatic Change on Conservation

by Gregory Young, Senior Conservation Scientist, Conservation Processes and Materials Research

Figure 1

Fragment of an atlatl dart.

The discovery of organic artifacts at Yukon archaeological sites was extremely rare until the last couple of years. However, with rapid melting of the glacial ice, large numbers have recently been uncovered.

The Heritage Branch of Yukon Tourism in Whitehorse, in collaboration with the Champagne and Aishihik First Nation, has been recovering a unique assemblage of organic artifacts melting out of high alpine ice fields. These ice fields are the ancient summer caribou-hunting grounds of Southern Yukon First Nations. As they melt, artifacts made of wood, bone, antler, stone, and feather are being exposed.

Conservator Diana Komejan and archaeologists Greg Hare and Dr. Ruth Gotthardt requested CCI's assistance in documenting the species origins of roughly 100 wooden artifacts collected during the summer of 1999. The collection includes a bow, atlatl darts, and arrows. Some of these are very well preserved, with stone points and remnants of feathers still attached to the shafts with sinew. Carbon dating revealed an age range from 800 to 6800 years old.

I studied the collection during a field trip to Whitehorse in December 1999, taking several hundred microscopic samples. The discovery of maple in the construction of a bow was surprising, although it was subsequently reported by a local botanist that two kinds of maple grow in the region. Many of the arrow shafts were made of birch, likely due to its light weight, strength, and lack of warping during drying. Other woods identified included spruce and pine.

The study of these organic artifacts will eventually lead to a greater understanding of human occupation in the region thousands of years ago.