Researchers from the University of Kansas announced a breakthrough discovery at the Shég’ Xdaltth’í’ site, located about 34 miles southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. The excavation uncovered what appears to be the oldest known habitation structure in the Western Hemisphere, dating back roughly 13,800 years.

What the site contains

The team documented tens of thousands of artifacts, including stone tools, bone needles, an antler pendant, a hearth, a small pit, and a soil stain indicating where a wooden post once stood—likely the remains of a lean‑to or early tent. An earth oven filled with charcoal and animal bones suggests the occupants cooked meat for a sizable family group.

Among the most striking finds are bone‑needle fragments, the oldest of their kind discovered in the Western Hemisphere, and an antler pendant that mirrors personal adornments found elsewhere in North America. The stone tools display a unique hafted‑biface form and were fashioned from rhyolite, basalt, and obsidian sourced hundreds of miles to the northwest, indicating long‑distance travel or trade.

Why it matters

While many Beringian sites consist of seasonal hunting camps, Shég’ Xdaltth’í’ provides clear evidence of a semi‑permanent settlement that was revisited over a span of roughly 1,000 years. “The complex feature at Shég’ Xdaltth’í’ represents the earliest potential case of a habitation structure in North America,” the study’s authors wrote. This challenges the prevailing view that early peoples in the region were solely nomadic hunters.

The discovery also offers indirect clues about early domesticated dogs. Analysis of a wolf‑like canid jaw from the site identified a population unique to central Alaska, supporting the hypothesis that the site’s inhabitants may have owned dogs descended from Siberian wolves.

Broader context

Genetic research places the ancestors of today’s Indigenous Americans in the Americas around 21,000 years ago. Finding a well‑preserved settlement in eastern Beringia with cultural links both westward to Siberia and southward to other North American sites fits that larger migration narrative.

“Early Alaskans knew their surroundings well,” the authors noted, emphasizing the sophisticated tool‑making and resource‑management evident at the site.

Future work

Lead author Kelly Graf, an archaeologist at the University of Kansas, cautioned that much remains unknown. “It would be hard to pin down whether or not they were moving back and forth during a lifetime, but at least we can say there is a connection,” she said. Further excavations in remote parts of Alaska are needed to fully understand the timing and extent of early human settlement east of the Bering Land Bridge.

Original reporting: 40/29 / KHBS (NW Arkansas) — read the source article.