The Scottie Creek Borderlands Culture History Project began in 1990-91 as an ethnographic and historical study of the effects on and accommodation of the Upper Tanana Dineh athapaskans by the imposition of the international border between Yukon, Canada and Alaska, United States upon their aboriginal homeland, located in the region around border transected by the Alaska Highway. By the mid-1990s it broadened into a long-term interdisciplinary study of the borderland’s prehistory, cultural geography, traditional culture, and contemporary life of the communities of Beaver Creek, Yukon, and Northway, Tetlin, and Tanacross, Alaska.
A selection of Chindadn Points from the Little John site, c. 13,000 years old.
Mrs. Darlene Northway shares women's knowledge with students at Big Scottie Creek fish camp, 2005.
A Yukon College sponsored field school supporting the project was held in 1994 and subsequently from 1999 through 2016. The program combined archaeological survey and excavation with ethnographic enquiry, including oral history, language and place-names documentation, kinship and social relations, subsistence and other land-use patterns, traditional technology, and contemporary adaptations of indigenous aboriginal society to state structures and capitalist culture. The fundamental structure of the investigation is community-based, with strong involvement of the local First Nation administration, elders, and youth, and active participation in the life of the community at fish camps, ball games, and through community service, forging cross-cultural understanding and new lasting friendships that irrevocably change our lives for the better.
The field program has conducted archaeological survey along the lower and middle reaches of the Scottie Creek valley, the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, and Northway, Healy Lake, and Tanacross Native lands, however its principal focus since 2002 has been the Little John site (Borden # KdVo-6) near Beaver Creek, Yukon, which holds stratified cultural deposits from Late Pleistocene Beringia 14,000 years ago to the present. The Little John site was closed and remediated in 2017 and an active program of comprehensive laboratory analysis and publication is now underway to supplement the interim publications listed below.
Mr. Joseph Tommy Johnny sharing oral history of the borderlands with students, June 2012.
Community youth and student excavating at Deadman Lake, 2012.
Principal Investigator: Norman Alexander Easton, Instructor Anthropology, Archaeology, Northern Studies, School of Liberal Arts, Yukon College.
Mr. David Johnny, Beaver Creek, Scottie Creek Dineh Cultural Expert
Mrs. Ruth Johnny, Beaver Creek, Northway Dineh Cultural Expert
Mrs. Bessie John splitting spruce for basket thread, Beaver Creek, 1994.
Ruth and David Johnny butchering moose, Beaver Creek, 2002.
Robert Sattler, Senior Archaeologist, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Fairbanks
Dr. David Yesner, Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska-Anchorage
Dr. Vance Hutchinson, Whitehorse, Yukon
Dr. Jeffery Rasic, Chief of Resources, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. National Park Service, Fairbanks
Dr. Julie Esdale, Colorado State University, Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands
Dr. Joel Cubley, Geological Technology Program, Yukon College
Dr. Mary Samolczyk, Geological Technology Program, Yukon College
Dr. E. James Dixon, Professor, Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico
Dr. David Yesner identifying Little John artifacts with the Yukon Paleontology comparative collection.
Field Program participants at the Little John site, 2008
Michael Grooms, PhD, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico. Geomorphology of the Little John Site (ongoing).
Jordan Handley, MA, Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia. A Gendered Analysis of Lithic Artifacts at the Little John Site (ongoing).
Laurianne Bourgeon, PhD, Department of Anthropology, University of Montreal. Taphonomic Analysis of Little John Fauna (2017).
Francoise Lanoe, PhD, School of Anthropology, University of Arizona. Collagen Stable Isotope Ratios of Selected Little John Pleistocene Fauna (2017).
Jordan Handley, Senior Thesis, Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University. pXRF Analysis of Basaltic Artifacts from the Little John Site (2013).
Emily Youatt, Senior Thesis, Division of History and Social Sciences, Reed College. Cultural Continuity on the Yukon – Alaska Borderlands (2010).
Christopher Baker, Senior Thesis, Department of Anthropology, Laurentian University. Textual Analysis of Sediments from the Little John Site (2004).
Glen MacKay, MA, Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria. Analysis of the Nii-ii (KdVo-5) Site (1997).
In addition, the field program was assisted by 315 student participants from 1994 to 2016; 36% of these students have been Northern Native youth.
Student visit to White River First Nation / Northway Village fish camp, 2012.
School of Liberal Arts, Geological Technology Program, and Northern Research Centre, Yukon College.
White River First Nation
Northway Village Council and Northway Inc.
Tetlin Village Council
Tanacross Village Council
Healy Lake Village Council
Tanana Chiefs Conference
University of Alaska-Anchorage
White River First Nation
Faculty Research Fund, Yukon College
Northern Research Endowment Fund, Yukon College
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Northern Scientific Training Fund
Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies
Tanana Chiefs Conference
Yukon Heritage Resources Board
2015
- Easton, N. A. 2015 Archaeological Excavations at the Little John Site (KdVo6), Southwest Yukon, Canada - 2014. Scottie Creek Borderlands Culture History Project Research Manuscript 2015-02. Whitehorse: Yukon Research Centre.
- Easton, N. A. 2015 New Radiocarbon Dates from the Little John Site (KdVo6) Obtained with the Support of the Yukon College Faculty Research Fund. Scottie Creek Borderlands Culture History Project Research Manuscript 2015-01. Whitehorse: Yukon Research Centre.
- Easton, N. A. 2015 Scottie Creek Borderlands Culture History Project - 2015 Summary of Activities. Scottie Creek Borderlands Culture History Project Research Manuscript 2015-03. Whitehorse: Yukon Research Centre.
2014
- Easton, N. A. 2014 Archaeological Excavations at the Little John Site (KdVo6), Southwest Yukon, Canada - 2013. Scottie Creek Borderlands Culture History Project Research Manuscript 2014-02. Whitehorse: Yukon Research Centre (Revised May 2015).
- Handley, J. 2014 Elemental Analysis of Basaltic Materials from the Little John Site (KdVo6), Yukon Territory, Canada. Poster Summary. Scottie Creek Borderlands Culture History Project Research Manuscript 2014-01.
2013
- Easton, N. A. 2013 Archaeological Excavations at the Little John Site (KdVo6), Southwest Yukon Territory, Canada - 2012. Scottie Creek Borderlands Culture History Project Research Manuscript 2013-02. Whitehorse: Yukon Research Centre (Revised April 2014).
- Easton, N. A., M. Grooms, J. Cubley, M. Samolczyk, L. Bourgeon, J. Handley, N. Virga, V. Hutchinson, D. Yesner. 2013 Analytical Approaches to Interpreting the Little John Site (KdVo6), a Late Pleistocene Occupation in Yukon’s Beringia. Poster. Paleoamerican Odyssey Conference, Santa Fe, New Mexico. 18 October, 2013.
- Handley, J. D. 2013 An Exploratory Analysis of Non-Vitreous Igneous Artifacts from the Little John Site, Yukon Territory. Honours Thesis. Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University.
- Hawes, K. and D. R. Croes. Cellular Analysis of Wood Material from the Little John Site (KdVo6). Report submitted by Pacific Northwest Archaeological Services. Scottie Creek Borderlands Culture History Project Research Manuscript 2013-01. Whitehorse: Yukon Research Centre
2012
- Easton, N. A. 2012 Anthropology 225 - Field School in Subarctic Archaeology and Ethnography - 2012 Fieldwork Summary. Report to Yukon College, Yukon Heritage Branch, and White River First Nation. Scottie Creek Borderlands Culture History Project Research Manuscript 2012-03. Whitehorse: Yukon Research Centre.
- Easton, N. A. 2012 Archaeological Excavations at the Little John Site (KdVo6), Southwest Yukon Territory, Canada - 2011. Scottie Creek Borderlands Culture History Project Research Manuscript 2012-02. Whitehorse: Yukon Research Centre.
- Easton, N. A. 2012 Report on the 2012 Art and Archaeology Initiative - A Collaboration between Yukon College Field School in Archaeology, The Northern Cultural Expression Society and Members of the White River First Nation of Beaver Creek Yukon. Report submitted to the Northern Cultural Expression Society and Yukon College. 10 August 2012.
- Grooms, M. 2012 Little John Soils - An Initial Assessment Based on 2011 Sampling. Scottie Creek Borderlands Culture History Project Research Manuscript 2012-03. Whitehorse: Yukon Research Centre.
2011
- Crossen, K. D.R. Yesner, and N. A. Easton. 2011. Geoarchaeological And Zooarchaeological Correlates Of Eastern Beringian Lithic Assemblages: Insights from the Little John Site, Yukon. In Ted Goebel and Ian Buvit (eds.), From the Yenisei to the Yukon: Interpreting Lithic Assemblage Variability in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Beringia. Center for the Study of the First Americans, Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas. pp. 308 – 322.
- Easton, N. A. 2011 Archaeological Excavations at the Little John Site (KdVo6), Southwest Yukon Territory, Canada - 2010. Scottie Creek Culture History Project Research Manuscript, 2011-03. Whitehorse: Northern Research Institute.
- Easton, N. A., G.R. MacKay, P.B. Young, P. Schnurr, and D. R. Yesner. Chindadn In Canada—Emergent Evidence Of The Pleistocene Transition Of Southeast Beringia as Revealed By The Little John Site (KdVo-6), Yukon Territory, Canada. In Ted Goebel and Ian Buvit (eds.), From the Yenisei to the Yukon: Interpreting Lithic Assemblage Variability in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Beringia. Center for the Study of the First Americans, Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas. pp. 289 – 307.
- Sattler, R. A., T. E. Gillispie, N. A. Easton, and M. Grooms. Linda's Point: Results from a New Terminal Pleistocene Human Occupation at Healy Lake, Alaska. Current Research in the Pleistocene. Vol. 28: 149-151.
2009
2008
- Easton, N. A. 2007 Archaeological Excavations at KdVo-6 and Regional Survey about Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory, Canada. Scottie Creek Culture History Project Research Manuscript 2008-01. Whitehorse: Northern Research Institute.
- Easton, N. A. and G.R. MacKay. Early Bifaces from the Little John Site (KdVo-6), Yukon Territory, Canada. In R. Carlson and M. Magne (eds.) Projectile Point Sequences in Northwestern North America. Burnaby, B.C.: Simon Fraser University Press. pp. 263-282.
- Easton, N. A., G.R. MacKay, P.B. Young, P. Schnurr, and D.R. Yesner. Nenana in Canada? Emergent Evidence of the Pleistocene Transition in Southeast Beringia from the Little John Site, Yukon Territory, Canada. Text and illustrations of a presentation to the Society for American Archaeology, 28 March 2008, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Ethnography, Ethnohistory, Cultural Geography, and Linguistics
n.d.
2008
2007
- Easton, N. A. King George got diarrhea: The Yukon - Alaska Boundary Survey, Bill Rupe, and the Scottie Creek Dineh. Alaska Journal of Anthropology. Vol. 5, No. 1:95-118.
- Easton, N. A. The Contributions of Richard Lee to the anthropological understanding of the really Real western Subarctic Dineh culture in the twentieth century and the really Real Richard Lee and me. Before Farming [online version] 2007/3 article 1. Published in Before Farming: the archaeology and anthropology of hunter-gatherers. Annual Paperback Volume, pp: 160-168.
- Friend, C., G. Holton, and N. A. Easton. An American - Canadian Traditional Ecological Knowledge Study of the Upper Tanana River Fisheries. Park Science in Central Alaska: Crossing Boundaries in a Changing Environment. Alaska Park Science. Vol. 6, Issue 2 (Dec) 2007:78-82.
2005
2001
2015
- Aboriginal People's Television Network, 2015. Land of the Giants. Wild Archaeology. Season 1, Epidsode 2. 22:03
- Aboriginal People's Television Network, 2015. Little John. Wild Archaeology. Season 1, Epidsode 3. 21:59
2010
- Mammoth Trumpet, July 2010, The Little John Site: Rewarding Archaeologists and Yukon Natives. Volume 25 Number 3. Pages 8-12. Center for First Americans, Texas A&M University, College Station, Tx
2009