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- Lab number
- S-1420
- Field number
- CMC- 936
- Material dated
- willow wood; bois de saule
- Taxa dated
- Salix? sp.
- Locality
- 1 km northwest of the tip of Porden Point, 4 m asl, Grinnell Peninsula, Devon Island, Nunavut
- Map sheet
- 59 B/07
- Submitter
- R. McGhee
- Date submitted
- August 23, 0097
- Measured Age
- 550 ± 70
- Normalized Age
- 550 ± 70
- δ13C (per mil)
- -25.0
- Significance
- Neoeskimo, Early Classic Thule; Néoesquimau, Thuléen
- Stratigraphic component
- House 7
- Context
- twigs, House 7, rear of sleeping platform beneath its flagstones, mattress?
- Comments
- RbJr-1, Porden Point Brook: Nine Thule winter houses are related to the early period of Thule occupation. Comments by McGhee: The sample series (S-1420 through S-1424) was selected for testing the relationship between dates on different Arctic materials. Four samples from beneath the sleeping platform above floor flagstones: whale bone, a structure support of the house wall (S-1423); seal bones, apparent refuse (S-1424); plant materials (mattress residue) picked from a single mixed sample found ~in situ< beneath the rear of the platform (S-1420, S-1421, S-1422). Preservation of the samples was excellent, as they appear to have been continuously frozen since the house was abandoned. House 7 is a typical Thule winter house and appears to have been occupied for only a few years. No evidence of earlier occupation was found at the site. S-1420, local willow twigs, yielded an acceptable date for the artifact style. The other dates are unacceptably early. Possibly the sphagnum (S-1422) was dug from an old deposit, but there are no signs of humification, and it appears as if recently picked. There is no apparent explanation for the wide range of plant material dates. The whale bone is possibly from an old drift-whale and used much later in house construction. The seal bones undoubtedly relate to the house occupation but gave a similar date to the whale bone. Sea mammal dates are expected to be unacceptably early but not as early as S-1423 and S-1424. These findings suggest that Arctic material dates other than local wood should be treated with some skepticism. Comment by Morlan: Application of a correction for the marine reservoir to the normalized ages of S-1423 and S-1424, given here, would bring them much closer to the expected age of the site.