Holocene Driftwood Incursion to Southwestern Victoria Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and Its Significance to Paleoceanography and Archaeology

Published Date
Quaternary Research
July 2000, Vol.54(1):113–120, doi:10.1006/qres.2000.2141
Regular Article

Author 

• Arthur S. Dyke ^a
• James M. Savelle ^b

• aTerrain Sciences Division, Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0E8
• bDepartment of Anthropology, McGill University, 855 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A 2T7

Received 15 September 1999. Available online 15 April 2002. 

Abstract

Holocene driftwood is found on postglacial raised beaches of Wollaston Peninsula, Victoria Island. The highest driftwood appears on the 12- to 13-m beach, which formed about 4000 yr B.P., and is common on beaches 12–6 m in elevation. The earliest Paleoeskimo dwelling features also occur on the 12- to 13-m beach. Wood increases on the 5- to 6-m beach, which formed about 2000 yr B.P., and is abundant below that level. Thus, zonation of wood suggests the following hypotheses: (1) that the coastal Mackenzie Current, the source of modern driftwood, did not operate before 4000 yr B.P. and lacked its present vigor or persistence until 2000 yr B.P.; and (2) that the apparent sudden influx of driftwood at 4000 yr B.P. may have provided a fuel resource and (or) may have been related to conditions that enabled first peopling. Radiocarbon ages indicate that (1) the first wood arrived about 4700 yr B.P.; (2) little wood arrived from 4700–2000 yr B.P.; and (3) influx of wood was episodic after 2000 yr B.P. Much of the wood that arrived after 1100 yr B.P. was redistributed by people and scattered on higher beaches. Explanation of the evident correlation between highest wood and highest dwelling features must await archaeological studies.

Keywords

driftwood

Artic Ocean circulation

archaeology

Paleoeskimo

Thule

climate change

sea-level change

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Copyright © 2000 University of Washington. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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