Stratigraphy, Radiocarbon Dating, and Culture History of Charlie Lake Cave, British Columbia

Three seasons of fieldwork at Charlie Lake Cave, British Columbia, have revealed a sequence of stratified deposits that spans the Late Pleistocene and entire Holocene. Analyses of sediments, radiocarbon dates, faunal remains, and artifacts show that the site was first occupied by people at about 10,500 B.P. when local environments were more open than today. By 9500 B.P., boreal forest had moved into the area, and human use of the site was minimal until about 7000 B.P. when a brief occupation of the site probably included a human burial. Use of the site intensified after about 4500 B.P., possibly because the cave became more accessible. The site was used both as a residential base camp and as a more temporary hunting station or lookout.