Description
Microblade technology in western Canada is reviewed within a regional framework to broaden archaeologists’ understanding of its geographic and temporal distribution. Substantial references are made to archaeological grey literature. Focusing on two main microcore forms (Denali and fixed platform), the technology is shown to be found throughout the Holocene epoch, concentrated principally in British Columbia and the Yukon, with fewer occurrences in the Northwest Territories and Alberta. Microcore morphologies are strongly dependent on the qualities of toolstones used in their manufacture; the principal core forms demonstrate regionally distinct distributions and weak temporal trends. From the Late Pleistocene and through the Holocene, microblade technology in northwestern North America appears to increase and decrease in popularity on track with major climatic episodes. Substantial progress has been made in recent times in substantiating a north to south time-slope trend in...