ABSTRACT

The generally accepted earliest evidence of humans in the Arctic, migrants from eastern Asia, dates to approximately 13,000–14,000 years ago, though newer discoveries have suggested the age could be doubled to approximately 27,000 years ago. Tracing scientific discovery of fossil vertebrates in Alaska within general circumpolar history draws our attention first to Siberia. In the history of dinosaur exploration, the story of Alaskan dinosaur discoveries is comparatively recent. Dinosaurs are a historically well-defined clade, or group, of animals containing some well-known and popular species the relationships and lifestyles of these most recognized fossil relicts of the past have been active subjects of intense paleontological research. The first notice of an Alaskan dinosaur, a cryptic photograph in a edition of Encyclopedie par L'Image La Prehistoire, tantalizes us with what appears to be ornithopod tracks from "les montagnes de l'Alaska." Dinosaur bones were first collected in northern Alaska in 1961 but were not recognized as such until 1983.