Denbigh Flint Complex

An Arctic Small Tool Tradition flint industry found at Cape Denbigh, Iyatayet, Cape Krusenstern, Onion Portage, and other Alaskan sites. The typical artifacts are finely worked microblade tools (bladelets, small crescents), burins, and bifacially pressure-flaked points. The Denbigh complex had developed by c 3200 BC. The Arctic Small tool tradition spread eastwards over the whole Arctic zone from Alaska to Greenland and contributed to the earliest Eskimo cultures. Land mammals seem to have been the primary focus of subsistence activity.

The type collection for the Arctic Small Tool Tradition which was first excavated at Cape Denbigh on Norton Bay, Alaska. The site yielded a radiocarbon date of 2000 be, which became a landmark in the chronology of Arctic cultures. Denbigh artefacts have been found at numerous Arctic sites, notably at Onion Portage, Cape Krusenstern and Ityatet. Finely worked microblade tools are characteristic, and land mammals seem to have been the primary focus of subsistence activity.