Under Threat of Erosion: Late Prehistoric to Historic Contact Houses near the Native Village of Shaktoolik, Alaska

Author(s): Kelly Eldridge; Christyann Darwent; John Darwent

Year: 2015

Summary

Historical documents note that the Shaktoolik Peninsula, located in Norton Sound, Alaska, was a nexus of interaction among local Yup’ik, Inupiat from the north, Athabaskans from the east, and Russian and American traders in the 1800s. Yup’ik populations were displaced from the area and replaced by Inupiaq groups during this time; however, limited archival, ethnographic and oral history accounts make it difficult to disentangle the local history. The archaeological record may be able to fill in the story. We report on our investigations, in collaboration with the Native Village of Shaktoolik, at the Shaktoolik Airport site (NOB-072) in 2014. Although noted in earlier archaeological surveys it had never been adequately documented, and unfortunately time is of the essence as the site is threatened by increased seasonal flooding and coastal erosion. The site proved to be considerably larger than anticipated; mapping revealed over 200 house depressions, including a large qasigi or men’s house, and multiple complexes of houses with interconnected tunnels. Limited test excavation yielded well-preserved pre- and post-contact organic architecture and artifacts, and a faunal record of both maritime and terrestrial game. We have just scratched the surface of a rich archaeological record of the past 600 years.

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Cite this Record

Under Threat of Erosion: Late Prehistoric to Historic Contact Houses near the Native Village of Shaktoolik, Alaska. Kelly Eldridge, John Darwent, Christyann Darwent. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 395760)

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Keywords

General
Coastal Erosion • Historic • Thule

Geographic Keywords
North America - NW Coast/Alaska

Spatial Coverage

min long: -169.717; min lat: 42.553 ; max long: -122.607; max lat: 71.301 ;