Comparing Archaeology and Oral Tradition at the Tlákw.aan (Old Town) Site, Yakutat Bay, Alaska

Summary

Southeast Alaskan oral narratives describe the epic migration of an Ahtna Raven clan from its interior Copper River territory over montane glaciers to the Pacific coast at Yakutat Bay, where the group founded the village of Tlákw.aan (Old Town) and intermarried with Eyak and Tlingit lineages. The multi-cultural origins of the residents are reflected in architecture and artifacts excavated at the site by Frederica de Laguna in the 1950s and during collaborative Smithsonian investigations in 2014. Archaeological data verify many aspects of oral tradition and place the founding of the site in about A.D. 1550, while paleoenvironmental, archaeofaunal, and glaciological evidence also correlate with the traditional narratives. The study suggests that culturally-curated oral histories known as shkalneek in Tlingit, even if centuries old, may possess a substantial degree of demonstrable historical accuracy.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21630