Why do archaeology in central Alaska?
Central Alaska is a land of extremes: big mountains, large glacial fed rivers, harsh winters, and beautiful summers. The first Alaskans made their home here at least 14,500 years ago, and were likely the first people in North America. Understanding how these people learned to live on this extreme landscape helps us to understand local histories and human culture more broadly.
People and Material Culture
Alaskan archaeology is typically separated into coastal and interior groups. Coastal groups were maritime sea mammal hunters and expert fisherfolk. Interior groups tracked caribou across vast distances and maintained complex social networks centered around seasonal salmon runs. This field school focuses on the latter group, and is interested in how Alaskans used lakeside settings throughout the human history of the region.
Dene or Athabascans are the descendant community in central Alaska. We know from linguistic and oral historic evidence that Dene have lived here for at least 10,000 years. Dene continue many traditional hunting and fishing practices at seasonal fish camps and during caribou hunts. With oversight of the Tanana Chiefs Conference, archaeologists have done decades of cutting edge research in the Tanana Valley of central Alaska, where this field school takes place.
Fish, moose, and swan bones, spear points, microblades, copper awls, and red ochre drawing implements are among the artifacts that we may find this summer. Our excavations are centered on an area of the site that may have been used as a dwelling or long term occupation. Many Dene or Athabascan groups lived in long term villages on lakes. Our research this summer will help to determine if the site may represent one of these lakeside villages. More generally, our work will help archaeologists to better understand how lakes were used at different times in the past. This will help address debates about the use of fish in the past.
Excavations in Alaska
Central Alaska is known for its wind-blown silt, or loess, deposits. These deposits help to preserve discrete cultural occupations and make for great digging. We will dig through approximately 4 feet or 1.5 meters of sediments as we go back in time at the bachner site. At different depths, we will address important questions about different periods in Alaska's history.
Like most excavations, we will dig in square one by one meter units. This helps to maintain spatial integrity that we use to reconstruct what happened at different areas of the site. We will also screen all of the material through 1/8" screens to catch anything we don't find in the soil, or in situ.
Testing in Alaska usually takes place with careful trowel excavations. Most of the materials are almost exactly where someone dropped them before loess covered them up, so it's important to find even small artifacts in situ. Between cultural levels, we may practice shovel skimming. This involves carefully peeling a half inch or less loess at a time to track any changes in soil consistency we may see.
We will practice careful note taking throughout the excavation process. If we didn't write anything down, it would be very hard to reconstruct the past. Students will learn what to write and how to write it to insure no information is lost.