Ko d iak Ar c h a e o l o g y Fa c t s Native people have lived in the Kodiak remarkably well preserved. A number contain archipelago for at least 7,500 years, yet the bone, ivory, and antler tools, and some hold written record of their history extends back wooden artifacts. These unique finds reflect just 250 years, to the time of Russian contact. the archipelago’s consistently cool, wet climate, Archaeological sites offer the opportunity to which helps to preserve organic materials. study the remaining 7,250 years of history. They are an Alutiiq library. • Archaeologists recognize a variety of different sites from large coastal villages dotted with • There are more than 12,200 prehistoric the remains of sod houses, to stream side fish archaeological sites in . Over 900 of camps, fort sites on precipitous cliffs, stone these are in the Kodiak Archipelago. Although quarries, fish weirs, trails, cairns, petroglyphs, Kodiak comprises only 0.5% of Alaska’s and secluded mountain caves where whalers landmass, it holds roughly 7.5% of the state’s prepared for the hunt. known prehistoric settlements. • Archaeologists recognize five distinctive • Kodiak’s high density of archaeological sites cultural traditions (see facing page), each reflects 7,500 years of human occupation and representing a different way of life. Despite large prehistoric populations. Before Russian changes in the organization of ancient societies, traders arrived, archaeologists believe that there archaeologists believe that modern Alutiiq may have been as many as 13,000 on people are descended from Kodiak’s earliest Kodiak – about the size of the region’s modern residents. population. YOU CAN HELP • Kodiak’s large Pr o t e c t • Never dig in a site or collect number of sites also t h e Pa s t artifacts from the beach. reflects the intensity Archaeological sites • If you find an artifact, enjoy it of archaeological are a non-renewable but leave it. Take a photograph research. Scientists have been studying resource. There is a but not the object. Kodiak prehistory limited amount of • Teach your family and friends since 1930. Kodiak information available to respect artifacts. Most people is one of the more about the past. Yet, do not know that it is illegal, intensely researched each year sites are destructive, and disrespectful to regions of Alaska damaged by vandalism. collect artifacts. from an archaeological Recreational digging and • Report illegal collecting to the perspective. artifact collecting are National Park Service illegal and destroy our (1-800-478-2724). Rewards • Many of Kodiak’s ability to interpret the of up to $500 are available for archaeological sites are archaeological record. information on illegal collecting.

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Produced by the Alutiiq Museum, Kodiak, Alaska Cu l t u r e s Th r o u g h Ti m e

A multitude of archaeological sites Oc e a n Ba y Tr a d i t i o n - The first occupants of the Kodiak archipelago 5500 BC to 2000 arrived at least 7,500 years ago, colonizing an environment warmer preserve the history of Kodiak’s and drier than today. Archaeologists believe these people came from Alutiiq people. Dense prehistoric southwestern Alaska and were well adapted to life along the coast. Like populations left large accumulations their descendants, they used barbed harpoons, chipped stone points, and ground slate lances to hunt sea mammals, delicate bone hooks to jig for of cultural debris that have resisted cod, and large bone picks to dig for clams. Some early residents probably decay in the region’s persistently lived in skin-covered tents, although oval, single-roomed houses with piled cool, wet environment. In addition sod walls were in use by about 7,000 years ago. to the stone tools commonly Ka c h e m a k Tr a d i t i o n - About 4,000 years ago, Kodiak people began to found in Alaskan archaeological focus more intensely on fishing, harvesting quantities of both cod and 2000 BC to AD 1200 salmon. They developed nets to harvest large quantities of salmon, and sites, many of Kodiak’s ancient slate ulus and smoke houses to process these larger catches for storage. settlements contain shell, bone, Over time, villages grew suggesting that the island’s population was antler, and ivory objects. A few also growing and filling up the landscape. By the end of the Kachemak tradition, people were trading for large quantities of raw materials hold spectacular assemblages of from the Alaskan mainland. Antler, ivory, coal, and exotic stones were wood and fiber artifacts. This rich manufactured into tools and jewelry. Labrets, decorative plugs inserted in the face, become popular at this time, perhaps to signal the social ties of archaeological record documents the person wearing the labret in a landscape where there was increasing at least 7,500 years of continuous competition for resources. The first signs of warfare appear in the Late human occupation and chronicles Kachemak.

the adaptation of Native people Ko n i a g Tr a d i t i o n - About 800 years ago, Kodiak’s climate began to AD 1200 to 1763 to the region’s productive marine change dramatically. Temperatures cooled, the weather worsened, and small sea mammals became more difficult to catch. Alutiiq people environments. Archaeologists responded by relocating their villages to the banks of productive salmon divide Kodiak history into five streams and hunting more whales. Fishing grew even more important as cultural traditions, each reflecting people harvested even greater quantities of salmon to feed their families and trade with neighbors. Related families began living together in large, a distinct way of life. multiple-roomed sod houses pooling resources and labor. Chiefs emerged, perhaps to organize labor. They led war and trading parties, and hosted elaborate winter ceremonies to display their wealth and power, honor ancestors, and ensure future prosperity. AD 1763 to 1867

Ru ss i a n - By the 1780s, Russian fur traders worked their way into the central and colonized the Alutiiq Nation. Alutiiqs were quickly forced to adopt new social and economic practices and many people died from starvation and infectious diseases like influenza. During the Russian period, Native people were forced to worked in artels - camps dedicated to sea otter hunting, salmon fishing, and whaling. Russian clergy introduced the Orthodox faith, a religion that remains strong in many Ocean Bay tradition projectile points from Zaimka communities. Mound, Leisnoi, Inc. Collection. AD 1876 to Now Am e r i c a n - With the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867, life Le a r n Mo r e : on Kodiak changed again. The American period saw the development Cummillallret – Our Ancestors, 2001, by Amy of the modern fishing industry, where many Alutiiq people worked for wages in canneries. Alutiiqs moved gradually from a subsistence lifestyle Steffian. In Looking Both Ways: Heritage and into the Western market economy. At the turn of the 20th century, wood Identity of the Alutiiq People, edited by A. framed houses began to replace sod structures. Educators suppressed Crowell, A. Steffian and G. Pullar, Pp. 189-121. Alutiiq speech, punishing children for using the language and halting its University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks. transmission. Efforts to reawaken cultural traditions began in the 1980s. .9.

Produced by the Alutiiq Museum, Kodiak, Alaska