U.S. Depariment o1 tine lnte;rial' BLM-A,laska Open Frie Flepmt 57 Bureau of La.nd Management BLMJ.AK/ST/95/009+8111+070 July 1995 -~

Alas.ka State Office 222 W. Sevenlti Avenue, Jf13 Anchore.ge, 9513

CU'ltur,al' R,esource Inventory

1 In the IBen 1,deleben a ndl Dar·by M,o'Unt,ai'ns, , Alaska

By Howard L, Smith and Janet Vreeman Cultural & ourc In nli ry in e. Bendeleben and Darb · ountains,

How rd L. mith and Janet Vr-eeman. T: hie ,of Contenls

Cl ...... ,.... 1-r.r.7,l- .... ,.,,t,tl,tlllrl•*"'··i-*flllllillllll!IIIIII •t:4illllfllllllll:tll .. illtl-5 .. ,.~ ...... , ...... , • • flllllll'lillf'llll!!li!I, ...... ,...... ,. ... ~ ...... "' 1

ettJng·• ,..,t,'1111'"!1-'II f'l!lll''"'"•._,..!l'!lf'll•l!l'l!III ••1111 lllll''lil!la>,,,.t--l!l-4'f'l ._.• ••a.ac ...... ""f'f'•••'l!•l•-.•.f'lf'••l!t'I and Hydmg,ap.h ...... 3

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"'op- ...... , .. -, ...... + ...- ...... " ...... _ .. ,__... .. , ••• --...... ,,,...... 11

...... + ..... , ...... , !IC• • 1 l'll'rt-'l!l l .." I' ...... ,...... f't! · .. + ... ., ...... ,.... • .... ," ...... ,., ...... f! .... , ...... +l'i ,o, _,.. .. I J mmendatfons fm .funher ·or· ···············-·-·················-·--··············...... - .... I J Ci ,ed ...... 13 ·ppendix

· ppendi,t I. Site Descriptions ...... ~i ... Mlllilhl:lli • ...... 1 ...... ,...... i;...... ,... lii .. il t••• • ...... i1 • • • ••• i ...... [5

Tables 11 bJe I. iLe ,rjj covered during l 991 inv nlory ond classification of ston ·t:TUcL11res a.c prehistoric sites ...... J.0

igu ap ...... ,,,~ .. ••• ., ...... +_ ...... ,._ •• ..., ...... ) Fi h R1 er and Tnburul.i · er drahila culmraJ chronolo fi r tile ard Pennsul ...... - ...... _

0->~r Phnro: Stan., tem ring at sire BEN.{)74. r1pp, r Bo:Ji·tun C,:eek,.. Alaska by Ja11er Vreeman u Table of Coo tents

Abstra,ct ~ .. . ~ + F .... i ... ++ .. I-~ i ! ,, .... ~ •• ~ ... + i, ., ~. !t·+ .. , ~ ••• ~ ~ ~ ~, ... .. ~ ~ ~ ...... , ..... '! ..... ~ ..... ~ ...... , ...... ,., .•••• ~,,. , ..... • ...... '! •• i ...... I Location and SetUng ...... ,...... 3 Topography and Hydrography ...... ,...... 3

Veg·etation ...... ,., ...... ~-···· ,., ..... r ...... , ...... , ...... ,.,,...... ~ ...... , ••••, ++.r ... ++•.,i,i,j,-1,+lelill,f ...... l-li'"',I,···"···~ M•• 31

WJldJife .... .,,., ...... ~ .... ~ ~ ...... ,...... ~ ...... ,r ...... ii,...... , ...... , ..... ,. ... Ii. i, ~ .... j, ~., ~ ...... ~. , ...... 4

Prehis.tocy . ,...... "' ...... ,., ...... , .... ,...., ...... ii ...... _..-1, t 11++ ~ -i .. ... +ii., ...... + ...... ,~. , If ...... , •• • ~ . .... + ...,, ..... ~.., .... ~ ... 4

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E.thaography ...... ~ .. + ...... ii •• ++ ... ,. .. ++~, 1 ...... ,. ii .. + ... i + .. ~ i,. +"'. ~ .. + ...... , ...... •+ .... ~ ~ ...... ,, ••• .• , 1 .. .., ., ...... 7

Pr·evi.0 1US Work ... r...... +•••+•rr ...... + ...... ~· ·····+~~ lt ...... ~ ...... , ...... ,t ,J, .. i~+t- ~ .. ~_..,,. 't ... ~ ..... ~ ...... ~.,...... , ...... ~ ...... , ...... ~ ...... , ...... + i ++ ..... 7

Descriptio,n of In·veatory·l, l i l -i·+..,., ...... ~ .1~~ ~--~+ ...... ~,... ,~ ...... ,...... ,~ ...... ~~ ..,i. 8

Ja·ventocy Design ... .. i ~ ~-.+r•li~-i ++i- • .. ~ +~ 1,1,1 ~ 11- ...... +- ...... ~ ...... ~ ...... I ...... ~ ...... 8 Inventory Meth.ods ...... , ...... ,...... 9 'Loe ations Surveyed ...... ,, ..... ,...... ,,...... 9 Inventory Results ...... ,...... , ...... , ...... , ... 9 Cone lusions and Re-eommenda.tio ns ...... ,...... , ...... 1 l Site Evaluations ...... ,...... ,...... ,...... l l Reoommendations for Further Work ,, ., ...... ,. .... ,...... , ...... , ...... , ...... ,...... , ...... LI References Cited ...... ,...... ···········~· ··························· ···· 13 Appendix

Appendix 1. Site D-escriptio1ns ...... , ...... + ...... ~. , ...... 1+•• • ...... i ···-·ili ... i •• ++ ••••+ ... ~·····•~+-+•~· li" ..... , ...... ,, ... f ...... , ...... ~"1, ...... 15

Tables 'fable 1. Sites discovered during I 991 inventory and classification of stone structures at prehistoric sites ...... •...... •...... •....••...•.. ...•.•...... •. , ...... 10

Figures Figure I. Area M.ap ...... ,...... ,...... , .....,...... 1 Figure 2. and Tuburulik River drainage.s ...... - ..... ,... 2 F'igu.re 3. A cultural chronology for the Seward Pennsula ...... , ...... 3

Cover Photo.: Stone renl ring ar site BEN..()74, upper Boston Creek, Alaska by Janet Vreeman

l] ABSTRACT This report ,documents archaeological ittveutory conducted biJ the Bureau ofl.tmd Mamigement's Kobuk District on the Seward PeHinsr1f.a in 1991. The inventory rmis ccmdude;d in a larg:e can.tigw:nra blade (Jf BLM Land cnmprising parts of the Fish River tmd Tubutulik Rivi.'f drainages, ,a:nd was part of an on-going progr:am of &ase-line inve11tory for cultuml r,esources. A total of 13 ites was tecorded as a result of the inventory, representing prehistoric, historic, arzd rocen t- periods. Most sites appal'ently dated to prehistoric times and .typically a.msisted of one or mote stone features such t1S each s or te11t rings. Tl: e sites most likely represent l'ate prehistoric hunting camp or po ibly infreqwmtl'y u ed campsites associated with travel from tfie 00l1St to the interior ,of tire peninsula.

Inventory work conduc ed in 1991 was part o.f a 1991. Work done in l' 9 rep:re ent:s a continuation continuing effort by the district to as~ss cultural re­ of the district'~ long-range plans to acq_uire ultural sources located on publk land . Since ithe early to resource base data. mid 1980 ,. when la ge tracts of land pa_ssed out of The Bureau trategy for cultural resource manage­ BLM managem :nt, the district has suHered from a ment involves an approach based on dassify:rng sites near-total Jack of information on the nature and ex­ for their most appmpriate uses. . The Bureau system tent: of culhu:al .resources for which it is responsible,. provides tha all culltural resources should be allo­ Responding to this ack, the district developed a set ca red to one or more of the following use ,categories: o priorities for carrying out base-line inventory on BLM-ma:naged la:r1.ds ¾ithin the district. These pri­ • Scientific Use - Th.is category" ppHes to sites ori.ties were established in the · or hwest Manage­ uitabJ.e for scientific or hi- torica] study using ment FramPwork Plan in 1985 and wer,e expanded curren· research eduuques. Sites in ,1:rus cat­ m the district's Cultural .Resour-ce Inventory Plan. in ,egory would not be consenrecl, prov·ded an ap-

... ,~ ,.,-.-' •I #-. . I .•. , ' . ., •. ' ·­• I• I

Norton Sound

Fig.r.ff.e J. Areo map lwwrng the location of.BLM·ma11aged lands in which survey was cmuiucted irl /991. 1 propriate research or data recovery proposal • Public Use- this category applies to those site were developed for their use. and resources that are deemed appropriate for interpretation or for us.e in ed uca-lional or recre­ • Conservation for Future Use - This category in­ ational purposes. dudes sites that are not currently appropriate for sdentific use. Sites in this category will be • Discharged Use-This category appHes to sites protected from all l.15es until specified provisions that were origi.naUy de.emed appropriate for one are met in the future. or more of the above categories, but which no longer qualify for inclusion in that or any other • Management Use - This category co115ists o,f category. A site that has been fully excavated or ites considered nest useful for controll.ed ex­ one that has been destroyed by natural processes perimental study bhat would result in physical might be put in this category. al te-ra Hon of the site. Ev alua tion of .;it-es depends on a decent under­ • Socio-cultural Use-Sites placed m lhis category stainding of the types and numbers of sites present would be. those:re'ouroes felt t:o be important in in an area. Only wi ha rea:sonab le idea of what kinds maintaining the heritage of one or more social of sites and how many are present can we begin to or cultural groups. realistically evaluate appropriate uses for indi id ual sites.

NORTON SOUND

lnve11 tory Area

Figure . The Fisli River and n,butulik River drainages, showl'n spec{flc areas where inventory was conducted. 2 .DSETTING

ountams. rlhemedge fWl from easl to west for a di ranee of about 110 · m ers. fmm. the di­ op aplr Id Hydrograp·lr,y er vide behveen lh~ IJZ' hin u, Koyuk rive:r drain­ Th majority of the public 1:m:d in t rn pot• th a,ges to the oocth and th F' h Ri er drainage to the tion the eward Penfnsul are compos d of -outh. Elevatio:ns in the B "ndeleben Moll"lrains range McC r hy Ma.tsht the Bendeleben M untain to, lhe from 125 ~o nearly ,220 m t t.S, with most peaks in no th of the marsh; and. the Darby Mou ta to Hie the range from 600 to 900 m ~ r . The valleys of Bos­ e , s f il. McC.uthys!v[arshis a low-I.· .ire with ing ton Creek and th !?argon Rh r form rn1 ti ely bro.id, D Stage Tradltfon/Cuiliure P rlod open passes through th" B ·n~lebens to the Kuzitrin drainage to the north and west of McCarth.ys Marsh. Eskimo 5 900 --!,.---t------+------"""""'4t------i The valleys of TeJephon I k, and to some e-xten, Thul the Fish River, pmvid pa1~a~e::1 lhrou h the ,eastern V Thule Tradftion end of the Bendel ns o and Tubutulik Birnrk drainages on th n tth fl 1000 -+---+-----t-----r---71 The Darb · edge of fcC.arth - 500 een the Tuburur D. B.C. 3 ool

? 6000 7000 Pa eo,-Arclic: Paleo·Arclic aooo Tradftian Traci Ion 9000

Figw J. · cutrnral dworrotugy for the e(ur rrJ S l •,ml Ptmln wlt1, d11predfrom Dumond ( 1984J

3 Prfhts tOf"lj For th p rultural ' ' artifacts bear strong resemblances to those of not in numbers sufficient to leave any significant a.r­ Denbigh occupied western and northern Alaska. As chaeologkaJ record. At least one author has inter­ m,entioned above, tl.1cere is disagreement as to the de­ preted this hiatus a the result of llm atic changes gr,ee of continuity be tween Denbigh and the u bse­ th.at reduced or Uminated salmon runs, followed by quent cultures. There is also a differenc-e in the terms a decline in the caribou herds (Bocksto

cial Lake, no sites of Chods1 Norton1 or Ipiutak affili­ ued the strong orientation toward marine r,esouroes ations have yet been located in the interior of the that characterized their predecessors. Whaling was peni.t1swa. an important subsistence activity in many coastal ar~ We know much more about the peoples of this pe­ eas; and th@ hunting of smaller sea mammals and riod than we do about those from the earlier caribou continued. m certain areas, notably the Denbigh/ Arctic Small Tool tradition period. Not only Kobuk River and the central Brooks Range, subsis­ have several hm1se.s been ex.ca va ted, but the archaeo~ tence patterns developed which were more depen­ logical record for these people.s is riclter and morE dent on inland resources such as salmon and caribou extensive. They are repres,ented not only by stone on the Kobuk, and caribou in the Brooks Range. rmplements and their by~products, but also by a Over time, local variations de eloped in groups range of organic tools and founal remains, which al­ belonging to the Thule tradition. At the N ukleet site low a fuller picture of the lives of the people who at Cape Denbigh, Giddings excava.ted remains that made th.em. document more or Less ontinuous occupation from During this period we see the fir.st large winter the ~elfth to the eighteenth. centur.ie.s, and which coastal settlements, and faunal remains and artifact show a subsishmce pattern involving roughly equal types document the importance of marine resources. .reliance on sea mammals, fish, and caribou (Giddings 1his period also sees the .first ,evidence of fishing as 1964;113-114). Bockstoce (1979:76) hypothesizes a an important subsistence activity, al though · t may s.imilar pattem at Cape Nome, but with greater use become much less important during the later part of of walrus and less of beluga and birds. the period. Peoples of this period made pottery, and Tn generaL then, it appears that Timle times repre­ carved implements of bone, antler, ivory and wood. sent the spread of mostly coasral~oriented peoples

Houses were of se era1 different forms1 but were all into whal:: were largely unpopuiated portions of ,the semi-sub uerra nean pit houses similar in many re- Arctic and subarctic1 ollowed by adaptation to local pects to those known from h:istor·c Eskimo sites. conditions. 11tis trend continued until the historic Settlements seem to have been mostly in coastal ar~ period when contacts with Eu..rop ean and Am.erican eas, with shod-term use of the interior, primarily for culture initiated major changes in the cult:mes of the thehuntingofcaribou. In many respects, the peoples region. of this period appear very similar to modem Eskimo cultures in teI"JnS of their sub istence and settleme.u t Hist

Oarence, and Gran:tley Harbor; Once again, however1 Episcopal Mission were both established there. In there appears to have heenno direct contact with the 1896 reindeer he.rds were established at the two mis­ eastern part of the peninsula. sions, as part of an early distribution of animals to Contacts involving the peoples of the eastern missions by Sheldon Jackson (Stern et al 1980:2t>27). Seward Peninsula increased after 1850. he search The discovery of go,ld which led to the establi5h~ for the mis.sing party of Sir John Franklin resulted in ment of Council and the beginnings of the rush to several ships over.wintering at Port Clarence in the the Seward Peninsula, happened in 1898. After 30 years between 1851 and 1854 (Ray 1975:14:3-148). In years away from Alaska, Daniel Libby relurned to, 1851 a party traveled overland from the Plover at Pod the area in 1897, Intent on relocating the streams Oarence to St. Michael, passing through Fish River, where he had seen gold during his days with the tele­ Golovmn Bay and Shaktoolik, and returning by way graph expedition (Cole 1984:4). With his tluee part­

of Egav.ik1 Shaktoolik, Go ovin~ \!Vhlte Mounta~ ners., Louis Mels:ing, H. L. Blake, and A. P: Mordaunt, Casedepaga, and Kauwerak (Ray 1975;146}. he arrived at Dexter'· trading post i:n the fall of 1897. In the years 1865-1867 the attempt to construct a By spring of the following year, the Libby party had telegraph line across Alaska. and the Bering Strait re­ discov.er,ed gold on Melslng and Ophir creeks, and suUed in additional contacts. Although ultimately with . . 0 . Hultberg, a missionary from Cheenik; P. uns1.u;:cessful, the attempt produced the first groups H. Andersen, a mission. teacher; and Dr. A. N. of Euro-Americans to stay more than a few days in Kittlesen, assistant super:int-endent of the reindeer the regfon. Base camp for the telegraph expedition station al: Pod Clarence, had formed a mining d · s­ was firs t established in St. Michael in 1865 (Ray trict and staked out the toVll'IlSi te of Council City (Cole 1975;158). In 1866 a smaller gn:mp wa.5 established at 1984:19),. Port Clarence (Ray 1975; 57). This Port C!.arence Later in 1898 a group of t:]uee men who had met at group was under the command of Daniel R Libby Council traveled west to the Snake River., where they (Ray 1975: 164). A party associated with the telegraph staked claims that would begin the great rush to expedition is credited by Brooks (1908! 13} wfth the Nome. Although there is confusion about who may first significant inland exploration, and with the dis­ have first discovered gold in the Nome area, there is covery of gold 011 the Ni ukluk River. no disputing the fact that the first claims to be stak d This initial discove·ry of gold produoed no rush to were laid. out by the three ''luck Swedes" Jafet ~e north, and in fact appears to have had no imm@­ Llndeberg, John Brynteson, and Eric Lindblom. These diate effect whats.oeve:r. Indeed, the first attempts to three subsequently enlisted the aid of Dr. Kittle.sen extract min.era ls from the Sew a rd Peninsula were to and G. W. Price and establi hed the Cape Nome min­ have nothing to do with gold or the Niukluk Rivet, ing district in October 1898. Prke, who had been although th y would occurm the same general area. working for Cha.de n .Lane, a successful Cajjfomia In 1880 reports of rid1 silver ores from the Omilak mine:r and millionaire, had been part of the abortive mine near the Fish River were published in San Fran­ rush to Kotzebue Sound in 1898, staying be.h:ind a - cisco, and. in 1881 a small rnining company v.ras ter Lane returned home, and traveling to Council formed to exploit them (Ray 1974:142-143). 0 er the after hearing of the strike there. He arri. ed just in next dec,ade several attempts were made to develop time to eru::oun ler the three locators from AnviI Creek amine at Omilak, none of them very successful. Only and to become an active participant in the establish- 6 PREVIOUS WORK

.. ;- rexca ati c~pe Denbigh.hi m b. Bockstoce at Cape period may well indkare a period of clim atic cool­ Cultural re.sow:ce work done by the Bureau of Land mg during which salmon we.re not available in suffi­ I'vfunagement m Utis block of lands prior to the 1991 cient numbers to be a major subsistence resource survey had consisted only of a few limited site-spe­ (Bockstoce 1979:88-89). The Bmeau of Land Manage­ cifk inventories done to evaluate the impacts ofsur­ ment carried out small-scale excavations at the Nuk face disturbing acti.vi Hes such as placer mining or site near Safety Sound 'in 1977, excavating portions the operation of commercial guide camps. of two structures in what remained. of a nineteenth. Of the 3,1 sites known or reported to occur in the century settlement tha had been seriously impacted B.endeleben block, 24 are historicF five are prehistoric, by coastal st.orms {Smith 1985). and two may be both. Historic sites indude several Sev:eral survey projects have also been undertaken mining camps, roadhou es, a shelter cabin, a cabin in the area of McCarthys Marsh and the Bendeleben that housed maintenance personnel for a minmg-re- Mountains. Gal recorded a number of sit.es along the 1a ted ditch, and sites associated w ith reindeer herd­ in 1971 (Gal 1971) and in 1974 Powers ing Prehistoric sites include ev,eral sn:mlI settlements SW'.'veyed portions of the area that was to become the reported aio.ng the Kuzitrin and · oxapaga rivers in Bering L.and Bridge National Preserve, document­ the extreme northwestern portion o the block, and ing everal sites in the vicinity of mumk a nd a small village .site on the south bank of Telephone Kuzitrin Lakes, just north of the Bendelebens. (Pow­ Creek. in rhe McCarthys Marsh area. Other prehis­ e.rs et aL 1982}. Gal's sites were niostly recent camps, toric sites reported by Kou tsky within the Be:ndeleben with historic and late prehistoric times al.so repre­ block apparoently could not be located on the ground. sented. Si · es recorded by Powers et al. are predomi- nate:ly prehistoric and consist of tent rings, cairns, DESCRIPTION OF INVE TORY

hun.tingblinds1 caches and house pits. Among these During the 1991 field season BLM staff surveyed sites were two villages, at Gosling Cone and Kuzitrin ix areas on the Seward Peninsula. (Fig. 2). Survey Lake (rowers 1975:30; 34). was conducted by a crew of two persons, and was In 1985 and 1986 the National Park Service carried carried out-in three separate trips lasting ten days out extensive ard1aeological survey in the Bering apiece, from Jwy 2 to August 7. Land Bridge National Presen•e (Schaaf 1988). As part of this project; they revisited Ku.zi trin Lake, mapping l11ventory Design si,tes located by Powers and discovering several more Because b ase-line data was the primary goal of the sites. Schaaf describes sites around Kuzitrin Lili as inventory., a detailed research design was not devel­ consisting of fout settlements, one flake scatter, and oped. In fact, areas surveyed were determined to a five stone structures. Periods represented include significant extent on the basis of logistical consider­ Denbigh, late prehistoric Eskimo., and historic (1988, a lions. In a very real senser the 1991 project was a Vol. I:70). survey of area.s surrounding fixed-wing landing Within the block of BW-managedlands itseH, very strips in the Bendel.eben and Darb y Mountains. little work had been done prior to the 1991 field ef­ The process of choosing areas to explore began with fort. The Alaska Heritage Resource Survey data base ~oliciting infurma tion from pilots in the Nome area listed only .31 sites for the entire block of ca.. 1.5 mil­ regarding the locations of small aircraft I.anding strips lion acr s, and of those, only 18 had been located on located on public lands in the general area. Af~er re-­ the ground, The remaining 13 were repo ·ted on the viewing this inform.a tion, BLlvl staff flew a scouting basis of various sources of information, but their lo­ trip to locate these airs trips and evaluate the poten­ cations and the nature of remains presen t at these tial for archaeological or historic sites within walk­ sites, ii any, have rtevi:ir been verified. Among the dif­ ing distanc of the strips. Based on this overflight, ferent sources of reported information for the area, six locations were selected for survey because of their are sites listed in Ray (1964) and Koutsky (1981) both topographic settings and locations in major valleys of which are based primarily on interviews with fo­ in the mo1.111tains .. ca infurman ts. Th.e areas covered at each location were explored With only two exceptions, th~ 18 sites that have by the team on foot after con idering likely locations been surveyed on the grow,d a re sites for which for prehistoric and historic sites. The excurs·ons from Bering Straits Native Corporation has filed selections base camps were designed to cover maximum under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act as ground while being carefu] not to miss areas that cemetery or historic sites. These sites were visited, rnight contain. potential resources. The team looked mapped and described in derail by Park Service or for bare and rocky a.reas, terraces, bluffs, and other Bureau of Indian Affairs survey crews as part of th.E locations where i:t was possible ·o identify remains conveyance process. 8 cupation. Locatioru; wer e plored in ,ate:r ources and willi o vi w , the :rland.s.

to ; e U! rth, · omete o Wmdy C , uK111K.--u on the ridge be- twem W.tndy Cre illl 11 J phon Creek It is ac­ cess d by an open; ·lop in , f u "h airstrip. The base camp was et up at th - n rth rid o the airstrip. Ar­ eas traversed and explored include the valley of Tele~ phone Creek to abou 6.5 l< .lorn -ters southwest of the airstr'p, and the mou tarn top t-o the northeast of camp.

ma· r

are approxima y , r: ngi.n fromo e .6 3.9m) and shapes

. r, "U 1' haped, and piles ha · been roughly das- ifi@d on th~ ba is of hap and i.ze. Circular, o al,, or even ub-re tangwar rrang,ements of tones mea­ suring more than 1.8 to 2J meter in at least one di­ rection wete generally a ' ·tuned to be tent rings. Small

9 circular or oval arrangements of stones measuring turk research was done on this site, and that infor­ .9 to 1.5 met rs We.t'e assumed to be caches. Larger mation is presented as part o this report. stone features that gave the appearance of a smaller 'Th.e remaining ten prehistoric sites range from arrangement w·th scattered stones around th.em those containing a single blind or wind break to one wern dassed as caches. Stone a.rrangemenis that ap­ site that consjsted of three tent ring and three asso­ peared to be semi-circular or U-shaped were, for da ted sm aHer ea tures. Eight o the ten prehifltoric vira n t of a better term, classed as b Iinds or wind­ sites contained tent rings, and. three had cache~. All breaks. h1 no case did we encounter the sort of fea­ of the sites with caches also had at 1east one tent ring. ture described as a blind or windbreak by Schaaf. Of the three sites with blinds or wind breaks~ two She depicts a structure of multiple courses of stone, were single-feature sites and one contained only a standing perhaps l meter high, which she Gills a single other feature. hunting blind (Schaff 1988:73), No structure that we All prehistoric sites discovered.we!'€! located e ·ther located in the area had more in the upper Bos ton Creek area or along the Fish than two or thrre stones stacked atop one another. River. No prehistodc sites were recorded from any This classifica lion uf features is arbitrary, and to of the other areas where survey was conducted. Five some exten t subjective. Nonetheless, it may provide sites were recorded for each of th.e areas in which a bentative framework for examining and compar­ prehistoric sites were encount-ered . ing the sites from the 1991 inventory. The sites and Almost no artifacts were disA:overed an the surface their associated features ar~ shown in Tabie l. De~ of the sites or in the small test units that were exca­ tailed descriptions of individual sit~s, as weU as site vated. The oruy si~es where we encountered any ar­ and feature maps are contained iJ.1 the appendix. tifacts were BE 073, where the weathered basal Two of the sites noted are recent, not dating before portion of a bone arrowhead was collected, and BEN- the tum of the century, and more likely,. within the 082., where a piece of cut antler, possibly a tool handle last fifty years. The reindeer herder's corral (BEN- of some sort, was noted. Only the arrow head frag­ 064) at lower Bo ton Creek dates to no earlier than ment was milected, as it was judged that its location the introd ucton of herding, and reportedly was used on a known and curmntly used landb1g strip, indi­ in the 1970s. The collapsed structure (SOL-074) along cated a fair probability that it might be destroyed or Omilak Creek is of unk 1own origin, but Ls not removed. The antler piece was photographed and thought to be very old. described in the field; and left in situ. This is consis­ A thirteenth site, the Pargon ditch (BEN-083) was tent with ~obuk district po.!.icy, which dictates that observed in the field, bnt was not mapped or docu­ archaeological materials should not be collected un­ mented to any degree because w had limited time less there is .mason to believe they will be adversely t·o, spend i11 the area, and because the feal:ur@ is shown affected if left in place. on current U.S.G.S. maps. Subsequentl.y, ome his-

Table 1. Sites discovered during 1-J91 inventory and classification ·Of stone structu:re.s at prehistoric sites. Site Period Tent Rine: Cache Windbreak Other Total

BEN-064. Recent IJ 0 BEN-073 I Prehistoric l 1 BEN-074 Pre historic. 1 2 3 BEN-075 Prehistoric 1 1 2 I BEN~76 Prehistoric I 1 1 BEN-077 Prehistoric 2 2 1 1 6 BEN-078 I P11ehistoric. 1 2 3 BEN~079 Prehistoric l 1 BEN-080 Prehistoric 1 1 I BEN-081 Prehistoric 2 I 2 BEN-082 Prehistoric 2 2 BEN-083 Hlstork 0 SOL-0174 Recent 0 Total: lO 6 4 2 22

to 11 12 REFERENCES CITED

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