ERIKA LARSEN/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION
80 MARCH/APRIL 2022
T
he archaeological site of Nunalleq on
the southwest coast of Alaska pre-
serves a fateful moment, frozen in
time. The muddy square of earth is
full of everyday things that the In-
digenous Yup’ik people used to survive and to
celebrate life here, all left just as they lay when
a deadly attack came almost four centuries ago.
As is often the case in archaeology, a tragedy
of long ago is a boon to modern science. Ar-
chaeologists have recovered 100,000 artifacts
at Nunalleq, from typical eating utensils to ex-
traordinary things such as wooden ritual masks,
ivory tattoo needles, pieces of finely calibrated
sea kayaks, and a belt of caribou teeth. Beyond
the sheer quantity and variety, the objects are
astonishingly well preserved, having been frozen
in the ground since about 1660.
The ground’s frigid state even preserved rare
organic material such as grass ropes, salmon-
berry seeds, head lice, and grass strands woven
into baskets. “This grass was cut when Shake-
speare walked the Earth,” observed lead archaeol-
ogist Rick Knecht, of the University of Aberdeen
in Scotland.
Land of the Yup’ik
Archaeologists believe the Yup’ik people’s an-
cestors originated in eastern Siberia and Asia.
They first crossed the Bering Sea to North
America around 10,000 years ago and gradually
moved into the coastal areas of western Alaska.
A WELL-PRESERVED FISHING LINE FRESHLY UNCOVERED AT THE
NUNALLEQ SITE IN COASTAL ALASKA DATES TO THE 1600S.
