Archaeologists uncover weavings, ancestral artifacts dating back thousands of years

KODIAK, Alaska (KTUU) – Artifacts dating back thousands of years that belonged to an ancient Alaska Native people were discovered last month on Kodiak Island and have given archaeologists greater knowledge of what life was like before today.

The Alutiiq Museum’s curator of archaeology Patrick Saltonstall and his team were excavating what they thought was a fish camp at Karluk Lake on Kodiak Island — but what they discovered was something else entirely.

“There was a slight depression on the surface and just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. and so we excavated this really, really large house, and it had sod walls, dirt stacked around it, and a really thick roof,” Saltonstall said.

More digging revealed more discoveries. Saltonstall said they found large logs that held up the roof, burnt wood, and grass that covered the floor.

Once they started to remove it, the team found fragments of charred weaving underneath. Lucky for them, they happened to have someone with them who studied ancient plant remains to confirm what they had just found.

“He says, ‘You know, some of the stuff’s woven,’ and … we were like, ‘Really?” Saltonstall said. “And we brought up pieces of it and it was like, very, very exciting … he uncovered like whole sections of matting that were all woven and beautiful.”

Using a method called radiocarbon dating, they were able to determine the age of the charcoal found in the middle of the structure to be about 3,000 years old.

Saltonstall said it was a window into what life was like back then.

“It just indicates like, wow, maybe people were here a lot longer in the fall or winter than I thought. It really did change my view of how people were using the lake,” he explained.

Saltonstall and his team spent two weeks carefully collecting what they found along with other artifacts that will eventually call the Alutiiq Museum home.

“It’s amazing that the circumstances to have it preserved were kind of incredible,” Saltonstall said.

The Koniag Foundation, which has been supporting local archaeology activities, funded the project. The excavation took place on corporation-held lands.

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