The Mystery of This Petroglyph-Covered Alaskan Beach

Water laps gently towards the rocky shores of Petroglyph Seaside State Historic Website in Wrangell, an island city that’s a part of Alaska’s Inside Passage, an archipelago that drips like a series of pearls alongside the state’s southeast coast. I’ve to observe my footing as I amble alongside the seashore, dodging 1000’s of craggy rocks which can be starting to poke up out of the sand.

It’s a sunny summer season morning in late August, and the tide has already gone out for the day, exposing a rocky wonderland ripe for exploration. In contrast to at most seashores, the place individuals go to comb for seashells or sea glass, right here I’m on the hunt for the handfuls of petroglyphs that pepper the shoreline’s boulders and bedrock. (The phrase petroglyph is derived from the Greek phrases petra and glyph, which translate to “rock” and “carving.”)

Whereas there are quite a few hypotheses in regards to the origins of the greater than 40 rock carvings etched right here—one of many highest recognized concentrations of petroglyphs in Alaska and world wide—the one most frequently agreed upon by archaeologists is that they have been etched roughly 8,000 years in the past by the Tlingit (pronounced CLINK-it), an Alaska Native group that continues to inhabit the state’s southeastern archipelago. However in relation to the petroglyphs’ supposed function, that’s the place issues stay a thriller.

Based on a placard on the seashore’s entry, the petroglyphs might have served any variety of functions, together with being territorial markers to warn enemies that they have been encroaching on settled land, a historic report commemorating a major occasion equivalent to a battle or an epic tidal wave that occurred right here, or underwater beacons to assist coax salmon to swim to the mouths of the rivers and streams that feed into the Inside Passage straits. Others consider the drawings mark an necessary fishing website or settlement.

“These particular symbols are very distinctive to Southeastern Alaska,” says Nicholas Schmuck, a particular initiatives archaeologist with the Alaska Division of Pure Assets. “Each time you get a great storm, they’ll turn out to be buried after which later uncovered. In addition they come and go together with the tides, inflicting them to vanish and reappear.”

The several-acre website formally grew to become a state park in 2000. The petroglyphs are accessible by way of a picket boardwalk that meanders down towards the rocky seashore. On the floor, the positioning appears like some other seashore within the space—particularly when the tide is in, hiding the petroglyphs. However as soon as the water retreats, looking for the drawings is very similar to an Easter egg hunt, with every art work popping up when least anticipated. It’s doable there have been as soon as greater than the 40 petroglyphs at the moment discovered on the seashore, however tides over the centuries probably washed them away.

The very best time to see the petroglyphs is at low tide, so I exploit the native tide tables supplied by the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as reference. Since my go to is in the course of the summer season, I purpose to be on the seashore earlier within the day.

It’s necessary to notice that damaging or stealing the petroglyphs is taken into account a criminal offense, and the artworks are protected beneath the Alaska Historic Preservation Act.

The primary carving I come throughout is a superbly etched spiral, which instantly jogs my memory of the doodles I used to attract within the margins of my homework again at school. I pour some water from my water bottle onto the petroglyph to get a greater look, since they seem extra vibrant when moist. As I proceed exploring the seashore, I bump into a cluster of petroglyphs, together with a cartoonish-looking face with two ginormous eyes, what seems to be a fish or whale replete with detailed fins and a chook that known as to thoughts a flamingo perched on one foot.

I attempt to think about what these historical individuals have been attempting to speak with their meticulously carved drawings. Did they know that 1000’s of years later this seashore would turn out to be a preferred vacationer attraction? A lot in order that Wrangell commissioned Dick Stokes, a neighborhood Tlingit artist, to recreate a few of the petroglyphs. Due to his recreations, guests like myself could make rubbings utilizing carbon paper with out damaging the unique items of art work.

Once I speak to Schmuck on the telephone just a few weeks after my go to, I ask him what his take is on the petroglyphs’ function and whether or not there are any clues that may assist individuals like myself higher perceive their which means.

“Wrangell is fairly distinctive in relation to its abundance of petroglyphs,” Schmuck says. “If you happen to take a look at [Tlingit] clan homes, they every have totally different crests. So, it’s doable that every of those petroglyphs are a special image for the clan.”

For instance, Schmuck mentions a drawing that I first thought was a fish however he says is extra probably an orca (or killer whale), a standard image utilized by the Tlingit on their assembly homes and totem poles.

“That one stands out as a result of it was drawn within the Tlingit fashion,” he says. Also called Northwest Coast artwork, this fashion of art work incorporates curved thick and skinny traces referred to as formlines. Ovoids (egg-like shapes), U varieties and S varieties typically depict animals and other people.

The Tlingit are completed carvers, evidenced by the various totem poles towering over the area. Just like the totem poles, which frequently include symbolic imagery depicted in household crests, the petroglyphs characteristic comparable animals, equivalent to killer whales, thunderbirds, salmon and ravens. Was it doable {that a} Tlingit artisan 1000’s of years in the past was training their artistry by chiseling it into the seashore rocks earlier than making use of their carving abilities to a good larger art work?

It’s unlikely anybody will ever know the true intent of those petroglyphs, which merely provides to their thriller.

Petroglyph Seaside State Historic Website is positioned about one mile north of Wrangell and is open to self-guided excursions.