The Alutiiq Museum’s annual Community Archaeology program kicked off on Thursday, July 17 at 7:00pm, with a volunteer orientation and public presentation led by museum archaeologist Patrick Saltonstall.  The museum plans three weeks of work at the Kashevaroff site, a prehistoric settlement at the head of Womens Bay.  Community members were invited to the museum to hear Saltonstall discuss this summer’s research, the second at the site, and sign up to participate.

Community Archaeology is one of the Alutiiq Museum’s most popular and long-standing programs. Founded in 1997, the program unites community volunteers, students, and museum scientists to study ancient settlements in the vicinity of Kodiak.  Research focuses on preserving information from deposits in danger of being disturbed and shedding light on past lifeways.  In the last decade, hundreds of community members have helped the museum study Alutiiq history at settlements on the banks of the Buskin River, on Near Island, and around the shores of Womens Bay.  The project has expanded knowledge of ancient subsistence and settlement practices, and provided community members the rare opportunity to participate in an archaeological dig.

This year’s dig runs weekdays from 8:15 am to 5:00 pm, July 21^th – August 8^th. Volunteers and students 14 and older are invited to participate in studying the Kashevaroff site, a settlement with deposits dating from the recent past to more than 7,000 years old.  No previous experience is necessary, just a willingness to get dirty!  Participants should bring a bag lunch and rain gear.  To learn more or to reserve a spot on the dig, please contact Alutiiq Museum Communications Director Brian Fraley, brian@alutiiqmuseum.org, 907-486-7004, x25.

The Alutiiq Museum is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and sharing the cultural traditions of the Alutiiq, a Native Alaskan people. It is governed by representatives of Kodiak’s Alutiiq corporations, with funding from charitable contributions, memberships, grants, and sales.

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