Connecting Alaska: Anthropology and Archaeology

The Ship, the Saint, and the Sailor reveals Alaska's oldest shipwreck discovered and its continuing story today. In 1861, the Russian barque Kad’yak set sail from Kodiak, Alaska, with a shipload of ice, but within a few miles from shore struck a rock and foundered. However, because it was full of ice, it drifted for four days before finally sinking near the grave of Alaska’s revered Father (now Saint) Herman on Spruce Island. Over 140 years later, Bradley G. Stevens found the ship with a team of volunteer divers, after years of painstaking research. This is the incredible story of the ship (Kad’yak), the Saint (Herman), and the Sailor (Captain Arkhimandritov) and their intertwined history within the larger context of Alaskan history. It is the story of how the ship was found, almost lost again to private salvors, and became the site of the first underwater archaeological survey in Alaska. Dr. Bradley G. Stevens is a scientist, researcher, and professor. He received his Master's in Marine Biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina and his PhD in Fisheries Science from the University of Washington. Stevens worked for the National Marine Fisheries Service for twenty-two years in Kodiak, Alaska, before he moved to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore as a tenured professor of Environmental Science. He lives in Salisbury, Maryland.

This is the presentation for Professor Emeritus Moshe Fischer presents Greece and Rome in Jerusalem: Some Aspects of Cultural Interactions. (Note, the audio podcast is also posted in iTunes.) This fascinating event offers an abridged overview of main events regarding interactions between Judaism and the Greco-Roman culture in the Land of Israel, as reflected by literature, archaeology and art. The event covers the Return of the Israelites from Babylon to Zion (end of the 6th cent. BCE), the Hellenization of the Orient after Alexander the Great (end of 4th cent. BCE), the establishments of the Hasmonean kingdom and the Herodian kingdom, the final Roman occupation (135 CE), and the revival of the Jewish civilization (3rd- 7th cent. CE). Moshe Fischer received his PhD from Tel Aviv University and has been Professor of Classical Archaeology at the Department of Classics and of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University for the past 45 years. He has conducted numerous archaeological excavations and publication projects including the En Boqeq (Dead Sea Area), Upper Galilee Temple at Qedesh, and in last 20 years the harbor city of Yavneh-Yam (south of Tel Aviv).

Professor Emeritus Moshe Fischer presents Greece and Rome in Jerusalem: Some Aspects of Cultural Interactions.(Note, the presentation that accompanies this recording is also posted in iTunes.) This fascinating event offers an abridged overview of main events regarding interactions between Judaism and the Greco-Roman culture in the Land of Israel, as reflected by literature, archaeology and art. The event will cover the Return of the Israelites from Babylon to Zion (end of the 6th cent. BCE), the Hellenization of the Orient after Alexander the Great (end of 4th cent. BCE), the establishments of the Hasmonean kingdom and the Herodian kingdom, the final Roman occupation (135 CE), and the revival of the Jewish civilization (3rd- 7th cent. CE). Moshe Fischer received his PhD from Tel Aviv University and has been Professor of Classical Archaeology at the Department of Classics and of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University for the past 45 years. He has conducted numerous archaeological excavations and publication projects including the En Boqeq (Dead Sea Area), Upper Galilee Temple at Qedesh, and in last 20 years the harbor city of Yavneh-Yam (south of Tel Aviv).

Craig Childs is known for following ancient migration routes on foot, pursuing early Pueblo passages across the Southwest and most recently the paths of first peoples into the Americas during the Ice Age. He has published more than a dozen books of adventure, wilderness, and science. His new book, Atlas of a Lost World: Travels in Ice Age America, examines the dynamics of people moving into an uninhabited hemisphere in the late Pleistocene, documenting arrivals from Alaska to Florida to southern Chile. ...Atlas of a Lost World chronicles the last millennia of the Ice Age, the violent oscillations and retreat of glaciers, the clues and traces that document the first encounters of early humans, and the animals whose presence governed the humans’ chances for survival. A blend of science and personal narrative reveals how much has changed since the time of mammoth hunters, and how little. Across unexplored landscapes yet to be peopled, readers will see the Ice Age, and their own age, in a whole new light. Craig Childs has won the Orion Book Award and has twice won the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award, the Galen Rowell Art of Adventure Award, and the Spirit of the West Award for his body of work. Craig Childs has a B.A. in Journalism from Colorado University, Boulder with a minor in Women's Studies, and from Prescott College, an M.A. in Desert Studies. An occasional commentator for NPRs Morning Edition, he has taught writing at the University of Alaska in Anchorage MFA Program and the Mountainview MFA at Southern New Hampshire University. He lives outside of Norwood, CO. This event is sponsored with the UAA Anthropology Club and UAA Professor Diane Hanson and UAA Professor David Stevenson.

Rachel Mason shares her extensive research about the Attuans’ wartime ordeal, which led to her recent trip to Otaru, Japan to visit the places where they were held prisoner. (The audio recording that accompanies her presentation is also posted in iTunes) On June 7, 1942, exactly six months after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded the remote Alaska island of Attu. The soldiers occupied the village for two months, eventually boarding the 41 Attu residents onto a freighter bound for Japan, bringing all the fish they had put up for winter. They were taken to Otaru, a port city on Japan’s northernmost island, where they were held captive until the end of the war. Only 25 Attuans survived, and none of them ever returned to live on Attu. The survivors who were not hospitalized or sent to boarding school were resettled in Atka. Rachel Mason, Ph.D., is the Senior Cultural Anthropologist at the National Park Service, Alaska Region. Her past events at the UAA Campus Bookstore include Return to Lost Villages of the Aleutians (2010); Attu, a Lost Village of the Aleutians (2011); Attu Reunion, Seventy Years Later (2012); Ray Hudson and Rachel Mason present Lost Villages of the Eastern Aleutians (2014)

Rachel Mason shares her extensive research about the Attuans’ wartime ordeal, which led to her recent trip to Otaru, Japan to visit the places where they were held prisoner. (Her presentation that accompanies the audio recording is also posted in iTunes) On June 7, 1942, exactly six months after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded the remote Alaska island of Attu. The soldiers occupied the village for two months, eventually boarding the 41 Attu residents onto a freighter bound for Japan, bringing all the fish they had put up for winter. They were taken to Otaru, a port city on Japan’s northernmost island, where they were held captive until the end of the war. Only 25 Attuans survived, and none of them ever returned to live on Attu. The survivors who were not hospitalized or sent to boarding school were resettled in Atka. Rachel Mason, Ph.D., is the Senior Cultural Anthropologist at the National Park Service, Alaska Region. Her past events at the UAA Campus Bookstore include Return to Lost Villages of the Aleutians (2010); Attu, a Lost Village of the Aleutians (2011); Attu Reunion, Seventy Years Later (2012); Ray Hudson and Rachel Mason present Lost Villages of the Eastern Aleutians (2014)

Rachel Mason's presentation starts at 29:56 of the audio podcast. Lost Villages of the Eastern Aleutians, documents the history of three Unangax^ villages left behind in the evacuations and dislocations of World War II, never to be permanently resettled. In 1942, the Unangax^ residents of the three tiny villages of Biorka, Kashega, and Makushin were taken by boat first to the Wrangell Institute, then to a camp at Ward Lake near Ketchikan, where they stayed until the end of the war. When they finally returned to the Aleutians, they were not allowed to go back to their villages, but were resettled in Unalaska or Akutan. About the authors: Ray Hudson lived in Unalaska from 1964-1992 where he taught various subjects in the public school and coordinated the Indian Education programs. He is the author of numerous books about Aleutians. Rachel Mason is Senior Cultural Anthropologist for the National Park Service, Alaska region. She was editor of Nick Golodoff's memoir, Attu Boy.

This is Ray Hudson's presentation. Lost Villages of the Eastern Aleutians, documents the history of three Unangax^ villages left behind in the evacuations and dislocations of World War II, never to be permanently resettled. In 1942, the Unangax^ residents of the three tiny villages of Biorka, Kashega, and Makushin were taken by boat first to the Wrangell Institute, then to a camp at Ward Lake near Ketchikan, where they stayed until the end of the war. When they finally returned to the Aleutians, they were not allowed to go back to their villages, but were resettled in Unalaska or Akutan. About the authors: Ray Hudson lived in Unalaska from 1964-1992 where he taught various subjects in the public school and coordinated the Indian Education programs. He is the author of numerous books about Aleutians. Rachel Mason is Senior Cultural Anthropologist for the National Park Service, Alaska region. She was editor of Nick Golodoff's memoir, Attu Boy.

The book, Lost Villages of the Eastern Aleutians, documents the history of three Unangax^ villages left behind in the evacuations and dislocations of World War II, never to be permanently resettled. In 1942, the Unangax^ residents of the three tiny villages of Biorka, Kashega, and Makushin were taken by boat first to the Wrangell Institute, then to a camp at Ward Lake near Ketchikan, where they stayed until the end of the war. When they finally returned to the Aleutians, they were not allowed to go back to their villages, but were resettled in Unalaska or Akutan. About the authors: Ray Hudson lived in Unalaska from 1964-1992 where he taught various subjects in the public school and coordinated the Indian Education programs. He is the author of numerous books about Aleutians. Rachel Mason is Senior Cultural Anthropologist for the National Park Service, Alaska region. She was editor of Nick Golodoff's memoir, Attu Boy.

This is the PowerPoint presentation that can accompany the audio podcast, also posted on iTunes and iTunes U. Dr.Paul White is an assistant professor in the UAA Department of Anthropology with research interests in the legacies of American mining. He has examined historical archaeological sites in Alaska, California, Michigan, and Vermont, investigating histories of environmental and technological transformation and connections with Native American land dispossession. Currently, he is writing a book on the archaeology of North American mining.

Paul White is an assistant professor in the UAA Department of Anthropology with research interests in the legacies of American mining. He has examined historical archaeological sites in Alaska, California, Michigan, and Vermont, investigating histories of environmental and technological transformation and connections with Native American land dispossession. Currently, he is writing a book on the archaeology of North American mining. At this event he also shares his experiences doing mining research.

Ryan Harrod is an assistant professor in UAA’s Department of Anthropology whose research involves the identification of social inequality and violence within a community through archaeological findings. Besides bio archaeology, his other interests lie in biological anthropology, skeletal biology, paleopathology, trauma, violence, forensic anthropology, and bio cultural adaptation. This projects have focused on the U.S. Southwest, South-Central Alaska, Great Basin, and Columbia Plateau. This event is the fourth in the series “Women and Agents of Violence” which is held in honor of Women’s History Month and is sponsored with the UAA Anthropology Dept.

Richard Chacon is professor of Anthropology at Winthrop University. He has conducted anthropological investigations throughout Latin America and has the subsistence patterns, warfare, and belief systems of the Yanomamö of Venezuela, the Yora of Peru and the Achuar (Shiwiar) of Ecuador. His books include The Ethics of Anthropology and Amerindian Research: Reporting on Environmental Degradation and Warfare; Taking and Displaying of Human Body Parts as Trophies by Amerindians; North American Indigenous Warfare and Ritual Violence; and the book Latin American Indigenous Warfare and Ritual Violence. This event is the second in the series “Women and Agents of Violence” which is held in honor of Women’s History Month and is sponsored with the UAA Anthropology Dept.

Discussion of John Barrymore’s theft of the pole (Kooteeya) from the unoccupied village of Tuxican, Prince of Wales Island, its subsequent travels and trophy display on the estates of Barrymore and later that of fellow actor Vincent Price, its incongruous transfer to the Honolulu Museum of Art, and its recent discovery there by Prof. Langdon in February, 2013 will highlight the presentation. Now stored in the basement of the Museum, the fate of the pole is presently being considered. Professor Stephen J. Langdon, UAA Anthropology Department, is author of the book The Native People of Alaska and recipient of prestigious 2012 Edith R. Bullock Prize for Excellence. (Note: Lecture recording finishes at 57:31. Q & A has sound gaps)

Discussion of John Barrymore’s theft of the pole (Kooteeya) from the unoccupied village of Tuxican, Prince of Wales Island, its subsequent travels and trophy display on the estates of Barrymore and later that of fellow actor Vincent Price, its incongruous transfer to the Honolulu Museum of Art, and its recent discovery there by Prof. Langdon in February, 2013 will highlight the presentation. Now stored in the basement of the Museum, the fate of the pole is presently being considered.

Dr. Diane Hanson is professor in the Anthropology Department/UAA. Her main fields of expertise are cultural resource management, zoo-archaeology, and digs in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. How bones lead to new understandings of the past, in holistic ways, is explained.

Aron L. Crowell (Alaska Director, Arctic Studies Center/Smithsonian Institution) and students in the Yakutat Field School, UAA share new research in Eyak and Tlingit settlement history including a look at seal hunting at Yakutat since A.D. 1100 Challenges to understanding South East Alaskan Native cultures and the use of new field techniques is also highlighted.

Northern Afghanistan has the highest maternal mortality ratio in the world. Meanwhile, women just across the border in Tajikistan are sixty-five times less likely to die in childbirth. Kylea Liese's research, collected during more than years of fieldwork, explains this striking variation with ethnographic data that brings anthropology, medicine and global health together. This event is co-sponsored by the UAA Anthropology Department and Anthropology Club.

Ryan Harrod is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology/UAA. His research involves the identification of social inequality and violence within a community through archaeological findings. At this event he discusses what these findings express about human nature as reflected in the presence of non-lethal trauma, activity-related changes to the skeleton, and other conditions.

At this event, folklorist Craig Mishler analyzes how the tale, The Blind Man and the Loon, changed over time, and how storytellers and oral tradition function within various societies. With the use of two maps he follows the routes the story has traveled which results in a masterful assessment of how Native oral traditions and folktales are adapted and spread among widely diverse cultures. Craig Mishler is an affiliate research professor with the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He is the editor of Neerihiinjìk: We Traveled from Place to Place: The Gwich’in Stories of Johnny and Sarah Frank and the author of The Crooked Stovepipe: Athapaskan Fiddle Music and Square Dancing in Northeast Alaska and Northwest Canada.

Panelists include Dr.Gordon Pullar, Eleanor Hadden, and Dr. Phyllis Fast. Note: Dr. Gordon Pullar played a key role in the famous Larsen Bay repatriation case. In 1991, establishing an historic precedent, the remains of an estimated 1,000 Alutiiq people who had been excavated in the 1930s, were returned from the Smithsonian Institution to Kodiak Island for reburial.

In his book, Dinosaurs under the Aurora, Roland A. Gangloff recounts the significant and remarkable discoveries of field and museum research on Arctic dinosaurs, highlighting findings since the late 1980's. He is Emeritus Associate Professor of Geology and Geophysics at UAF and former Curator of Earth Science at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. He has been Visiting Scholar at the University of California Museum of Paleontology, too. This event was hosted by the UAA Campus Bookstore while held at the UAA Consortium Library where it was recorded.

Diane Hanson, Ph.D., professor in UAA's Department of Anthropology presents "Seeking a needle in a haystack: an archaeological survey in the tundra of Adak Island" and Rachel Mason, Ph.D., from the National Park Service, presents "Attu Reunion, Seventy Years Later".

Panelists at this event include UAA faculty members D. Roy Mitchell (Anthropology), David Bowie (Linguistics), Paul Ongtooguk (College of Education) plus special guest poet and former candidate for Alaska Lieutenant Governor--Diane Benson. Suggested topics to be discussed include how people express themselves in multilingual environments, how formal English affects that expression, and how academic institutions can manipulate ways of thinking and expression.

Tom Lowenstein recorded traditional narratives and songs at Point Hope and other Iñupiaq communities in the 1970's and 1980's. He is the author of "Ancient Land, Sacred Whale" and "The Things That Were Said of Them ". His third book, "Ultimate Americans: Point Hope, Alaska: 1826-1909, focuses on the impact of commercial whale hunters, traders, and missionaries on Point Hope, the oldest continuously inhabited village in North America. It is the main topic for this event.