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| Once eroding now healed prehistoric site on Afognak |
For the last 10 years I have been checking on the conditions of the various archaeological sites and buildings in Old Afognak Village. The village was abandoned after the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake and the village itself is now a great big historic archaeological site. When I am checking on the old houses and various parts of the old village I am checking on an archaeological landscape. There are also a number of prehistoric archaeological sites.
The Native Village of Afognak (NVA) with funds from the BIA pays the Alutiiq Museum to do the work. The archaeological resources represent the heritage of the people represented by the tribal entity of NVA. It is my job to see how the sites are doing and whenever possible to protect them from needless damage.
One thing I have noticed is that the sites are eroding a lot less than they were 10 years ago. This part of the island is still rebounding from the 1964 earthquake when the area sank 5 feet. The rising land is actually outpacing global sea level rise. Hence sites that 10 years ago were right on the ocean are now set back a bit with even a little grass growing between them and the sea. Based on my calculations since 1995 Afognak Village has risen a foot or more out of the ocean.
Rising land levels is great news for the prehistoric sites - they are eroding a lot less than they once were - but, unfortunately, in the same time period all of the historic architecture in the old village has deteriorated badly. Buildings I could once walk into and walk around in are now collapsed. These days they are very few houses that I would dare walk inside of.
One cool archaeological feature that I checked on on this trip is the old trail that once connected either end of the village across the swamp at the back of the site. It was built sometime around 1910 and is known as the 'new trail'. I have a picture of it (see below) from around 1919 during a Russian orthodox procession. On this trip I found the old trail and you can still see the old wood footers for the boardwalk. My picture of the trail is taken very close to the place where the 1919 procession took place. Kind of cool to imagine.
Patrick
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| Same site - same view in 2008 |
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| Old Village house still in pretty good shape |
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| Old house starting to collapse |
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| Remains of the 'new trail' boardwalk that once connected the ends of the old village |
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| Picture of a 1919 procession on the 'new trail' close to where the above photo was taken |
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| 2019 - totally stable with grass growing on beach in front of site |
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| Same view in 2008 - SEVERE erosion with no grass in front |
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close up of 'new trail' boardwalk
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