Lipsett Scenery

 

woodsmoke and sunshine in the trees

Stuey and I got back from Afognak a week ago.  It seems like a long time ago.  In any case, this is the last Afognak Post until we go there again later this summer. This one is all the scenery and archaeology. 

Every year while I am out there I check on the local archaeological sites.  How are they doing? Are they eroding or are bears digging into them?  This past winter there had been some really bad storms and a lot of trees blew down.  Some the trees blew down and their roots ripped out of sites causing severe erosion.  At Lipsett Point the site was damaged pretty badly and I was able to look at the subsurface site deposits.  I found a net sinker and also based on the nature of the deposits I know think the site is far older than I previously thought.  I used to think it was an early Russian Period site - now I think it is about a 1000 year old seasonal settlement.

We also checked on the petroglyphs. Ever since the land sank in 1964 it has been rebounding out of the sea.  When I first looked at the petroglyphs back in the 1990s the sea still washed over them at high tide and they were covered with barnacles.  Only the highest tides wash over them and the barnacle line is far below them.  They are always fun to check on, and I think they have rebounded a foot and a half since 1995.

Patrick

butterfly crab

Lush vegetation on an old village site - this one is in great shape

a net sinker that had eroded out of a site