Back from Karluk Lake

 

I just got back from a 2 week archaeological excavation at Karluk Lake. The work is funded by the landowner, Koniag Inc., and this was our third such excavation at the outlet to the lake (click here for 2019, here for 2021, and here for 2022 plans for some past posts).  We got back late Saturday night and it has been rain, fog and wind ever since we got back.  If we had not made it out when we did I am pretty sure that we would still be there at the lake, hanging out in the rain, watching the waves, and waiting for a plane.  

It was a successful trip.  We excavated a house right next to the qasgiq (ceremonial house) that we excavated last year. We had wanted to excavate a 'normal' house from the same time period as the qasgiq to emphasize its uniqueness.  And the two structures are built completely differently.  The biggest difference is size, and that the qasgig had built up walls while the house was simply dug into the ground and capped with a sod roof.  But more on the archaeology in a later post.

While we were there it rained a lot and the bugs were worse than they have been in years past.  But the fishing was great, the scenery spectacular, and group moral high.  We had a good time and learned a lot.  More to come in posts over the next few days.

Patrick

Excavated 1000-year-old house - we are standing at the back of what would have been the main room

The cabin where we stayed

A big dolly varden trout that we caught and ate for dinner

Angus and an oil lamp used for light

The fireweed turned while we were there

First day fireweed

The field crew

lunch in the teepee

Odds and Ends

 

Today I am off to Karluk Lake, and there will not be any blog posts for a while.  So before I left I thought I'd post all the pictures from the last couple of weeks that never made it onto the blog.  

Lately, I've been doing lots of slow therapy hikes for my hamstring, and one of my favorite spots has been the Buskin beach loop with Bode.  We hike down the beach and then come back to the car inland on the old WWII roads through the woods.  The inland route is a little hilly but not too hilly for my hamstring. Perfect loop for working my hamstring back up for climbing mountains.

Lately I've also noticed that we are past 'peak green'.  The fireweed is still at peak bloom, but the Pushki is already dying and turning yellow.  The hills are even turning a little yellow, or are a sort of 'dusty' green.  The vibrant and saturated light green of late June and early July is now long gone.

Also in the past week I have been eating the new potatoes out of my garden.  I do not dig up the plants but 'steal' a few potatoes from each plant.  I sort of root around the base of the plants and grab the ones near the surface.  New potatoes are so sweet and delicious, and only like this for a few weeks in August.

Of course when I get back, it'll all be different.  It'll be time to harvest garlic and beets.

Patrick

Close up of a melting jellyfish on the beach

Bear and kid fossilized tracks

Inland Herring

Herring vertebrae

On Sunday I am off to Karluk Lake for an archaeological excavation.  I've done a lot of archaeology on Karluk Lake.  Between 2008 and 2012 we surveyed the Lake and River (click here 2011, and here 2012 , and here for 2009 for a few of the survey posts), and the last few years the landowner, Koniag Inc., and the Kodiak Brown Bear Center has been supporting archaeological excavations.  Basically, we have been testing the theories we came up with during our surveys, and learning how Alutiiq people used the area through time.

In 2019 we excavated a late prehistoric house (ca 250 years old) right at the outlet to the lake (click here for 2019 archaeology post).  Last year we excavated what we think is a ceremonial 'Qasgiq' or 'mens house' from around 1000 years ago.  This year we hope to excavated a normal house associated with the Qasgiq.  We want to compare and contrast the two structures, and strengthen our case that last year's structure is indeed a Qasgiq (click here for last year's post).

Soon after the 2019 excavation Bob K a visiting archaeologist looked at the fauna we collected from the 250 year-old house and identified what he thought was a herring bone (picture above).  This was quite exciting because the site is a long ways from the sea and herring are mostly available in the spring.  At the very least it told us that Alutiiq people were bringing up food from the coast and that they were there in the spring.  Anyway, we were not absolutely positive that it was a herring bone, and so I have waited, and waited for confirmation that it is actually a herring vertebrae.  

Erin M and Catherine W at Boston University have been analyzing the fauna (bones), and recently confirmed that it is indeed a herring bone!  They are not done with their analysis - so there will be more to come, but I have been waiting for over 3 years to do a blog post on our 2019 herring bone.  So here is a preliminary post.  Erin and Catherine will have a lot more to say!

Anyway, since 2019 we excavated another faunal midden associated with the 2021 'Qasgiq' and rather than just post on the herring bone I thought I'd do a preliminary comparison of the two middens.  The 2 structures are wildly different in age (about 800 years) but the differences between the composition of the two middens highlight the difference between how the structures were used.  Below I first show pictures from the 2019 faunal midden, and then at the bottom I show images from the 2021 faunal midden.

In a nutshell, the composition of the 2 middens matches the differences between the 2 artifact assemblages. The 'house' was associated with a wide variety of artifact types and this reflects that a diverse suite of activities that took place there. At the 'Qasgiq' the artifact assemblage was very focused - there was very little in the way of tools associated with manufacturing or processing food.  The 'house' midden was mostly fish bones but contained a wide variety of types and included marine mammal, birds and all sorts of saltwater species.  The 'Qasgiq' midden was much more focused and contained relatively little in the way of fish bones.  It was mostly clam and mussel shells.  

This contrast supports my theory that the 'qasgiq' was a special purpose structure - Alutiiq people used it for ceremonies and did not do a lot of 'household' or food processing activities there.  They were not processing and drying a bunch of fish in the structure like they were in the 250 year-old 'house'.  Also clams are not really a high quality food - they do not provide much in the way of calories, and for the calories alone it would be hardly worth it to carry them all the way up from the coast.  But they are a sort of 'prestige' item and could be considered a 'ceremonial' food.

And now in the next few weeks I hope to excavate a 1000 year-old house.  I hope we find fauna, and that it is totally different from the fauna we found in the 1000 year-old 'qasgiq'.  I hope everything is different between the 2 structures and that the differences support my story!

Patrick

Herring bones are tiny and have a distinctive hour glass shape

articulated trout or salmon bones from the 2019 midden

blue mussel shells, clearly from the coast, in the 2019 midden

Rainbow trout are easy to catch in the river at the outlet to the lake

We found this tiny hook inside an articulated small salmon/trout in the midden

Cod otolith (ear bone) another salt water fish imported to the site

Sea urchin spines from the 2019 midden

This is a map of the house and location our 2019 excavation blocks - the midden was in a mound (29-31) just outside the house

Keith exciting the midden mound found outside the 2021 structure

2021 midden mostly clam shells - some fish bones

2021 midden

2021 midden in situ

location of the 2021 midden mound in relation to 'qasgiq' - door at upper right

Some Chirikof Thoughts - sand dunes and deflation

 

The ground surface at the North End of the island has been deflated 3-4 meters

At the end of the last ice age during the peopling of the New World there was a HUGE glacier flowing down Shelikof Strait and around Kodiak Island.  So if one was traveling along the coast by boat on a 'coastal migration' to the New World they would have had a hard time finding dry land.  But it seems Chirikof was only half glaciated - there is even a line of boulders across the middle of the island that marks the end moraine of a retreating glacier.  For this reason I have always thought Chirikof Island would be a good place to look for REALLY old archaeological sites related to the peopling of the New World. It would have been one of the only really good places to land a boat.

I have looked hard for ancient sites out there, but thus far have not found anything that I recognize as really old.  I have found sites older than 4000 years but everything I have found is similar to assemblages I have found elsewhere that are younger than 7000 or so years.  So far I 'recognize' all the types of sites I've found on Chirikof - I figure a really old site is going to look different (and maybe this is where I am wrong).

So on my last trip to Chirikof this past June, I was super excited to look for really old sites on the deflated north end.  I had never really surveyed that end before and with the vegetation all gone (thanks to the cows and wind) I figured the sites would be easy to see.

But yet again - no old sites.  I did find one big deflated site but based on the artifact types present it looks to be only 2-3 thousand years old.  I also realized that it is not easy to find the really old sites.  I noticed that deflation and blowing sand and dirt works both ways.  Parts of the island are also getting buried under the blowing sand - REALLY deeply buried.  And then there is relative sea level changes - where would the beaches and nice places to camp have been located 20 thousand years ago!

In any case, I still think it is the place to look for 'coastal migration' sites.  But I also realize that archaeologists are going to have to work with some hard core coastal geomorphology geology types to figure out where the sites could be located.

Patrick

Behind the beach on the west side blowing sand is elevating the ground surface (note thick layer of sand at top of soil profile below the grass)

River 'Styx' blowing sand on one side - grass and accumulating sand on other side?

The ground surface was once level with these barrels which created a mound by keeping all the sand from blowing away.  The ground surface is now lower but everywhere under the barrels

A deflated archaeological site on the north end of the island

Scape pesto with schmaltz

 

Scape pesto ingredients

Every year when my garlic puts up scapes I make a lot of pesto, and in the past I have posted my usual recipe (click here for recipe). My recipe uses sunflower seeds and kale or nettles.  But a couple of days ago I found myself making scape pesto and did not have enough olive oil handy, and so I experimented with substituting chicken schmaltz instead (click here to read about schmaltz). I did have a little olive oil so I used 3/4 schmaltz and 1/4 olive oil of what the recipe called for - and it came out great!  Maybe even tastier than with just olive oil!

Lately I've been cooking a lot with chicken schmaltz.  It is one of the better by-products of cooking chicken with an air fryer, and as a consequence we've been eating a lot of chicken.  After I finish cooking chicken with the air fryer I pour off the rendered fat in the bottom into a bowl I keep in the fridge.  And then I use the schmaltz in the bowl for cooking stir fries, potatoes whatever.  It makes everything taste really good.  I gather it is a Jewish thing and that butter is not kosher for certain foods and that they substitute schmaltz instead.  This is a REALLY good idea.

Anyway, in the photo below is my schmaltz pesto pasta and air fried chicken meal.  After air frying the chicken I had enough schmaltz leftover to replace the schmaltz I used making the pesto. Schmaltz is my new secret cooking weapon.

Patrick