Storm Damages Yup’ik Village Site in Alaska

QUINHAGAK, ALASKA—According to a report in The Anchorage Daily News, the storm known as Typhoon Halong swallowed up as much as 60 feet of land in some areas of Western Alaska’s coastline earlier this month. The Nunalleq archaeological site—the remains of a Yup’ik village inhabited between about A.D. 1300 and 1650—was damaged as a result. Residents of the nearby village of Quinhagak have been scouring the beach since the storm, and have rescued about 1,000 Yup’ik cultural items dislodged by erosion, including a complete wooden mask bearing traces of paint. It is likely that the storm swept as many as 100,000 cultural objects from unexcavated areas of Nunalleq out to sea, explained Rick Knecht of the Anchorage Museum. He and the residents of Quinhagak have been working together for years to rescue Yup’ik cultural objects from the melting permafrost. To read about previous excavations at Nunalleq, go to "Cultural Revival."