I
just returned from a twelve day kayaking adventure in the channels and passages
north of Ketchikan, Alaska. It was an amazing test of my limited kayaking experience in open waters. Although on arrival my sea kayaking skills and experience were not up to par with the rest of the team, I was able to learn quickly and with valuable instruction be a contributing team member. I was granted permission to paddle a single; a rare occurrence for a first-timer on these trips. Fortunately I kept my self upright even in the tumult of four foot waves and confused seas we encountered coming into camp one day. During the “Windows On The Past” trip we covered
over 100 miles of ocean waters, visited and monitored several historical
archaeological sites and marveled at the majesty that is Southeast Alaska. I was
invited to join the small team of volunteers lead by Martin Stanford, an
archaeologist working in the Tongass National Forrest, Ketchikan-Misty Fiords
ranger District and John Autrey, Tribal Relations Specialist for the Tongass
National Forrest. These archaeological survey and monitoring trips, via sea
kayak, are a vital program in discovering and monitoring historic and
prehistoric sites and have added a depth of knowledge regarding the history of
Southeast Alaska and the Northwest Coastal Region. During our trip we paddled up streams and silted fjord waters, around huge islands, and through passages made only inches deep due to tidal exchange. Most of the waters we traveled on were calm to slightly wind textured as we were blessed with very calm and sunny weather the first few days. I was excited to spend time with our team leaders and learn more about archaeology in a temperate rainforest's environment. I was pleased at the willingness and amount of time Martin and Jon spent answering questions from this new guy. The “Windows On The
Past” program is in constant jeopardy of losing funding due to government
cutbacks but it tenaciously continues year after year and it remains a strong connection between present culture and the people
who lived in these rugged areas in the past.
During our tour, our group of six volunteers was privileged to come in close contact with
many historical sites and gain a small amount of understanding about the
Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian tribes. The depth of Martin and John’s knowledge
and passion for exploring and preserving these sites was exciting. As we
visited sites we were ushered into the world of archeology and the tremendous
amount of research that goes into knowing where to look and then finding them.
The most exciting archaeological portion of the trip was to locate the potential site of a village recorded by
British explorer Captain George Vancouver and his crew in 1793.
Many years of research had led Martin to believe the approximate location of the reported village. We spent the first day surveying the shorelines from our boats viewing the craggy areas at much the same angle Vancouver's men did. Pleased with the results Martin selected a spot to investigate. The following morning we headed straight there and began a much more in depth onshore investigation. We bushwhacked a bit to reach the higher ground that was described in the old ship journals. After a few core soil samples were taken with the special soil probes we carried, a small amount of charcoal was found under the layer of duff soil. The presence of charcoal indicates cooking fires. Martin and John picked a spot and we began to dig. First we used saw bladed tools to cut a well defined square out of the surface moss and duff soil. Once carefully cleared in one big chunk, we began the delicate examination of the underlying soil. We eventually found small fragments of shells and more well defined charcoal indicating that at one time there was a fire here used to cook shellfish. We bagged the samples and carefully replaced the soil, duff and moss. Martin was very excited to have his first indication that he may have found the village. As we took a wider look at the top of this 200' by 100' "mound" we started to change our view by imagining away several hundred years of fallen timber and the thick carpet of moss. This viewpoint brought out a rectangular shape at the exact peak of the mound, taking the shape of a collapsed structure. We took laser measurements confirming the shape and location. This evidence, along with the charcoal, was enough to establish with good certainty that we were standing in the middle of the village that was described 219 years ago. It was an exciting moment. The remainder of the trip was icing on the cake of this find. We spent most of the early morning paddling hours viewing known sites to record their condition. A typical day would find us up at 3-3:30am with the early Alaskan sunrise, packed, fed and on the water by 5:30. We would travel 8 to 12 miles a day and then make camp by lunch time, set up camp, eat rest and be in bed by 7:30 to 8pm. The schedule was challenging and exhausting.
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