Alitak Petroglyph Survey
Despite their enormous popularity, Kodiak's petroglyphs have never been systematically documented. Alutiiq Museum Executive Director This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it is working to accomplish this massive task. For the past decade, he has enlisted the help of Akhiok residents to locate and document petroglyphs around Cape Alitak. In May of 2010, he led a professional survey of the region, working with museum archaeologists to document the glyphs and nearby archaeological sites. The Alitak glyphs are the largest cluster of stationary rock art in the Kodiak region, with over 700 images pecked into shoreline bolders. This is critical work, as the glyphs are fading with time.

LEARN MORE: We recommend Woody Kneble's book on the Alitak petroplyhs - From the Old People, The Cape Alitak Petroglyphs - available from the Alutiiq Museum Store.

Alutiiq Collections Surveys
In the ninetenth century, American and European traders collected Alutiiq objects, sending items to museums around the world. There are pieces of Alutiiq heritage stored in places like New England, California, Russia, France, Great Brittian, Finland, and Germany. Alutiiq Museum Executive Director This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it is working to reunite Alutiiq people with these pieces. By traveling to distant museums and documenting Alutiiq objects, he is bringing information home and forming friendships so that items can one day travel to Kodiak. His photos and notes provide information for museum exhibits and programs, inspiration for artists, and a sense of pride for all Alutiiqs.

LEARN MORE: 

Alaska Office of History and Archaeology
National Park Service
National Park Service in Alaska

Steward News - Issue 1, May 2006
Steward News - Issue 2, April 2007
Steward News - Issue 3, April 2008
Steward News - Issue 4, April 2009
Steward News - Issue 5, April 2010
Steward News - Issue 6, April 2011
Steward News - Issue 7, May 2011

Contact curator This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 907-486-7004, x23, to volunteer with the stewardship team.

Quyanaa to our 2011 Site Stewards
Betsey and Adelia Myrick, Mark Withrow, Kip and Leigh Thomet, Marnie Leist, Jill Lipka, Susan Payne and Don Dumm, Harry and Brigid Dodge, Bill Barker, Sid Omlid, Suzanne Abraham, Matt Foster, Kellar Wattum, Jennifer Richcreek, Andy Christofferson, Jennifer Culbertson, Mike Munsey, Jeanne Larsen, and Joe Black

Womens Bay Archaeological Project
Archaeological sites are like books, each one has a unique story to tell. By studying many sites in the same region, Alutiiq Museum archaeologists This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it are gaining a fuller picture of prehistoric life. They are building a library of information for one area. Their research focuses on Womens Bay, and arm of larger Chiniak Bay. Here they have been excavating sites that span Kodiak's 7,500 year's of human history to better understand the development of settlement village life. When did Alutiiqs begin to live in permanent houses? When did they begin to store great quantities of food for the winter?

Since 1997, the archaeologists have excavated samples from eight sites in different environments within the bay - working at the Blisky site on Near Island, the Outlet and Array sites on the Buskin River, Zaimka Mound and Mikt’sqaaq Angayukatat the bay mouth, and Salonie Mound, Bruhn Point and the Amak site in the inner bay.

Volunteers, students and interns participate in the research as part of the museum's Community Archaeology Program.