Sunset at Horseshoe Cove

Horseshoe Cove On the northern shore of mountainous Uganik Island, a small cove shelters a set net site – a cabin and some outbuildings that are home to a local family during the foggy, salmon-fishing days of summer. Nestled in a meadow of waist-deep grass, these buildings appear lonely – the only hint of a human presence in this grand landscape. But beneath the meadow’s surface, layers of fire cracked rock, charcoal and fish bone tell a different story. For millennia, the ancestors of Kodiak’s Alutiiq people settled in Horseshoe Cove, harvesting fish and sea mammals, building houses, and leaving a record of their activities in the island’s deep soil. Horseshoe Cove is quiet today, but it was once the setting for a lively village.

A Unique Location
Unlike many locations settled by ancient Alutiiqs, Horseshoe Cove lies in an outer coastal environment, beyond the protection of Kodiak’s sheltered bays. Perched on the far northern tip of Uganik Island , the site overlooks the deep, turbulent waters of Shelikof Strait . Here, a rare sand beach provides an excellent landing spot for boats and a commanding view of Viekoda Bay.

In the spring and summer months, this environment pulses with life. Whales feed in the bay mouth, cod and pollock swim close to shore, thousands of sea birds nest in the rocky cliffs of nearby islets, and at low tide, squirting clams reveal their sandy burrows. Alutiiqs typically harvested these resources between April and June, before the arrival of salmon in July.




 

Northern Uganik Island and Horseshoe Cove.

First Finds
Archaeologists working with clean up crews following the 1989 EXXON-Valdez oil spill were the first to locate the Horseshoe Cove site. On a low narrow peninsula of land that forms the inland curve of the cove, they discovered a series of depressions – the remains of prehistoric houses. Closer inspection revealed deeply buried garbage deposits. Eroding from the banks of the site were multiple layers of midden – the remains of the fish, shellfish, sea mammals and birds hunters harvested to feed their families.

Partnering with the Bureau of Indian Affairs

In 2004, the Regional Archaeology Office of the Alaska Bureau of Indian Affairs, hired the Alutiiq Museum to study the site. The land on which the settlement rests is being sold. Because the site holds valuable information on Alutiiq history, federal law requires it be studied before the sale of the property – to preserve this information.

The BIA chose to work with the Alutiiq Museum because of the museum’s ability to lead archaeological research and its strong ties to the Native community. By partnering with the Museum, the BIA could insure that the Alutiiq people were involved in the study and that cultural information from Horseshoes Cove was shared with the community whose heritage it reflects.

In June, museum Curator and Professional Archaeologist Patrick Saltonstall flew to Horseshoe Cove with a team of archaeologists to begin a month-long excavation. Tristen Kewan of Port Lions, joined the Uganik excavation for two weeks as part of a summer internship with the Alutiiq Museum . A veteran of the museum’s Community Archaeology program the museum selected Tristen to participate because of his excellent digging skills and his interest in prehistory. The project was a chance for Tristen to learn more about his ancestors and himself.

Revealing the Past
Excavations at Horseshoe Cove focused on testing four areas of the site to reveal the activities that took place in different areas of this large settlement. Over a month of excavation, the team removed over 84 cubic meters of site deposit, studied one complete and one partial sod house, sampled two garbage areas, and recovered 2,288 artifacts and samples.

They worked with shovels to break open the site and dig down to the cultural layers. Then they used trowels to carefully peal back each layer created by ancient people, recording the location of hearths and post holes, and collecting artifacts and animal bones in plastic bags. Each bucket of dirt they put through a screen to recover tiny objects and bones, difficult to see in the site’s sticky black soil.

Visitors Across Time
Research at Horseshoe Cove revealed three distinct period of prehistoric occupation, different times when people lived in this far corner of Uganik Island (Table 1).  Together, the site’s sequence of layers, time sensitive artifacts, and radiocarbon dates from samples of wood charcoal indicate that the first residents arrive more than 4,100 years ago.  They camped on the western edge of the site, in an area that has been heavily eroded.  Little remains of this early occupation.  Several hundred years later, people visited the site again, and a series of garbage layers dating between 3,700 and 3,400 years old suggests that they retuned repeatedly.  The site was not inhabited again for nearly 2600 years, till about 800 years ago, when a group of families built a village on the southern end of the site.  Members of this community visited Horseshoe Cove for about 100 years, before moving elsewhere.  Although all the site’s residents pursued a similar set of resources from this spot, each era has a unique signature that adds to the broad picture of Alutiiq history.

 

First Residents: Sea Mammal Hunters - 4,100 years ago
In one small area of the site, there was a layer of bright red soil at the bottom of the cultural deposits. The archaeologists recognized this as ochre - a powder made by grinding hematite, a naturally occurring form of iron. Scientists think that the red powder may have been mixed with oil and rubbed on hides to keep them soft and flexible for use as tent coverings and bedding. This layer is the oldest at the site. It dates to a time archaeologists call the Ocean Bay period. Although little remains of Horseshoe Cove’s Ocean Bay settlement, a handful of artifacts suggest that campers made long slate bayonets for hunting sea mammals. 

Second Residents: Fishermen - 3,700 to 3,400 years ago

In the north central area of the site, the archaeologists encountered evidence of a very different occupation, dating to a period archaeologists call the Early Kachemak. Here, deep layers of ancient garbage recorded life on Uganik Island more than 3,000 years ago. These layers contained dense concentrations of organic materials – animal remains and bone artifacts that are seldom found in sites this old. Here was a chance to better understand the activities that took place at Horseshoe Cove.


 

Zooarchaeologist Catherine Foster, an archaeologist trained to identify animal bones, investigated a sample from one of the Early Kachemak garbage piles. She found that the 3,300 year old layer was full of marine fish. Although the site also contained small amounts of sea mammal, shellfish, and bird, 96% of the bone lay er was made up of cod and rockfish (Table 2). The huge number of these fish suggests that site residents were not harvesting food for dinner, but capturing fish to dry for winter food.  Hooks carved from sea mammal bone were baited and lowered to the ocean floor with the aid of a plummet – a heavy stone sinker – to capture marine fish.

Other evidence supports this idea. The fish bone layer is also full of simple, sharp-edge cutting tools made from immediately available raw materials, as well as thick deposits of wood charcoal. Archaeologists believe that site residents jigged for fish in Viekoda Bay , then made knives from cobbles they collected on the beach to clean and butcher the fish. Then they dried the fish over smoky, slow burning fires for use later in the year. This data helps to confirm that the Early Kachemak was a period of intensified fishing and food storage.

Table 2. Types of Fish Identified in the Early Kachemak Midden

Although the other Early Kachemak garbage deposit - the northwest midden - also contained numerous fish remains, this deposit was deeper and more diverse. Here, layers of fish bone were interspersed with dumps of shellfish remains – piles of urchin and blue mussel shell. The urchin remains are a good indicator of a spring occupation. Urchins form fatty roe every full moon, which is their only edible part. Low spring tides uncover the lower intertidal zone where urchins live, making them easier to harvest at this time of year.



 

Artifacts from the northwest midden are also more varied. Here, archaeologists found more evidence of hunting gear and the manufacture of chipped stone tools. In comparison with the central midden, the northwest midden appears to hold camping garbage as opposed to the garbage associated with food storage. It also suggests another reason why people came to Horseshoe Cove – to procure red chert. Red chert outcrops on the hillside above Horseshoe Cove and nodules of this useful stone occur on the beach in front of the site. Red chert, which is available along the far western and northern shores of the Kodiak archipelago, was one of the most widely used raw materials throughout the prehistoric period.

Last Residents: Villagers – 800 to 700 years ago

The southeastern side of the site is pocked-marked with depressions created by the collapse of sod houses. The site holds the remains of at least six large structures – each with multiple rooms. People lived in this part of the settlement between 700 and 800 years ago, during a time archaeologists call the Koniag period. Here, site residents dug holes of their own to create houses. In each of these holes, they built a wooden frame. Against the frame they stacked sod and fresh cut grass to create a warm, weather-proof house.

To study the formation of the village, museum archaeologists dug into two houses, one small and one large. Both of these houses had a central room for cooking. Here the archaeologists found hearths – fire places made from thin slabs of slate and covered with piles of rocks. Historic accounts suggest that Alutiiqs used hot rocks for cooking, sweat bathing, and wood working.

Connected to the central room were side rooms for sleeping and sweat bathing entered through narrow tunnels. Archaeologists believe that extended families – groups of parents, children, aunts, uncles and cousins - shared these large houses. Some of the site’s houses had as many as six side rooms.

During the excavation, the archaeologists used probes to find the heath rocks in the center of each houses depression’s main room. Then they then dug small test pits to sample the charcoal from the underlying fire place. The layer of earth capping the house and radiocarbon date from their hearths indicate that they were built and occupied at roughly the same time.

What were the Koniag era residents doing in Horseshoe Cove. Like their ancestors, they probably visited in the spring to hunt sea mammals and capture fish. Garbage deposits surrounding the houses contain fish, bird, sea mammal and shellfish remains, and artifacts from the settlement feature many cutting tools – particularly cobble spalls and slate knives.




 

Archaeologists took the materials collected at Horseshoe Cove back to the Alutiiq Museum’s laboratory in Kodiak for study. In the lab, technicians cleaned all the artifacts and dried the many samples of animal bone and charcoal. Then, they carefully numbered and described all the materials to create a catalog of finds. The next step was to write a report on the project summarizing the result of the excavation. The museum also developed educational resources to help its patrons learn more about Alutiiq history at Horseshoe Cove. In addition to this web site, Stories in Stone – a short documentary film – and The Archaeology of Horseshoe Cove – a gallery display will share the excavation with visitors over the next year. Students and researchers can also make appointments to view the Horseshoe Cove collection, which is currently stored as a loan from the property owners under museum acquisition number AM498.

Preservation
Horseshoe Cove is just one of the many unique archaeological sites in the Kodiak archipelago – each with its own story to tell. Archaeological sites are the Alutiiq library. They hold information on the history of the Alutiiq people available for no other source. By studying these sites and preserving the information they hold, organizations like the BIA and the Alutiiq Museum help to insure that the rich history of Alaska’s Native people is preserved to inspire the future.

LEARN MORE:

A 20 minute documentary film on the Horseshoe Cove project - Stories from Stone - can be purchased from the Alutiiq Museum on DVD or viewed in our gallery.

Quyanaa - Thank You


Project Funding & Administration
Regional Archaeology Office of the Alaska Bureau of Indian Affairs,
Ricky Hoff, Bill Hedman, The Ellison Family

 

Field Assistance
Donald Clark, Jennie Deo, Catherine Foster, Jutin Hays, Tristan Kewan,
Bill Hedman, Sven Haakanson, April Counceller
Susan Payne, Don Dumm, Will Dumm, Wesley Dumm, Greg Dering
 

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