{"id":127781,"date":"2019-10-11T12:25:21","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T16:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=127781"},"modified":"2020-01-09T08:52:04","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T13:52:04","slug":"11-words-students-describe-indigenous-archaegology-in-an-alaska-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2019\/10\/11\/11-words-students-describe-indigenous-archaegology-in-an-alaska-village\/","title":{"rendered":"11 words: Students describe indigenous archaeology in an Alaskan village"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot of what we know, or think we know, about archaeology comes from movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark:<\/em> Indiana Jones racing Forrestal or Belloq to discover the next cool thing.<\/p>\n

Hollywood aside, there\u2019s truth to that depiction, says Kristen Barnett, assistant professor of American studies at Bates. \u201cReally, most archaeology is still about things<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing.<\/p>\n

Artifacts are often in \u201cclose proximity to living communities \u2014 people today,\u201d explains Barnett. Despite that proximity, archaeologists have, say critics, long run roughshod over indigenous communities \u2014 the places where such artifacts truly belong \u2014 with generations of scholars \u201cmaking a living conducting research on Native Americans\u2019 lifeways, bodies, and sacred places,\u201d in the words of scholar Sonya Atalay.<\/p>\n

\"<\/a>

Kristen Barnett and her students walk along the shore near the Old Togiak excavation site on May 15, 2019. (Tim Leach ’99 for Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

Barnett\u2019s method, one that\u2019s now playing out in a small village along the southwest coast of Alaska, tries to address such inequities in archaeological practice with an approach that emphasizes partnership, sharing, and engagement with Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s called indigenous archaeology because it \u201cplaces the needs of the community at the center,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Flipping the script, indigenous archaeology moves away from notions of discovery, which can imply seizing ownership. As Barnett says to her students, \u201cWe\u2019re not really discovering<\/em> anything. We\u2019re serving<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Indigenous<\/a>

Indigenous archaeology \u201cplaces the needs of the community at the center,\u201d says Assistant Professor of American Studies Kristen Barnett. (Tim Leach ’99 for Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

Specifically, Barnett and her students are serving the small Alaskan village of Togiak, or Tuyuryaq in the native Yup\u2019ik language. Located about 390 miles south-southwest of Anchorage, the coastal village is accessible only by water or air. It numbers about 800 residents, of whom about 85 percent are Yup\u2019ik.<\/p>\n

Barnett herself is an Alaska Native, a member of the Unangax (or Aleut) people of the Aleutian Islands and coastal mainland. She has described Togiak as \u201ckind of a cousin village.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funded by a major National Science Foundation grant, Barnett has thrice brought a team of Bates students to the Togiak area, most recently during Short Term last May.<\/p>\n

As with past Bates trips, the students\u2019 work had a twofold quality. First, they spent a week in the village, engaging with students at the local K\u201312 school and meeting community elders.<\/p>\n

Then they decamped across Bristol Bay \u2014 just about a mile and a half as the crow flies \u2014 to do archaeology at Old Togiak, the village\u2019s location until about a century ago, before inhabitants began crossing the bay to resettle at the site of today\u2019s village.<\/p>\n

As an archaeological site, Old Togiak has been impacted: an operational cannery, the North Pacific Seafoods Cannery and Fish Processing Plant, sits atop a portion of the old village site.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Bates excavation site is located at Old Togiak, located across Bristol Bay from Togiak. A cannery sits atop a portion of the old village site. (Google Earth)<\/p><\/div>\n

After two weeks of fieldwork at Old Togiak, the Bates group \u2014 comprising Barnett, 11 students, and two research assistants, Elliot Chalfin-Smith \u201921 and alumna Kelsey Schober \u201916 \u2014 returned to Togiak for another brief stay, including attending the school\u2019s prom.<\/p>\n

Midway through their Togiak fieldwork, Tim Leach \u201999 joined the group for a couple days of photography and interviews. He came away with these 11 words that explain the Bates students\u2019 experiences and insights.<\/p>\n

\u2018Mind-blowing\u2019<\/h5>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>A prospective biology major, Emma Christman \u201922 is a Mainer who grew up near Bates in Litchfield. With most of her first Bates year behind her, Christman felt some wanderlust. \u201cI needed to get out for a little bit. Plus, I\u2019d never been on a plane.\u201d<\/p>\n

The course introduced her to big ideas now facing the field of archaeology. \u201cSome of the big ethical and moral questions that come up in indigenous archaeology and community-based research I had never even heard of,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was mind-blowing to walk into this field and be like, ‘holy’…This is a whole new world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Narrative\u2019<\/h5>\n

Solaine Carter \u201921 of Tucson, Ariz., was drawn to the course by her major: rhetoric, film, and screen studies. \u201cI’m really interested in narratives and storytelling,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

In terms of indigenous archaeology at Togiak, she\u2019s interested in \u201cwhat it means, what it can look like, and what it should look like. That\u2019s where the rhetoric piece comes in for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

When talking about her interest in the course, Nell Pearson \u201920, an anthropology major from Brooklyn, N.Y., references a famous TED talk by Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie, \u201cThe Danger of the Single Story,\u201d who argues that it is \u201cimpossible to engage properly with a place or a person without engaging with all of the stories of that place and that person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>

On the beach, Nell Pearson \u201920 prepares to screen dirt excavated from the Old Togiak dig. Screening ensures that no artifacts are missed. (Tim Leach ’99 for Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

The village of Togiak knows the dangers of the single story because it\u2019s been the victim of at least one.<\/p>\n

In the 1960s, a doctoral student briefly explored Old Togiak and removed thousands of items, including human remains that Barnett, several years ago, helped to repatriate. In his dissertation, the doctoral student dismissed the site as a midden, a dump for domestic trash \u2014 a single story later proven wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Professor Barnett coming here, we can see if the narrative is a little bit more complex than just one definition of a place,\u201d says Pearson. \u201cThat\u2019s cool to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Continuity\u2019<\/h5>\n

Now, Barnett is challenging current thinking about Togiak and other regional models, specifically that the site was occupied by one group of people during the Medieval Warm Period, circa 950 to 1250, and then, when the Little Ice Age arrived later, \u201cthere was a total replacement of that population.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jinzhi<\/a>

At the dig, Jinzhi Wei \u201920 (right) talks with Kristen Barnett about an object that was revealed at the site. (Tim Leach ’99 for Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

Emphasizing disruption, such a theory can have \u201csevere\u201d implications for an Indigenous community by severing the community from its own past \u2014 \u201cfrom its own story,\u201d Barnett says.<\/p>\n

As is typical of pre-colonial Yup\u2019ik dwellings, the ones at Old Togiak are partially below ground. There are larger community houses for men\u2019s work and activities, known as qasgi<\/em>, and smaller sod houses, about 4 meters in diameter, for women, known as ena<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In looking at the concept of \u201ccultural continuity\u201d at Togiak, Barnett is zeroing in on how women ran and organized their households in the ena<\/em>. For her, \u201cideas about cultural continuity are really wrapped up in those small homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Bates campsite at Old Togiak. From left, an ATV and cart; wooden shack used as the camp kitchen; the shipping container fitted with six bunks; Barnett\u2019s tent atop the container; and another tent and WeatherPort nearby. (Tim Leach \u201999 for Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

While some things might change in a village over time \u2014 such as architecture, population, and what villagers ate \u2014 what might not change, and therefore might be a better indicator of continuity, is the operation of households.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have a mental roadmap of what it means to make a home,\u201d explains Barnett. \u201cFor instance, no matter where I live, I\u2019ll put my keys in the same spot.\u201d All those routines create \u201ca roadmap of what my home means and how it\u2019s organized.\u201d At Old Togiak, a consistent household roadmap could be key to supporting ideas of cultural continuity over hundreds of years.<\/p>\n

Of course, if the evidence ultimately shows a population change at Old Togiak, \u201cyou don\u2019t ignore it,\u201d Barnett says.<\/p>\n

But, either way, \u201cthe archaeological framework needs to be expanded to consider local perspectives and insights and to work through the process together. The archaeologist is working with materiality, whereas a community might be working with thousands of generations of knowledge and experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Having<\/a>

Having breakfast inside the camp WeatherPort are, from left, Anna Truman-Wyss \u201921, Hannah Webster \u201922, Emma Christman \u201922, and Solaine Carter \u201921. (Tim Leach \u201999 for Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

Speaking of the Little Ice Age: Barnett, pointing to research from University College London, notes that this period of global cooling in the 16th and 17th centuries may have been brought on by the genocide of millions of Native peoples in the Americas beginning in the 15th century. The resulting revegetation of land previously occupied by humans soaked up enough atmospheric carbon dioxide to cool the planet.<\/p>\n

\u2018Ownership\u2019<\/h5>\n

Indigenous archaeology has \u201ca lot to do with power dynamics,\u201d says Jinzhi Wei \u201920, a religious studies and economics double major from Liuzhou, China.<\/p>\n

In that sense, Barnett \u201cdoesn\u2019t claim ownership of the project, and she doesn\u2019t prioritize the needs of archaeology over the needs of the community. She\u2019s helping the community trace back its cultural past.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Soothing\u2019<\/h5>\n

At the dig site, students had two primary jobs, one inside the 10-by-20 WeatherPort canopy that covered the dig, and one outside.<\/p>\n

Inside, students carefully excavated soil with trowels, placing any found objects into plastic bags for labeling and logging.<\/p>\n

Outside the Weatherport, students screened excavated soil for smaller items missed by the inside team.<\/p>\n

\"During<\/a>

During the screening process, Maya McDonough \u201922 winces and mud splashes as Jinzhi Wei \u201920 pours water onto excavated soil. (Tim Leach ’99 for Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

Eventually, the work gets even tinier. The soil will undergo geochemical analysis as well as \u201cflotation\u201d to separate light from heavy particles and, in so doing, identify plant remains.<\/p>\n

Inside the WeatherPort, a grid marked 1-meter squares that are typical for a dig site. For students new to excavation with a trowel, \u201cone meter is huge,\u201d says Barnett, so she further divided the meter squares into smaller, more manageable 50-centimeter quads.<\/p>\n

Anna Truman-Wyss \u201921, an American studies and anthropology double major from Auburn, Ala., preferred the slow, steady, and mindful process of excavation.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcavating is soothing,\u201d she says (even though she feels that she\u2019s \u201cnot good at it\u201d).<\/p>\n

\"Mindful<\/a>

Mindful that fieldwork is, well, work, Kristen Barnett scheduled fun, too, like Hat Night, where students created hats from found items. Here, Eliot Chalfin-Smith \u201921 (left) presents a chocolate prize to Ian Christiansen \u201922. (Tim Leach \u201999 for Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

The process of screening excavated dirt, on the other hand, is \u201csitting around waiting for more soil, and then you go-go-go, and then you sit around again. I like the consistent work of excavating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Grund\u00e9n\u2019<\/h5>\n

To do this type of fieldwork, you have to be equipped both intellectually and otherwise, with gear that\u2019s right for days and days of outdoor work in breezy, cool (highs in the 40s, lows around freezing), and sometimes wet weather.<\/p>\n

What Bean boots are to students on the Bates campus, Grund\u00e9ns outerwear, especially bib overalls, was to the students on the Togiak trip. \u201cWe learned to love them,\u201d says Maya McDonough \u201922, a prospective geology major from Aspen, Colo.<\/p>\n

At first, \u201ceveryone was like, \u2018They’re so ugly and bulky.\u2019 But they keep you dry and they keep you warm \u2014 and mostly clean.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Respect\u2019<\/h5>\n

For Joseph Willky \u201920, a double major in American studies and anthropology from Randolph, Mass., the guiding concept behind indigenous archaeology is respect.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/a>

What L.L.Bean boots are to the Bates campus, Grund\u00e9ns outerwear was to students in Togiak. Near midnight on May 15, Ian Christiansen \u201922 holds rocks that he collected off the beach for skipping into Bristol Bay. (Tim Leach ’99 for Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe follow the values that Togiak stands by,\u201d he says. Whether it\u2019s archaeology, or land use, or \u201cthings that might not be seen as sacred,\u201d like pieces of wood that float onto shore near their campsite, \u201cit all falls under respect. We are the visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnett, he says, tries to instill humility in her students. \u201cYou cannot take whatever privilege that you were born with and automatically place it into a new place. That does not cut it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Weather\u2019<\/h5>\n

The absence of distractions caused by things like cell phones meant that the Bates students began to pay greater attention to the weather, as does anyone who works outdoors.<\/p>\n

\"As<\/a>

As the team prepares to depart Old Togiak, students cover the site with tarps and hay, applied here by Joseph Willky \u201920 (left) and Emma Christman \u201922 (second from right), to shield it from the elements. (Courtesy Kristen Barnett)<\/p><\/div>\n

Asked what surprised her on the trip, Hannah Webster \u201922 of Shelburne, Vt., seemed abashed by her answer. \u201cThis might be generic, but it\u2019s the weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mornings, she described, \u201chave been kind of like cloudy. It’s been a little bit rainy at night. Then we wake up, and I expect to see rain, but all of a sudden the sky opens and it’s a beautiful blue sky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there were the two days of rain and wind that threatened to blow away a tent at the campsite until they created a wind block.<\/p>\n

\"Trowel<\/a>

Trowel in hand, Hannah Webster \u201922 excavates soil at the Old Togiak site on May 15. (Tim Leach \u201999 for Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe had to have people standing against the tent to hold it up and build a wind block in the pouring rain. Those moments were really challenging,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut looking back, it was also really exciting \u2014 kind of fun, in a way. It was a different kind of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Box\u2019<\/h5>\n

During their visit, the students witnessed the delivery of a small wooden box, labeled \u201cfragile,\u201d to Barnett.<\/p>\n

The box contained human remains looted from Old Togiak in the 1990s. During prosecution of the crime, the remains were held as evidence, then boxed and delivered to the Traditional Council of a nearby village, Twin Hills.<\/p>\n

There they sat for years. Complicating and delaying repatriation was the transfer, from Twin Hills to Togiak, of the rights to the land from which the remains had been looted.<\/p>\n

While some archaeologists work with or research human remains, Barnett doesn\u2019t. Still, there was the box, so she informed Togiak\u2019s Traditional Council and made arrangements to return them to the village.<\/p>\n

\"credit:<\/a>

During the Bates stay, a box containing human remains, looted from Old Togiak years before, was delivered to Barnett. (Tim Leach ’99 for Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

In such communications with the council, she is mindful of her role. \u201cMy goal is not to burden, but be of service. So, if I’m like, \u2018I’ve got this, and what are you <\/em>going to do now?\u2019 \u2014 that approach can become really burdensome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remains were returned to the community. Any decisions regarding their treatment and care rest with the community, Barnett says.<\/p>\n

\u2018Instagram\u2019<\/h5>\n

None of the students had cell service in Togiak, and that suited them just fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know where my phone is right now,\u201d said Jack Johnson \u201922 of Brewster, Mass. \u201cIt\u2019s refreshing. You realize all the things that you don’t need at all. You don’t need to go to Instagram, Snapchat, and all that stuff. It\u2019s just fluff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"At<\/a>

At the end of the workday on May 15, Kyle Jorgensen \u201922 and Jack Johnson \u201922 conduct check-in to ensure all samples and artifacts are accounted for. (Tim Leach ’99 for Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

Kyle Jorgensen \u201922 of Lawrence Township, N.J., agrees. \u201cAway from the phone, I feel that I can absorb more of where I am and what I’m doing. It’s kind of like you have more purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Awesome\u2019<\/h5>\n

\u201cAwesome\u201d is perhaps overused, but apropos when you\u2019re surrounded by snow-covered peaks on three sides, the Pacific Ocean on the fourth, and blue skies above.<\/p>\n

For Ian Christiansen \u201922, a prospective physics major from Hudson, N.H., an awesome moment occurred when clouds and rain shrouded everything, during what\u2019s become an annual tradition for Barnett\u2019s students and local schoolchildren: a climb up Two Hill, a small rise near town not much higher than Mount David.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t pouring, but it was rainy, cold, and damp. But it was an awesome bonding experience,\u201d Christiansen says. \u201cWe were all chugging through it together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Anna<\/a>

Anna Truman-Wyss \u201921 (left) and Skylar Wassillie, a student from Togiak School, walk together during the annual climb up Two Hill near the village. (Courtesy Kristen Barnett)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the site of an abandoned Alaskan village, an alumnus hears 11 words illuminating experiences of students and their professor conducting indigenous archaeology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":127845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[4,30,130,14,224,11009],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-life","category-civic-engagement","category-collaboration","category-faculty-staff","category-society-culture","category-the-college"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127781"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129938,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127781\/revisions\/129938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}