A team of archaeologists and volunteer excavators is working urgently at the Nunalleq dig site near the coastal village of Quinhagak, Alaska, to recover cultural artifacts exposed after last October’s Typhoon Halong. The storm, which caused widespread flooding and displaced over a thousand residents across western Alaska, stripped away layers of tundra and scattered thousands of objects along the coastline.
Jenny Matthew, a local resident, first spotted the damage while assessing debris with her husband on four-wheelers. She recalled finding a smooth, hand-carved wooden bowl estimated to be between 400 and 600 years old. The item was unearthed from Nunalleq, a site renowned as one of the finest examples of Alaska Native Yup’ik culture prior to Western contact.
Lead archaeologist Rick Knecht noted that the storm not only scattered existing finds but also accelerated erosion, bringing the Bering Sea closer to the buried remnants of sod houses dating back half a millennium.
Jenny Matthew’s quick thinking clearly saved that wooden bowl. Volunteers like her are just as important as the professional archaeologists.
I didn’t realize Typhoon Halong caused that much erosion. How long do they estimate they have before the site is gone entirely?
Did anyone check if the displaced families were supported after the storm? Saving artifacts is vital, but people matter too.
It is heartbreaking to see centuries of history washed away so quickly. Climate change is literally erasing the past.