Uncovering the Past

Buldir Island

Archaeologists have spent four seasons (1991, 1993, 1997 and 2001) on Buldir Island in the western Aleutians, part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The work began as an environmental project focused on seabird population histories. Along the way we began to look at how Aleuts adapted to the local environment.

Why the Risk?

We wanted to know why Aleuts used such a remote island as Buldir and how regularly. There must have been some reason for people to make the dangerous voyage across at least 60 miles of open ocean to this 3-by-5-mile island.

Several Theories

One possibility was that Buldir was used during periods of resource or social stress in the Near or Rat Islands to the west and east of Buldir. This could explain the sporadic, but relatively intense occupations. The island could also have served as a boundary between two culturally distinct but related social groups. There is evidence people from both the Rat and Near Islands used Buldir, sometimes concurrently. The island may have been neutral ground for two independent groups to meet and mingle.

From Zero to Crowds

Excavations have uncovered a series of living surfaces separated by long periods when the island was uninhabited. The occupation levels are full of artifacts, including a wealth of wooden tools such as several projectile point types, possible mask fragments, slats, shafts and rods, handles, and possible gaming pieces. We have recovered parts of three miniature kayak models.

Rare to Find Old Wood

Wooden artifacts are extremely rare and this is the only known open-air site in the Aleutians with abundant, well-preserved organic remains. In addition to the wooden artifacts we found hair, leaves, seeds, moss and even eggshells.

Steller Discovery

The wealth of preserved bones allowed us to reconstruct the environment that supported the Aleut people and led to a major discovery: several bones from Steller’s sea cow, extinct since 1768.

Expanding the Range

The bones of the Steller’s sea cow had been cut for use in tools. This suggests that the Aleuts killed or scavenged a sea cow near the island. Prior to this discovery, no sea cow remains had been found outside of the Commander Islands in Russia where they were last seen. This 25-foot-long cousin of the manatee was first recorded and named by Georg Steller of the 1741-42 Bering Expedition.

Whale of a Discovery

Another high point was our discovery of a large house constructed of whalebones. This is the only complete house structure excavated west of Amchitka Island and one of the very few houses of any kind excavated in the Aleutians.

Unique House Construction

We believe the house was built and used in the mid-seventeenth century AD, just prior to the Russian discovery of the islands. At least 4 whales, some very large, were used to build the house. Rib posts and crossbeams are still in place showing in detail how the house was built.

Frontier of Knowledge

House contents included several human burials, hearths, two decorated stone lamps and an enigmatic pit containing a whale cranium buried nose down, suggesting that this was a "special use" structure reflecting social, political, and religious patterns previously unreported anywhere in the Aleutians.

Principal Investigators:

Debra Corbett, U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service

Christine Lefevre, Muséum National D’histoire Naturelle, Paris

Dixie West, Museum of Natural History and Biodiversity Research Center, University of Kansas, Lawrence

Last updated:September 8, 2008