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Sunday, July 13, 2008

Dig Afognak





I spent last weekend out on Afognak at Dig Afognak. While there I experienced a strong sense of deja vue - this is where I spent 3 summers when I first moved to Kodiak back in the mid 1990s. Same spectacular views, many of the same people, and kids are kids.

This year I taught the kids about archaeology, but rather the usual excavation we went on survey. I showed them how the coast has changed over the past 7000 years, and we dug test pits behind old buried beaches back in the woods. I REALLY wanted to find a 7000 year-old site, but it was not to be. We did, however, find layers of sand and silt that had been carried unbelievable distances into the woods by tidal waves. One wave flooded the woods almost a mile from the current shoreline.

Other highlights of the weekend included finding a glass ball, and carving a wooden spoon. I was really happy about the glass ball because I said I'd find one and I did! A couple of weeks ago the Island Trails Network cleaned up all the trash on the beach as part of a marine debris clean up program and no one believed there would be any glass balls left. Patrick

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