Archaeologists who work in the Arctic are typically spoiled with pristinely preserved artifacts, but recently the blessing of ice has become a curse: the researchers are struggling to save the wealth of delicate material that is emerging from melting permafrost and eroding coastlines because of climate change. In northern Alaska there is only one full-time archaeologist: Anne Jensen, a senior scientist at Ukpeavik Iñupiat Corporation, one of the largest companies owned by Alaskan natives.
Every summer Jensen excavates hard-to-access sites where Inuit people lived and hunted hundreds—even thousands—of years ago. This past summer Jensen and her colleagues returned to Walakpa, once the site of a coastal village that continues to reveal surprises because of erosion. They hope to save thousands of years’ worth of cultural and environmental data from falling into the sea. Read more.
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