AIC 53rd Annual Meeting

The Nunalleq archaeological site is the ancestral home to the people of Quinhagak, Alaska, about 420 miles east and south of Anchorage, on the coast of the Bering Sea. The site consists of a large multi-room dwelling and dates from about 1450 to 1650 AD. It has numerous phases of re-building and modification over the years of occupation, before it was attacked and burned during the “Bow and Arrow Wars”, a period of warfare still remembered in oral histories today. Today’s residents of Quinhagak trace their ancestry to the site and to those who lived and died there. 

Until recently, the site has been amazingly well preserved by permafrost. But like countless others in the north, it is being destroyed by the combined effects of climate change. Since 2009, the Yup'ik village of Quinhagak has teamed with professional archaeologists and conservators with two primary goals: to rescue as many artifacts as possible and to train local community members in caring for their own history. To date, over 100,000 artifacts have been excavated, racing against winter storms and thawing permafrost, while also engaging younger generations to care for their own heritage. Today, the culture center cares for the largest collection of Yup’ik heritage made prior to Euro-American contact. 

For the past seven years, the Anchorage Museum has partnered with Qanirtuuq, Nalaquq, and the Nunalleq Culture and Archaeology Center in Quinhagak to support their heritage and culture work. Quinhagak Heritage Inc. (QHI) operates the cultural center, and Nalaquq coordinates the archaeological work each season. During the first 10 years, all of the artifacts were sent overseas to the University of Aberdeen (one of their partners) to be conserved. Since 2019, with Anchorage Museum collaboration, QHI and Anchorage Museum are helping keep the newly excavated artifacts in Alaska and preserve them locally, while also training members of their community to do this work. 

Museums are slow to change. If museums and the conservation field are to remain relevant, supported, and viable, we must reexamine our practices. The legacy of taking cultural belongings from communities cannot be ignored. Whether we have contributed to them or not, we have benefited from these colonial systems. Radical actions may be needed to affect change. Only through working closely with communities, and ensuring the control lies with those who have previously been ignored, will we be able to ethically preserve and steward collections. The collaboration between the village of Quinhagak and its many partners is a model for the future of conservation.