Kal'unek From Karluk

Karluk One is a remarkable archaeological site. For six hundred years, the Alutiiq built houses upon houses, preserving layer after layer of their ways of life. When fresh water from a nearby pond seeped through the deposit, the massive mound of cultural debris became suspended in time. Yet the site’s location at the mouth of a once-salmon-rich river meant it could disappear at any moment. Working together, researchers and community members recovered more than 26,000 items made of wood, bone, ivory, baleen, antler, and leather before the meandering river finally shifted and washed away the site forever. Kal’unek―From Karluk fully explores the ancient site and its contents to create a picture of prehistoric Alutiiq life. Beautifully photographed, the book also features essays by community members and scholars as well as a ground-breaking glossary of Alutiiq terms developed for the artifacts by Kodiak Alutiiq speakers. No other collection has figured so centrally in building awareness of Alutiiq history or promoting an accurate view of the richness of Kodiak’s Native past. And no other book illuminates these extraordinary finds as brilliantly as Kal’unek―From Karluk.