BETHEL — The southwest Alaska village of Quinhagak is preparing to receive artifacts from an archaeological dig conducted in the area over the last several years.
A team from Scotland’s University of Aberdeen has preserved artifacts that include wooden tools and weapons, KYUK-AM reported Thursday.
They will be given to the village later this year.
Warren Jones of the Quinhagak’s local Native corporation has assisted in the process.
He said it is important for the artifacts to be returned to the village of about 700 residents to help people understand where they come from.
“Everything we’ve learned has been passed on from our grandparents, our parents. So to see the tools they used back then, and we look at what we use, everything is just modernized,” Jones said. “I think it’s time to get back into the old ways.”
Quinhagak residents still hunt and fish with spears and fishhooks similar to what their ancestors used hundreds of years ago, Jones said.
The artifacts are being returned to a village that is dealing with the impacts of erosion. The radio station reported that the village has been reduced to a small island with little usable land.
