Honouring Ancestry, Celebrating Presence : the Grand Opening of the Nunalleq Culture and Archaeology Center

Acknowledgements Firstly, we want to acknowledge the contribution by Stephan Jones, first Director of the Nunalleq Culture and Archaeology Center and Director of QHI, who is sadly no longer with us. Stephan was one of the organisers behind the cultural workshops and celebration, and had fate wanted differently, his name would be found among the authors of this paper. Thank you to Crystal Carter and Carl Nicholai for reporting on the culture workshops, and for the kind permission to use your beautiful pictures. We are grateful to all the artists who made the workshops possible, and to all the workshop participants who made them so successful and enjoyable. We also extend our thanks to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on our paper. Thanks to everyone in Quinhagak who contributed to the Potluck and celebration, and special thanks to the Quinhagak dancers for your performance. We cannot leave without mentioning all the researchers and volunteers who have dedicated their time to Nunalleq over the years. Finally, we are extremely grateful to the people of Quinhagak for their constant support—without you none of this could have happened. Funding The stakeholder workshop was founded by AHRC workshop grant AH/R01423/1. The culture workshops were arranged with the support of grants from The CIRI Foundation and Alaska State Council on the Arts.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Three Generations Under One Roof? Bayesian Modeling of Radiocarbon Data from Nunalleq, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

Acknowledgments. This research was funded through an Arts and Humanities Research Council grant (AH/K006029/1) awarded to Drs. Rick Knecht, Charlotta Hillerdal, and Kate Britton, and two NERC Radiocarbon Facility grants (NF/2015/1/6 and NF/2015/2/3) awarded to Drs. Rick Knecht and Paul Ledger. Véronique Forbes received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement number 703322. Excavations at Nunalleq have also benefited from the support of the local community who have made us all feel at home in Quinhagak. In particular, we wish to thank Qanirtuuq Incorporated and Warren Jones for logistical support and their consistently warm hospitality. Thanks also to Philip Ashlock who took the aerial image presented in Figure 3. We also wish to acknowledge the contribution of all of the students and researchers who have excavated at Nunalleq between 2009 and 2015. Without their hard work and dedication, in sometimes challenging conditions, this article would not have been possible. Finally, we wish to thank three anonymous reviewers and Robert Kelly for constructive criticism that has helped improved this manuscript. Permission for excavations at Nunalleq was granted by Qanirtuuq Incorporated.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Nalaquq (“it is found”) : a knowledge co-production framework for environmental sensing and communication in Indigenous arctic communities

Funding Funding provided by Hampden-Sydney College, Nalaquq, LLC, Qanirtuuq Incorporated, and Quinhagak Heritage Incorporated.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Archaeologies of Climate Change: Perceptions and Prospects

Climate change is the biggest challenge facing humanity today, and discussions of its effects—from habitat loss to psychological impacts—can be found in most academic disciplines. Among the many casualties of contemporary climatic change is the archaeological heritage of Arctic and subarctic regions, as warming, erratic weather patterns, coastal erosion, and melting permafrost threaten the anthropogenic and ecological records found in northern environments. Archaeology is uniquely positioned to provide long-term perspectives on human responses to climatic shifts, and to inform on the current debate. In addition, the practice of archaeological research and assimilation of archaeological heritage into contemporary society can also address or even mitigate some of the sociocultural impacts of climate change. Focusing on the Yup’ik communities and critically endangered archaeology of the Yukon–Kuskokwim (Y–K) Delta, Alaska, here we argue community archaeology can provide new contexts for encountering and documenting the past, and through this, reinforce cultural engagement and shared cultural resilience. We emphasize the benefits of archaeological heritage and the practice of archaeology in mitigating some of the social and psychological impacts of global climate change for communities as well as individuals. We also propose that archaeology can have a role in reducing psychological distance of climate change, an acknowledged barrier that limits climate change action, mitigation, and adaptation, particularly in regions where the impacts of contemporary climate change have not yet been immediately felt.Le changement climatique est le plus grand défi auquel est aujourd’hui confrontée l’humanité, et ses effets – de la perte d’habitat aux impacts psychologiques – sont discutés dans la plupart des disciplines académiques. Le patrimoine archéologique des régions arctiques et subarctiques se trouve parmi les nombreuses victimes du changement climatique : le réchauffement global, les conditions météorologiques erratiques, l’érosion côtière et la fonte du pergélisol menacent, en effet, les archives anthropiques et écologiques que l’on trouve dans les environnements nordiques. Dans ce contexte, l’archéologie est particulièrement à même de fournir des perspectives à long terme sur les réponses anthropiques aux changements climatiques, et ainsi éclairer le débat actuel. De plus, les recherches archéologiques et l’intégration du patrimoine archéologique au sein de la société contemporaine peuvent permettre de répondre ou même d’atténuer certains enjeux socioculturels liés au changement climatique. En se focalisant sur les communautés yup’ik et le patrimoine archéologique hautement menacé du delta Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) en Alaska, nous soutenons ici que l’archéologie communautaire peut fournir de nouveaux contextes à la découverte et à la documentation du passé et, par conséquent, à renforcer l’engagement et la résilience culturelle. Nous soulignons les bienfaits que représentent le patrimoine archéologique et la pratique de l’archéologie afin de minimiser certains impacts sociaux et psychologiques du changement climatique mondial, autant pour les communautés que pour les individus. Nous suggérons également que l’archéologie joue un rôle dans la réduction de la distance psychologique liée au changement climatique, un obstacle reconnu comme limitant l’action et l’adaptation des individus et donc atténuant le changement climatique, en particulier dans les régions où ses effets ne se sont pas fait ressentir immédiatement

Re-imagining Periphery - Sketching out new fairways for researching the Iron Age North

Non peer reviewe

Kinguneq Ciunerkiurluku: Nunalget Elakengaliuryarait, Ayagyuat Ilagauciat, Paitait-llu Kuinerrami Alaska-mi

Kuinerrarmiut kinguvrita ayagniuskiit Tegganrita-llu cingumakiit Nunallermek Elakengaliuryaranek Caliarat [Nunalleq Archaeology Project] Yup’igni Alaska-rmiuni ayuqaitellruuq ayagniatni 2009-aami. Tuakenirnek nakmiin nunameggni caliamegteggun qulen allrakut cipluki elakengaliuryararluteng elakengengnaqellrianek, elakenganek yuvrilrianek, kangingnaurvigteggun qelkilrianek, 2018-aarnirnek-llu nunameggni elakengellmeng tamalkuita qellekviatnek.Elakengaliurtet Nutemllaat-llu Kinguvrita caliaritnek qanemcini Tegganret kinguvarturtet-llu arcaqaketuit. Tau͡gaam tamakut calillgutkuciat man’a engelkarrluku arcaqaqapigcaaqengraan Nunallermek caliaratnun, makuni eneqakaput ayagyuat anglillret Caliarat maliggluku, maa-i-llu elakengat tapeqluki paitaqsagutellruluki. Makuni igani qalarutkaput Nunallermek Elakengaliuryaranek Caliarata agtuumaciat nunalget paitaitnun, mumiggluku-llu nunalget ilagautellermegteggun elakengaliuryaranun agtuumaciat, atunem-llu yugnun paivtellerkiullrat. Qulen allrakut cipluki iluatni murilkelput umyuangcautekenqegcaarluki, qaillun-llu tamakucit nunalgutkellriit-llu calillguteksarait kinguvqaarni elluarcaryugngaciatnek.Initié par la communauté des descendants de Quinhagak et approuvé par les Aînés du village, le Projet Archéologique de Nunalleq était unique pour l’Alaska Yup’ik lorsqu’il a débuté en 2009. Depuis lors, ce projet communautaire intégré a fourni au village plus d’une décennie de présence archéologique sous la forme de fouilles, du traitement des découvertes, de travaux de conservation en laboratoire et, depuis 2018, un dépôt local abritant l’ensemble de la collection archéologique.Les récits de collaborations entre archéologues et communautés autochtones se concentrent souvent sur les Aînés et les détenteurs culturels. Cependant, bien que ces collaborateurs soient et continuent d’être inestimables pour le projet Nunalleq, nous tenons ici à remercier la génération de jeunes adultes qui ont grandi avec le projet et pour qui les découvertes archéologiques et les artefacts font désormais partie intégrante de leur patrimoine. Cet article explique comment le Projet Archéologique de Nunalleq en est venu à influencer le patrimoine local et comment l’engagement communautaire a à son tour façonné la pratique archéologique et le travail de sensibilisation co-conçu. Nous réfléchissons de manière constructive aux idées issues d’une décennie de pratique collaborative et nous nous demandons de manière critique comment de telles collaborations communautaires peuvent être renforcées à l’avenir.Initiated by the descendant community of Quinhagak and endorsed by village Elders, the Nunalleq Archaeology Project was unique for Yup’ik Alaska when it began in 2009. Since then, this embedded community project has provided the village with over a decade of archaeological presence in the form of excavations, finds processing, conservation lab work, and, since 2018, a local repository housing the entire archaeological collection.Accounts of collaborations between archaeologists and Indigenous communities often focus on Elders and cultural bearers. However, whilst these collaborators are, and continue to be, invaluable for the Nunalleq project, here we want to acknowledge the generation of young adults who have grown up with the Project, and to whom archaeological finds and artifacts are now an intrinsic part of their heritage. This paper discusses how the Nunalleq Archaeology Project has come to influence local heritage, and how community engagement has in turn shaped the archaeological practice and co-designed outreach work. We constructively reflect upon insights borne from a decade of collaborative practice and critically ask how such community collaborations may be strengthened for the future