Page 88 - HISTORY ANGKOR

FISHERMEN’S In Quinhagak, the modern Yup’ik village just bows and arrows in Switzerland to hiking staffs
FRIENDS four miles from Nunalleq, changes brought by from the Viking age in Norway and lavishly ap-

Resembling their the weird weather are a common topic of con- pointed tombs of Scythian nomads in Siberia.
modern equivalents versation. “Twenty years ago the elders began to So many sites are in danger that archaeologists
used to fish today, say the ground was sinking,” says Warren Jones, are beginning to specialize in the rescue of once
ivory fishing lures
(above) were among president of Qanirtuuq, the Yup’ik corporation frozen artifacts.
the centuries-old that owns and manages the community’s prop- In coastal Alaska archaeological sites are now
artifacts found at the erty. “The past 10 years or so it’s been so bad threatened by a one-two punch. The first blow:
Nunalleq site. everybody’s noticed. We’re boating in Febru- average temperatures that have risen more than
ERIKA LARSEN/NG IMAGE COLLECTION ary. That’s supposed to be the coldest month three degrees Fahrenheit in the past half cen-

of the year.” tury. As one balmy day follows another, the per-
The Arctic wasn’t always like this, but global mafrost is thawing almost everywhere. When
climate change is now hammering Earth’s polar archaeologists began digging at Nunalleq in
regions. The result is a disastrous loss of artifacts 2009, they hit frozen soil about 18 inches be-
from little-known prehistoric cultures—like low the surface of the tundra. Today the ground
the one at Nunalleq—all along Alaska’s shores is thawed three feet down. That means master-
and beyond. A massive thaw is exposing trac- fully carved artifacts of caribou antler, driftwood,
es of past peoples and civilizations across the bone, and walrus ivory are emerging from the

northern regions of the globe—from Neolithic deep freeze that has preserved them in perfect
condition. If not rescued, they immediately be-
gin to deteriorate.
A MASSIVE THAW IS EXPOSING TRACES OF PAST The knockout blow: rising seas. Since 1900

CIVILIZATIONS. SO MANY SITES ARE IN DANGER the global level of oceans has risen about eight
inches, a figure that experts believe will continue
THAT ARCHAEOLOGISTS ARE SPECIALIZING IN THE to increase. It’s a direct threat to coastal sites

RESCUE OF ONCE FROZEN ARTIFACTS. such as Nunalleq, which is doubly vulnerable to

86 MARCH/APRIL 2022