Archaeologists Recover 3,000-year-old Weavings from Ancestral Alutiiq Settlement

Alaska Native News ^ | August 26, 2023 | Alutiiq Museum

[SunkenCiv]

Archaeologists with the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository have uncovered fragments of woven grass artifacts estimated to be 3,000 years old. The rare finds were made on August 18, 2023, during excavations of an ancestral sod house on the shore of Karluk Lake, Kodiak Island, Alaska sponsored by Koniag. The fragments, which appear to be pieces of mats, are the oldest well-documented examples of Kodiak Alutiiq/Sugpiaq weaving. A unique set of circumstances preserved them. Alutiiq Museum Curator of Archaeology Patrick Saltonstall explained.

"We were excavating a sod house beside Karluk Lake as part of a broader study to understand how Alutiiq people used Kodiak's interior," said Saltonstall. "When we reached the floor, we discovered that the house had burned and collapsed. The walls of the structure, which were lined with wood, fell into the building and covered a portion of the floor. This sealed the floor quickly and limited burning. As we removed the remains of the walls, we were surprised and excited to find fragments of charred weaving. It looks like the house had grass mats on the floor. The pieces covered about a two-meter area at the back of the house, perhaps in an area for sleeping."

Weaving is a long-practiced Alutiiq art, but one that is difficult to document archaeologically as fiber artifacts are fragile and rarely preserved. The Alutiiq Museum’s extensive archaeological collections contain grass and spruce root baskets that are as much as 600 years old, but nothing older. The house that produced the weavings was radiocarbon dated to about 3,000 years old. The style of the structure and artifacts found in association with it support this determination.

[SunkenCiv]

Fragments of a ca. 3,000-year-old woven grass mat recovered from an ancestral Alutiiq house beside Karluk Lake.

Alutiiq Museum

[SunkenCiv]

[KingLudd]

This is an amazing artifact.

[SunkenCiv]

I wholeheartedly agree.

• Rare Textiles, Basketry and Cordage Discovered at Submerged Neolithic Settlement [06/08/2023]
• Nazca Desert Mystery [11/27/2022]
• The Basket Age [10/21/2019]
• The Bible Described it as the Perfect, Pure Blue..for 2,000 Yrs, Everyone Forgot What it Looked Like [09/19/2018]
• Oldest textile dyed indigo blue found [6200 yrs] [09/14/2016]
• Prehistoric mat reveals ancient Chinese weaving techniques [01/16/2016]
• Carbon dating identifies South America's oldest textiles [04/21/2011]
• Is the Turin Shroud genuine after all? From beyond the grave, a startling new claim [04/10/2009]
• Greek Archaeologists Discover Rare Example Of 2,700-Year-Old Weaving [05/09/2007]
• Forensic Photography Brings Color Back To Ancient Textiles [02/08/2007]
• A Weaver's View of the Çatal Hüyük Controversy [08/25/2006]
• Ancient Moabite Fort Provides Insight Into History Of Weaving [05/20/2004]

[lee martell]

Euell Gibbons once asked his TV fans: “You ever eat an Alutiiq Mat? Certain grass fibers in these mats ARE edible!”

[Jamestown1630]

Our long-past ancestors survived and progressed by making and using ‘stuff’ like this fragment represents.

[BenLurkin]

Very cool.

[SunkenCiv]

;^)

[MV=PY]

Agreed!

(First generation Covid masks?)

;)

[EvilCapitalist]

3000 years old? Must be the work of Helen Thomas.

[Fai Mao]

And the guy that wove it still votes for the democrat at least twice in every presidential election.