Scots archaeologists to uncover Eskimo village

THE Scottish-led race to save one of the world’s best preserved examples of a lost society – the “melting village” of Alaska – has been boosted by a £1 million research grant.

Aberdeen Universitys Dr Charlotta Hillerdal with a mask dug up from the lost Alaskan village. Picture: Contributed

Archaeologists from Aberdeen University have been battling since 2009 to help preserve the precious artefacts contained at the site of a 700 year-old Eskimo village in western Alaska which is now in danger of being washed into the sea.

They were first called in five years ago to carry out a rescue dig after the frozen coastline began to be washed away as a result of global warming.

The dig is revealing artefacts that have never been seen before as well as providing clues to how past societies in the remote area dealt with climate change and how global warming could affect mankind in the future.

The team has now been awarded a grant of £1.1 million from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to finance the dig for another four years, fund local archaeological education initiatives and a survey to find more threatened sites.

Dr Rick Knecht, the project leader, said: “The first thing we found was a complete wooden doll with the original paint still on it. It’s quite incredible – leather, fur, plants, even 400-year-old grass that has been completely preserved intact because they’ve been frozen all this time.”

Discoveries at the site already number tens of thousands and include ceremonial face masks and an ivory carving of a legendary river monster.

The artefacts have been taken to the University of Aberdeen for preservation and archiving but will be returned to Alaska.

The “lost village” is believed to have been inhabited between 1300 and 1650, during the “Little Ice Age” – a period of rapid global climate change.