Koyukon Ethnographic Place-names

Fr. Jules Jetté Dictionary and Koyukon Language Database The TCC Archaeology Program is working in collaboration with Athabascan Linguistic James Kari, Ken Pratt of the BIA and David Kingma of the Jesuit Oregon Province Archives to build a usable format of Koyukon place-names based on the Fr. Jules Jetté’s handwritten dictionary that he completed during his missionary work in Alaska around 1910. …

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Tochak McGrath Discovery

In 2012, during construction of a conservation levee along the Kuskokwim River in the Native Village of McGrath, workers noticed a shallowly-buried human skull that had been revealed by earth-clearing activity. This discovery became known as the “Tochak McGrath Discovery.” Under the direction of the TCC Archaeology Program, a forensic research group determined that the find included three intact human skeletal remains and …

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Healy Lake

In 2005, TCC Archaeological Program began work at Healy Lake due to a land sale on a restricted Native allotment.  It was known that the Healy Lake area contained many existing archaeological sites from work that was conducted by Healy Lake Tribal members and academic researchers in the 1960s. Linda’s Point Linda’s Point is one of the sites discovered in the 1960s …

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Deadman Lake

Upper Tanana archaeology around Northway The late William “Bill” Sheppard was a field researcher who focused on Alaska Native traditional lands, in the Upper Tanana River Valley region near Tok, Tetlin, Northway and Tanacross.  His work in the 1990s and early 2000s focused on surveying and excavating Athabascan sites that existed before right before and after Russian-American colonization.  He collected extensive field …

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David Site

Upper Yukon River: A deep history in the Han traditional lands The David Site a major ongoing research project that has become the longest intensively occupied site in the Upper Yukon River floodplain. This research project began in the mid-1990s as a routine survey of a Native allotment, a few miles downstream of Eagle, at a large bedrock outcrop named Calico …

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Xaasaa Na’ – Upward Sun River Discovery

Will Mayo, Executive Director of Tribal Government and Client Development,  Jerry Isaac, former TCC President, and Bob Sattler, TCC Archaeologist,  participated with University personnel, press, and other contributors held an audioconference on November 10th regarding the Upward Sun River Discovery.   Xaasaa Na’  (the Upward Sun River Discovery) is a recent discovery, in routes between Fairbanks and Delta Junction, which includes the remains of …

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Upward Sun River Site Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently asked questions related to the science and heritage of ancient human remains in Interior Alaska Prepared by Dr. Ben Potter (University of Alaska Fairbanks) and Robert Sattler (Tanana Chiefs Conference) Media contacts:Tanana Chiefs Conference (www.tananachiefs.org)Marmian Grimes, University of Alaska FairbanksPeter West, National Science Foundation Science of the Xaasaa Na’ site (Upward Sun River site) Q: What was found at …

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