Chaluka Site facts for kids
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Chaluka Site
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Seaside view of the site
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| Location | Address restricted , Umnak Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, United States |
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| Nearest city | Nikolski, Alaska |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000155 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHL | December 29, 1962 |
The Chaluka Site is a very old archaeological site in Nikolski, Alaska. It is located on Umnak Island in the Aleutian Islands of southwestern Alaska. This special place shows us how people lived there for more than 4,000 years! It's like a giant history book buried in the ground.
Scientists have learned a lot about the early Aleut people from this site. It helps us understand where they came from and how they lived long ago.
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Exploring the Chaluka Site
The most important part of the Chaluka Site is a huge mound called a midden. Think of a midden as a giant trash pile from ancient times. This one is about 700 feet (213 meters) long, 200 feet (61 meters) wide, and 21 feet (6.4 meters) deep! It's full of clues about the past.
What Was Found There?
Archaeologists have dug up over 4,000 different items from the Chaluka midden. These include many kinds of tools and weapons. They found sharp points for hunting, made from ivory, bone, and stone.
Some of the oldest things found at Chaluka date back to 1,800 BCE. That's over 3,800 years ago! This makes it one of the oldest known places where people lived in the Aleutian Islands.
Scientists also found human remains at the site. These remains are from people called Paleo-Aleut, who lived there a very long time ago. Other cool finds include stone lamps for light, stone knives, and even carved ivory statues of gods.
How We Learned About Chaluka
People first realized the Chaluka Site was important for history in 1909. The first big dig happened in 1938. The Smithsonian Institution helped with this work, and a scientist named Aleš Hrdlička led it.
Since then, many scientists have studied the site. A very important excavation happened in 1962. A team led by William S. Laughlin dug two large trenches. They carefully recorded each layer of the midden. This helped them understand how the site changed over thousands of years.
Why Chaluka Is Special
The Chaluka Site is truly unique because people lived there almost continuously for about 3,500 years! This is a very long time for a community to stay in one place.
The site also shows how these ancient people were very smart about getting their food. They had a precise system for hunting and gathering. This system helped them use natural resources without running out. They even used math to manage how many animals they hunted or fish they caught! This helped them keep the animal populations healthy.
Because of its amazing history, the Chaluka Site was named a National Historic Landmark in 1962. It was also added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. This means it's a very important place to protect and learn from.
