Nuvuk site facts for kids

Nuvuk was once the northernmost village in North America, located at the very tip of Point Barrow, Alaska. The name comes from the Iñupiaq people, and it means "point" or "land sticking out into the sea." This name refers to both the land itself and the village that stood there.

Scientists have found proof that people lived at Point Barrow for more than 1,500 years before the first Europeans arrived. The village continued to be lived in until the 1940s. This area is a very important place for archaeologists (people who study ancient cultures). They have found many interesting things here, including artifacts from the Ipiutak and Thule cultures. They also found items from the Iñupiat people, both from before and after they met Europeans.

Exploring Ancient Nuvuk

First European Visitors

The first time non-Native people officially visited Nuvuk was in 1826. This was part of an expedition led by Captain Frederick Beechey of the British Royal Navy. His ship, HMS Blossom, couldn't get very close because of ice. However, a smaller boat from the Blossom, led by Thomas Elson and William Smyth, managed to reach Point Barrow and the village of Nuvuk.

By the early 1850s, the people of Nuvuk knew about other European and American ships. The next ship to actually reach Point Barrow was HMS Plover, commanded by Rochfort Maguire. The Plover stayed near Nuvuk for two winters, in 1852 and 1853. The villagers and the ship's crew spent a lot of time together, and Maguire wrote down many interesting facts about the community.

Studying the Past

The first major scientific trip to North Alaska was the US Army Signal Corps expedition in 1881, led by Lt. Patrick Henry Ray. They set up a station at Cape Smythe to collect weather and magnetic data. This expedition also gathered a huge collection of Iñupiat items from the people of Nuvuk and Utkiaġvik (which is now called Barrow). John Murdoch, a member of the expedition, wrote a detailed book about the Iñupiat culture and all the items they collected.

Later, Vilhjalmur Stefansson visited the Barrow area in 1912. He bought many artifacts that local people had dug up from places like Nuvuk and Birnirk.

James A. Ford started his archaeological work in North Alaska in 1931. He did some limited digging at Nuvuk in 1932.

In 1951, Wilbert Carter began three seasons of excavations at Piġniq (Birnirk) and Nuvuk. His team worked at Nuvuk, which was actually on an island at the time because the land connecting it to the mainland had broken. They had to stop when the ice melted too much, then they moved to Piġniq. Over these three seasons, they dug several trenches at Nuvuk. Much of what they found has not been fully published yet.

Nuvuk Archaeology Project

The Nuvuk Archaeology Project (NAP) began because many graves were being uncovered by erosion (when land is worn away by wind or water). The main goal of this project was to dig up a cemetery that was slowly disappearing due to erosion at Nuvuk.

More than 90 burials have been carefully excavated from the eroding land. These burials range in age from the Early to Late Western Thule cultures. Scientists believe that people started living here as early as 530–650 AD. The Iñupiat people living in Barrow today consider these ancient people their ancestors, and genetic tests support this idea.

Researchers also found the remains of two Ipiutak structures. This was the first time Ipiutak evidence was found north of Point Hope. These structures were located beneath the Thule and Iñupiaq layers, which were already known at Nuvuk. About a meter of clean gravel separated these older structures from the newer ones. This shows that the beach and sea level were much lower during Ipiutak times. One of the sites showed signs that a big storm surge might have ended the occupation there. This material dates back to 300–400 AD, which is an early date for Ipiutak culture. Sadly, both of these sites were completely eroded away within two months of being discovered.

Another interesting find was a whaling captain's work area, likely from the 1870s or 1880s. It had a mix of European-American and traditional whaling tools. This area was first seen in 2006 during work on the eroding coastline. It was completely gone within two years, and only parts of it could be dug up before then. This is the only such whaling work area on the North Slope that has been studied in detail.