News
Archaeology Month event Mission 49 Launch Party
M49 Journey to Alaska’s Past Launch Party
(See details M49-invitation)
Mission 49 is a scavenger hunt phone app encouraging kids to move to play and learn about stewardship, sustainability, and Alaska Native Cultures.
First Friday, April 6
Alaska State Museum
3:45 pm to 7:00 pm
The Hidden and The Obvious, Two Different Styles of Kodiak Petroglyphs (the Alutiiq Museum)
An archaeology month from the Alutiiq Museum
Patrick Saltonstall, Curator of Archaeology
Thursday, April 26, 2018, 7:oo pm
Alutiiq Museum, Kodiak
$5 suggested donation
Tribal Climate Science Liaison (The Southwest Climate Science Center in Tucson, AZ)
Research Architectural Historians (Northern Land Use Research Alaska, LLC)
NLURA is seeking applicants to develop a qualified applicant pool of Research Architectural Historians for work in Alaska. Individuals interested in working for NLURA in 2018 will be selected from this pool. The Research Architectural Historian performs a wide range of project-based research tasks in architecture, historic preservation, and cultural resources management. The nature of the work involves, but is not limited to, Section 106, 36 CFR part 800 – Protection of Historic Properties, Cultural Resource Management principals, and practices.
Applicants approved for the qualified applicant pool must have a strong familiarity with the National Register of Historic Places criteria and a working knowledge of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Applicants must meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards for architectural history which requires either a Master’s Degree in architectural history, historic preservation, or a closely related field, with coursework in American architectural history; or a Bachelor’s degree in architectural history, art history, historic preservation, or a closely related field and including coursework in American architectural history, and five years of full time experience in research and writing concentrating on historic preservation and/or architectural history. Preferred experience includes knowledge of Section 106 and state and local register criteria and statuses and experience in landscape history and architecture and/or culture landscape experience.
Successful applicants will have a strong knowledge of architectural history and styles in the United States and the ability to describe them in clear, narrative prose, and experience working with survey and inventory methods of recordation and evaluation. Positions in the qualified applicant pool are seasonal and work is on-call as needed. Acceptance into the qualified applicant pool is not a guarantee of a job offer or a guarantee of hours in 2018. A letter of interest and resume/CV can be sent to Human Resources at hr[at]hrassoc.com.
For more information regarding this position, and to apply online, please visit our website: https://www.northernlanduse.com/about/employment/
Seasonal Archaeological Technicians Positions, (Northern Land Use Research Alaska, LLC)
NLURA is seeking applicants to develop a qualified applicant pool of Archaeological Technicians for work in 2018. Individuals interested in working for NLURA in 2018 will be selected only from this pool. The Archaeological Technician – Seasonal performs archaeological field work, lab work, or related office work under the direction and supervision of a NLURA Archaeologist. Applicants approved for the pool must have (at minimum) a Bachelor’s degree in Archaeology or Anthropology. Preferred applicants will have experience working in the field, conducting analysis of research data, and contributing to research reports. Required skills include the ability to effectively conduct research activities, conduct appropriate aspects of fieldwork using appropriate field techniques, develop and maintain positive relationships, the ability to balance work schedules and demands, provide and receive feedback, seek to resolve conflict through communication and collaboration, and use effective verbal and written communication to listen and communicate effectively. Applicants must be proficient in the use of computer programs and database systems and have familiarity with the operations and use of cameras, GPS, and GIS equipment and software. Candidates should assume that most of their working hours will be spent in the field. Position will be open until close of business Wednesday, February 28, 2018. Positions are seasonal, and work is on-call, as needed.
Acceptance into the qualified applicant pool is not a guarantee of a job offer or a guarantee of hours in 2018. Please submit your application materials using the form below. A letter of interest and resume/CV can also be sent to Human Resources at hr[at]hrassoc.com.
For more information regarding this position, and to apply online, please visit our website: https://www.northernlanduse.com/about/employment/
Invitation to the “Anthropology of Alaska, Two Minutes at a Time”
Just a reminder that we are now just over two months away from this years’ aaa’s, and hopefully, from the SIXTH ANNUAL “Anthropology of Alaska, Two Minutes at a Time.” We have had a great series of talks the last few years, and I hope the tradition can continue. The event will be sometime Wednesday night, 3/21, during the opening reception.
If you are getting this email, it means you have done a two-minute paper in the past (or maybe I’m just hoping you’ll do one or know someone who might!), so I thought I would try and convince you to submit something this year. And of course feel free to forward this around so we can get more papers. You do not need to submit an official abstract for this session, just confirm with me.
So, please email me and let me know if you’d be interested in doing a quick paper on a cool artifact you found, a hilarious fieldwork story, or a teaser for a formal paper you’re doing. All I need right now is your name, and if you want, the general title or topic of your paper. If you’ve already emailed me this year, then you’re good to go!
If you are going to do a two minute paper (and I hope you are!), I need your slides by COB March 15th at the latest. Remember, the presentations go fast, so I need to compile them all into one huge powerpoint presentation so we can move quickly from one to the other.
Let me know if you have any questions, and I’ll see you in Anchorage!
Jenny H. Blanchard
Archaeologist
BLM Anchorage Field Office
4700 BLM Road
Anchorage, AK 99507
(907) 267-1341 (phone)
(907) 267-1267 (fax)
ACZ Processing Workshop
Knik Series Launches Feb 1 “Explore the Pacific World with Pacific Pathfinder,” by Sven Haakanson
The Knik Spring Series launches this Thursday (February 1) at Chugiak High School at 6pm.
6pm: Public Engagement Session, Pacific Pathfinders
Chat with MacArthur Genius Award recipient, Dr. Sven Haakanson, check out kayak displays, meet flocal historical societies, enjoy an array of refreshments prepared by Michele Miller, and watch the film, The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific, which looks at how the ancient Polynesians settled the vast Pacific Ocean.
7pm: Featured Presentation, Retracing Kayak Sea Routes From 1871
Evening schedule opens with a lively performance by the student-led Polynesian dance group Pacific Bloom. Then, journey along with Sven Haakanson as he retraces the sea routes of the French explorer Alphonse Pinart and the four Unangan men assisting his travels from Unalaska to Kodiak Island in 1871.
Please Note ATTENDING ALASKA STUDIES TEACHERS CAN RECEIVE PROFESSION DEVELOPMENT CREDIT. Events are free, open to the community, and family friendly.
Bios
Pacific Bloom is a dance group partnering with Mo’a Tosi AK Pride program. Its mission is to provide a positive environment for youth, to empower them through dance and history, and unite the Anchorage community one person at a time.
Sven Haakanson is a modern-day Pacific pathfinder and major force behind the revitalization of indigenous culture in Alaska and beyond. He is the former Executive Director of the Alutiiq Museum and received the MacArthur Genius Award in 2007. Currently, Sven is the Curator for North American Anthropology at the Burke Museum and Associate Professor at the University of Washington.
The Knik Lecture Series is a collaboration between University of Alaska Anchorage, the Anchorage School District and Tundra Vision: Public History Consultants. Our aim is to bring Knik Arm communities together through history.
For program details, please contact Dr. Katie Ringsmuth at 830-2251, or visit Tundra Vision on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TundraVision/
Archaeologist Open-rank Professor Specializing in the Western Coastal United States (The University of California, Santa Barbara, Department of Anthropology, Sociocultural Anthropology, Archaeology and Bioarchaeology Unit)
http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/news/announcement/612
Extended the date for primary consideration to Feb 28 but will consider applications through March 31st, 2018.
Material Traditions Artists’ Residency: Moosehide Tanning and Sewing in the Dene Way
Older generations of Athabascan peoples hand-tanned moose hides using time-tested methods that transformed raw skins into strong, supple leather for sewing beaded or quill-embroidered tunics, jackets, mittens, bags and moccasins, as well as everyday essentials from skin toboggans to dog harnesses. Traditional moosehide tanning is time consuming, labor intensive and technically complex, and has widely declined in recent generations.
Two artists working to revitalize this important Athabascan practice – Joel Isaak (Dena’ina) and Melissa Shaginoff (Ahtna) – are gaining knowledge from elders, experimenting with techniques, reading historic publications and studying museum collections.
Joel and Melissa will discuss moosehide tanning techniques – documented in the field – and demonstrate sewing techniques during a December residency at the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center, located in the Anchorage Museum. The public is welcome to meet the artists during visitor hours on Thursday December 14th and Friday December 15th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (included with admission).
This program is sponsored by The CIRI Foundation, Smithsonian Council for Arctic Studies, Anchorage Museum, Alaska State Council on the Arts and First National Bank of Alaska.
(Photo: Gwich’in Athabascan mitten, collected 1928, National Museum of the American Indian collection)