Frontier Scientists

Cape Alitak Petroglyphs

[ video ] This Sod House
[ video ] They Hunt Whales With Poison Spears
[ video ] Storms of Cape Alitak
[ video ] What’s in this Midden?
[ video ] Going For Charcoal
[ video ] Jewelry Alutiiq Style
[ video ] Petroglyphs of Cape Alitak

The Cape Alitak Petroglyphs are a series of short videos which explore Alutiiq heritage through a study of Kodiak Island rock art and archaeology.

For thousands of years, Alutiiq people lived in sod houses and hunted sea mammals, relying on special technologies, ancestral knowledge, and spiritual assistance to care for their families.   The Cape Alitak petroglyphs are one of the only written records of their way of life.  Pecked into Kodiak’s granite bedrock, images of people and animals preserve customs from the Alutiiq past.  Museum scientists explain this amazing history in seven short films.  We learn about the remarkable environment that surrounds Cape Alitak while hearing the stories its sites reveal.

Produced with support from the National Park Service Shared Beringian Heritage Program and a Tribal Historic Preservation grant, the videos document recent archaeological research on Kodiak rock art. Collaboratively, the Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository www.alutiiqmuseum.org and the video production company WonderVisions www.wondervisions.com tell these stories.

See another project highlighting Alaska-area Native culture: Alutiiq Weavers.
For upcoming archaeology-related content, check out Raven Bluff. Want more archaeology? Try our project on uncovering a Paleo-Eskimo Camp.