RAPID: Salvage and Processing of Samples from Utqiagvik, Barrow, Alaska

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The site of Utqiaġvik is the source from which the modern community of Barrow developed. It has been subject to archaeological investigations at several periods (Ford 1959:67-73, Hall 1990:8-30), culminating in the multi-year Utkiavik Project (Dekin 1990, Hall and Fullerton 1990. Despite this extensive excavation history, there are only nine C14 dates from the entire site. A number of archaeological samples that had been retained at Binghamton University, Dekin's home institution, when the main collection was returned to the North Slope Borough have recently been rediscovered. Binghamton wishes to return these samples to NSB or dispose of them. Currently, the Inupiat Heritage Center (IHC) Artifact Storage Facility in Barrow, where the original artifacts are stored and the natural repository of this previously unknown sample collection, does not have enough storage space to accept and properly store the discovered samples. This RAPID project will provide the funds to purchase a freezer for segregated storage of the samples that need to remain frozen until processed. The samples include organic items, bulk samples of indeterminate nature that may contain artifacts, and items retained as C14 samples, included logs and grass. In addition, the project will include the processing and analysis of organic samples and the preparation and proper curation of any artifacts that may be found in the bulk samples.