Diane Hanson, assistant professor of anthropology, shares research via social media

Dr. Diane Hanson, assistant professor of anthropology at UAA, is leading a small team this summer that is working to excavate an upland site on Adak Island in the Aleutian Islands.

The crew of the Central Aleutians Upland Archaeological Project is made up of UAA undergraduate and graduate students, two students from Vassar College, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service volunteers and a tephrachronologist from Japan. They're currently in the field and will return to campus with their findings in mid-August.

Dr. Hanson explained that the traditional view is that archaeological sites were concentrated along the island's shoreline and there was no need to build sites upland. Since 2007, her team of researchers has been surveying a portion of Adak Island and has nearly doubled the number of upland sites with cultural depressions recorded for the entire Aleutian Islands archipelago.

"Last year, we excavated a test trench in one of the depressions, which we assume is from a collapsed house, and found the feature more complicated than we originally thought." She estimates that the house was occupied about 1,600 and 2,500 years ago, and appears to have had multiple floors. "After the house was abandoned, there was a very heavy volcanic ashfall that covered the house, and the depression wasn't occupied again until about 300 years ago when somebody put a fire pit or hearth there."

This summer, the group is excavating a complete depression upland site on the west side of the island that has 22 cultural depressions to try and determine why people were building upland and what the site was used for. They'll analyze artifacts, chemicals in the surrounding soil and isotopes from surface vegetation to find out what kinds of activities took place within these houses.

Stay up-to-date with the group's latest findings on their Facebook page.