460-Year-Old Hunting Bow Discovered Underwater in Alaska’s Lake Clark National Park
National Park Service employees made an unlikely discovery in the backcountry of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska this past September: a 54-inch wooden hunting bow that was found under 2 feet of water, but still intact.
NPS archaeologist Jason Rogers and Alaska State archaeologist Rich VanderHoek carefully inspect the bow.
Scientists and archaeologists are analyzing the hunting bow in an attempt to learn more about its origin and history. According to radiocarbon dating conducted by the NPS, the bow is estimated to be 460 years old, ranging in origin between 1506 and 1660. The real mystery lies not in how old the bow is, but where it came from.
Park officials found the antique weapon on Dena’ina lands, an Athabascan indigenous people whose ancestral lands cover much of South-Central Alaska, including a large portion of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.
However, preliminary research suggests that the handcrafted bow might not be of Dena’ina origin. After consulting with Elders and comparing the bow with similar artefacts from that time period, experts believe the artefact has more in common with a Yup’ik or Alutiq style bow.
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve are located on Dena’ina lands in south-central Alaska.
The homeland of the Dena’ina, which comprises roughly 41,000 square miles along the coast of the Cook Inlet, is called the Denaʼina Ełnena, and it includes lands where present-day Anchorage is located. Dena’ina lands also cover much of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, including the lake itself, which is traditionally known as “Qizhjeh Vena”.
The Dena’ina culture, which prioritizes a connection to nature and respect for the wilderness, has a rich history in the Athabascan region.
“We call this ‘K’etniyi’ meaning ‘it’s saying something,” writes Karen Evanhoff, a cultural anthropologist for Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.
Anthropologists have also learned that the Dena’ina regularly interacted with indigenous peoples from neighbouring regions, including the Yup’ik who live in the coastal region of southwestern Alaska, from Bristol Bay along the Bering coast and up to Norton Sound.
This intercultural history would help explain how a Yup’ik bow might end up on Dena’ina homelands in the first place.
“For the Dena’ina people, trading and sharing knowledge with their Yup’ik neighbours as well as other groups such as the Tanana, Tlingit, Ahtna, Deg Hit’an and coastal residents of Prince William Sound and Kodiak was common,” the NPS explains.
Experts are still working to piece together the clues, however, and the cultural history of the bow is just one part of the puzzle.
Dr. Priscilla Morris takes a closer look at the bow with a hand lens.
Soon after it was discovered, the bow was transported to the Park Service’s Regional Curatorial Center in Anchorage, where experts have inspected the artefact and analyzed its natural origins. As part of this analysis, the NPS brought in Dr. Priscilla Morris, a wood identification consultant with the U.S. Forest Service.
“After inspecting the artefact, I am leaning towards spruce,” Morris told the NPS after taking a closer look at the bow. “Birch is also a suspected species, but I did not see any anatomical characteristics that lead me to believe birch over spruce.”
Morris explained that her hypothesis was based solely on what she could see underneath a hand lens and that a concrete identification would require looking at a cut-up sample underneath a microscope.
This is unlikely to happen anytime soon, however, as the NPS wants to preserve the bow and keep it intact for the time being. As NPS archaeologist Jason Rogers explained, these discoveries are rare in Alaska, especially when compared to Europe and other more developed parts of the world.
“In Alaska, we just don’t have that kind of development so it’s very rare,” Rogers told the local news earlier this week. “It’s very rare for us to come across material like this.”
Carved stone pillar found on B.C. beach identified as an Indigenous artifact
A carved stone pillar found at low tide on a beach in Victoria last summer is an Indigenous cultural treasure, the Royal B.C. Museum has confirmed.
The stone could be the same one mentioned by Lekwungen elders to German-American anthropologist Franz Boas in the late 1800s.
The museum is working with the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations to determine the most suitable home for the pillar carved with the features of a face, Songhees Chief Ron Sam said in an interview on Wednesday.
Over the years, many artefacts have been unearthed in the area, he said, but nothing has matched the 100-kilogram stone pillar.
“I can’t wait to find out more information from our elders,” said Sam, noting interactions with elders are limited now because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said Songhees and Esquimalt elders will guide the decision-making around whether and how the stone pillar may be displayed publicly.
A local resident, Bernhard Spalteholz, received a tip about the carved stone found along the beach below Victoria’s Beacon Hill Park last July and shared photos with the museum, said the museum’s archaeology curator Grant Keddie.
“I right away realized, my gosh, this is exciting,” Keddie said of the find.
Spalteholz did the right thing by contacting the museum to ensure it would be properly cared for, said both Keddie and Sam.
A local resident, Bernhard Spalteholz, received a tip about the carved stone found along the beach below Victoria’s Beacon Hill Park last July and shared photos with the museum, said the museum’s archaeology curator Grant Keddie.
Pillar may have stood at the edge of a cliff
Conservationists worked to protect the integrity of the stone, which was covered in algae after being submerged in seawater, said Keddie.
He speculates the pillar once stood near the edge of a cliff above the beach where it was found until parts of the cliff came down in a landslide.
“I think possibly some storm had turned [the stone] up,” he said. “It may have been buried further out to sea covered with seaweed and maybe only in recent years was shifted up onto this beach and then exposed.”
Radiocarbon dating is effective only on organic items such as bone and wood, but written and oral histories can provide insight into the stone’s significance, said Keddie.
It’s very likely a special stone that was used in rituals and ceremonies, he said, explaining that Coast Salish peoples had “weather specialists.”
They were believed to have “special powers to draw the salmon in when they were late, or you could undertake rituals [with] certain stones to change the weather to make it good for fishing, to make it worse for your enemies,” he said.
The stone could be the same one mentioned by Lekwungen elders to German-American anthropologist Franz Boas in the late 1800s, said Keddie.
“Indigenous elders told this very brief little one-liner about these stone figures down near Finlayson Point, right where this thing was found.”
The location of the discovery matches Boas’ description of that figure as being “not far” from the military gun batteries once found nearby, he said.
“I always wonder, are there more of them out there?” Keddie added.
Ancient Coast Salish war club discovered in Vancouver Island man’s backyard
Mark Lake found a little piece of history in his backyard while cleaning up after a storm last April.
Mark Lake found the Indigenous artefact on his property while cleaning up after a storm, and brought it to the K’omoks First Nation.
Lake, of Gartley Point near the seaside village of Royston in Vancouver Island, came across an interesting piece of wood sticking out from under his maple tree — which turned out to be an ancient Coast Salish war club.
After friends saw pictures of it, they directed Lake to the K’omoks First Nation.
Chief Nicole Rempel of the K’omoks First Nation says it was pretty exciting.
“I’ve worked with various people repatriating artefacts since 2013 for our nation and I hadn’t seen a piece like this, completely intact,” she said.
From left, Mark Lake, Chief Nicole Rempel and Mark’s wife Katie Lake. Rempel says the K’omoks First Nation is working with an archaeologist to learn more about the club, which she’s holding in this photo.
Rempel says the club is quite significant to the nation’s culture and that it’s always exciting when something can be returned to its “rightful place.”
“It helps us understand more about our ancestors in the way that we live, the tools that we created,” she said.
Mark and Katie Lake with Chief Nicole Rempel (right). Rempel says the artefact will help the K’omoks First Nation better understand its ancestors and history.
“It truly must have been a labour of love to have made something so intricate, and with so little tools, back in those times, so it really gives us a bit more information about who we were, who our ancestors were in the past,” she said.
Lake says he’s just as excited about returning the artefact and learning more about it from the nation.
“They’ve been very open with exchanging any information they have gleaned on it as to its history and where it may have come from and so that’s reward enough for us and we really enjoyed being part of the process,” he said on CBC’s All Points West.
Rempel says they are working with an archaeologist to determine more about the artefact.
“We can do some geotechnical testing on the club, or geochemistry, which would figure out what kind of stone it was made of and what region it came from or whether it was traded,” she said.
Rempel says what Lake did was commendable, as many people who find things like this don’t always bring them forward.
“I just really encourage everyone that finds an artefact or ancestral remains for that matter to reach out to the local Indigenous communities because it’s really just building our database of knowledge and identifying who we are and who we were,” she said.
Archaeologists stunned by ancient ‘death mask’ found in Mexican temple
Palenque is set amid lush forest and dense foliage in a slice of southern Mexico. It is not the largest Mayan city by any stretch, but it has been described as one of the most stunning. Its architecture and the accompanying carvings and sculptures are some of the finest surviving pieces of Mayan history, in a region where the civilisation once thrived.
Compared to other Maya settlements in Mexico, Palenque was technically advanced.
A sophisticated aqua-duct system provided its inhabitants with abundant spring water — just one of the many perks of living there.
In the seventh century AD, the city was ruled by the powerful king, Pacal the Great.
He had one of the longest reigns of any Maya monarch, taking the throne in 615 at the age of just 12, and ruled until his death aged 80.
Archaeology: Researchers were stunned on finding the ancient ‘death mask’
Maya: The Maya were an ancient civilisation that resided in Mexico
While in power he oversaw the construction of some of Palenque’s jaw-dropping sacred sites like the huge Central Palace.
Perhaps most importantly, he commissioned the construction of the now-iconic Temple of the Inscriptions.
The temple and the work archaeologists have carried out in and around it was explored during the Smithsonian Channel’s documentary, ‘Sacred sites: Maya’.
In the mid-20th century, researchers discovered a relic that would give a “new insight” into what the Maya believed about the afterlife, according to the documentary’s narrator.
Palenque: While not the largest, Palenque is one of the best-preserved Maya cities
Excavating the temple floor, they uncovered a passage to a chamber deep within the pyramid.
It contained a sarcophagus covered by a stone lid — inside, lay the remains of an elite Mayan wearing a Jade “death mask”.
Hieroglyphs on the sarcophagus soon confirmed that the remains belonged to King Pacal, much to the surprise of the researchers.
This is because it meant that the temple housed the tomb of the great king himself. The narrator noted that while it is a place of burial, it is also “intended as a place of resurrection.”
Ancient history: Perfectly preserved carvings adorn many of the city’s walls and buildings
Pacal the Great: One of the Maya’s great kings left behind his intricately designed death mask
On the sarcophagus lid, the images illustrate a central Mayan belief that the Universe is made up of three levels: the Earth, the underworld and the heavens. Leaving this world, Pascal emerges from the underworld and is reborn into eternal life in the heavens in the engravings.
The narrator said: “This is the essence of Mayan religion.”
Later on, in 2018, archaeologists made yet another groundbreaking discovery at the site when they came across an ancient stucco mask unlike any other, thought to have been cast from Pacal’s face.
Unlike other artefacts found, however, it showed the king in old age, his wrinkles and other facial details clearly visible.
The 20-centimetre (7.8 inch) mask was found by a team with the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) during an investigation of the temple’s ancient drainage system.
Diego Prieto, director of the institute, said: “Palenque continues to astonish us with everything it has to offer archaeological, anthropological, and historical research.”
Ancient tomb: Pacal’s tomb was found deep inside a chamber within the temple
Ceramic figures were also found alongside the mask, as well as decorated bones and the remains of several animals.
Experts believe these were most likely offerings made for the completion of the building’s reconstruction. Palenque eventually perished in the eight century AD, and became consumed by the jungle of cedar, mahogany, and sapodilla trees.
157-year-old Civil War Shell Discovered Intact in Georgia
A group of archaeologists poking around in the dirt at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield in Georgia stumbled upon an intact Civil War bomb, according to the Southeast Archeological Center.
A team of archaeologists working at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park in Georgia found a 10-pound Parrott shell from the Civil War buried in the dirt.
The bomb was deemed still viable, and the Cobb County Police Department Bomb Squad was summoned to the site, just west of Marietta.
“After examination and review, the Civil War-era explosive was moved to the bunker for storage until the bomb squad can counter charge the cannon shell,” the Cobb County Police Department wrote in a Feb. 28 Facebook post.
“This 157-year-old parrot shell was discovered 10 inches below the surface and was used extensively in the Civil War by the Union Army.”
During an archaeological survey at the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield archeologists discovered an unexploded ordnance (UXO). Our Bomb Squad was notified and Bomb Technicians Sgt Duncan and Detective Mathis arrived on scene. They finished carefully digging it out of the battlefield. After examination and review the civil war era explosive was moved to the bunker for storage until the bomb squad can counter charge the cannon shell. This 157 year old parrot shell was discovered 10 inches below the surface and was used extensively in the Civil War by the Union Army.
The fighting was part of the Atlanta Campaign, during which “more than 67,000 soldiers were killed, wounded and captured,” Explore Georgia says. The Southeastern Archaeology Center reports the bomb was found last week as a team did “a metal detecting survey for a new hiking trail.”
“There is an old ‘truism’ in archaeology — the most exciting find is almost always on the last day. And this project was no exception,” the centre wrote on March 3 on Facebook.
“This shell had a percussion fuse that did not ignite when it hit the ground.” Many commenters on social media called for the bomb to be preserved. But the safest approach is a controlled detonation, Cobb County officials wrote.
“The bomb squad stated that they would love nothing more than to preserve this piece of history, however, there is no way to safely render it without counter charging it,” police said.
“They try to use the smallest charge appropriate. This charge is very small and will perforate the case. Unfortunately, even a small amount of live explosives can set the whole shell off.”
Chinese explorers discovered America before Columbus?
History may be rewritten as new evidence suggests ancient Chinese explorers landed on the New World around 2,500 years before Christopher Columbus, contrary to popular belief that the Italian seafarer ‘discovered’ America.
History may be rewritten as new evidence suggests ancient Chinese explorers landed on the New World around 2,500 years before Christopher Columbus, contrary to popular belief that the Italian seafarer ‘discovered’ America.
John Ruskamp, a research doctorate in Education Illinois, claims to have spotted petroglyphs or carvings high above a walking path in Albuquerque’s Petroglyph National Monument in the US state of New Mexico.
The carvings, a series of inscriptions with Asian characters, struck him as unusual.
“After consulting with experts on Native American rock and ancient Chinese writing scripts to corroborate his analysis, I’ve concluded that preserved by the readable message was likely these petroglyphs inscribed by a group of Chinese explorers thousands of years ago,” Ruskamp was quoted as saying by the New York-based Epoch Times.
Spanish daily ABC reported on Friday the carvings could reveal that the Chinese stepped on that region before the sailors who came in known caravels.
Ruskamp’s thesis enabled him to write a book and make good money and now, the author claims to have deciphered inscriptions that corroborate his new theory, it said.
To date, over 82 Ruskamp-identified petroglyphs have matching unique ancient Chinese scripts not only at multiple sites in Albuquerque, but also nearby in Arizona, as well as in Utah, Nevada, California, Oklahoma, and Ontario.
“Collectively, I believe that most of these artefacts were created by an early Chinese exploratory expedition” though it appears that some reproductions were made by native people for their own purposes, he said.
One ancient message, cartouche or carved tablet preserved by three Arizona petroglyphs, translates as: “Set apart (for) 10 years together; declaring (to) return, (the) journey completed, (to the) house of the Sun; (The) journey completed together.”
At the end of this text is an unidentified character that might be the author’s signature, the report said.
Ruskamp said the mixed styles of Chinese scripts found in the petroglyphs indicate that they were made during a transitional period of writing in China, not long after 1046 BC – hundreds of years before Columbus arrived at the New World in 1492.
It is difficult to physically date petroglyphs with absolute certainty, notes Ruskamp.
Yet the syntax and mix of Chinese scripts found at two locations in original correspond to what experts would expect to use explorers from China some 2,500 years ago.
Archaeologists have hauled up 12 more Revolutionary War-era cannons from the Savannah River, a remarkable find that raises questions about which vessels carried them and precisely how they ended up in the water. The local district of the US Army Corps of Engineers, which is in charge of the deepening of the channel in Savannah’s busy harbour, on Tuesday posted a video and photos about the discoveries.
A crew guides a cannon lifted from the Savannah River in mid-January.
Last month’s raising of the rusted artefacts brings to 15 the number of cannons, plus fragments of another, found in the past year during preparation for the port expansion project.
“There is no telling what all is down there,” Corps district archaeologist Andrea Farmer told CNN, saying “so much of the river is unknown.” That’s because the river bottom is strewn with everything from Native American pottery that was pushed downstream, to a small amount of debris from a Civil War ironclad that sank in 1864 and other vessels lost over time in the colonial Georgia city. Archaeologists said they would have expected the cannons to have been found during maintenance dredging.
One of the artillery pieces is kept in a protective trough at a Savannah facility.
When the first three cannons were located during dredging last February east of the town’s famous River Street, near Old Fort Jackson, archaeologists and Britain’s Royal Navy offered an intriguing possibility about their source.
They said — based on measurements and appearance — the cannons may be from the HMS Rose, a famed British warship that mixed it up with colonists during the revolution or, as the UK calls it, the War of Independence. Nearly 250 years ago, the British scuttled the ship in the Savannah River to block the channel and prevent French ships from coming to the aid of colonists trying to retake the city.
But they quickly learned that theory does not hold water, so to speak. The HMS Rose, it turns out, was sunk farther up the river and its artillery apparently was removed beforehand. British archives indicate the cannons may have belonged to two or more British troop transports also sunk to block the channel. Farmer says officials believe the cannons are associated with the Revolutionary War. Experts are looking for any distinguishing marks or features that can help verify their provenance, such as a known inventory of what a ship was carrying. The goal is to match the artefacts with a specific vessel or wreck.
So why were British troops in Savannah?
A short refresher course might be in order to answer that question. The 13 colonies, determined to gain their independence, fought the forces of King George III on land and sea. The British, hoping they would gain support from royalists in the South, took Savannah in 1778, only to find themselves defending it less than a year later. The HMS Rose, with its 20 cannons and 160 sailors, and other vessels were brought in to help fellow Redcoats.
The British warships Phoenix and Rose engaged with American vessels in New York during the Revolutionary War. Experts say the Rose led to the formation of the precursor of the US Navy.
The warship was already famous, having been a “scourge” on the colonists, as the Royal Navy puts it. It quelled smuggling in Rhode Island, prompting the formation of the forerunner of the US Navy. The Rose fought in and patrolled New York waterways and parts of the Eastern Seaboard before it sojourned south. In Savannah, the vessel was sacrificed by the Royal Navy on September 19, 1779, to keep French allies from joining the American siege at that point in the river.
“The French had blockaded the port of Savannah, getting ready to attack,” Stephen James, an archaeologist with Commonwealth Heritage Group, says in the Corps video. “They scuttled these troop transports to keep the French out and basically saved the city early on from being taken over. They plugged the channel to where … the French could not come up and take the city.”
Two cannons are displayed during an Army Corps of Engineers briefing in early 2021.
It’s possible that the cannons may have belonged to the HMS Venus or HMS Savannah, which were burned or scuttled as part of the British strategy. The British eventually won the battle and controlled Savannah until almost the war’s end. The cannons appear to date to the mid-1700s — predating the Civil War by about a century — which aligns closely with the HMS Rose’s history. The ones found last February are about 5 feet long. Further study and the removal of sediment on the cannons may provide information on when and where they were manufactured.
“I think it’s fantastic and interesting when artefacts from maritime history come to light,” Cmdr. Jim Morley, serving as the UK’s assistant naval attache in Washington, told CNN last year. “It just gives us an opportunity to look back at our common maritime history and history in general.”
CNN reached out Tuesday to Morley for further comment.
More research and analysis lies ahead
The Army Corps of Engineers utilizes contractors for much of its work, and that is the case with historic artefacts found in the water, such as the cannons found in a deep spot called Five Fathom Hole. Salvage divers assisted Commonwealth Heritage Group in lifting the ordnance from the channel. Divers can work only during high or low tide and when no freighters are passing directly overhead. Conditions are hazardous and the government has discouraged treasure hunters from diving in these waters. A diver enters the water in December 2021. Crews have explored Revolutionary War and Civil War sites.
A diver enters the water in December 2021. Crews have explored Revolutionary War and Civil War sites.
“The tide turns and it turns like that. You got zero vis (visibility),” diver Richard Steele says in the video. “The current is ripping you, you are holding on for dear life half the time, trying to hike your way through down there. Every time you get in the water, you are racing the clock.” Crews placed slings beneath the cannons and used inflatable lift bags to free them from the mud. They were moved to a holding area in advance of the January recovery.
It’s possible the cannons come from several ships — whether for combat or ballast.
Farmer said she does not believe they are associated with the CSS Georgia, a Confederate ship that defended the city during the Civil War. It was stationed in the vicinity of Old Fort Jackson and where the 15 cannons were found.
Several cannons were pulled up several years ago when the wreckage of the CSS Georgia was removed by the Corps as part of the harbour deepening. Archaeologists involved in that project are now helping on the current one.
Robert Neyland, head of the underwater archaeology branch at the Naval History and Heritage Command, last year said it’s possible the Civil War ironclad carried older guns and more research was needed. It’s possible some of the cannons were used at Fort Jackson, which was constructed in the early 1800s, or elsewhere and discarded.
“You have to do the detective work to solve the mystery,” Neyland said at the time.
He could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but the NHHC said it received a report on the cannons from the Army Corps of Engineers “and looks forward to reviewing the data.”
Farmer says officials will identify a few of the artillery pieces — which are being kept in protective troughs — for conservation and, ideally, put them on exhibit in Savannah. The Corps, meanwhile, is in the final stages of deepening the harbour from 42 feet to 47 feet to make sure supertankers have ample room to navigate.
Besides the cannons, archaeologists using sonar have found anchors and bar shot, a type of munition designed to destroy ship rigging. They were commonly used during the Revolutionary War. Divers also studied “cribs” — underwater obstructions placed in the river to ward off Union ships during the Civil War. The Army Corps of Engineers’ Savannah office will provide more details to the media next week. An expert will provide an analysis of what has been learned. “They are still actively performing archival research and working with other experts on this, so they will have more information to share,” Farmer said.
The public will have a chance to learn more at 7 p.m. ET on February 17 during a free program at the Savannah History Museum. Face masks are required.
Ancient “Coyote-Man” Sculpture Recovered in Mexico
Archaeologists from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico have recovered an important artefact of pre-Hispanic culture: a monumental coyote-headed figure perched on a throne.
The coyote-man from Tacámbaro.
Known as the coyote-man from Tacámbaro, an area in the central Mexican state of Michoacán, the sculpture was discovered almost 30 years ago during construction work in the municipality.
The artefact was held in a private collection until it was recovered by the NAH Michoacán Center through a Mexican federal law that regulates the ownership and preservation of national cultural property.
The Llanos de Canícuaro neighbourhood in Tacámbaro, where the coyote-man was first unearthed, was the site of the Tarascan city of Tzintzuntza, meaning “place of the hummingbirds” in the Purépecha language.
Representations of coyote spirits were prolific in the ancient settlement, though few were as tall or intricately carved as the sculpture recovered.
In a statement, INAH said its specialists are now assessing the state of the work, as a series of fractures were sustained during its rough extraction by the municipality.
Once the conservation is executed, it’s expected to “have a place of honour within the archaeological collection of the community museum of the city council,” according to the institute.
On the importance of the sculpture, archaeologist José Luis Punzo said, “We know that the last lords of Tzintzuntzan, who wrote the Relacion de Michoacán, were the so-called uacúsecha, the ‘lineage of the eagle’.
Next to this was another large city on Lake Pátzcuaro, Ihuatzio, which means ‘place of coyotes’, where most of these sculptures have been located.”
He added: “One of the hypotheses is that the coyote-man sculptures could represent a dynasty that ruled this place, even before the Uacúsecha history was written.”
