Cape Krusenstern Archaeological District

Alaska’s nationally designated landmarks span the state from Kake, in Southeast Alaska, to the Birnirk site in Barrow, the northernmost community in Alaska. They range from Eagle on the Canadian border to Attu at the western end of the Aleutian Island chain. Seventeen landmarks are considered to be archaeological, with most dating back to pre-European times. There are also 32 historic landmarks, which commemorate historic themes since the landing of Vitus Bering on Alaskan shores in 1741. Altogether these landmarks tell the story of roughly 11,000 years of Alaskan history.

 

Pit houses in the tundra

NPS Photo/Paul Stolen

Cape Krusenstern Archaeological District - Designated November 7, 1973

Cape Krusenstern Archaeological District contains the cultural remains of peoples who have inhabited these beaches for 5,000 or more years. Adjacent to the ridges on unglaciated uplands in the Igichuk Hills are surface deposits that extend the record backward to the time of the end of the Pleistocene. The beach ridges of Cape Krusenstern provide a broad, horizontal stratigraphy which includes virtually all phases of cultural history known in northwest Alaska.