Located north of the Arctic Circle, Igliqtiqsiugvigruaq (“Swift Water Place”) is a protohistoric village site occupied in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries on the Kobuk River, Alaska. The site is well known to the Inupiat of the region, partly because the river erodes it, thus exposing artifacts and living surfaces. But it is also well known because the stories about this village and its inhabitants are passed down from generation to generation in nearby villages along the Kobuk River. The excavations of two structures at the site took place in 2011 and 2013 under the direction of Dr. Douglas Anderson. Dr. Lutz will discuss some of the progressive archaeological techniques employed during the excavations and, afterward, in the laboratories of several universities. Equally important, he notes, is the human component, and he will discuss the effect the site may have on today’s Inupiat.

About Dr. Bruce Lutz

Dr. Bruce Lutz is an archaeological anthropologist specializing in Arctic archaeology and hunter-gatherer ethnography. He directed archaeological excavations and surveys in Alaska and Colorado, including archaeological work for the Bureau of Land Management (Alaska and Colorado), Alaska Division of Parks, Corps of Engineers, and Interagency Archaeological Services-Denver. He has published in American Antiquity, Anthropological Paper of the University of Alaska, Arctic Anthropology, and Southwestern Lore. His recent interests include Neanderthal linguistic capabilities.