‘Woman with small shovel’ finds a clue to Sitka’s paleo past
By Robert Woolsey, KCAW - Sitka -
June 14, 2017
A sewer replacement project in Sitka has turned up more evidence that one of Alaska’s oldest cities has been inhabited for a long, long time.
Nancy Yaw Davis grew up on this corner while her father, W. Leslie Yaw, served as superintendent of the Sheldon Jackson School, and later, as the president of the junior college. After a career in anthropology, she’s still curious about ‘the depth of time’ and the people who have inhabited her old neighborhood for millenia. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)
A stone tool — resembling a wedge, or striker — was unearthed in an excavation beneath a street in downtown Sitka, and may never have been found, but for a retired anthropologist who knew what to look for.
Like the stone artifact itself, this story may never have seen the light of day without a Jeff Davis Street resident who called police about a “woman with a small shovel digging in people’s yards.”
http://www.alaskapublic.org/2017/06/14/woman-with-small-shovel-finds-a-clue-to-sitkas-paleo-past/
