Amaknak Bridge
UNL-50
Amaknak Bridge is a large, multi-component site located on the shoreline of Amaknak
Island within the City of Unalaska, in the Fox Island group of the eastern Aleutians.
Radiocarbon dates obtained from a variety of features indicate that the site was occupied
between 2,500 cal BP to 3,500 cal BP. Amaknak Bridge has been subject to several
episodes of archaeological investigations. The primary excavations at Amaknak Bridge
were conducted by the Museum of the Aleutians in 2000 and 2003, directed by Rick
Knecht. An estimated 264 cubic meters were excavated in 2003 and as many as 10 house
floors were identified in the laterally extensive exposures. Research in 2000 and 2003
focused on the rich cultural deposits extended nearly 3 meters below modern ground
surface. The excavations uncovered structural remnants and recovered lithic and bone
tools, and abundant lithic debitage and faunal specimens. Later, salvage excavations
revealed additional cultural deposits extending an additional 2 meters below the level
where previous excavation had stopped. In total, Amaknak Bridge has produced one of
the largest and richest in Unalaska Bay. In total, more than 20,000 cataloged lithic and
bone tools were recovered from the site, including an exceptionally extensive and
elaborate bone tool industry.
The Amaknak Bridge site sits on the slope of a knoll approximately 15 meters above the
current shoreline of Unalaska Bay. More than 20,000 cataloged lithic and bone artifacts
were recovered from the deep occupation layers, as well as hundreds of thousands of
chipped stone debitage and faunal specimens. Similar to the nearby Margaret Bay site,
faunal remains recovered from Amaknak Bridge include examples of ice-obligate species
alongside the typical trio of Aleutian sea mammals (Harbor Seal, Stellar’s Sea Lion, and
Northern Fur Seal) suggesting that winter sea ice may have extended further south to the
vicinity of Unalaska Island 4,500 – 2,500 years ago.
The archaeological record from Amaknak Bridge was important in defining the Amaknak
Phase of the Eastern Aleutian Cultural Sequence established by Rick Knecht and Rick
Davis in 2001. The earliest occupations at Amaknak Bridge follow chronologically the
upper two occupation layers at Margaret Bay (UNL-048) and the upper midden deposit at
Agnes Beach (UNL-046), both located within a kilometer of Amaknak Bridge. The
clustering of radiocarbon ages indicates a preference for settlements to be located in the
middle portion of Unalaska Bay during the middle to late Holocene. Based on evidence
for use of stone-lined semi-subterranean structures at Amaknak Bridge and Margaret
Bay, these locations likely served as winter habitations.