University at Buffalo (UB)
Dr. Caroline Funk
Research Assistant Professor
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
12:00-1:00pm
354 Academic Center
The Rat Islands Research project uses a culturally nuanced approach to understanding human and environmental intersections in the North.
The work is focused on the archaeology and environment of the Qax^un, a regionally distinct group of ancestral Aleuts who lived in the Aleutian Rat Islands from about 6000 y.a. to 250 y.a. The Qax^un were conscious managers of their land and sea resources who impacted and were impacted by the environment. The project’s collaborative, multidisciplinary research focuses on defining their complex lives as they intersected with deeply imbued physical land- and seascapes inhabited by sentient animals and active spirits, and as they responded to large-scale dangers presented by this volcanically active, storm-prone region at the confluence of the Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea.