The discovery is known as: “Tochak (Ta-check) McGrath Discovery.” The name refers to the confluence of the Takotna and Kuskokwim rivers at the village of McGrath. In early October, a construction worker out for a walk uncovered a skull exposed by earth-moving equipment. “You know we though it’s gotta be this elder who disappeared about 30 years ago in McGrath.” That’s Vicki Otte (odd-ee). She’s the CEO of MTNT, the local village corporation. “And the skull had absolutely perfect lower teeth," she says. "It was just amazing, there were no cavities or anything. I mean they were just in perfect shape. And I remembered this missing elder from 30 years ago. She was in her 70’s and she was always bragging about what amazing teeth she had and so I knew it was her.”
But the skull turns out to be from an Athabascan man and he’s much older than anyone expected. A radiocarbon dating method puts charcoal from a nearby fire pit at between 360 and 540 years old. But the remains were buried below the pit, so they’re likely to be even older. The bones were found huddled together with two other skeletons: a young adult male and a male child between two and five years old.
Tanana Chiefs Conference Archeologist Bob Satler says prehistoric discoveries in interior Alaska are extremely rare because Athabascans traditionally cremated their dead. But there are other reasons bones of this age rarely survive. “The acidic soils of the boreal forest typically will dissolve bone nearly within a century," says Satler.
The Tochak (ta-check) McGrath Discovery was found in what Satler thinks is either an ancient sand dune or an abandoned sand bar, which could have aided in preservation. A team of archeologists also found three fire pits nearby that contained fish and mammal bones. Satler thinks these Alaska Natives lived a fully subsistence lifestyle long before Russian Fur traders migrated to the region. “The key factor when the excavation took place was that there was no metal or any trade goods," he says.
But the team also found two shards of obsidian nearby one of the skeletons. It’s a kind of volcanic glass many prehistoric Alaskans used for tools. This particular obsidian is from an ancient volcano near Hughes, nearly 200 miles north of McGrath. Satler says that could mean the prehistoric peoples of Alaskans may have had their own ways of sharing goods. “And the presence of this exotic volcanic glass demonstrates that there was quite a network of trade at this time.”
Because the bones are so well preserved, Satler and his colleagues think they’ll be able to analyze the DNA inside. The bones have been transferred to the Tanana Chiefs Conference temporarily. President Jerry Isaac says he is excited to help uncover their secrets. “Much remains to be found out about the lifestyle of our forebearers," he says. "We’re told that we’re nomadic. We’re the hunter-gatherer type of people. So I’d like to know such things to as why the interior native people are susceptible to certain illnesses.”
DNA studies might also tell scientists more about family lineages, human migration between Asia and North America and even offer information about how Athabascans adapted to their sub-arctic surroundings. MTNT, the McGrath Village Council and TCC plan to continue work with federal and state scientists to study and preserve the remains. The groups are working on plans for a full archeological exploration next summer. The remains will be reburied after a complete scientific analysis.
