Archaeology Magazine - September/October 2006 - 62

on land not far from Fort Ross, gave the
project permission to study native sites
in the vicinity. The team was interested
in looking at the way the Kashaya Pomo
organized their settlements, contrasting
them to those of other groups who lived in
Spanish California. "When you compare
the Spanish missions and the Russian
mercantile colonies in California, you do
see a difference," says Lightfoot. Under
the Spaniards there was a programof mass
relocation, and Indians from different
tribes were grouped together in mission
settlements. Indian identity, in terms
of native rituals and religious life, went
underground. In contrast, the Russians
never exerted overt authority over the
Kashaya Pomo, and signed a treaty with
the tribe that grafted the Russians the
ii
right to the land at Colony Ross, a nearby
FortRoss seen fromthe Russian Orthodoxcemetery. Excavations revealed substantially
harbor, and a small area around the colony
more graves than expected, including many of women and children.
that eventually included three ranches,
the remains of which archaeologists have
of the Tlingit chief Katlian done by the
Alaska.Aleuts and other natives built their
yet to find.
Russian artist Mikhahil Tikhanov. There
homes on the bluff, close to the ocean and
"In part because they had to deal with
are only a few survivingexamplesof ravens
their baidarhas, or canoes. Archaeology
the Russians politically,the various Kashatail robes, so the discoverywas greeted with
showed that the Alaskans were probably
ya Pomo groups coalesced to create what
excitement by the Tlingit. How it found its
the first to build permanent homes on the
we think of as a true 'tribal' organization,"
location. Because of the wind, local Indian
way into a midden outside the workshops
says Lightfoot. When the Americans took
is still a mystery.
control of the area in 1847 (Fort Ross was
groups such as the KashayaPomo avoided
on
the
bluffs.
But
the
Alaskans
were
sold in 184 1 to entrepreneur John Sutter,
living
used to a windy environment, and it felt
better known to history as the owner of
Ross, some 1,500 miles south of
New Archangel,was RussianAmerica
Sutters Sawmill, where the Gold Rush
just like home.
Fortat its most complex.Here the Russians
The sites outside the main stockbegan), the Kashaya Pomo were already
worked side-by-side with Aleut hunters
ade have been the focus of
recruited and sent south to harvest otters.
a team organized by Kent From1787to 1811at least 20 metal
plates asserting
The local Kashaya Pomo people lived in
Lightfoot,an archaeologistat Russia's land claims were secretly buried along the
settlements not far from the stockade and
the University of California, Pacific coast. This
plate was unearthed in the 1930sat
were an integral part of life at the colony,
Berkeley,who grew up in the the site of the first Russian settlement in Sitka.
sometimes marrying the native Alaskans.
area and visited Fort Ross
as a child. Excavations in
Archaeologicalwork at Ross over the
the Alaskan village have
past two decades has brought renewed
attention to this dynamic community.
turned up bone harpoon
Inside the stockade, rebuilt after the proppoints typical of those used
erty became a state park, archaeologist
by Native Alaskan hunters as
Glenn Farris and others have conducted
well as the bottle glass used
several excavationsto determine the locaby the local Kashaya Pomo to
tions of originalstructures, mainlyto aid in
fashion tools and spearpoints.
efforts to reconstruct buildings. (Only one
The Native Alaskans also
made use of English and
original building is still standing, the rest
either deteriorated after the Russians left
Chinese ceramics, and the
or were destroyed by fire. The chapel was
bricks that were one of
Fort Rosss main exports to
damaged in the 1906 earthquake.) In the
the Alaskan settlements.
process, they have unearthed European
trade beads, ceramics, metal shot, and
There were many bones of
other artifacts typical of any European
sea otters, which were not
settlement of the period.
hunted by the local CaliOutside the stockade was a thriving
fornians.
settlement that has not been rebuilt, and
The KashayaPomo,who
I
included not only Russian buildings but
today are a thriving comalso the only NativeAlaskanvillageoutside
munity, many of whom live
62

Archaeology * September/October 2006

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Archaeology Magazine - September/October 2006

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