Cape Krusenstern
| Cape Krusenstern National Monument | |||
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| Location: | Alaska , United States | ||
| Next city: | Kotzebue | ||
| Surface: | 2,380.5 km² | ||
| Founding: | December 1, 1978 | ||
| Visitors: | 745 (2007) | ||
Cape Krusenstern is a cape on the west coast of Alaska in the southeast of the Lisburne Peninsula . It forms the entrance to the Kotzebuesund on the Tschuktschensee and is opposite the city of Kotzebue to the north. The cape was discovered by the Baltic German navigator and explorer Otto von Kotzebue in the summer of 1816 and named after the Baltic German explorer Adam Johann von Krusenstern , who sailed around the world in the service of the Tsar.
The cape and its surroundings is an archaeological site of particular importance and has been designated as a protected area and memorial at Cape Krusenstern National Monument .
Archaeological importance
In the area around Cape Krusenstern there are well-preserved traces of prehistoric inhabitants of Alaska . Only here is an undisturbed sequence of all Eskimo cultures from around 5000 years to the most recent. The cape is part of a coastline , its beach is broadened in the form of ribs by the washing up of sand. The residents always settled directly on the flood line, the found living spaces , grave fields , individual stone tools and other artifacts can therefore always be assigned to the time in which the coastline had advanced to the place of discovery. 114 of these ribs can be identified and form an archive of the settlement of the Arctic Alaska.
On the plateau behind the flat coastal plain, two more prehistoric settlements ( Palisades and Lower Bench ) were found, which give further insights into the way of life of the coastal inhabitants. The Palisades settlement is located on a limestone cliff and was able to date from around 3500 BC using irregularly shaped chert tools . To be dated. The Lower Bench settlement was first assigned to the Denbigh complex from 2000 to 1100 BC due to special flint blades . Assigned to BC, more recent finds of the same tool types on the entire west coast of Alaska are dated several millennia earlier.
The traces of settlement in the coastal ribs were discovered in 1958 and excavated from 1959 to 1962 and 1965. The results were published until the 1980s; comparable finds from the 1990s led to a partial reassessment. The Cape Krusenstern Archeological District was declared a National Historic Landmark on November 7, 1973 and was listed as a site on the National Register of Historic Places . In 1978 it was designated a National Monument . Because of its remoteness, very few visitors reach it. The reserve is maintained by the National Park Service .
Todays use
The Inupiat of the surrounding villages are still allowed to collect fruits and berries in the protected area and to hunt and fish in the traditional way. The Red Dog Mine , the largest zinc mine in the world, is adjacent to the protected area in the northeast . It is accessed via a road that partially leads through the protected area. Due to improper transport, the areas around the road are contaminated with zinc, cadmium and lead well above the limit values .
environment
There are large nature reserves in the vicinity, including the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve and the Noatak National Preserve, two areas of the National Preserve type , as well as the Kobuk Valley National Park and the Selawik National Wildlife Refuge .
literature
- Douglas D. Anderson: Cape Krusenstern . In: Guy Gibon (Ed.): Archeology of Prehistoric Native America. Garland Publishing, New York / London 1998, ISBN 0-8153-0725-X , p. 116 f.
Web links
- National Park Service: Cape Krusenstern (official website; English)
- Cape Krusenstern National Monument (English)
- Cultural Resources of Cape Krusenstern National Monument (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Alaska. National Park Service , accessed July 19, 2019.
- ↑ Cape Krusenstern Archeological District National Monument in the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed July 27, 2017