August 31, 1990

An archeologist with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage, Alaska, announced the discovery of the mummified remains of over 30 Aleut bodies and numerous artifacts estimated to be 1,000 years old. One of two researchers permitted to remove items for further analysis by the Aleut Corporation, the regional native organization to which the site belonged, was Vassar archeology professor Lucy Lewis Johnson. “We found bodies of both sexes and all ages,” Johnson said. “This cave has given us a priceless glimpse of a realm of culture. It is unique not just because of the number of bodies, but also because it has so many well-preserved organic artifacts.” Among the artifacts was “a finely carved wooden sculpture of a whale or fish with a sea otter or small human on its snout and a bird in flight at the tip of its jaw.”

The New York Times