de Laguna] ARCHEOLOGY, YAKUTAT BAY AREA, ALASKA 35 



(House Pit 3) has been partly washed away and filled with beach 

 gravel. Beyond this is a low, swampy area with a few dead trees, 

 evidently killed by salt water after the subsidence (pi. 2, 6). The 

 earthquake may also have affected the course of the little stream, for 

 just north of the site there is a depression that suggests a former 

 channel. 



In the woods northeast of the site is the cabin owned by a White 

 resident of Yakutat, Gil Sensmeier. 



SHAMAN'S GRAVE, KNIGHT ISLAND 



On the north bank of the stream, about 400 yards above its mouth 

 and a quarter of a mile north of the site, a grave under an overhanging 

 boulder was found just prior to our first visit in 1949. The following 

 description is based upon the account given by the discoverer and 

 members of his family and upon oiu* own observations in 1949 and 

 1952. 



Although the skull had been removed by the finder, and a number 

 of other bones were missing when we saw the grave, the vertebral 

 column, the ribs, the bones of the legs and of the upper arms were 

 still in position. The skeleton, that of an adult male, was lying on 

 the back, head to the west. The body had evidently been placed in a 

 cofSn, but the latter was not interred. Although almost entirely 

 disintegrated, fragments of wood indicated that the cofSn had been 

 originally 72 inches long and 30 to 32 inches wide, made of 1-inch 

 planks put together with square-headed nails. With the skeleton 

 were the remains of a blanket of mountain goat wool (pis. 18, b; 19; 

 see pp. 187-1 92), and also a number of little blue and white glass beads 

 (49-25-59). The latter are similar to those found with early historic 

 (late 18th century or early 19th century) burials on Glacier Island in 

 Prince William Sound (de Laguna, 1956, p. 211). A tiny iron pot, a 

 painted shell, and disk-shaped shell beads are also said to have been 

 found in the grave. 



Although one informant denied that the grave could have been 

 that of a shaman because the beads were not the kind worn by shamans, 

 it seems more probable that it was a medicine man who was buried 

 here, for all ordinary persons were cremated at Yakutat until after 

 the mission was founded in 1888. One informant believed that the 

 grave was that of Daxodzu, sister of the principal K^ackqwan chief, 

 a female shaman who foretold the arrival of the Russians. Another 

 said that it was the grave of a Tlaxayik-Teqwedi shaman, uncle of 

 the man who led the successful attack on the Russian fort. One 

 reason for this attack was because the Russians accused the natives 

 of having stolen the nails used to make this coffin. It is perhaps 

 significant that both of these traditions associate the burial with a 



