Afognak Artel
Katherine Woodhouse-Beyer, graduate student

Katharine Woodhouse-Beyer, Chief Archaeologist for the Afognak Native Corporation, Kodiak, Alaska, is Site Director of the Afognak Artel, a Russian American Company post occupied from the late 1790s through 1840 A.D. From 1994-1998, archaeological survey and excavation through the "Dig Afognak" archaeo-ecotourism project has identified fifteen frame and semi-subterranean structures associated with the Afognak Artel and the neighboring American period settlement of Katenai. The collections consist of over 70,000 artifacts of both Alutiiq and European manufacture, including over 7000 glass trading beads.

Katharine, currently a PhD Candidate in Anthropology at Brown University, holds a B.A. degree in Anthropology from Bryn Mawr College and an M. Phil. degree in European Archaeology from Oxford University. She has both participated in and supervised excavations in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, France, Italy, Iceland, Outer Hebrides, England and Kenya. While in residence at Brown University she supervises artifactual conservation and analysis of the Afognak Artel finds at the Historical Archaeology Laboratory. The Afognak Artel collection forms the basis for the dissertation "Gender Relations and Socioeconomic Change in Russian America, 1741-1867 A.D.".

Current research interests: Historical archaeology, Arctic archaeology, Native America, North Pacific rim cultures, European Migration Period, South Pacific cultures, colonialism, gender relations, artifact conservation, community/public archaeology, ethics

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