Borough respects Knik Tribal Council's wishes

MAT-SU— The Knik Tribal Council met today and agreed that the human remains in an unmarked grave at Knik—which had been exposed during an excavation project—be disinterred and buried properly in a nearby graveyard.

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough respects the wishes of the Knik Tribal Council and Knikatnu Inc. and has agreed to pay for burial and for DNA testing to learn more closely the family relations of the person, thought to have died 75 to 100 years ago.  An examination of the skull by the State archaeologist found that the remains are probably a Native male*(see below) in his early 20s. The remains were found wrapped in birch bark and wood.*

Knik Tribal Council is a federally recognized tribe in the MAT-SU and a non-profit social service organization for Natives in the MAT-SU region.  Knikatnu Inc. is an adjacent landowner with lands including the nearby established Knik Native Cemetery, which is 500 hundred feet behind the Knik Museum.

In 2004, the Wasilla-Knik Historical Society received a Borough tourism bed tax grant to build a basement foundation for the Herning Warehouse, a building dated to 1917 and the former property of O. G. Herning, a businessman from Knik.
The historical society leases the museum land from the Borough. The 20 foot wide  by 37 foot long warehouse was hauled from Wasilla to Knik 18 years ago. It was placed behind the Knik Museum.

Excavation work is complete for the warehouse foundation. If restored the building would provide space for historical artifacts.

Knik Tribal Council, Knikatnu Inc.,The Wasilla-Knik Historical Society and the MAT-SU Borough all signed an agreement. The parties agreed to move the building with the understanding that ground penetrating radar would be conducted first. The radar found no potential graves. The group agreed to begin excavation for the foundation and stop if there were any remains found and call a meeting to determine the next step. The plan was to move the warehouse from the skids it rests on to its footprint immediately adjacent.

(The area is presently posted with no trespassing signs. Please do not visit the site.)

“The Dena'ina people have been here for ten thousand years. We're trying to preserve our history as well,” said Debra Call, president of  the Knik Tribal Council. “Knik Tribal is an entity that is trying to work with the community. If there is any knowledge that is to be shared please share it with Knik Tribal Council first before going to the media. A friend of the tribe would honor this,” Call said.

Throughout the project the Borough has acted in good faith trying to prevent such a disturbance.

Four years before excavation, Borough Cultural Resources Specialist Fran Seager-Boss requested ground penetrating radar to prevent disturbing unmarked graves that were reported but not legally documented in the area. The radar did not show signs of disturbances in the site that was selected. The radar report concluded that no “obvious culturally-related anomalies were noted” in the chosen foundation site.

Among other information considered: the Museum is the former Fuller & Hershey Billiard Hall. In the early 1900s the area behind the pool hall was a well-trafficked alleyway. The area closer to the excavation site was also known to be swampy. Additionally the excavation site appears to be a trash dump from the early 1900s. During the excavation nine, five-gallon buckets of trash likely from the Gold Rush town's heyday were removed. Among the items: glass fragments from bottles of champagne, wine, vinegar, medicine, condiments, and soda pop that likely came from one of the early businesses. Also a chassis for a horse-drawn wagon was pulled out of the dirt work. All of these reasons suggested that the site would be an unlikely place for someone to bury their dead.

On Aug. 15 a skull was discovered. Work stopped immediately as agreed upon.

“It's a possibility the person was buried after the town faded. If the person died in the winter the person may have been buried by women and children because the men were out hunting” Call said. “This would have resulted in a shallow grave behind a building.”

The parties agreed to continue searching for the rest of the remains to reunite them. More trash was pulled from the excavation site and no signs of graves were immediately found. Work halted again on Sept. 19 when the remains were discovered.

The Knik Tribal Council will discuss the project further with the Wasilla-Knik Historical Society.

* CORRECTIONS: The remains were later determined to be a woman. The remains were not wrapped in birch bark but instead the coffin had birch bark on its edges, likely used for lowering the coffin.