The Archaeology of Herring

Lecture by Madonna Moss, professor of anthropology, University of Oregon. Dr. Moss has studied herring bones at 16 archaeological sites in Southeast Alaska that date back 10,000 years. In her talk, she reveals some of her findings so far. Her work is important because current data on past herring runs and human reliance on them dates only to the mid 1900s, so her research gives a clearer historical picture. The study may be an invaluable tool to improve resource management of herring fisheries, which are considered by many to be a depleted resource here. Herring is an important subsistence resource. Herring roe comes mostly from subsistence fisheries in Sitka, which supplies the eggs to subsistence users region wide. The decline of herring populations in Sitka in recent years has been of great concern to subsistence users across Southeast Alaska.