Cape Krusenstern

Cape Krusenstern is a cape on the west coast of Alaska in the southeast of the Lisburne Peninsula. It forms the entrance to Kotzebuesund on the Chukchi Sea and the city of Kotzebue lies north against. The cape was discovered and named after the Baltic German explorer Adam Johann von Krusenstern, who sailed around the world in the service of the Tsar by the Baltic German navigator and explorer Otto von Kotzebue in the summer of 1816.

The Cape and its environment is an archaeological site of special significance and designated as a protected area and memorial Cape Krusenstern National Monument.

Archaeological importance

In the area around Cape Krusenstern are well-preserved traces of prehistoric inhabitants of Alaska. Only here is an undisturbed sequence of all Inuit cultures around 5000 years to find until the recent time. The cape is part of a Anlandungsküste, the beach is widened in the form of ribs by the Anspülung of sand. The inhabitants moved more directly to the high-water line, the living spaces found, grave fields, each stone tools and other artifacts thus can be assigned to the time in which the shoreline had advanced to the locality forever. 114 of these ribs can be identified and form an archive of the colonization of the Arctic Alaska.

On the plateau behind the flat coastal plain two other prehistoric settlements ( Palisades and Lower Bench) were found, which give further insight into the lifestyle of the coastal inhabitants. The Palisades settlement is situated on a limestone cliff and could be dated by irregularly shaped tools from chert to about 3500 BC. The settlement Lower Bench was a result of special flint blades initially to 1100 BC assigned to the Denbigh complex of 2000, recent discoveries of the same types of tools on the entire west coast of Alaska are, however, several millennia earlier dated.

The traces of settlement in the coastal ribs were discovered in 1958 and from 1959 to 1962, and 1965 excavated. The results were published until the 1980s, similar finds from the 1990s led to a partial reassessment. The Cape Krusenstern Archeological District was declared on November 7, 1973 National Historic Landmark in 1978 and designated as a National Monument. Due to the remoteness it is achieved by very few visitors.

Current usage

The Inupiat of the surrounding villages may still gather in the sanctuary fruits and berries, and hunt in the waters and fishing in the traditional way today. Located adjacent to the reserve in the north- east is the Red Dog Mine, the largest zinc mine in the world. The area is accessed via a road that leads through the reserve. Improper transport the contaminated areas are around the street far beyond the limits of zinc, cadmium and lead.

Surroundings

The environment includes extensive nature reserves, including the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve and the Noatak National Preserve, two areas of type National Preserve, and Kobuk Valley National Park and the Selawik National Wildlife Refuge.