Native rock art in Southcentral Alaska

  Southcentral Alaska, at the northern arc of the Gulf of Alaska, has a rich Native rock art which consists of red or reddish pictographs showing animals, anthropomorphic figures, boats, and various abstract and geometric motifs. These stylistically varied paintings can be seen at a dozen sites, in Cook Inlet, Kachemak Bay and Prince William Sound, in rock shelters and on open-air rock surfaces. Although these pictograph sites are generally located away from the known Native settlements, most of them have revealed archaeological materials (especially, in middens). Despite this, the chronocultural context of the rock art manifestations has remained unclear; however, the involvement of the Prehistoric Alutiiq (sometimes designed as the “Pacific Eskimo”) seems likely. The pictographs were probably painted as part of rituals relating to subsistence activities. Today, they represent a precious but also fragile heritage. In 2020, one of these Southcentral Alaskan rock art sites, Tuxedni Bay, was listed in the United States National Register of Historic Places.

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