Pacific Northwest Archaeological Society

Hi, I’m DALE CROES, Director of the Pacific Northwest Archaeological Society (PNWAS). We are a non-profit (501c3) celebrating 41 years of public education; we support preserving the rich archaeological heritage of the Pacific Northwest. Our program is in Olympia, WA, and we provide quarterly talks through ZOOM by archaeologist conducting current Pacific Northwest archaeological projects and research (see below).

We ask your HELP FOR A FINAL, THIS AUGUST, RESCUE EXCAVATION of an extraordinarily rich frozen archaeological site that was severely impacted by typhoon Halong on the outer Alaskan Coast last Fall. Dr. Richard Knecht, Director of the Nunalleq site, reported:

"Rescue archaeology continues at the Nunalleq site to save what we can from the very rapid erosion is now taking place on this part of the Bering Sea coast [NOTE: because of your added support, Rick is planning to conduct the last rescue excavations with an August crew!!!!]. An international crew of volunteer archaeologists, conservators along with support staff from Qanirtuuq Inc. and Nalaquq LLC, in Quinhagak are working long hours, six days a week. We are also grateful for support from the Pacific Northwest Archaeological Society, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Anchorage Museum."

When asked on Facebook: "If you guys got more funding could you go longer in the field?"

RICK's REPLY: YES- more funds would do it. The digging crew is unpaid and cover their own travel expenses so we are able to stretch any funding a long way.

BREAKING NEWS: RICK IS CURRENTLY RECRUITING AN AUGUST CREW WITH THIS GOFUNDME RESPONSE, WITH A LAST CHANCE TO BEAT THIS WINTER'S SURF EROSION.

See highlighted heritage items rescued in their May-June rescue, just a few of estimate 5,000 artifacts recovered, at: https://doi.org/10.7273/000008294 [Click on "View" button]

SO PLEASE HELP NOW--ANY AMOUNT WILL ASSIST WITH THIS PROFESSIONAL AND YUPIK COMMUNITY RESCUE OF THEIR THOUSANDS OF INVALUABLE WOOD AND FIBER ARTIFACTS BEFORE THE INEVITABLE SURF EROSION THIS WINTER!!!!

All your tax-deductible donations will be wired directly to the Nunalleq Museum, and support the need for ongoing RESCUE, and needed supplies: storage tubs, artifact labeling and preservation work for the 1000s of additional wood and fiber artifacts being rescued from the front beach areas of the site and the subsistence of the many HEROIC outside volunteers staying at the Nunalleq Museum helping to recover and doing lab work involving the artifacts (see YouTube examples below).

Your donations at this CRITICAL TIME will provide the vital margin needed to make this current rescue effort a much bigger success--HELP IS CRITICAL AT THIS TIME. Besides the letter thanking you for a tax-deductable donation, we will make you an official member of the Pacific Northwest Archaeological Society and Dr. Knecht will give you an update on the results of your help, in a PNWAS ZOOM talk the evening of October 22nd, 2026; you will get a link to the ZOOM talk. We’ll also record his update ZOOM presentation in case you cannot attend and put it into our PNWAS YouTube Channel so you can watch at your convenience. Even during this catastrophe Dr. Knecht presented a PNWAS talk with updates; please see this talk to understand the magnitude and importance of this site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYwWLHA0OLU&t=431s.

Join our "Support Crew" AT THIS CRITICAL TIME to help Dr. Knecht, the Nunalleq Native Community and heroic volunteers rescuing these heritage artifacts, preserving these ancient wood and fiber artifacts for all future generations of Yup'ik young people and the world. Help preserve their heritage for all of us!!!!

Every contribution, no mater how small, brings us closer to rescuing as much of this heritage as possible.

Thank you for your help and generosity at this TRULY critical time!!!! We look forward to you joining us with this effort as members of the Pacific Northwest Archaeological Society,

THE TIME IS NOW, LOVE TO ALL INVOLVED, Dale

PS: A GREAT WAY TO SEE THE MANY FINDS AND FOLLOW THE RESCUE PROGRESS, SEARCH FOR RICK KNECHT'S PAGE ON FACEBOOK!!!!