Archaeologists discovered brown and polar bear bones – ranging from five thousand years old – on two excavation locations in Unalaska as well as Amaknak Islands in the Aleutians during the first half of 2000. Since then the bones have baffled scientists. There aren’t any bears on either island in the present and there aren’t any historic records of bears ever being present there.
Lilly Parker and Kaylee Tatum research scientists at University of Oklahoma. University of Oklahoma, spent two weeks in Unalaska this summer. They shared their findings with the community and pleaded for any information on bears that were handed down from generation to generation. Tatum stated that Unangax information may help to explain how bones came to be there.
“Anything helps,” Tatum said. “Whether it’s a tale you heard at the campfire in your youth but you don’t even remember it … it’s something I am interested. I’m still eager to hear this.”
Carbon dating suggests that the bones of polar bears are around 5,500 years old. The brown bear bones range from 5500 to 3,000 years old.
Parker stated that the bones were discovered in two middens, which were dump sites used by the Unangax people who lived thousands of years ago.
“They were simply mixed up among various remains” Parker said. “There were about 23,000 animal bones discovered in the excavation sites.”
Parker and Tatum have spoken to Unangax elders regarding the mystery surrounding the bear’s bones during their two weeks in Unalaska.
The elders were not sure of the way that the bones came to be there however, one theory suggested that people from thousands of years ago could have brought bear meat via sea from the island that is adjacent to Unimak that has many bears. Traditions passed down through oral tradition have been handed through that suggests locals could have consumed bears when food sources were limited, like during a particularly long, cold winter.
Parker and Tatum will return to Unalaska in the coming year to present their follow-up results from their research. They will be looking for genetic clues, such as the possibility of a link between bones of bears found in Unalaska along with Amaknak Islands and the bears that were found on Unimak.
If they discover a connection they could be able to provide the answers to this mystery about how bear bones were discovered on islands that bears weren’t previously believed to be a part of.
