Archaeologists Excavated a 1,000-Year-Old House in Alaska and Found a Bronze Object That Shouldn’t Have Been There

A small bronze object discovered in a prehistoric house in Alaska is giving archaeologists an unexpected glimpse into connections that may have stretched across the Arctic centuries ago. The cast piece, likely made in East Asia, is believed to be the first prehistoric bronze artifact of its kind ever found in Alaska.

The find was made at Cape Espenberg on Alaska’s Seward Peninsula during excavations led by researchers linked to the University of Colorado. At first glance, the object looked modest. Once the team realized it had been cast in a mold, the discovery took on a different dimension.

What caught researchers’ attention was not just where the object was found, but also how old it may be. The evidence suggests it could have existed for generations before ending up inside the house where it was uncovered.

Hidden Artifact Beneath an Inupiat Dwelling

The artifact was found inside a roughly 1,000-year-old dwelling associated with early Inupiat Eskimos. The house had been built into a beach ridge within the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. Buried under about three feet of sediment near the entrance, the object was noticed by Jeremy Foin, a doctoral student at University of California, Davis.

According to the press release, published by the University Of Colorado, the piece measured around two inches long by one inch wide and is less than an inch thick. It consists of two parts: a rectangular bar attached to what appears to be a broken circular ring.

Its shape made researchers stop almost immediately. One side is beveled and the other slightly hollowed, details that indicate it was produced in a mold. Foin later described the moment of discovery.

“The shape of the object immediately caught my eye. After I saw that it clearly had been cast in a mold, my first thought was disbelief, quickly followed by the realization that I had found something of potentially great significance,” he said.

Older Than The House Where It Was Found

The team also recovered a small piece of leather wrapped around the rectangular section of the object. Radiocarbon dating placed the leather at around A.D. 600.

As explained by John Hoffeckerfrom the University of Colorado’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, that date applies to the leather and does not necessarily reveal when the bronze object itself was made.

“I was totally astonished,” Hoffecker said. “The object appears to be older than the house we were excavating by at least a few hundred years.”

Researchers have not determined exactly what the object was used for. Hoffecker and colleague Owen Mason explained that it resembles a belt buckle and may originally have served as part of a harness or as a horse ornament. They also suggested people in Alaska may later have reused it as a clothing fastener or as part of ceremonial clothing.

A possible journey across the bering strait

The biggest question remains how the object arrived in Alaska. Mason stated that prehistoric bronze production is unknown in Alaska, which makes a local origin unlikely. The team believes the object was probably made in East Asia, with possible origins including Korea, China, Manchuria, or southern Siberia.

Hoffecker also mentioned the steppe regions of southern Siberia, where bronze casting began thousands of years ago. Researchers outlined two possible explanations.

The object may have traveled through long-distance trade networks, or it may have crossed with some of the earliest Inupiat Eskimos, who are thought to have migrated into northwest Alaska from nearby Siberia around 1,500 years ago. Mason offered another possibility that feels surprisingly simple.

“It was possibly valuable enough so that people hung onto it for generations, passing it down through families.”

However, the bronze artifact does not provide a definitive answer about how it reached Alaska or how it was used. Despite its modest size, the object remains an unusual piece of evidence in a story that archaeologists are still trying to piece together.

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