Brooks River Archeological District, Archaeological district in Katmai National Park, Alaska, US
The Brooks River Archaeological District is an excavation area containing about twenty settlement sites positioned along ancient beach ridges and river terraces near the river connecting Brooks Lake to Naknek Lake. The sites lie within Katmai National Park and reveal multiple layers of human occupation preserved and separated by volcanic deposits from different time periods.
Settlement in this location extends back at least to 2500 BCE. The archaeological record reveals ten major volcanic events spanning at least 6500 years, each episode naturally separating distinct periods of human presence in the area.
The district holds the largest concentration of Arctic Small Tool Tradition structures in Alaska, offering direct insight into how people lived and organized their settlements here thousands of years ago. Walking through the sites, visitors gain a sense of the daily patterns and choices ancient inhabitants made when positioning their homes along the river.
The site is located within Katmai National Park and is accessible only by boat or plane. Visitors should prepare for wet and changeable weather by bringing appropriate clothing and gear for variable conditions.
Volcanic ash layers act like natural dividers in an archive, helping researchers clearly distinguish between different periods of human occupation. This unusual natural preservation makes the area exceptionally valuable for tracing settlement patterns across many centuries.
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