Ipiutak Site, Archaeological site in Point Hope, Alaska, US.

The Ipiutak Site lies on the Tikigaq spit at Point Hope, where nearly 500 abandoned house depressions run along four beach ridges. Rows of whale and walrus bones, including whale mandibles, surround many of the ruins and remain visible on the ground. Excavations here uncovered over 100 burials and thousands of artifacts in ivory, wood, bone and stone.

The location was discovered in 1939 by archaeologists Helge Larsen and Froelich Rainey, which prompted large-scale excavations. The findings came from roughly 74 houses built with driftwood, showing how people inhabited this harsh shoreline.

The name Ipiutak comes from an Iñupiaq term for a stretch of the sandy Tikigaq spit. Openwork ivory carvings from shallow burials show walruses, bears, wolves, birds, loons and seals, while human figures are rare. Whale mandibles still mark important spaces in nearby Point Hope, as they once did at the site.

The most important discoveries are now kept in several museums, including the National Museum of Denmark, the American Museum of Natural History, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. If you want to visit the site itself, ask locally about access and guided tours in the area.

Among the burial gifts were masks with striking details, such as one showing a human face with blowfly larvae appearing to come out of its nostrils. This artistic depiction of decay and death seems to have held meaning for the people who lived there.