Braided Storytelling as a Method in Archaeology: Reimagining the Sugpiaq Past Through Story

Abstract

This article explores various storytelling methods in archaeology, as situated within a community-based project in Old Harbor, Alaska, a Sugpiaq village in the Kodiak Archipelago. We draw from both Indigenous and feminist writings to argue that storytelling is necessary in order to make sense of empirical data. Different methods of storytelling have a place in the practice of archaeology, from the initial formation of a research question to the sharing of results with community members and heritage professionals. Within our community-based work, it is crucial that we make our results and interpretations legible to the Old Harbor community. Here, we review existing information from historical accounts and archaeology to construct story models that generate predictions for new archaeological research into the Russian colonial period at the Ing'yuq Village site. We then braid these story models together with an imagined narrative about the Sugpiaq experience of initial Russian arrival in their homelands and artistic interpretations of the Ing'yuq site. Taken together, these different storytelling strategies create a more nuanced picture of Sugpiaq lifeways at Ing'yuq—a picture that includes the historical, emotional, and experiential context of relations to this specific place on the land.