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First evidence of ancient trade with Asia uncovered in Northwest Alaska

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There’s new evidence that metal goods from central Asia made their way to Alaska long before contact with Europeans.

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That’s according to a study published this month in the Journal of Archeological Science, but there’s still a lot unknown about one artifact in particular.

“The buckle is about three centimeters in length and maybe two to three centimeters wide,” explained Kory Cooper, an archaeologist at Purdue University and one of the authors of the study. He’s been working for the past few years with Owen Mason, who was there when the buckle was discovered.

“Near the end of the season, as it always is, one of our excavators came across

Emily Russell is the voice of Alaska morning news as Alaska Public Media’s Morning News Host and Producer. Originally from the Adirondacks in upstate New York, Emily moved to Alaska in 2012. She skied her way through three winters in Fairbanks, earning her Master’s degree in Northern Studies from UAF. Emily’s career in radio started in Nome in 2015, reporting for KNOM on everything from subsistence whale harvests to housing shortages in Native villages. She then worked for KCAW in Sitka, finally seeing what all the fuss with Southeast, Alaska was all about. Back on the road system, Emily is looking forward to driving her Subaru around the region to hike, hunt, fish and pick as many berries as possible. When she’s not talking into the mic in the morning, Emily can be found reporting from the peaks above Anchorage to the rivers around Southcentral.