Kenai Fjords

The Kenai fjords formed part of the maritime country of the Sugpiaq, also called Alutiiq. Kayaks and larger open skin boats linked its coastal settlements to communities far along the Alaskan shore. Objects recovered from local village sites include coal beads made from material originating on the Alaska Peninsula, evidence of connections extending westward beyond the fjords.

Russian trade goods travelled through these networks before nearby posts were founded. When James Cook reached the coast in 1778, Chugach people already wore imported beads obtained through trade with the Aleutians. By the 1790s and early nineteenth century, iron knives and glass beads appeared alongside traditional slate hunting weapons in Kenai coastal villages. Sea otter pelts drew these communities into the Russian fur trade, while the archaeological record shows continued use of Indigenous tools alongside imported materials.