Today's Makah Cultural and Research Center stands as a testament to the survival of Makah culture and the potential of archaeology to contribute information of lasting significance to Indian Tribes. I began graduate school at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1976, but grew impatient in the classroom. I felt somewhat out of place reading de Laguna's works about the Tlingit of Southeast Alaska in sunny southern California. On a whim, I took the civil service exam, and was offered a job with the Tongass National Forest as an archaeological trainee stationed in Juneau, Alaska. Although my course background had not included much in the way of ethnography or history, through my experiences living and working in southeast Alaska, I soon recognized the importance of these subjects.
Tlingit people are strongly visible, culturally and politically in Alaska.
I have been privileged to work with Tlingit women and men, elders, middle-aged, and young. Initially, I worked with Tlingit people as an aid to archaeological research, in trying to identify the locations of abandoned towns, villages, camps, fishing weirs, and forts. But I became drawn to the Tlingit way of looking at and experiencing the world, recognizing these were very different than my own ways. The Tlingit people I have met are truly impressive in many ways, including the depth of their intellectual traditions, which an outsider like myself can only partially appreciate. My publications tell much of the rest of the story.