Iyat (Serpentine Hot Springs): Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Bering Land Bridge National Preserve

NPS Alaska Regional Office

Iyat, also known as Serpentine Hot Springs, is an approximately 500-acre landscape within the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve of western Alaska. The National Preserve was established on December 2, 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). Located about 55 miles southeast of Shishmaref, Alaska, an Inupiat village on the coast of the Chukchi Sea, Iyat lies in a bowl-shaped valley. The valley contains the geothermal springs of Hot Springs Creek and is defined by the surrounding tor-covered hillsides, these rocky outcroppings arising from the otherwise gently-sloping terrain. Although most frequently referred to as Serpentine Hot Springs, the traditional Inupiaq word for the site is “Iyat” which means “cooking pot” or “a large bowl filled with food to provide for the community;” an apt description of the landscape. In this CLI the landscape will be referred to as “Iyat.” The period of significance at Iyat is identified at 10,000 BCE to 2003, associated with areas of Native American ethnic heritage, health and medicine, and religion. The landscape continues to express cultural practices and values of the groups that have inhabited this region for an extended period of time, embodying the beliefs of a living community that are rooted in its long history and therefore helping to preserve a continuing cultural identity of the community through its landscape. The significance of Iyat is also connected to particular individuals; namely, two young men of legend known as Itigagituq and Ulugaagzruq. The oral tradition provides moral instruction, historical origin of the site, and a description of how local shaman (anatkuut) earned or received their powers. Oral history and tradition document a continuous Inupiat connection to Iyat for religious, medicinal, subsistence, and recreational activities for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Traditional stories identify Iyat as a training ground for Inupiaq shamans and as a place where the most powerful shaman spirits dwell. They note the hot springs, “unaatuq,” as the source of medicinal treatment and healing. Archeological investigations conducted at the site provide evidence that people utilized the site for at least 3500 years, and possibly as early as 9000 years ago. Inupiat of the Seward Peninsula and surrounding areas continue to use and revere the site today. In the early 1900s, miners began using the lower springs for rest and recreation and constructed a bunkhouse, bathhouse, and hot tub, naming the site “Arctic Hot Springs.” By 1945 an airstrip had been cleared with a bulldozer just north of the upper springs location. Evidently in response to the deterioration of the buildings at the lower springs, miners installed a World War II “knock-down” bunkhouse at Serpentine Hot Springs (upper springs). In 1977, people from Shishmaref built a new bathhouse to replace an older deteriorating building in this area. Local Inupiat distinguish the sites as “Old Hot Springs” and “Hot Springs,” using the term “Iyat” to refer to the site as a whole. NPS frequently consults with the Village of Shishmaref regarding management decisions at Iyat, in recognition of the importance of the site to the Inupiat. This includes conversations with the Shishmaref I.R.A. Council, the Shishmaref City Council, and the Shismaref Native Corporation. Contributing features within the Iyat landscape include Hot Springs Creek, the valley, the surrounding hills and tors, Serpentine Hot Springs site, the hot springs pool, the cold-water diversion ditch, a pond ½ mile north of the upper hot springs (a source of “good water”), Arctic Hot Springs site, and archeological sites. Non-contributing features include the bunkhouse, bathhouse, outdoor privy, and airstrip.

Iyat (Serpentine Hot Springs): Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Bering Land Bridge National Preserve

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