Beth Shapiro

There was a ton of gold mining activity in the 50s and 60s around Fairbanks.

Yeah.

Near Dawson, it's called the Klondike region, you have this really fine glacial silt.

And that settles in different places in different quantities.

And it settles really quickly.

So you get this really fast, thick buildup of this really fine silt that preserves the bones really well.

So when we go, the gold miners, they're plaster mining.

So they're taking these high-pressure water hoses and washing away this frozen dirt.

Then they let it thaw for a bit.

And then they wash away the next layer.

They're trying to get to the gold-bearing gravel that's underneath.

Yeah.

But while they're doing that, literally thousands, tens of thousands of bones come out of there.

And in some places, it's more rich, more intense than others.

But it's there.

I've taken students up there.

And they're all mopey because of the mosquitoes.

And they're mopey because they're 19.

And they're like, oh, we're never going to find anything.

They jump out of the trucks.