Alan S. Boraas (April 17, 1947 – November 4, 2019[1]) is a professor of anthropology at Kenai Peninsula College in Alaska.
On a whim, he took a class in anthropology in his freshman year, and loved it so much that he sought out a summer position as an archaeological helper, though normally the school hired only graduate students.
His persistence paid off and he was offered work at an archaeological dig at Mille Lacs, Minnesota, where his farm background came in handy, as he was one of the few students who could operate the heavy equipment used to move dirt away from the site after initial excavation by hand.
On his last day of work on the cabin, he was approached by Clayton Brockel, founding director of Kenai Peninsula Community College, who asked him if he would like to teach Adult Basic Education.
Boraas worked half-time at the college helping adults earn high school equivalency degrees.
At Wildwood, Boraas made his first contacts with members of the Kenai Peninsula's Alaska Native community.
Kalifornsky and Nissen gave their permission for the dig, but did impose some restrictions, which Boraas and his team respected.
[2][6] He returned to Soldotna and worked with Kenai Peninsula Community College and the Pratt Museum in Homer on an archaeological dig near Halibut Cove on Kachemak Bay, where remains were found both of Dena'ina occupation and of remains from an earlier occupation by a seagoing Alutiiq people known as the Kachemak Tradition.
Boraas recorded Kalifornsky's accounts on tape, but as of 2000, when the interview took place, he felt unready to go back to them because of the intensity of the emotional experience.
The Cook Inlet region was ignored as the company sought sea otter pelts all the way down the coast to Chile.
Boraas's presentation at the conference, which had the theme "Reconfiguring Native America," focused on the efforts of the Kenaitze Indian Tribe to rebuild indigenous identity.
[3] A number of Boraas' works are referenced in the Bibliography of Sources on Dena’ina and Cook Inlet Anthropology, of which he is coeditor.