Otto William Geist (December 27, 1888 – August 3, 1963), a.k.a. Aghvook, was an

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, explorer and naturalist who worked in the circumpolar north and for the

University of Alaska The University of Alaska System is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Alaska. It was created in 1917 and comprises three separately accredited universities on 19 campuses. The system serves nearly 30,000 full- and part-time stud ...

for much of his adult life.

Biography

Geist was born in Kircheiselfing, Bavaria to Franz Anton Geist and his wife. He had 14 brothers and sisters. Geist came to Alaska in the early 1920s with his brother Joseph, and worked for the

Alaska Railroad Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, as an engineer on board the sternwheeler ''Teddy R.'', and as a miner in Bettles, Alaska. In 1925 he began collecting Native artifacts and in 1926 began collecting for the university, with support from university president

Charles E. Bunnell Charles Ernest Bunnell (January 12, 1878 – November 1, 1956) was a district judge for the United States Fourth Judicial Division and the University of Alaska's first president, from 1921 to 1949. He ran for Alaska Territorial Delegate to Con ...

. While on

St. Lawrence Island St. Lawrence Island ( ess, Sivuqaq, russian: Остров Святого Лаврентия, Ostrov Svyatogo Lavrentiya) is located west of mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea, just south of the Bering Strait. The village of Gambell, located on t ...

in 1927, he commissioned

Siberian Yupik Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alask ...

artist Florence Nupok Malewotkuk to draw a series of drawings of everyday scenes and people for the university. Some drawings were also included in Geist's report ''Archaeological Excavations at Kukulik'', published by the United States Department of the Interior. During World War II, Geist helped to organize the

Alaska Territorial Guard The Alaska Territorial Guard (ATG), more commonly known as the Eskimo Scouts, was a military reserve force component of the US Army, organized in 1942 in response to attacks on United States soil in Hawaii and occupation of parts of Alaska by Jap ...

. Geist died in 1963 from parasites in uncooked meat (probably bear meat).R. Dale Guthrie,
The Nature of Paleolithic Art
' (University of Chicago Press, 2005), p. 244.

Legacy

The building on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus currently known as Signer's Hall was named the Otto William Geist Building and housed the University's museum. The museum moved to a new building on the campus's West Ridge during the 1980s, which was also named for Geist. Geist Road, a section line road marking the southern boundary of the UAF campus, as well as a major arterial road on the west side of Fairbanks and the road connecting the

Johansen Expressway The Johansen Expressway (formally, the Woodrow Johansen Expressway) is a expressway in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Johansen Expressway serves as a northern bypass to the city, and is notable for being the only highway in Alaska to have exit numbers. ...

to the Parks Highway, was also named for him. Mount Geist (10380 ft/3145m), in the Alaska Range 87mi S SE of Fairbanks, was also named for him, to honor this “pioneer researcher of paleontology, archeology and glaceology in Alaska …”

References

Otto W. Geist: A Legend in His Own Lifetime
news release by Charles J. Keim, August 6, 1963. *''Aghvook, White Eskimo. Otto Geist and Alaskan Archaeology''. 1969. Charles J. Keim. Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press.
The Long View
"The Austrian skier, the German archaeologist, and the country that sees subversives everywhere," by Ross Coen,

The Ester Republic ''The Ester Republic'' is a small, independent monthly newspaper published in Ester, Alaska, and established January 1999. The paper serves as an alternative media publication for the Tanana Valley. It is the only newspaper that has been published ...

, v. 10. n. 7, July 2008. 1888 births 1963 deaths People from Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska {{US-academic-scientist-stub