Mike Kunz was born in Texas and raised in New York, but his familial ties to Alaska existed long before his birth. In 1898, his great-grandfather joined the famous Klondike Gold Rush in search of riches and adventure. Long afterwards, great-grandson Mike read the elder Kunz's personal diary of that trek, and the special magic of Alaska began to take hold. Mike's father had also served in the Arctic during World War II, and his stories further reinforced the allure of the north.

Mike earned his Bachelor's degree in Archaeology at Eastern New Mexico University, and did graduate work at Washington State University. While Mike was working toward his own advanced degree, a fellow Archaeology doctoral candidate asked him to lend a hand for a summer with field work. Mike spent a rewarding, exciting season near Alaska's Healy Lake, helping to excavate an archaeological site, and has been working in Alaska pretty much continuously since then.

In 1978, Mike discovered what is now known as "the Mesa site" while doing environmental compliance work north of the Arctic Circle for BLM. Scattered across the top of an isolated, 200-foot-high mesa were several broken projectile points and stone flakes, which strongly indicated the presence of an archaeological site. Having studied Paleoindian cultures of the American Southwest, Mike realized that these Alaskan artifacts seemed very similar to those he'd seen thousands of miles away in the blazing desert.

Mike's work at the Mesa site has continued for over 19 years now - check out more details through our "Background Information" link!