of occupation. The midden on North Bight Beach was investigated, revealing much about the native diet. Bird, mammal, and fish bones were identified, ranked in order of frequency of appearance. Almost no invertebrates were found in the midden. Twenty-three species of birds were identified from their bones, twenty-one of which were sea birds. Mammal bones were almost exclusively those of Steller sea lion. Among the bones found was a rib of a Steller's sea cow, a relative of modern-day manatees, which became extinct in 1768 due to over-hunting by Russian fur traders. This was among the first evidence of Steller's sea cow ever found beyond the Commander Islands of Russia. The rib was carbon dated to approximately 400 C.E. Dating evidence suggests that human occupation of Buldir Island was not continuous. Further, it appears that occupation was sometimes by people coming from the Near Islands, sometimes by people coming from the Rat Islands, and during some periods, by both peoples. It is not clear why early people would have risked the dangerous voyage across the open sea to reach Buldir. Archeologists speculate that resource scarcity or other turmoil in the larger island groups may have forced people to Buldir as a matter of survival. Another theory is that it was a neutral ground between the two larger island groups that allowed the two peoples to mingle. A large house framed with whalebone was found by archeologists, dating from the mid-seventeenth century. Some of the whales were large, suggesting they had been harvested locally by people living on Buldir. Both the size of this construction and others, and the many artifacts recovered from archeological excavations suggest that occupation of Buldir, while sporadic over the centuries, was by people who were living there rather than passing through on their way from one island group to the next. The recorded history of Buldir Island begins with Vitus Bering's Second Kamchatka Expedition. Bering's ship, St. Peter, left Petropavlosk, Kamchatka in June 1741 and reached what is now known as Kayak Island near the mouth of Prince William Sound on July 20. Crewmen went ashore to replenish the ship's fresh water supply. The next day Bering began the return voyage. His hope was to arrive in Kamchatka before scurvy and winter storms proved fatal. Contrary winds and currents made for slow going along the Aleutian chain. By October 28, 1741, scurvy stalked the ship. The