Marvelous! Looks like it was owned by a Raven clan member, probably a shaman who used it in healing ceremonies. I'm surprised there seems to be no yellow cedar used in the building of it but the pineapple-ish shape makes me think it is newer, maybe closer to only 100 years old. There must have been a Pacific Islander who was lost at sea in a storm, and washed up in his battered outrigger on the shores of BC way back, who brought the sacred knowledge to the Northwest Coast Indian artisan (it sure looks Haida to me) who created this beauty. How it got to Alaska I can't figure, the formline art there is more variable, but it was probably traded for copper. The pickup is a little fishy though. Maybe someone found this fine instrument previously and recently, and altered it; then realizing it was sacred and they might arouse the wrath of Dznokwa, put it back. That would explain it being completely exposed on the bank and not still partially buried.