Michael Livingston began sea kayaking in Cold Bay on the lower Alaska Peninsula in the 1960s in a kayak built by his father. In the 1970s Michael studied the ancient art of Unungan iqyak construction under Aleut elder Sergie Sovoroff. In 2000 Michael and his team of wood workers and skin sewers built a two-hatch uluxtux at the Alaska Native Heritage Center's Qayaqs and Canoes project, later portrayed on the British Broadcast Corporation's Edge of the Ice program. Michael currently studies the archaeology of ancient spiritual beliefs and will present on how the history of Unungan Quga-x (shamanism ) relates to sea kayak construction and use in 21st century Aleut culture camps.