sign in sign up
<<
Home , Ainu cuisine, Ainu in Russia, Alaska Native art, Alaska Peninsula, Aleut, Alutiiq

Crossroads

Native Cultures

Arctic Studies Center {

National Museum of Natural History I " | \ Washington, D.C.

Crossroads Alaska

Native Cultures

^ ofAlaska and

5 IC 5<^S Valerie Chaussonnet

Arctic Studies Center National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C.

1995 Captions indicate the largest dimension, ofthe height, length, width, or diameter ofthe artifact

Cover Photos:

Bock Cover. Top Left. Inside Front Chaussonnet, Valerie Cover. Udegei shamans Western Thule culture Crossroads Alaska: native cultures of Alaska drum cover from () Udegei shaman- and Siberia / Valerie Chaussonnet. Khor River, woman with hair in ancestorfigure

River , , bun, collected in riding his helping 112 pp. 21.59 X 29.68 cm. from the late 1800s. Punuk Island, spirit, collected in Made of birch hark, Alaska, by Henry B. 1959 by V.G. Lar'kin Includes bibliographical references. , pigment, and Collins in 1929, in the village of - . Vladivostok dated at about A.D. Gvasiugi. The wood- 1 . - Alaska - Material culture

Maritime Museum, 1000. #A342783. en shaman is dressed Exhibitions. 2. Eskimos - Russia - Siberia -

Russia. #2180-8a. 3. 7 cm. See also in leather andfur. Material culture - Exhibitions. 3. Indians of ~ 74 cm. See also 65. This is a powerful - Alaska - Material culture - p. , . protector for the prac- Exhibitions. 4. Eskimo art - Alaska- P-73. _ ticing shaman, as it Exhibitions. 5. Eskimo art - Russia -

Middle Left. represents a shaman Siberia - Exhibitions. 6. Indian Art -Alaska

Bottom Center. traveling to the - Exhibitions. I. Title. Ulchi Khaka doll ofspirits on the back Asian Eskimo made from paper, ofhis helping spirit, a E99.E7C525 1995 ' float plugfrom Big yarn, andfabric, by tiger-like beast. 979.8'004971-dc20 Diomede Island, G. Kuisali, Amur Vladivostok 95-804

Russia, collected in River, Siberia, 1991. Maritime Museum, CIP 1885 by F.K. Gek, The body with the Russia, #4511-19.

made ofwood and head is inserted into 35-5 cm (beast) and blue glass beads for a slit in the dress at 27 cm (shaman). This catalogue is set in Adobe Caramond the eyes. Vladivostok the neck. See also p. 75. and Futura Bold. Maritime Museum, Regional Museum, Russia, #1132-34. 7 Russia, #VX3/14. Printing: Upstate Litho cm. See also p. 93. 12 cm. See also p. 57. Inside Bock Design: Harp and Company Cover.

Botton Right. shaman with

dagger and typically Athapaskan (Ingalik) long shamans hair

night and day mask style, from the late from the Kuskokwim 1800s. National River, Alaska, 1879, Museum ofNatural made ofwood, pig- History, Smithsonian ments, andfeathers. Institution, National Museum E73837. 24 cm.

ofNatural History, See also p. 72. Smithsonian

Institution, #E64242. 47 cm.

See also p. 74.

2 .

Acknowledgement's

Crossroads Alaska was born out of a The lending museums and institutions Suzi Jones, Cynthia Jones, Leonard larger "Crossroads" concept, which was first for the exhibition are: the National Museum Kammerling, Bruce Kato, Paula Kaufman, developed through the major international of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Mike Kelton, Basile Kerblay, Gennadii exhibition Crossroads of : Cultures of Wishington, D.C; the National Museum and Tatiana Khokhorin, Richard Kilday, Rich Siberia and Alaska (1988-1992), and through of the American Indian, Smithsonian Kleinleder, Richard A. Knecht, Vera Vasil'evna a symposium held in Washington, D.C., in Institution, New York; the University of Kobko, Kathryn Kolkhorst Ruddy, Aleksandr September 1988, both under the leadership of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks; the Koniag Area K. Koniapatskii, Michael E. Krauss, Holly the Smithsonian Institutions Arctic Studies Native Association, Kodiak, Alaska; the Krieg, Igor Krupnik, Georgii Gavrilovich Center. Two volumes were published, the Arsenev Maritime State Museum, Kudelin, Vladislav M. Ladishev, Dinah exhibition catalogue (edited by William W. Vladivostok; the Saklialin Regional Museum, Larsen, Joe Leahy, Aleksandr Lebedintsev,

Fitzhugh and Aron Crowell), and the acts of luzhno-Sakhalinsk; the Arsenev Regional Molly Lee, Mary-Jane Lenz, Ted Levin, the symposium under the title Anthropology Museum, Khabarovsk; the Northeastern Glenda Lindley, Jon Loring, Eve Macintyre,

ofthe North Pacific Rim (edited by William W. Interdisciplinary Research Center, Magadan; Martha Madsen, Ron Manook, Reed Martin, Fitzhugh and Valerie Chaussonnet). The idea and the Kamchatka Regional Museum, Rolando Mayen, Laura McLean, for Crossroads Alaska, a more compact and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski i Pamela Moore, Emanuel Morgan, Shirley easily traveled exhibition, came from regret at Moses, Bradford Nageak, David Neakok, being unable to bring the original Crossroads We wish to acknowledge Russian-American Valerie Jean Nelson, David Norton, exhibit to locations where the artifacts origi- scientific cooperation and friendship in Oliver, Aleksandr Oriakov, Darlene Orr, nated (except, in Alaska, at the Anchorage arctic matters, in particular the persistence Natalia Pavlovna Otki, Ol'ga Pavlova, Robert Museum of History and Art). of the Museum team and the Perantoni, Betsy Pitzman, Aleksei K.

vision of the Arctic Studies Center at the Ponomarenko, Anna Aleksandrovna

Crossroads Alaska was organized by the Smithsonian Institution for making this Ponomareva, Roger Powers, Andrei

Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of exhibition happen. Valentinovich Ptashinskii, Gordon L. Puilar, Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, George Quist, Diane Rathman, Rosemary under the direction of William W. Fitzhugh, For their support, assistance, and Regan, Chris Reinecke, Carol Renter, and curated by Valerie Chaussonnet. encouragement, we wish to thank the James Renter, Paul Rhymer, Svetlana Pavlovna

following individuals: Brenda Abney, Glenn Rozhnova, Susan Rowley, Caroline Sadler, The exhibition was designed, edited, and Adams, Harry Adams, Eduard Efimovich Bernard Saladin d Anglure, Peter and Saltanat produced by the Office of Exhibits Central, Alekseev, Galina Aleksandrovna Aleksiuk, Schweitzer, Linda Shea, Valerii Orionovich Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Helen Alten, Alvin Amason, Terence Shubin, Ol'ga Alekseevna Shubina, John Armstrong, Sergei Aleksandrovich Arutiunov, Siske, Sergei Slobodin, Liz Smalls, Tim Smith, The Alaska tour was coordinated by Mark O. Badger, James H. Barker, Fran^oise Ben Snoufifer, Aleksandr Bagmoevich

Coordinator Extraordinaire Jean Flanagan Barlesi, Hugh Bennett, Steve Bouta, Karen Soktoev, Walter Sorrell, Mary Stachelrodt,

Carlo, Fairbanks, Alaska. Brewster, Marga Bufifard, Pat Burke, Todd Tim Stone, Svetlana Aleksandrovna Tag'ek,

Burrier, Vladimir Valer'evich Bychkov, J.B. Tasian Tein, Sue Thorsen, Ted Timreck, Funding and assistance were provided by: Bynum, Harold Campbell, Glen and Elena Anton Tynel', Anthony Valentine, C^atharine the Alaska Humanities Forum; the Alaska Carlo, Rosemary Carlton, James Carr, Valentour, Walter VanHorn, Ruslan

State Council on the Arts; the Alaska State Helene Carrere d'Encausse, Sue Carter, Alex Sergeevich Vasil'evskii, Igor Vorobei, Alvina Museums, Juneau, and Castro, Wanda Chin, Lora Collins, Peter Voropaeva, Tibor Wildner, William Museum, Sitka; the Anchorage Museum of Corey, Aron Crowell, Liudmila Mikhailovna Walton, Eric Wishington, Betsy Webb, Kim History and Art; British Petroleum; Danilina, Hazel Daro, Richard and Nora Wells, Janet Williams, Pat , Rosita the Department of Anthropology, National Dauenhauer, Mark Daughhetee, Valerie Worl, Miranda Wright, Kenneth Young, Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Davidson, Anatolii Panteleevich Derevianko, Jocelyn Young, and Jon Zastrow. Institution; the City of Fairbanks Hotel/Motel Koji Deriha, Dominique Desson, Eileen

Bed Tax Fund; the Friends of the Alaska Devinney, Terry P. Dickey, Edith Dietze, Special thanks to my parents Colette and State Museum; the Friends of the University Nikolai N. Dikov, E. James Dixon, Pierre Chaussonnet, and to my husband of Alaska Museum; Man and the Biosphere; Bernadette Driscoll, Nancy Eddy, Sarah Norman R. Dorsett. the National Endowment for the Arts; Elder, Danny Fielding, Ann Fienup-Riordan, the National Park Service, Anchorage, and Jean Flanagan Carlo, Joseph Engel, Marnie Fhis catalogue was edited by the Bcringian International Park project; Forbis, Paul Gardinicr, Martinc de Gaudemar, Rosemary Regan. the National Science Foundation; the Craig Gerlach, Nelson H.H. Graburn, The artifacts were photographed by Smithsonian Institution Special Exhibition Jana Harcharek, Mike Headley, Steve Carl Hansen and Laurie Penland, Fund; the University of Alaska Museum, Henrikson, Gail Hollingcr, Chang-su National Museum of Natural History,

Fairbanks; and Young and Associates. Houchins, Jerry Howard, Karlin Ichoak, Smithsonian Institution.

Mina A. Jacobs, Teresa John, Aldona Jonaitis, Catalogue design by Harp and C^ompany.

3 A la memoire de mon ami,

Andris Slapins. Table of Contents

6 Preface, William W. Fitzhugh

8 Introduction, Valerie Chaussonnet

10 Native Cultures of Siberia and Alaska

10 Inupiaq, ]a}ia Hairharek and Rachel Craig

12 Yupik, Larry Kairaiunk and Darlene Orr

14 , Gordon L. Pullar and Richard A. Knecht

16 , Barbara Svarny Carbon

18 Athapaskan, Melinda Chase, Miranda Wright, and Bernice Joseph

20 Tlingit, Nora Marks Danenhauer and Richard Danenhaiier

22 Native peoples of the Russian and Chukotka, Igor Krupnik

24 , Igor Knipnik

26 Chukchi, Igor Krupnik

28 Koryak, Igor Krupnik

30 Even, Igor Krupnik

32 Amur River, Igor Krupnik

34 Nivkh, Igor Krupnik

36 Ancestral Times, WiUiam W. Fitzhugh

48 Crossroads Times, Valerie Chaussonnet 48 Home

54 Children: Dolls and Toys

60 Fashion

68 Spirits

76 : for People, Food for Spirits

82 People, , and the Land

88 . People, Animals, and the

94 Strangers: War, Trade, Contact

98 Alaska Native Graphic Art, Susan W Fair 108 Maps 110 Bibliography 112 Catalogue Contributors

5 — Preface

William W. Fitzhugh

s originally conceived almost depleted of its most valuable furs and on both sides of . After nearly a rwenry years ago, the Crossroads seamammals, military confronta- decade of planning, during which our pro- A project was planned as a way tion and industrial development brought ject was interrupted by the Soviet invasion of to explore and celebrate the a new wave of external forces into the Afghanistan and the downing of the Korean

shared heritage of the peoples and cultures region. Languages, cultures, and kin were jetliner, it seemed that we would finally

surrounding Bering Strait. The Russian, separated on either side of an artificial accomplish our goal when the last hurdle, Canadian, and American curators who creat- boundary that Native peoples had Soviet agreement to display the Crossroads ed the original exhibit Crossroads of never previously recognized. exhibition in the , was cleared Continents: Cultures ofSiberia and Alaska in 1987. Shortly after, in 1988, Crossroads opened a new era of cooperation in research The same fate befell the early archival of Continents opened at the Smithsonian and and museum studies across Bering Strait and artifact collections gathered by the earli- began a three-year North American tour to

that had been abandoned for more than half est Westerners who visited these . Seattle, New York, Indianapolis, Los Angeles,

a century as a wave of political, ideological, Artifacts documenting the early history of Anchorage, and Ottawa. The show was

and economic competition swept over North Pacific peoples, collected by explorers greeted with great acclaim, and its message

the globe. Ironically, nowhere was this clash and scientists over two centuries from the of cultural interchange and open borders

more evident than along the shores of to the 1920s, found themselves on found resonance in a new-found spirit of

the North Pacific and Bering Strait, where either side of impenetrable political barriers. openness and political reconciliation of the

Native peoples had been in contact for The greatest collection of early Alaskan "glasnost" era.

ages before Europeans arrived. artifacts, gathered by the Russian scientist

I.e. Voznesenskii from But just when the Crossroads exhibit was

To outsiders this region appeared almost in the 1840s, had been sent to St Petersburg, about to complete its tour in North America,

too remarkable for words. Its lands and where it became inaccessible to . new and unforeseen barriers emerged as the waters teemed with life, and its peoples had In a corresponding twist of fate, the largest economic and social structure of the Soviet

learned to utilize its resources to produce and best-documented collections of north- Union collapsed, leaving its museums with-

cultures of great vitality and distinctiveness. eastern , gathered by Russian anthropol- out funds and its transportation and security

In the Natives' clothing and skin boats; in ogists W. Bogoras and W. Jochelson for systems in disarray. Our colleagues at the their social organization and mythology; the Jesup North Pacific Expedition^, went Institute of Ethnography (Soviet Academy of and in their art and religion, early explorers to the storerooms of the American Museum Sciences) now had more immediate concerns and scientists sensed sophistication and of Natural History in New York City, and than honoring exhibit agreements; nor complexity. Perhaps most striking, from the thereafter were never seen in Russia. Thus could they guarantee the safety of the objects

European point of view, was Native recog- Native people as well as the general popula- for the planned Russian tour. For a while

nition of a special spiritual link that joined tion of Russia and North America became we thought that the absenceof Russian funds

humans, animals, and their homelands in forever estranged from a major portion could be solved by American donors,

a bond of mutual respect that permeated all of their heritage. but none could be found. We then tried to

aspects of life. Such beliefs, if they had arrange a tour in ; but this also fell

ever been present in Western culture, had Deprived of the means for learning about victim to problems of financing and sched-

fallen prey to human domination thousands the history of Native cultures in their own ules. Ironically, the forces of change that

of years earlier as people learned to manip- lands, Americans and on both had helped launch Crossroads now blocked

ulate their environment and imposed an sides suffered intellectual and aesthetic losses. our efforts to bring the message of joint

ideology of human control over everything Throughout the 20th century, as political Beringian heritage to both sides.

in their path. and economic forces prevailed, it became

increasingly difficult for outsiders or Native By this time it became clear that the big

That path reached around the globe to peoples to see this region as having shared Crossroads which, with its large number of

the North Pacific from two directions, as a common past. In the absence of contacts artifacts, heavy display cases, and complicat-

Russian and advanced and dialogue across Bering Strait, its peoples ed travel and conservation requirements,

to Bering Strait from the west in the 17th began to be seen as separate, alienated, could never meet another one of our goals

century and as European explorers and aligned only with their current political states. that of bringing early Beringian collections

whalers advanced from the east in the 1 8th back to the Native communities where and 19th centuries. By the mid-20th The Crossroads of Continents exhibit was they had originated. For this a new and sim-

century, with its peoples racked by Western- designed to address this accident of

introduced diseases and its environment history by combining cultural materials from northeastern Siberia and northwestern North America into a single joint traveling exhibition that could be seen by peoples

6 pier arrangement had to be made. It also of local culture experts and museum curators We have always thought that Crossroads seemed best to prepare a completely different who represent the cultures of the North should be seen as a beginning rather than

exhibit, one that built upon the Crossroads Pacific and Beringian region directly. Almost an end. If so, we would be gratified if

themes but used artifacts horn local Siberian all the objects illustrated have never been Crossroads Alaska/Siberia may at least be "the

and Alaskan museums and depended on published or previously exhibited. It also end of the beginning": the end of our local curators. In short we wanted to create a takes advantage of a special artistic feature effort to bring portions of the great museum show that would enhance local artistic and of the cultures of the region—the produc- collections from the North Pacific out of educational programs rather than be seen as tion of detailed, elegant miniatures and the storerooms and in front of the public in another "outsider" view of Native cultures. models that were made specifically by their a way that explores diversity while at the Native creators to represent these items same time seeks continuities. We also hope

With this goal in mind we assembled a to their own people (often, but not exclu- it is the end of a tradition in which team ol "mini-crossroads" curators sively, to children), as well as to outsiders. Westerners take the in presenting the that included the project directors, Valerie By selecting niiniatiues and models we cultures of North Pacific peoples to others Chaussonnet and William Fitzhugh, also solved the thorny problem of how to and themselves. Even in the of together with E. James Dixon, Richard illustrate objects from the many cultures our project we have seen evolution in atti- Jordan, and Roger Powers of the University of the region in a small space, and, in the tudes and approaches that bring Native of Alaska, and Darlene Orr of the case of this publication, in a small book. peoples of today into closer contact with Carrie McLaine Museum in Nome. With traditional knowledge that they have funds from the Smithsonian and the The presentation that follows, like the been deprived of for more than 150 years.

Alaska Humanities Council, we travelled to exhibit, is organized along thematic Fortunately, now there are few physical barri- the in March 1991, to lines. Following introductions to the individ- ers to the exchange of information and inspect collections and consult with curators ual cultures that occupy the region, and materials across Bering Strait. We may hope from museums of the Russian Far East. their histories from ancient times to the pre- that our experience of the 20th century

Staging our own "crossroads of curators," we sent, the materials have been grouped into will be seen as anomalous in the larger frame arrived in Provideniia on a Bering Air categories of subsistence, technology, domes- of time, and that the process of exchange, flight from Nome and began the process of tic and social life, art, and religion. The once reborn, will accelerate. We can only inspecting collections and discussing the focus throughout is on traditional cultures hope that the beauty of these materials will possibilities of our new exhibit and cultural as they existed in the 19th-early 20th continue to inspire new generations of exchange plan. centuries, before Russian/Soviet or Euro- North Pacific peoples to express their views American cultures produced massive changes of themselves and the world around

The Russian Far East research tour, in the lives and material culture of North them with the grace and artistry seen in the which was arranged by Valerii Shubin of Pacific peoples. We have also tried to present creations of their ancestors. This, surely, the Sakhalin Museum, was wildly successful. both the traditional ethnographic views is a proper role for museum treasures.

Over a period of two weeks we were able of these diverse cultures together with mod- to visit museums in Provideniia, , ern views written by contemporary

Magadan, Khabarovsk, luzhno-Sakhalinsk, cultural leaders.-^ 1 Vladivostok, and Novosibirsk, where The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, directed we consulted with scientists and curators; This exhibit and catalogue should therefore by Franz Boas, the "father" of American studied collections; and made preliminary be seen in at least two dimensions. Above Anthropology, was the first truly scientific selections of exhibition materials. We all, it illustrates the marvelous diversity and of the cultures and history of the returned with ideas and encouragement ingenuity of the cultures and peoples of North Pacific and took place in 1897-1903. from new-found Russian colleagues, and the North Pacific region who have learned to during the next two years developed an exhi- adapt to their environments in unique 2 bition plan that eventually won financial and creative ways. This is especially obvious Important contributions were also made support from the Informal Science Educa- in the design of Native clothing and to the project by the Smithsonian's Special tion Program of the National Science decorative styles applied to garments and Exhibition Fund, the Alaska Humanities

Foundation for Crossroads Alaska/Siberia. artifacts, for which each culture has a distinc- Council, the National Park Service,

The Foundation, and later the National tive pattern that is clearly differentiated from and the State Department's Man and the

Endowment for the Humanities, was partic- that of its neighbors. Second, one can see Biosphere Program. ularly interested in using the exhibit as a within this vast array of diversity many com- pilot project for rural delivery of science and mon themes and similarities — similarities 3 arts education.^ in technology of sea mam- Unfortunately, because of commimication

mals used throughout the North Pacific difficulties and printing deadlines, it was

This exhibition and book, both beautifully coastal regions; in artifact types and ritual not possible to acquire contributions from presented by Curator Valerie Chaussonnet, used by -herding peoples in Siberia; Native scholars and cultural specialists are unique in several respects. While illustrat- in cross-cultural similarities in hunting from the Russian side of the Alaska-Siberia ing themes previously explored in the larger "harvest" festivals, in attitudes toward the "Crossroads" area. In a future edition we exhibition (cultural diversity and complexity; dead; and in beliefs about spirits and hope to be able to include their perspectives history, art, technology, and religion; and humans' place in the world around them, on their own cultures, when the exhibit shared traditions and cultural patterns), and many others. tours the Russian Far East in 1996-97. For

"mini-Crossroads" carries these ideas directly this volume, we invited one of the leading to the peoples whoare responsible for them, Russian ethnographers of the region, Igor in the form of a small touring exhibit and Krupnik, to present general profiles of these catalogue that represents the efforts and ideas Siberian Native groups.

7 "

"First glance at

the ground glass. Tanana, Alaska.

F. B. Drane

Collection, about 1920. University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska and Polar

Region Archives, neg. #91-046-520. Introduction

Valerie Chaussonnet

Dwelling is the manner in of objects in the ethnological collections Images are always a reduction. This which mortals are on the of museums are anonymous, but their heirs catalogue is an image of an exhibition, and ." "Building Dwelling (the museum public and researchers, the exhibition an image of North Pacific

Thinking" in Basic Writings, including today's Native descendants) may cultures. However, cultures are complex. No

Martin Heidegger catch a glimpse of their minds, lives, matter how large or comprehensive the

values, and through these, of the life of a exhibition, making an exhibit about cultures

Making a dwelling a home by conceiving, particular culture at a particular time. is truly a magic trick! In such exhibitions, fabricating, and using unique, personal, The artifacts in the collection presented here what we take to be a picture of a culture is functional, or surprising objects is a universal sometimes carry the marks of owners, usually what artists, the artifacts' makers, human endeavor that found a high expres- users, collectors, or dealers as well. We fur- lead us to see. The hallmark of this particular sion among the Native peoples of Alaska ther hope the photos in this catalogue exhibition is the small size of the objects, and the Russian Far East. Crossroads Alaska will convey the excitement and happiness many of them miniatures and models. is about the living spirit of North Pacific we felt in exhuming artifacts from Indeed, Crossroads Alaska's miniatures are cultures, as contained within a collection of drawers, sorting and sharing them through objects that were originally designed to edu- some three hundred very old to brand an exhibition. cate, testify, and demonstrate in their new small objects. Ranging from thousand- Native context. Since the reduction was orig- year-old insect-shaped harpoon heads to Some pieces already travelled in previous inal and intended by the creators of the late nineteenth-century tool boxes in the exhibitions. These museum "stars" objects, we feel that through our selection we form of , these objects were designed to include the whale labret (Fig. 100), the night have been as loyal to the spirit of the make their owner feel at home in his and day mask (Fig. 79), and some of the cultures as an exhibition can be. Here these or her universe. Most of" these artifacts were archeological Kodiak and Ushki pieces miniature teachers continue to fulfill built for use in the village or away on the (Figs. 20, 21, 38, 73 and 74). Others have the purpose for which they were created. hunt rather than for market, and several are never been exhibited before, despite their miniatures used as teaching aids. They obvious appeal (e.g. the giant goose. Fig. 49). It should be obvious to all that every were all chosen from American and Russian Many were travellers before they were object has a spirit. This fact, if recognized, museum collections as objects that best captured into a museum collection, many for presents museums with a major dilemma. tell the story of the inexhaustible creativity long distances, such as every single bead How can an exhibition convey the spirit of a and resourcefulness of Alaskan and in the exhibition and most of the metal. culture through the spirit of its objects?

Siberian people when it comes to making the Some pieces presented here are rare, such Objects of the real world roam free and trav- world a warmer, more beautiful, more as the Kerek dogs (Fig. 95) or the Asian el along nomadic paths of hunters, giftgivers, significant, more efficient, and therefore Eskimo masks (Fig. 70) from the Vladivostok and traders long before they are trapped more human home. collections. into storage spaces, and then sent to travel in climatically conditioned plexiglas exhibit

Dwelling is basically the art of creating one's Crossroads Alaska has a life and character cases. In their free state, they usually travel surroundings from the existing environment of its own. The feel of the show is intimate by , small pouches, canoes, dog or and resources, according to the aesthetic and precious. Because of the small size of reindeer sleds, and as a rule, the small ones and social rules of one's group. Within this the artifacts, one must draw close to the arti- travel the most. With Crossroads Alaska context, artists have individual freedom facts, as to a jewelry display. we have tried to return some of these small to interpret the rules, limited only by skills treasures to the familiar trails. We hope or tools. North Pacific resources in terms we have contributed at least a little to awak- of materials and cultural imagery are ening among viewers some echo of extremely vast and varied, and many artifacts the strength that created these pieces. presented in this exhibition testify to the joy, humor, fear, or obsessions of generations of highly skilled craftsmen and crafts- women. Unfortunately, most creators

9 Inupiaq

Jana Harcharek and Rachel Craig

Barrow women sewing bearded sealskin cover over frame. Photo Charles Brower. Denver Museum ofNatural History, neg. #BA21-753.

achel Craig: Our name for out the year to ensure a successfiil season. A name of the new village was anglicized from

ourselves is Inupiaq ("the real remarkable ceremonial building excavated the Inupiaq word nuurvik to Noorvik ("the

people"). The root of the word is at Utqiagvik, near Barrow, suggests that for pre- place that people moved to"). Those of us with

inuk ("a person, a human being"). historic villagers, whales were the focus of roots in the Deering area also have relatives in

social and spiritual life. Noorvik.

Jana Harcharek: I am an Inupiaq of

Alaska's North Slope Borough. As the indige- Traditional knowledge, passed from generation The next village east is Buckland, whose people

nous people of that region, we have occupied to generation, proves that the Inupiat had have been known as Kangigmiut since time an area encompassing more than 90,000 detailed information about bowhead behavior, immemorial. For centuries the Kangigmiut

square miles and sustained ourselves on its which only recently, and only to a limited have harvested beluga from Escholtz Bay. This

abundant natural resources for thousands of extent, has been acknowledged by western sci- is usually a community effort right after ice

years. Archeological evidence shows that the ence. This knowledge endures through the break-up, the only time that the beluga migrate

Point area has inhab- practice associated that area. Hope been continuously continuing of customs with through The Kangigmiut were ,

ited since approximately 400 B.C., though a subsistence lifestyle. also known in traditional times for their clay

humans may have used the general area several pottery, much sought after before metal pots

thousand years earlier. People bearing an RC: The elders of the coastal region view and pans were brought to the region. Another

Inupiaq technology were using local resources Sound as their food-storage delicacy from Buckland is smelts, which

in the north Alaskan interior from about area. From it they harvest beluga whale, beard- villagers dry every spring (now they also store

A.D. 1000 until well after A.D. 1300. Inupiat ed seals, ringed seals, spotted seals, and wal- them in freezers). Although Buckland continue to occupy the same area and utilize rus—not to mention , humpies, people are considered coastal, they live upriver

the same resources as they did centuries ago, , white fish, sheefish, herring, smelts, tom- along the Buckland River.

living in harmony with one another, revering , , and bullhead in season. In

the land, the , and all of its bounties. the fall, when heavy storms begin to move in Not far from Buckland is the ghost town of before freeze-up, they harvest blue mussels Candle. A thriving - town in the

RC: I am an Inupiaq of the NANA along die beach and catch sea ribbons in nets. early 1900s, it had a hospital, three hotels, (Northwest Arctic Native Association) region, restaurants, and people of many ethnic groups,

which lies south of the North Slope. It is a RC: Let me tell you about the NANA region. including Inupiat from around the region. But varied environment, with forests, , At the west end, below the , are when the price of gold dipped, people moved

canyons, mountains, wide valleys, sand dunes, the people of Deering, known as away. The Kialukiigmiut are gone, but those

rocky beaches, and sandy beaches. Some of Ipnatchiagmiut ("people of the bluffs"). Theirs who once lived there still return to fish or pick

its people live on the coast of ; is a coastal culture. In addidon to harvesting berries. There is also a reindeer herd at Candle.

some along the river systems. All speak from Kotzebue Sound, they also pick berries,

Inupiaq, with varying dialects that reveal sourdocks, and willow leaves to vary their diet. In the east, inland, the Kuuvagmiut ("people

ones place of origin. of the big river") lived in a forested area along About 1915, teachers from the Bureau of the Kobuk River. The Inupiaq name usually

JH: Long before contact with explorers and Indian Aifairs (BIA) persuaded the Natives of refers to people living on the Upper Kobuk in

whalers in the mid-to-late 1800s, coastal Deering to move their village to Putu, which the villages of Kobuk, Shungnak, and Ambler.

Inupiaq life was woven into a complex society was well forested and had rivers abundant with Being inland, the area is subject to extreme

based on subsistence hunting of bowhead fish. However, some stayed behind and others heat in summer and cold in winter. Vegetation

whales {Baleana mysticetus). Ceremonies associ- moved in, so that today Deering is growing in is lush, and wild game and fish abound. In

ated with the bowhead were practiced through- popula-tion like any of our other villages. The traditional umes, the Kuuvagmiut's trading

10 "

items were dried fish, Rirs, and birchbark lagoon side is eroding. There is no room for patterns, and land forms. Skill in hunting

baskets. They hunted caribou in the Noatak new houses and families crowd into existing was and still is necessary for cultural continuity

Mountains, using log floats to bring homes. So much for decisions by government in the Arctic.

dried meat, fat, marrow, and sicins back to the people with no experience in the Arctic!

villages. Modernization has meant that people must be

Southeast of Kivalina is Noatak, where two equipped both with traditional skills, which

The ancient Kobuk people lived in small groups of people lived. Those who settled enable them to thrive culturally, and with skills

setdements near the headwaters oi the Kuuvak, in the forest were the Napaaqtugmiut needed for success in the modern world.

until gold miners came (1898) and schools ("people of the forest "). The other group, the Inupiat had to institute forms of government

began to be established (1905-15). Because of Nunataagmiut, traveled to the headwaters and corporate enterprise that were initially

flooding in the spring ice break-up, some of the Noatak River every year, following the foreign to them; they must now have formal

families left Kobuk to establish the village of caribou. After ice break-up in the spring, schooling in order to profit from these oppor-

Shungnak in the 1920s. In the 1950s, they returned to the coast to fish, hunt sea tunities. But their experience of survival

some of the Shungnak people decided to mammals, and pick berries. In between in the Arctic has taught them how to adapt to

establish another village closer to sources many of these villages are hunting camps. their environment and rise to challenges.

of wild game, fish, berries, and greens. And so

the town of Ambler was born. In the center of the NANA region, on RCs Our region is much like other rural

the coast, is the village of Kotzebue, named for areas of Alaska. We have worked hard to In the delta of the Kobuk River, the people , a Russian explorer of get decent housing, water, sewers, telecommu-

are called Kuugmiut. They have a legend that German origin. But from time immemorial, nications, health sei-vices, education, and job

after the Great Flood covered the area, some the village has been called Qiqiqtagruk ("the opportunities for our villages. We have devel-

sea serpents became land-locked. So the sea big island"). Qiqiqtagruk has always been the oped a world-class mine in partnership with

serpents dug their way out to the sea, and that's hub of the region. Before any stores were Canadians, but with metal prices very low, we why the Kobuk River has so many bends. built, huge trade fairs were held here, with don't know how long the mine will stay open.

From the village of Kiana on down, the ser- people from the interior and from the coast We still need to develop activities for youth, pents gave birth to their young, who dug out briskly trading with each other. Some Eskimos to keep them from the alcohol and drug

the sloughs and smaller creeks—and that's how even came over from Siberia with tobacco culture. We also want to instill in them our

the Kobuk Delta was made. I like this story and reindeer skins to trade. Old Eskimos talk traditional values, our hunting skills, our

better than the one that scientists tell about ice of previous generations crawling into bed to survival techniques, and to ground them in

ages and the receding icepack. sleep off the effects of Siberian tobacco. It may their identity as Inupiaq people. have been mixed with opium.

The village of Kiana has been there since tradi- JH; The Alaska Native Claims Settlement

tional times and is known as Katyaak ("the JH; On the North Slope, the arrival of Act of 1971 mandated the formation ot fork where the rivers meet '). Many families and institutionalized "education, regional and village corporations. In response, take pride in tracing their roots to Katyaak. beginning about 1900, has had its conse- the Inupiat formed the Arctic Slope

The rejuvenated the site, and the quences. Churches nearly eradicated traditional Regional Corporation and various village

English language made a big impact on the religion. Shamanistic rituals are no longer corporations. In addition, the North Slope culture. However, subsistence food gathering practiced, although some elders have informa- Borough was incorporated as a home-rule still continues here, as it does in all of our tion about these rites. Fortunately, song and government in 1972. Its primary goal was to villages. dance have remained strong. The recent revival provide residents with the same basic services

of Kivgiq ("messenger feast") means that people enjoyed by other Americans. Since then,

Downstream from Kiana is Noorvik (men- have retained intricate ceremonial dance schools, clinics, fire stations, housing, and other tioned above), established around 1915. forms through the ages. service facilities have been built. The regional

A thriving community of coastal and river and village corporations have prospered. people, today it is one of the largest villages RC: The education system almost totally Many young Inupiat attend prestigious schools in the region. Noorvik once had a sawmill and destroyed our traditional culture. Because our and colleges to learn how successful corpora- a hospital, but now the sawmill is abandoned parents were punished in school for speaking tions are run and how governments can benefit and the old hospital has become living Inupiaq, they tried to make school easier for us people. quarters for teachers. by speaking only English to us. In this way they inadvertently became an extension of BIA RC; WTiatever happens, we are very much In the northern part of the NANA region, teachers who wanted to make us assimilate concerned that our people continue to just south of the North Slope, is Kivalina, into industrial society. provide for their families through subsistence originally a summer campsite along the Singaq, hunting, , and plant-gathering. There is a favorite site for , fishing, and Since then, however, we have developed an not enough local industry to replace our berry picking. One summer, BIA teachers pro- curriculum and are subsistence activities. That is how our fore- ceeded to build a school there. In the mean- teaching it in school. But to be successful, this fathers lived; it is the way we live. time, the Native people went back upriver to effort must have the support of Inupiaq their winter homes, close to supplies of wood speakers at home. Few parents speak the lan- JH; Many challenges face the Inupiat today. for heating, , and building. Soon, guage now; for some students, Inupiaq In addition to having to adapt to changes however, they found they had to move back to has become a secret language that their parents caused by development, we also need to main-

Kivalina if they had children of school age. can't understand. tain those values that make us who we are.

Living on the coast was difficult, far from This means taking the best ot what both wood and favorite fishing areas, but the BIA JH; Traditionally, education consisted have to offer and remembering always

teachers had the power to make them conform. in acquiring survival skills. One learned how those values taught us by our ancestors.

Today, the village of Kivalina is considering to navigate on sea and land, in all weathers, a move to higher ground. With global warm- using astronomy, wind, ocean currents, weather For further reading, sec: Burch 1984; Hall

ing, the water table is rising, the beach on the 1984; and Spencer 1984. ocean side is shrinking, and the land on the Larry Kairaiuak: The YupUt to the port town of Provideniia in Chukotka. tional coastal village of Ungaziq (Chaplino), ("the real people") of the - I was among the twenty Yupik passengers but in 1958 the Soviet government saw fit to

Kuskokwim River delta were on that flight. Shortly after I stepped off the move it inland. The Russian Yupik were

one of the last Native peoples to plane, a Native man came up to me and said made to live within fluctuating boundaries be invaded by outsiders. There has not been in Yupik, "I'm from the Kivak clan. Which shared by Russians and Chukchi. The much contact, due to the lack of natural clan are you from?" I was speechless. Here Chukchi and Russian people have become resources in the region, so Yupik Eskimos was a man from a different country, speaking the majority in an area that was once have maintained most of their traditions, my Native language, telling me he was from occupied by Yupik alone. culture, and language. the same clan I was! Forced relocations and the presence of other

Yupik communities cover a large area of That trip was the first of many exchanges cultures have had an adverse effect on the western Alaska, chiefly along rivers and the between the two sides. Today, Yupik people Yupik (Chaplinski) language. Today virtually

Bering Sea coast. Many Yupik villages can travel back and forth without visas. no one under the age of 30 speaks consist of several large extended families. As Chaplinski. Although literacy in the Native in most Native communities in Alaska, LK: The indigenous people of Alaska language began in 1932, it was subject to this social structure has produced a tradition believe that there was a time when people many changes under Soviet policies. of sharing and giving. could become animals, and animals could Chaplinski was used to teach Russian and to become people. A special relationship disseminate Communist beliefs. The younger Darlene Orr: As a Siberian Yupik grow- linked people to animals, the spirit world, generation of Chaplinski speakers has ing up on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering land, and sea. This unique connection to the been affected by Russian pronunciation. Of

Sea, I heard stories of the Ungazighmiit, universe has been essential to survival in course, they say we're the ones who have the other Siberian Yupik people who lived in the arctic regions. In the world, the the strange accent. the forbidding Soviet Union. But nothing members of each species look after each that I heard prepared me for my first meet- other. They warn each other when danger is Unlike Chukotka, few people on St. Lawrence ing with one. For forty years the Cold near, or they call others when one finds Island are non-Yupik, and most islanders

War had cut off all communication and trav- food or a safe haven. They bring food for still speak Siberian Yupik. However, with the el in the Bering Strait region. Before then, their young that are not capable of surviving introduction of television, VCRs, and radio, since time immemorial, the Siberian Yupik on their own. English is quickly becoming a major force of had moved freely and frequently between change in language and culture.

St. Lawrence Island and the coast of DO: On the American side, most Yupik

Chukotka in Russia, a distance of only 40 people live on St. Lawrence Island, 200 miles LK: When a Yupik hunter catches game of miles. When the "Ice Curtain" came down, off the Alaskan coast and 40 miles from any kind, he distributes it to relatives or the two halves of the Yupik population the Russian mainland. Two villages are other community members. Elders, widows, were cut off from each other, but the moun- on the island, Savoonga and Gambell, each and families who are unable to provide for tainous Soviet coast constantly reminded with a population of 550. In Chukotka, themselves are the first to receive a share.

St. Lawrence Islanders that there were friends the communities with dominant Yupik pop- There are also other kinds of sharing rituals. and kin on the other side. ulations are and New Chaplino. Every spring, a seal party is given in honor

Sireniki has a population of 800, of which of the first bearded seal caught that season,

It wasn't until 1988 that we began to redis- a little more than half are Yupik; in New or the first game caught by a young hunter. cover those ties, when the Soviet government Chaplino most of the 500 residents are Food, clothing, and toys are given away allowed a "Friendship Flight" from Alaska Yupik. New Chaplino used to be the tradi- at the seal party.

12 Another custom is being revived in south- Soviet side, Yupik retained more of their The mother replied that her son did. The western Yupik communities. Residents Native beliets because Communism woman told the mother about her dream

of a community prepare for this event tor proved to be an inadequate replacement. and asked her to give the boy a fresh cup of months, and invite several surrounding Spiritual beliets were also reinforced from now on. From that time, the communities, the extended relatives of the by old Russian customs. woman addressed the boy by the grand-

host village. This event lasts tor several father's name.

days. Traditional Eskimo dancing takes place LK: Among the Yupik, Ellam Yua (Spirit of every night, and each village takes turns the Universe), the equivalent of the Christian DO: Under Soviet rule, traditional

in providing the entertainment. Fhe host vil- God, was the basis of all spirituality. Ellam ivory/bone carving and Native dancing was

lage entertains on the tinal night, and gifts Yua provided and watched over everything in transformed into an economic resource.

are distributed to guests that night or the tol- existence. Today, Yupik still speak about Carvers work in a cooperative where they

lowing day. Gifts range from local Ellam Yua, regardless of the dominant reli- perfect their craft under a master (often that were collected during the year, to cloth- gions in the region— the Moravian, Russian a Chukchi), and dancers perform as a profes- ing or store-bought items. Community Orthodox, and Catholic churches. sional ensemble. Compared to Yupik

members' accomplishments are recognized dancers from St. Lawrence Island, Russian

at this time as well. If a child has gathered DO: Recently in Provideniia, visiting the Yupik dancers look very dramatic and

berries for the tirst time, the parents or family ot a deceased triend, I brought polished. But most people don't realize that

grandparents give plastic bags of frozen Native food with me. The family put some they are trained to be professional dancers.

berries to elders from the invited villages food aside to be placed in a fire so that the On St. Lawrence Island, anybody can dance

or to relatives of the deceased person spirit could partake of it. Another practice I if they want, as it is a form of recreation

for whom the child is named. observed was the placing of a pot in the and not livelihood. middle of the deceased person's living room

DO: Another aspect of Yupik life that to keep evil spirits at bay. Carving on the island is still done on

differs on both sides is the economic base. individual basis, too, as a means of bringing

On St. Lawrence Island, Yupik still practice Traditional spiritual customs are still observed in cash. A controversial source of cash is subsistence hunting and fishing, with on the Russian side, where Christianity the selling of ancient artifacts dug up at

much the same traditional patterns ot distri- hasn't had much inHuence. Such traditional traditional village sites around the island.

bution. Technologically, American hunters practices have ceased on St. Lawrence This method ot getting quick money now are more advanced than their Russian coun- Island. With the increased travel to Russia holds an attraction to Yupik on the Russian

terparts, having the latest models of boats, now, missionaries have been bringing side. This is especially true since the coun- outboard motors, snow machines, and their Christian message to the Yupik vil- try's economy has been in upheaval, and any all-terrain vehicles available to them. On the lages, and it has had a warm reception from means of extra income appears good.

Russian side, equipment is often antiquated some people. At present, with a depressed or homemade. Under the Soviet system, Russian economy and low morale, almost Life for American Yupik is better in terms of all equipment belonged to collective and anything trom America is seen as wonderful. access to material goods, but that does not state farms. On these cooperatives, chosen necessarily guarantee a higher quality of life. members of a community have the jobs LK: Death within a community allows peo- In fact, many people on St. Lawrence Island of hunting, fishing, trapping, and fur farm- ple to give and share. When someone are on some form of government assistance.

ing. They are paid in cash and in kind. dies, relatives and friends look after the fami- (Russian Yupik also received government

ly. The community grieves together. People assistance, but were required to hold a job in

LK: Our villages maintain a subsistence from surrounding villages also take part return.) Unfortunately, St. Lawrence lifestyle, and our survival is tied to the in this event. After the funeral, family and Islanders share with the Russian Yupik the land and sea. A respect for all things in the relatives host a potlatch for the village problems of alcoholism, suicide, and vio-

Yupik environment, sometimes a harsh and visitors from nearby villages. lence. However, with the opening ot the bor- and unpredictable one, is basic to survival. der and the renewal of kinship ties, a sense

Yupik always treat the animals they catch One way of easing the pain ot loss ot a loved of pride is being re-established among the with respect. This tradition of handling one is to name a child after the deceased. Yupik people. The younger generation of game respectfully, from the moment it is The child is often spoken to or treated in Russian Yupik is now making an attempt to caught until it is consumed, has been passed exactly the same way as the person for whom speak their Native language again, and there on from one generation to another. Our he or she is named. Relatives of the deceased is great interest in cultural exchanges on thoughts and actions affect the success give the child gifts of all kinds, ranging both sides. We see changes from the reimifi- of each hunt or gathering of wild plants. from the deceased's favorite foods to clothing cation of this culture, and we also see

or toys at special occasions. Yupik believe the effects from forty years of separation and

Yupik believe that animals give themselves that no one really passes out of existence, and acculturation, yet we can only guess what up for us to eat, therefore we must pay that when a child is named after a deceased the future holds for the once homogenous respect to them as well as the environment person, that person's soul is reborn. In Siberian Yupik people. that provides these animals. one case, a child was named after his pater-

nal grandfather, who had died about tour For further reading, see: Damas 1984;

DO: With the collapse of Communism, years before. Because a girl child in the fami- Fienup-Riordan 1983, 1990; life in the former Soviet Union has been ly had already been given the grandfather's Fitzhugh and Kaplan 1982; and Yugtun changing at a breathtaking pace. While good name, some people in the village would Qaneryaramek Calivik n.d. things can be said for its demise, the not address the boy by name, insisting that totalitarian system actually helped to main- the older child had the name first. One tain one aspect of Yupik culture: spiritual woman was adamant until she dreamed that beliefs. On St. Lawrence Island, the first the deceased grandfather was making tea missionaries arrived in 1894, exerting their by squeezing used tea bags. The next morn- influence to replace the Native religion ing, she visited the boy's mother and asked with Christianity. They succeeded. On the if any ot her children made tea that way.

13 —

the decade of the 1990s village of Larsen Bay secured that time, with an estimated population Asopened, the Alutiiq people of the repatriation of nearly 800 human skele- of 20,000 spread among numerous villages, south-central Alaska were singing tons excavated in the village in the 1930s some with as many as 1,000 inhabitants and performing traditional and shipped to the Smithsonian Institution. (Jordan and Knecht 1988:232; Crowell dances, carving ceremonial masks, making An elaborate reburial ceremony took place 1988:132-135; Hrdlicka 1944:19). traditional clothing, building , in 1991. Now Alutiiq and taking action to preserve their language. communities are in the process of repatriat- The Alutiiq fiercely resisted the Russian

Only a decade before, many thought that ing human remains taken from that area. presence; mass attacks by armored Alutiiq these symbols of Alutiiq culture had perhaps Today Alutiiq communities are expe-riencing warriors were repelled only by firearms, vanished forever. Then the Kodiak Area a significant resurgence of pride in their which were unfamiliar and frightening to

Native Association (KANA), the regional heritage and ethnic identity. people in a land where thunder is rarely tribal organization of the Alutiiq of heard. For two decades, they withstood Kodiak Island, began efforts to preserve and History Russian attempts to occupy Kodiak Island revitalize traditional culture. This move- The struggle for the survival of Alutiiq cul- (Black 1990). Finally the Siberian merchant ment spread to the Alutiiq people of Prince ture came in the wake of 250 years of Gregori Shelikhov loaded two ships with

William Sound and the Kenai and Alaska acculturation, first to and men, muskets, and cannon and arrived at . Associated with this effort has then, beginning in 1867, to American in August 1784. He been a "sobriety movement" that addresses culture. This intense period of contact fol- demanded that ruling families among the the issue of alcohol abuse at a grassroots lowed more than 7,000 years of flourishing Alutiiq provide their children as hostages. level, as well as new efforts of taking control culture and population growth. The first Terrified villagers gathered children, elders, of political power and resource management. European landing in Alaska, by Danish and warriors—as many as 2,000 in all Several Alutiiq communities have imple- explorer in 1741 on behalf of on a fortified sea stack (a column of rock ris- mented mariculture and salmon hatchery Russia, was on Island in Prince ing out of the sea). Alutiiq people had long programs to develop an economic base. The William Sound, in northern Alutiiq territory. used such refuges when attacked by invaders. Ships bearing Russian fur hunters began to contact Alutiiq people regularly by the

1760s. Alutiiq culture was at its peak at

14 Shelikhov attacked in the early morning into towns and villages that had been Although not officially political bodies, the

hours of August 13, 1784. Five small reachable only by sea. More young people corporations formed under the Alaska Native

cannons panicked the Alutiiq defenders, and traveled outside Alaska, usually for the first Claims Setdement Act (ANCSA) of 1971 seventy-one Russians stormed up the time; some returned, but as changed people. exert considerable political influence in man-

cliffs. In the ensuing pandemonium, many aging land and other resources. ANCSA's hundreds died. Male adults and elders Over the past three decades, two major intention was to divide the state along were executed—hundreds, according to disasters struck Alutiiq communities. cultural boundaries, with each major Native some Russian accounts. About 500 women The first was the Great Alaska Earthquake of group creating a regional "for-profit" cor- and children were taken to Three Saints 1964, which destroyed several Alutiiq poration. The Alutiiq cultural area, however,

Bay as hostages. Alaska became Russian, and villages. The second disaster fell on March was divided in three sections. Thtis the

Alutiiq life changed forever. The Alutiiq 24, 1989, when the oil tanker Exxon Alutiiq of Kodiak Island are represented by

name for the rock is A'wauq, which means Valdez ran agroimd in Prince William Koniag, Inc.; Prince William Sound and

"to become numb" (Knecht, Haakanson, Sound, just four miles from the Alutiiq vil- the Kenai are represented by the and Dickson n.d.) lage of Tatilek. Eleven million gallons of Alaska Corporation; and Alaska

crude oil spread through the sound, affecting Peninsula by the Native Corpora-

Alutiiq people soon became impressed all the Alutiiq villages. While the long- tion. This has created new issues of identity,

laborers for the Russian-American Company. term effect of the spill is being debated, the as many Alutiiq people—like other

Hunters were forced to join in the hunt trauma it has caused remains evident. Native groups in Alaska—tend to identify for sea otters. Women were set to sew themselves first as shareholders in a par-

clothing, gather berries, and perform other Alutiiq Identity ticular regional corporation rather than an

tasks. Even the aged were put to work gath- The identity of the Alutiiq people is often ethnic identity. ering bird eggs from the sea cliffs. Epidemics confusing to many. Russian fur traders of disease hitherto unknown among the in the 18th and 1 9th centuries applied the The Alutiiq tribal governments of today people devastated entire villages (Fortuine term Aleut to both the indigenous people of have also utilized the geographic boundaries

1989:201). Elders, the vital tradition-bearers the (who called themselves established by ANCSA to create regional

in a culture without a written language, Unangan) and to the Alutiiq (who called tribal organizations that provide health, were among the first to die. Family trees, themselves Sugpiaq) (Clark 1984:195-196). social, educational, and cultural programs to epic stories, songs, and specialized knowl- These two cultures have many differences, the villages and represent the villages edge, accumulated through thousands however, including different languages. The in political issues. These organizations are of years, died with the elders. In the villages, Alutiiq language was known as Sugcestun the Kodiak Area Native Association, even today, the death of a elder is like or Suk. Chugachmiut, and the Bristol Bay Native a library burning. Eventually the Russian Association.

Orthodox Church intervened, and the The Alutiiq people include at least three company began to relax its grip. By the mid- major subgroups: the Chugachmiut of Conclusion 1800s, the population on Kodiak Island Prince William Sound, the Unegkurmiut of The people of the twenty remaining Alutiiq had dropped from 10,000 to about 1,500 the , and the Qikertarmiut communities are addressing the impact

(Holmberg 1985:36). of Kodiak Island. The Alutiiq are also of the past 250 years of contact. There is

sometimes called Koniagmiut or Koniag. little doubt that the catastrophic events of

In 1867 Alutiiq lives were again jolted when Because of close linguistic relationship that period have had a cumulative effect the Americans occupied Alaska. Canneries with the people of the Arctic, anthro- on today's Alutiiq people and their culture. sprang up near many villages, and thousands pologists have often classified the Alutiiq Today, however, the resurgence of cultural of workers poured into the area. Salmon, as Eskimos—a label that the Alutiiq strenu- pride and ethnic identity, control of the staple of the Alutiiq diet, became a com- ously object to. resources, and political power is reshaping mercial commodity and fed the American the future for Alutiiq people and their economy thousands of miles away. Over- Alutiiq Political Structures communities. They have weathered the latest fishing wiped out runs of salmon that had Once, each Alutiiq village was governed by storms and will decide what they will allow

fed Natives for many generations. Lines a chief ( Toyuq), a second chief (Siikashiq), to be changed in their culture and what they appeared on the map as land also became a third chief (Staristaq) who was the lay read- will retain. They control their own destiny. a thing to be owned. Alcohol became yet er of the village's Russian Orthodox another epidemic that brought death Church, and a council of elders (KANA "Our people have made it through lots and loss, as it does today. Traditional cloth- 1987:1). Elders today still speak of the old of storms and disasters for thousands ing and housing, tolerated and even tribal governments and their effectiveness. of years. All the troubles since the Russians adopted by the Russians, were viewed as are like one long stretch of bad weather. backward by the Americans, and soon began By the 1970s new political systems were in Like everything else, this storm will pass over to disappear. place in Alutiiq communities. The federal some day." Bureau of Indian Affairs required a model of

Schools and missions brought more unfamil- tribal government that fit its own needs —Barbara Shangin, Alutiiq elder, iar ways and a new language. Teachers rather than those of the communities. Some Chignik Lake, 1987 punished children for speaking the Alutiiq villages formed governments under the language, a practice that persisted into federal Indian Reorganization Act. Others set For further reading, see: Black 1990; the 1960s. The kayak, which held a place for up an elected council headed by a "presi- Clark 1984; Crowell 1988a; Davis 1984; the Alutiiq as the horse did for the Plains dent" (these are called "traditional councils" Fortuine 1989; Holmberg 1985; Indian, was discarded in favor of wooden although they are modeled after the U.S. Hrdlickal944; Jordan and Knecht 1988; skiffs. The hunt also became a government rather than a traditional system). Knecht, Haakanson, and Dickson n.d.; thing of memory, as sea otters were nearly Kodiak Area Native Association 1987; and extinct by the early 1900s. World War 11 Pullar 1992. wroughtstill more changes to the Alutiiq people. Roads and airstrips brought strangers

15 i Aleut

I Barbara Svarny Carlson

Aleuts on board ship chain up to Akutan in , village ofAttu was wereforced to live at Unalaska, being were hastily removed where many diedfrom captured by the atAtka upon relocated awayfrom andforced to live in ill health. They were Japanese and the peo- their releasefrom the war zone during extremely primitive kept there and only ple sent to Japan where Japanese captivity. the summer of1942. conditions in long- allowed to return at a third ofthem died. National Archives, All ofthe on the abandoned canneries the conclusion ofthe Surviving Attuans neg #80-6-12163. PribilofIslands and war in 1945. The Courtesy ofthe Aleut along the Aleutian PribilofAssociation.

There is no such thing as an Aleut. We "Aleuts" are actually three different 1) the Sasxinan, on: (); maritime peoples who had their own identi- Atux (Attn), Samiyax (), and

We call ourselves Unangan, or ties and subdivisions before contact: the Angatux ();

Unangas in the Atkan dialect. AJutiiq-speakers, the Central Yupik-speakers 2) the Qaxun, on: ();

This is our name for ourselves, the indige- of Bristol Bay, and the Unangam Tunuu- Amchixtax (), Idmaax (Buldir), nous people of the Aleutian Archipelago. speakers. Why should we hang on to Qixsa (), and Unyax (Semisopochnoi);

"Aleut," a foreign name? We should revive 3) the Naahmigus, on: (); When Russian explorers came to our land, our original names to show pride in our Tanaxax (), and Amatignax

the first island people that they came upon cultural heritage and to reclaim and (Amatignak);

were the Sasxinan, who lived in what the maintain our identities as a distinct people. 4) the Niigugis, on: (); Russians named the Near Islands, because Kanaga (Kanaga), Adaagix (Adak), they lie near Russia at the western end of the Who We Are: Atxax (Atka), Amlax (), and Aleutians. For uncertain reasons, the Pre-Contact Tribes and Dialects Saguugamax (Seguam);

Russians called them Aleut, and as they Unangax is the singular form of a word 5) the Akuugun or Uniigun, on: (Islands of moved eastward on their conquest, the whose stem, una, refers to the seaside. the Four Mountains); Qagaamila (Kagamil), Russians continued to call the people Unangan and Unangas are plural forms, and Amuuxtax (), Yunaxsxa (Yunaska),

Aleut—even when they crossed a major Unangam is the possessive. and Chuginadax;

dividing line of language and culture and 6) the Qawalangin, on: ( Islands); encountered Alutiiq-speaking people (previ- Before contact, the Unangan may have had Samalga (Samalga), Umnax (),

ously called Sugpiaq) of the Alaska as many as nine distinct subgroups, or tribes, Nawan-Alaxsxa [one of the earliest recorded Peninsula. Recognizing a language difference, and dialects. Where possible, the major names for Unalaska], Amiq or Tanax-Amix

however, they sometimes referred to us as islands are named in the indigenous language (Sr. Paul), Angaaxchalux (St. George),

Fox Aleuts and the Alutiiq as Koniag Aleuts. (see Bergsland 1994 and map p. 108); Xulustaakan Tangingin (The Seals' Place), The became the common foreign names are in parentheses. From west and ();

denominator of acculturation among these to east: 7) the Qigiigun, on: (); diverse groups. Sidaanax (Sedanka), Akutanax (Akutan), Akungan (Akun), and Qiqalgan (Tigalda);

16 8) the Qagaan Tayagungin, whose homeland Much ethnographic information can be healthier. My personal favorite is dried extends to Port Moller on the north side extracted from the surviving stories and nar- salmon with chadux (seal oil). Qagaasakung of and Kupi eanof Point on ratives of the Unangan. The cooperative ("thank you") to my parents, who generously the south side; Unimax (Unimak), Sanagaic marriage ol indigenous information with keep me supplied. Without it, I would not

(Sanak), and Qudugin (Pavlov Island); modern technology can help to retrieve be able to feel so strongly who I am!

9) the Qagiigun, on (); indigenous information— in basketry, design,

Ugnaasaqax (Unga), (Nagai), (Big Koniuji), carved works, literature, medicinal plants, There is an ambivalence I feel when 1 walk Tangimax (Little Koniuji), Tanganuk science, htimor, subsistence, or similarly into a museum exhibit, touched to the core

(Korovin), and Siitikdax (Popot); the valuable things— for the benefit of all. by what I see. I feel gratitude and wonder Qagiigun are sometimes included with But the survival of the Unangam way of life that these beautiful and precious objects have

Qagaan Tayagimgin. is paramount to this venture. If information been collected and cared for so that people

survives without the people, then the world like myself can learn from them. I appre- Traditionally, we did not live beyond will have lost a crucial ingredient in the ciate the labors of so many people—archeol- Kupreanof Point on the Alaska Peninsula. recipe for the survival of mankind and the ogists, anthropologists, educators, linguists,

We called the people who lived beyond management of renewable resources. and others. At the same time, I grieve that that, Kanaagin. many of the villages where these items Our Unangam identities have become so came from are now virtually empty of their

The Sasxinan dialect is no longer spoken in tenuous that we are excavating, sifting, and original cultural property. this country. During World War II, the meticulously labeling the artifacts of our

Sasxinan were wrenched from their island of society with increasing fervor. If we do not, There is a sad irony in the relations between Atux (Attu) and taken as prisoners to something may disappear forever. The museums and indigenous peoples. On the

Japan. Alter returning to this country upon endangered Unangam language is a virtually one hand, the collection and preservation of liberation, the twenty-four survivors untapped resource of clues about our history, these artifacts is a major aid to cultural were denied repatriation to Atux; instead the found objects, our profound relationship reclamation and revitalization. On the other

United States government moved them with land and sea, rules to live by, and per- hand, it is a tragedy that these precious to Atxax (Atka), the home of the Niigugis. haps most importantly, a unique view of the remnants of our cultural heritage lie on dis-

There the Sasxinan needed to adopt the world. The Unangam folklore is a vital part play in lands sometimes unknown to

Niigugis dialect. of our contribution to the world bank of their original owners. There is an awesome knowledge. responsibility that pairs museum institutions

However, the Sasxinan language survives and indigenous peoples as equal partners in Russia. In the 1830s, the Russians forcibly Looking toward the Future as we both search for culturally appropriate removed some Sasxinan from Atux to the People who have left their Unangam villages ways to document traditional knowledge

Commander Islands; a small number of their have a deepened sense of the sacred value of and skills. The cooperative spirit of repatria- descendants still live there and speak a their origins, as seems to be a trend among tion in evidence all over the world is an highly Russianized version of the Sasxinan . They feel a loss—be it of encouraging statement of humanism. dialect. On the other Commander Island, Native foods, songs, dance, stories, or seeing This traveling exhibit. Crossroads Alaska, is a

Bering, a few elders still speak Niigugis. In beauty reflected in artfully made objects. testament to hosts of kindred spirits who the 1 960s the Russians evacuated the They miss seeing other people who look like have labored to share this marvelous collec-

Sasxinan from Copper to . The them; they miss feeling the wind, fog, salty tion. This is one method of repatriating

Russians had similarly transported Niigugis air, the rain that comes at you sideways. indigenous things: to make this fine project from Atxax, for seasonal and permanent They need to know about their heritage and accessible to small Alaskan communities labor in the harvesting of fur seals, but pre- to share that knowledge with family and where the works will be studied and appreci- dominantly they moved Qawalangin community. They need to hear someone ated. These valuable links to Unangam from Unalaska to the Pribilof Islands (Jones shout, "Aaiig, Lhia ngax!" [WeWo, "Aleut"). culture are validation of our origins, touch- 1980). Many of those people are searching for these stones to our identities.

things when they return to the village or to The Urgent Work of Reclamation Alaska. These people consider their Acknowledgments and Revitalization original villages home even if they have not Qiigaasakiing ("thank you") to Knut

It has been predicted that the Unangam been able to return for many years. They Bergsland, Professor Emeritus, University of language may be extinct by the year 2055. II share a common feeling: "Where we are Oslo; Moses L. Dirks; Nick Galaktionoff; it dies out, indigenous knowledge preserved from is important to us. What we like to eat Platonida Gromoff; Michael Krauss, Alaska in that language may also disappear. is important. Our art is important. Our Native Language Center, University of dance and music are important." Alaska Fairbanks; and Doug Veltre,

Tanang awaa ("work of my country") is Department of Anthropology, University of a formulaic beginning that opens certain Unangam foods are elemental to our culture. Alaska Anchorage. storytelling sessions of the Unangan. These To have Native foods sent to us when we words announce that the information are away is one of the most vitalizing, identi- For further reading, see: Bergsland 1994; presented is proudly shared as a product of a ty-rich gifts that friends or family can Bergsland and Dirks 1990; and Jones 1980. larger body, the collective people. In our bestow. Some of our traditional subsistence region, the work of individuals is valued, but foods include alax (whale), isux (hair seal), cooperative efforts are of infinitely loftier aanux (red salmon), and qax (any kind of value. In the oral tradition, stories and narra- fish). From the beaches some favorites are: tives were passed down from one generation chiknan (limpets), waygin (blue mussels), to the next, but sometime after contact the agugaadan (sea urchins), qasiiqun (chitons or stories ceased to be told in public places, gumboots), chalan (clams), and kahngadgin then ceased, in most cases, to be told at all. (seaweed). Saaqudax (cow parsnip, "piiuchki-

is" in Russian), fiddlehead ferns and other

native seem to make one feel

17

"

A Holistic World-View Women share memories of the deceased Conclusion The Den'a see a unity in the human, natural, as they gather to bead and to sew garments Transition from oral to written commu- and spiritual worlds; in both the seen for the "give-away. " Men share memories nication has brought vast changes in and unseen worlds, all things have a spirit, while on their hunting or fishing excursions. the way Den'a stories and histories are told. and everything is connected. This holistic These are occasions lor expressing grief as By itself, the literature offers a limited world-view is implicitly expressed in members tell stories, laugh, cry, and express scope, perception, and understanding of

Den'a ceremonies. It is explicitly expressed anger, guilt, sorrow, or love. Den'a belief Repeated visits, stories, in the sharing of water and food, and and inclusion in celebrations and healing often in the use of fire. Grief and/or guilt are also expressed through ceremonies are needed to open the

songs composed for the deceased. These soul to a real view of the Athapaskan world.

Anthropologists have classified many Den'a eulogies immortalize the talents and works of It is through participation that the ceremonies, feasts, and healing rituals as the cieceased and are an important part significance of a "give-away" ceremony is

"potlatches," "feasts tor the dead, " "mortuary of community cohesiveness. In earlier times, appreciated. In his study of "potlatches"

feasts," or "memorial potlatches. " While our people took note when someone among the KwakuitI of the Pacific North- a potlatch is formally defined as the distribu- excelled in a particular area; however, this west, I. Goldman notes that "Gifts, tion oi material wealth as a means to did not make him or her better than the rest, such as animal skins, become symbolic of the increase social recognition, this term is only for everyone had their place in the commu- interconnection between all spheres of a superficial description oi: a traditional nity. A death in the community creates a life. . . . Exchange brings into connection the ceremony, overlooking the scope, intention, void—for example, the loss of a good hunter, contemporary and natural world and the and deeper meaning ot many Den'a an understanding friend, a fast runner, an mythic world of the ancestors. " This state- ceremonies. industrious worker, a loving member of ment demonstrates that, much like a family, or a community leader. The process the Den'a, the world of other Native People Ceremonies of composing these songs provides an avenue also have seen and unseen realms where

A brief examination oi Athapaskan for healing as the absence of this family all things are connected. ceremonies will reveal the deeper meaning oi member is directly addressed. In learning to

Den'a rituals. Water, food, fire, song, sing these songs, community members This connection supports the life cycle of and dance are important elements in many go through the same healing process as the the Den'a, who have in place an indigenous of these ceremonies. As the body is nour- composer. method to maintain the social order. By ished by food and water, so is the soul accepting one another for who they are and fed through music and dance. Fire provides By giving gifts to those who came together accepting ourselves for where we are, the an avenue to the spiritual world. The to grieve with family and friends, the Den'a exhibit a healing force that returns cooperation required to conduct these cere- family pays the earthly debts of the deceased. you to normal growth, development, monies, whose great antiquity dictates Once these ties to mother earth are severed, and function. protocol and procedure, makes each a com- the yega (spirit) of the deceased is free munity event. To the untrained observer, to continue its life cycle in the next dimen- For further reading, see: Coyhis 1993; organization appears haphazard. However, sion. The yega of the animal kingdom is Cruikshank 1990; Dall 1870; Goldman upon closer scrutiny, the protocol established also honored as gifts of are 1975; Haviland 1990; Lyons 1964; Mauss in the distant past becomes evident. placed in a fire to nourish the deceased as 1990; Nelson 1899; Schneider 1989;

he or she adjusts to life in a different Shavanda 1987; Simeone 1990; Sullivan In the Athapaskan culture, when a world. This adjustment period applies to the 1936; and'VanStone 1974. person dies, the whole village comes together mourners as well. Active participation in a to grieve with family and friends of the healing ceremony provides an avenue to deal deceased. After the person is laid to rest, a with grief or guilt while adjusting to the strong spiritual connection is maintained void created in the community through the through water, food, song, and dance as the loss of a member. These rituals restore

Den'a prepare to free the yega or spirit social balance and order to the family and to for its next journey in the Den'a life cycle. the community.

Reaffirming the community as a living entity while maintaining the health

of the individual is an important feature of

Den'a healing ceremonies. At a recent

"memorial potlatch " in Minto, a Den'a elder

thanked those in attendance for taking

the time to join in their ceremony, saying

"You help lift us up. We support one another. We come together to honor special

people, but in the process we also honor one another and ourselves.

19 Tlingit

Tlingit Lawrence Shields ofthe

j

Fox beats a i

drum as !

' carver Lee Wallace's

Brown Bear pole is ; raised at Westmark/ Cape Fox lodge on Aprils, 1991, in Ketchikan. Photo Hall Anderson, 1991.

Tlingit Indians live in south- languages and that the recendy extinct and events, especially the ceremony known Theeast Alaska from Yakutat to and nearly extinct Tongass in Tlingit as koo.eex', and in English as Dixon Entrance, predominantly dialect of Tlingit are the "missing links" "potlatch." Many features of these cultures,

on the coast, but also with inland in the Na-Dene language chain. Still, the especially totem and potlatch, have communities in southwest Yukon and origin of much of the Tlingit vocabulary often been misunderstood. The unifying fac- northwest British Columbia. A variety of evi- remains a puzzle. tor in Tlingit folklife is the social structure, dence as well as Tlingit tradition suggest which determines the function of verbal that the migrated to the coast at an Coastal Tlingits live in and on the edge of and visual art, and the patterns of social and early date and spread from the southern a rain forest, and this environment has ritual interaction. range of their territory to the north, where shaped their distinctive lifestyle, material cul- they were expanding toward the Copper ture, and intellectual culture. Tlingit people Social Structure: River at the time of European contact. use the food resources of the land and Moiety, Clan, and House Group

sea, especially salmon, seal, deer, and berries. All of Tlingit society is organized into two

The relationship of Tlingit to other Native Trees are important in art. Native American reciprocating divisions, called moieties,

American languages is uncertain. There is culture of the Northwest Coast has captured named Raven and Eagle. Raven is sometimes great cultural similarity between Tlingit and the imagination of explorers ever since known as Crow, and Eagle as Wolf Crow adjacent Northwest Coast groups but no first contact. These are the people of totem and Wolf may be older terms. In contrast to obvious linguistic affinity. On the other poles, elaborately carved wooden bowls clans, moieties have no political organiza- hand, many features of Tlingit phonology and boxes, plank houses, ocean- tion or power, but exist for the purposes of and grammar systematically parallel going canoes, Chilkat robes, blankets, exogamy (regulation of marriage) and Athapaskan languages (including Navajo), and other well-known cultural objects exchange of ritual services. Traditionally, a but there are few similarities in vocabulary. person married into the opposite moiety,

Most linguists believe that Tlingit is geneti- although this pattern is no longer strictly cally related to the Athapaskan family of observed. The moieties also group the clans for other kinds of reciprocal actions. For

20 example, Ravens not only marry Eagles, but and services, and the images in the songs and This is the greatest honor we can give to address songs and speeches to them as speeches are built around references of them, and to our relatives among the

well. Eagles commission Raven artists to cre- relationship to the opposite moiety. A song hosting clan.

ate visual art. Raven and Eagle clans host or speech by a host must be answered

each other at potlatches, and engage in recip- by a guest so that the words may be received This ritual display shows how serious our art

rocal ritual display of visual and verbal formally. Within the speeches themselves, is, how it goes beyond mere form, and

art representing the spirit world. Each moi- information and images may be balanced how strongly we feel about our at.oow. Each ety consists of many clans. Most clans are artistically and emotionally: physical piece records and alludes to an historical

dispersed though a number of commimities, and spiritual, living and departed, humans and spiritual event; each piece of visual art is

but in any given community certain clans and animals, living creatures and the land. associated with songs that can be heard, predominate tor historical reasons. Political dances that can be seen, and spirits that are

organization rests at the clan level; clans The Concept of At.oov/ neither seen nor heard except as manifested

own heraldic crests, personal names, and At.oow is probably the single most important in the performance. All visual art, but espe-

other property. spiritual and cultural concept in cially the older pieces that are at.oow, is

Tlingit folkiife. The word literally means a very important ingredient to our lives and

Clans are further subdivided into house "an owned or purchased object. " This helps us to siu vive spiritually.

groups, sometimes called "lineage" in anthro- may be land (geographic features such as a

pological literature. Simply stated, the mountain, a landmark, an historical site, Art and Land

house where people lived or once lived was a place such as Glacier Bay), a heavenly body Our art, with its attendant system of

part of their identity. Historically the (the sun, the Big Dipper, the Milky Way), at.oow, is also the spiritual and social ele-

term referred to both residence and kinship, a spirit, a personal name, an artistic design, ment that holds our people and land

but now it is only a term of kinship, for or a range of other objects or things. It together. Tlingit art is inseparable Irom the

not all members ot a house group physically can be an image Irom oral literature, such as land. The designs are usually images of

reside in the ancestral house, not all resi- an episode from the Raven cycle on a animals, places, or spirits associated with the

dents of a clan house are members of that tunic, hat, robe, or blanket; it can be a story places. Art materials come from the land

house group, and few of the original houses or song about an event in the life of an and sea: wood, abalone, cedar bark, moun-

are still standing. ancestor. Ancestors can themselves be at.oow. tain goat , sheep horn, spruce roots,

At.oow can also be spirits ol various kinds: silver, copper, and gold. As we gather lood

Tlingit society is matrilineal, which means shaman spirits and spirits of animals, and raw materials for art in our subsistence

it is organized through the mother's line. A trees, and geographic features. Through pur- economy, we maintain close contact with

Tlingit is born into his or her mothers chase by an ancestor, an "object" is owned OLU' environment, and this intimate relation-

moiety, clan, and house group. The father's by his or her descendants. ship is reflected in the form and content

clan is just as significant, but it fimctions of our art. We know our animals by having

in a different way. While a person belongs to When asked why Tlingit people feel close contact with them when we hunt

his or her mother's clan, he or she is also so strongly about at.ooiv, Tlingit bead artist them and when we prepare them for use. We

known as a "child of " the father's clan. This Emma Marks replied, ''At.oow is our life." learn early how to prepare each animal

concept is basic to any serious understanding The Tlingit word she used was haa kusteeyi, we skin. We know the skeletal forms. This is

of Tlingit culture. Most songs, especially which translates as "our culture, " "our way of reflected in our art.

" love songs, are addressed to members of the life, " or "life itself For the Tlingit people,

opposite moiety, who are identified art and other at.doiv are inseparable from life Our art comes from various levels of our

according to their fathers' clan rather than itself Its sources are in nature, and its func- experience: the first-hand knowledge

their mothers' and their own. tions are spiritual and social. We cannot con- of animals gained by participation in a sub- duct our traditional ceremonies or make sistence economy; the knowledge ot Ownership and Reciprocity speeches in a spiritual context without them. where we are and the history of where we Two main features characterize Tlingit cul- have been; the sacred knowledge of ture and folk arts: ownership and reciprocity Ceremonial Display legend and myth; the social knowledge of

(or balance). Songs, stories, artistic designs, The traditional art pieces called at.oow are ourselves as family, house group, clan, personal names, land, and other elements of brought out only on special occasions, and nation. In all these ways, as Tlingit elder

Tlingit life are considered the property usually in a ceremonial context, the most and artist Emma Marks observed, of a particular clan. The Tlingit term for this widely known of which, called "potlatch" "Oiu" at.oow is our life." concept of tangible and intangible property in English, is a memorial ceremony involving

is at.oow. ritual distribution of food and gifts. In For further reading, see: Dauenhauer and

Tlingit tradition, the ceremonial is called Dauenhauer 1987, 1990; de Laguna 1972;

The patterns of visual art and oral ^of.fV.v' ("invitation"). It begins with a ritual Emmons 1991; Kan 1989; and Olson 1991. literature follow and reinforce the patterns of called L S'aati Shda Gaaxi ("the widow's social structure. The two moieties, Eagle cry"), during which guests bring out the and Raven, balance each other. In host-guest at.oow of their clan to wipe away the tears

relationships at ceremonials, they share of the hosts. This ritual display of visual

in each other's joy and work to remove each art is accompanied by oratory delivered by other's grief, matching song with song, selected individuals who are genealogically speech with speech, and display of art piece related to the deceased, and by songs. with display of art piece. The exchange When we put the at.oow on our grandchil- of speeches between the two moieties follows dren, we wrap them in our care; when the pattern of exchange of marriage, goods. we wear them, we know that our ancestors

are present. When we do this, we are doing what the art was designed and created to do. We are also imitating our ancestors, doing things in remembrance of them.

21

— Native Peoples of the Russian Far East

Igor Krupnik

Thousands of years ago, the mammals, either from boats or on ice; The herders' life followed the annual cycle indigenous people who inhabited hunting for land mammals (caribou, , of the reindeer, with seasonal migrations for

the Pacific gateways oi Siberia elk, grizzly and , etc.) and birds; pasture grounds over hundreds of miles.

made a historic breakthrough and fishing. They mastered dog-sled driving People started to travel and to transport their toward a more settled life on the coast. and built sophisticated boats of skin and belongings on domesticated reindeer, to

Those ancient Siberians, predominantly wood propelled by paddles and sails. When live on reindeer meat and fat, to make cloth- nomadic caribou hunters and fishermen, they settled on the coast, they started to ing and tents ol reindeer , and to started to move to the seashore tor a few live in permanent, socially organized villages get everything they needed by exchanging months every spring or summer to hunt consisting oi several dwellings—sod houses reindeer products with their neighbors. marine mammals, fish for migrating or dugouts in winter, skin or birch-bark tents salmon, and collect bird eggs, seaweeds, and wooden plank houses in summer. In Through the barter process, Native lile in and shellfish on the beaches. time, they developed elaborate rituals and northeastern Siberia became highly spe- community festivals and produced decorated cialized. Coastal people focused even more In that new pattern, they followed general fur and gutskin clothing, skin drums, wood- on marine hunting and fishing; the main- shift: of Native people of the North Pacific en masks, and ivory carvings. land folk—Even, Evenk, Yukaghir, and the region, who, one by one, turned to coastal inland groups of Chukchi and Koryak life and to the abundant and far more Not all indigenotis Siberians moved to became nomadic herdsmen or reindeer- stable resources of the sea. This maritime- the coast. Some remained inland and driven hunters. As a result, interior folkways focused economy spread along both the preserved their original lifestyle of nomadic and art were influenced by a new mode

Siberian and American sides of the North hunting and fishing. The people of the of lile, while ceremonies focused on domes-

Pacific, from Japan, Sakhalin Island, Siberian interior created a fairly distinct cul- tic reindeer occupied the pivotal place in and Kamchatka to British Columbia and tural universe, due to the continuous influx local worldviews and festivals. As time

Washington State, like a giant arc of migrants from regions farther inland. passed, those two basic traditions, the interi- connecting the two continents. These "inlanders" contributed cultural pat- or and the coastal, cross-bred at several

terns, beliefs, and subsistence practices locations along the Siberian Pacific area.

The northernmost section of this that originated in the forests and tundra of That mixture produced a thriving diversity

North Pacific cultural rim was occupied northern Asia. OI those, by lar the of lifestyles and artistic expression, which by the ancestors of present-day Yupik greatest development in aboriginal life in has survived into the present as the priceless Eskimos and Aleuts in Western Alaska and Siberia was the domestication of reindeer. cultural legacy of Native Siberians. of several Native nations in northeastern

Siberia: Koryak, Itelmen, Chukchi, There are several theories on the origin of Nivkh, and Asiatic or Siberian Eskimos. indigenous , but few

They all shared a number of cultural clues tell us when it spread to the Pacific developments and adaptations. Their econ- margins of Siberia. It probably happened omy became a flexible mixture of three shortly before Russians came to the area major components: hunting for sea in the mid- 1600s. Mastering reindeer herd- ing was the second most important econ- omic revolution lor Siberian Native people,

after mastering the resources of the sea.

23 ernmost population within the Eskimo/Inuit Asiatic Eskimos call themselves Yupigyt

live just across the Bering cultural area, which extends from Bering ("the real people"). During the 1600s and _ Strait, along the coast of Siberia's Strait to . Asiatic Eskimos present- 1700s, they lived all along the Siberian

H . They are ly number about 1 ,700; they are closely side of the Bering Strait, on the Arctic coast known as Asiatic Eskimo in Russia and as related to the Yupik-speaking inhabitants of of the Chukchi Peninsula, and south on

Siberian Yupik in America. As direct cultural St. Lawrence Island and nearby western the shores. Their neighbors, the heirs of the ancient coastal dwellers at the Alaska. interior , gradually pushed crossroads of continents, they form the west- them out of this area, until they finally retreated to the mountainous promontories tradition sprang up of gorgeous The revival of Siberian Yupik culture was

at the sout eastern and northeastern and ornamented . European spurred in the late 1980s when the "Ice edges of the Chukchi Peninsula. The south- contacts spurred souvenir production—deco- Curtain" dividing Bering Strait was broken. ern branch of Siberian Yupik, around the rated tusks, ivory figurines, models of Contacts quickly resumed between

modern town of Provideniia, is Hnguisticaily skin boats, fur carpets and slippers. People Siberian Yupik and Native Alaskans, par-

and culturally akin to the people of St. stayed strong and proud in theif ethnic ticularly between Yupik communities from

Lawrence Island. The northern group, who roots, in the close relations they maintained Provideniia Bay and St. Lawrence Island.

formerly lived at the rocky East Cape with the spirits of their land and sea, and Since then, communications have boomed, (), maintained close contacts of the animals they hunted. propelled by regular group and fimily

with the American Natives of the Bering visits, air and boat crossings, and even direct Strait narrows—the Diomede and King Since the 1930s, this vibrant culture has telephone lines. The Siberian Eskimo's islanders and people of Wales, Alaska. undergone dramatic changes luider the official return to the international Arctic

pressure of acculturation. The Soviet regime Native commimity was achieved in

Siberian Yupik, like the residents of St. closed small villages and camps, and 1989, when a Soviet Eskimo delegation Lawrence, Diomede, and King islands, used moved residents to larger villages of prefabri- attended the Inuit Circumpolar Conference

to live in large permanent coastal villages cated wooden houses, with modern schools, meeting in Greenland, to become a part

and rarely engaged in inland activities. They clinics, and community buildings. Small of the ICC political and cultural network.

were first and foremost sea-mammal Native cooperatives, started in the 1920s,

hunters, skilled in harvesting , seals, were gradually absorbed into large state-run For this Siberian Yupik revival, Russia's

and large whales, using multi-seat skin farms devoted to commercial fox-farming current economic crisis bodes a future

boats equipped with paddles and gut sails. and supplying the inland reindeer industry. of uncertainty and distress. As the centralized During the 1800s they changed their Sea-mammal hunting and fishing were state economy disintegrates, so does the

traditional dwellings from sod houses and reduced to secondary activities. Native whal- entire former system of employment, tech-

communal dugouts to large tents made ing became extinct by the 1950s or 1960s, nology and food supplies, and cash flow. of hide and known by the Chukchi and traditional rituals and hunting cere- Dependence on state subsidies, a shortage of

word iaranga. Their diet was based on monies eroded altogether. grassroots political skills, and a lack of

walrus, seal, and and blubber, autonomy in economic and civic decisions

supplemented by fish, birds, beach products, Yupik villages became dominated by out- prevent Yupik communities from imple-

and reindeer meat bartered from reindeer- siders. Shamans were oppressed as "class menting any alternative strategies for their

men of the interior. This style of life was vir- enemies," while Yupik children and young- future.

tually the same as that of ancient Bering sters accepted the new ideology of com-

Strait hunters of past millennia (except for munist society. Since the 1960s, children no The struggle for more control through self-

bartering for reindeer meat, which was longer speak the Native language, and government has become a key issue. previously supplied by caribou hunting). the authority of elders, once revered for Siberian Yupik people must renegotiate their

their knowledge of ritual and survival, was place in a local administrative system Despite active contacts with American supplanted by Russian bureaucrats and formerly dominated by Russians and other whalers and traders in the late 1 800s, Communist functionaries. As a result, outsiders, and they must build a new

Siberian Yupik retained their lifestyle well Siberian Yupik society disintegrated under balance of power at community and district

into the present century. Their communities government policies of planned economy levels. As current economic problems were organized along the lines of patrilineal and paternalistic protection. The young, drive outsiders from the area, local people

clans that dominated social networks the middle-aged, and the elderly were are steadily regaining their numerical

and ceremonial activities. Elaborate rituals, equally cut adrift from participation in advantage, prestige, and political muscle.

including whale and walrus festivals, their own fates. Under such a trend, Siberian Yupik commu-

with sacrifices and exchanges of gifts, were nities may implement new models of

arranged as thanksgiving to sea and A few components of Native life survived, economic and social organization, perhaps

animal spirits. Communal dancing and nevertheless, including some hunting for with the help of their relatives and

shamanistic performances accompanied by seals and walruses from skin and wood boats, partners across Bering Strait. group singing and drum-beating thrived food-sharing, subsistence plant-gathering,

on Siberian shores even in the 1930s, unop- and dog-sled driving. The Native diet is still For further reading, see: Achirgina-

posed by Christian missionaries, in con- based mainly on fish and sea-mammal meat, Arsiak 1992; Hughes 1984; Krupnik 1987 trast to the situation among Native Alaskans and winter clothing—at least for hunters and 1988; and Voblov 1959.

on the other side of Bering Strait. and elders— is still made of traditional rein- deer and seal skins. Some Yupik cultural

Wood is scarce on Siberia's rocky Arctic hall-marks, such as group dancing, decora-

coasts, but , fur, and hides are tive ivory carving, and souvenir skin produc-

abundant as raw material for art, and a tion, even received governmental financial

support under a Soviet policy aimed at protecting Arctic Natives.

25 — Chukchi

Chukchi herders

and reindeer, Chukchi Peninsula. Photo Natalie Fobes, 1992.

he Chukchi are the largest Native also bestowed it on the Chukchi Peninsula, Although an indigenous Siberian nation, nation (about 15,000) on the , Chukchi Autonomous the Chukchi apparently came to Bering

Asian side of the North Pacific. Area, and the Chukchi District, which faces Strait later than the Eskimos, anthropolo- T At present, they populate a huge Alaska across Bering Strait. gists trace their origin to the ancient resi- area that reaches from Bering Strait to the dents of interior and coastal Siberia, around

Kolyma River valley deep in inland Siberia, The Russian name "Chukchi" actually comes the northern Sea, that is, about and extends along both the Arctic and from the Chukchi word Chauchu ("rich a thousand miles from Bering Strait. Their Pacific coasts of . Their name in reindeer"). Reindeermen use this word to closest kin are the Koryak people of northern was given to them by Russians, who distinguish themselves from coastal folk, Kamchatka, with whom the Chukchi share who are usually called Anqallyt ("the sea peo- similarities in language, beliefs, and historical

ple"). During the Soviet era, a new tradition. Chukchi name was introduced for the entire

nationn; Luoravetlans ("the real people"). Originally caribou hunters and inland fisher- The Chukchi traditional worldview, like that Due to their numerical strength and men, many Chukchi have successfully of the Siberian Yupik, was dominated by a greater share in local and Soviet power adapted to an Eskimo-like lifestyle and cul- the idea that all nature is animated, and all structures, the Coastal Chukchi have ture. Those people of inland stock who things—animals, birds, trees, and even good prospects for building some form of settled on the coast and took up walrus and stones—have spirit "masters." The world is self-government at village and even whale hunting are known as Maritime inhabited by numerous spirits and malicious district levels. With the demise of a Russian- Chukchi. Many are genetically descended creatures who can influence human well- controlled administration, new Chukchi from Eskimos who mixed with the being and the normal courses of life. Success leaders will soon emerge as an alternative Chukchi and were assimilated by them. The in hunting, reindeer herding, traveling, regional political force. On the other hand, old Eskimo legacy, however, became part of and other activities mostly depends upon the the Chukchi lack the Siberian Yupik's

Coastal Chukchi culture, as seen in its goodwill of "animal masters" and local network of personal and cultural ties with ceremonies, dances, folktales, and beliefs. land spirits. By rituals and observances, peo- Native Alaskans and a shared language

ple can generally get along with the super- that greatly facilitates international contacts. Those Chukchi who retained their original natural world. Real communication, howev- inland lifestyle became reindeer herders. er, is maintained by the rare tew, the The Reindeer Chukchi of the interior must

In the 1700s, these were the warlike nomads shamans, assisted by their personal "helping address a different set of political targets. who stopped Russian colonial expansion spirits." Images of spirits and mythological Their reindeer economy is viable, and there at the gateways of America by fierce and suc- creatures are very common in Chukchi is no power to share in the tundra cessful military resistance. Raiding bands drawings and decorative art. wilderness, since few Russians live in the of Chukchi warriors confronted Russian par- interior beyond a handful of mining ties, refused to pay the fur-tribute to the According to traditional Chukchi cosmology, and rural communities. The main battle so authorities, and destroyed Native groups several "worlds"—from five to seven, far is focused upon privatizing reindeer who were loyal to the Russians. In order to or nine—are situated one above another. herds presently monopolized by state farms. subjugate the Chukchi by force, Russia While the earth is inhabited by living As the new property system for reindeer sent several military expeditions in the early humans and animals, the upper and lower becomes established, whether as cooperative

1700s, but all were defeated, and Russia worlds are populated by malicious family, or even private herding enterprises, withdrew from the area for more than a cen- spirits, deceased people, or special types of the issue of land claims, pasture allocation, tury. Russian Orthodox missionaries were "upper" and "lower" beings. Ordinary and compensation for lost and polluted no more successful in converting Chukchi to people must spend their lives in the present grazing areas will eventually surface as the

Christianity and challenging their reality, but shamans could move freely main political priority. indigenous traditions. In the 1800s, the between the earth and the upper and lower

Reindeer Chukchi were twice as numerous worlds during seances. Many Chukchi The biggest threat to the revival of Reindeer as the Asiatic Eskimos and Maritime folktales and art objects represent a shaman's Chukchi is the generation gap induced Chukchi combined. journey through the various physical and by decades of Soviet acculturation. Although

spiritual worlds. older people rooted in Native tradition As the most powerful local nation, Chukchi are numerous and respected, the middle-age are strong in their ethnic identity and The Reindeer Chukchi of the interior were and younger generations are now attached proud of their cultural roots. In their former among the last Siberian Natives to give to a more comfortable village life. Raised in relations with neighboring Native tribes, up their language, beliefs, and rituals under Soviet boarding schools, they lack the they normally obliged others to learn their the pressure of acculturation. In some experience and stamina of real tundra herds- language. Their high status was built on remote areas, shamanistic performances and men. The survival of Chukchi culture military power and wealth in reindeer herds, ceremonies continued well into the and language depends upon the success of which made other Natives depend upon Communist era. But since the 1950s, Soviet hundreds of current village residents in them for food, furs, and clothing. The image officials have compelled thousands of returning to their former lifestyle. of "authentic reindeer folk," never sub- former herdsmen to settle along the coast in jugated by anybody, is still a dominant part large modernized villages. Here, their For further reading, see: Antropova and of the Chukchi mentality. former preference for the free nomadic life Kuznetsova 1964; Arutiunov 1988a; and quickly eroded, and they mixed with Bogoras 1909. Maritime Chukchi, Eskimos, and Russian newcomers.

27 Cultural affinities between Native The central figure of Koryak mythology is These similarities have led researchers to seek Siberians and Native Alaskans go Big- Raven (Quikil or Quikinnaqu), ancient cultural connections or even a

far beyond the Bering Strait area. who appears as the first man, the father and common origin for these peoples separated

Anthropologists have found strik- protector of the Koryak, as well as a by the North Pacific. Koryak (as well ing parallels between the myths, rituals, powerful shaman and a supernatural being. as neighboring Itelmen and Chukchi) were and dwelling types of the Koryak—inhabi- As the Great Transformer of the world, once called "Americanoids" and were tants of the —and Big-Raven presides at every shamanistic cere- thought to be return migrants from America those of Tlingit, , and other Native mony. Almost all Koryak myths and folk- to Siberia, after the initial peopling of the peoples of Northwest Coast. tales deal with the life, travels, adventures, . Although this hypothesis lacks and tricks of Big-Raven and his family. About 80 percent of those episodes have par-

allels in the mythology of the Northwest Coast indigenous peoples. — proof beyond similarities in myths and The Koryak had no common tribal name. To forge a new nation out of a dozen beliefs, Koryak-Northwest Coast affinities are The coastal people were called Nemelan tribal divisions, Soviet administrators sup- still a key subject for research. ("village dwellers"), while the reindeer ported the idea of a "general" Koryak herders preferred the name Chauchen or ethnicity. They introduced a written Koryak

I he Kamchatka Peninsula is a huge Chauchuven ("rich in reindeer," the same language based on a Reindeer Koryak extension at land that stretches tor 1,000 as the Chukchi word C^hauchu). dialect, which was incomprehensible to miles into the Pacific, separating the coastal Koryak. Russians and other newcom-

Bering and Okhotsk . I he land is moun- By the time of their first contacts with ers streamed into the area and transformed tainous and volcanic, covered by tundra Russians in the 1650s, the Koryak, Koryak villages into mixed communities. shrubs in the north and by coniferous forest unlike Chukchi, did not have an integrated In 1956 Native education was abandoned in the south. It possesses the most abundant nation with a common language and altogether. resources in all Siberia for feeding people identity. The interior herders were actually a deer, moose, Dall sheep, fur-bearing separate folk of several nomadic bands, 1 he influx of outsiders tinned the Koryak and marine mammals, shellfish, and above with a dialect of their own. Coastal dwellers nation (presently 9,000 people) into a all, bounteous runs of Pacific salmon. were divided into a dozen regional groups, minority on their own land. Smaller villages

each having a dialect distinct from that of were closed, and their residents were

The indigenous people of this land are the reindeer people. This deep split relocated to larger new communities with the Koryak, who live at and around helped Russians to incorporate Kamchatka mixed populations. Continuing resettlement the northern stem of the peninsula, and the residents, despite their strenuous resis- uprooted most of the former Koryak

Itelmen, former inhabitants of its central tance, into a Siberian administrative system tribal divisions, and the entire nation was and southern section. Like the Chukchi, the by the early 1700s. placed under enormous pressure to Koryak are divided between coastal mar- assimilate. itime hunters and inland nomadic herders. Taxation, christianization, and epidemics

Before the arrival of Russians, Itelmen soon followed. Half of the Koryak But that very policy finally triggered a were predominantly river fishermen. Once (and all Itelmen) converted to the Russian revival. When a tiny community of Paren' numerous and militant, the Itelmen were Orthodox Chtirch. While the reindeer Koryak refused to abandon their old nearly destroyed by contact. Their popula- people mostly preserved their original village in 1985, the story of Paren' resistance tion dwindled to the present count of 2,500 lifestyle, the coastal groups became more attracted attention from the media, from people, and their legacy all but perished assimilated. Small farms and livestock were other Koryak, and even from international under the pressure of epidemics and accul- introduced among southern Koryak Native organizations. In the late 1980s, turation. Despite heavy losses, the Koryak and Itelmen. People moved from under- Koryak activists gained political momentum. managed to preserve their traditions. ground dwellings to log houses and gave up A Koryak Native association has been indigenous fur clothing for Russian-sryle created, and in 1990 the Koryak Auton-

The Koryak occupy a special position within garments. Although salmon still dominated omous Area seceded from Kamchatka the Siberian portion of the Pacific Rim. the Native diet, , flour, and potatoes Province to become an independent member

They used to live at the very intersection of became popular. Local edible plants of the Russian Federation. all cultural influences entering the Siberian and berries, formerly of great importance,

Pacific from various directions. Along the were gradually replaced by introduced The Koryak's political agenda is similar to coast, Koryak land lay between the Eskimo vegetables. that of the Chukchi, being split into and Aleut sea-mammal hunting area to the separate "coastal " and "interior" streams. north, and the Itelmen, Nivkh, and Ainu As Soviet power became established on Unlike the Chukchi, however, the Koryak

Pacific salmon-fishing area to the south. The Siberia's Pacific coast, the entire Koryak still lack a common ethnic identity and inland portion of the Koryak tribe lies territory was declared a Koryak Autonomous language. Therefore, issues of regional inter- between the arctic tundra, where Reindeer Area in 193L Following the new govern- est as opposed to general Koryak loyalty

Chukchi follow their herds, and the Even/ mental policy, modern administrative posts will be extremely acute. To make things

Tungus area of subsistence hunting and were built, schools were introduced, and worse, the Koryak area has few commercial fishing in the northern forests. This unique Native villages were reorganized as collective resources beyond fishing, and a collapse combination of neighbors has brought farms for commercial fishing, trapping, in local industries, services, and transporta- various legacies into Koryak culture. and herding. tion could be a real challenge to a small nation. Since Russians are now fleeing the

Originally, the Koryak did not call area, Koryak land may soon return to its themselves by that name, and the origin the original owners—but in a state of recession word is unknown. The Russians may and economic despair. have introduced it in the late l600s when they first met with the Reindeer portion For further reading, see: Antropova 1964; of the tribe, since the word means "(being) Arutiunov 1988b; Jochelson 1908; and with reindeer." Krasheninnikov 1972.

29 leather apron and a tur parka cut like a that used by the horse-riding peoples ot By the early I 80()s Even were tully depen- 19th-century European morning coat; . They never milk reindeer dent on trade with Russians tor various and social organization based on patrilineal and rarely use sledges for driving, unlike goods, including ammtmition, tea, tobacco, clans with strict marriage regulations. Chukchi, Koryak, and other Siberian flour, and bread. Russian pressure on herdsmen. The Even are renowned through the Even increased dramatically in the 1930s,

In their age-old move through the moun- the Siberian Pacific as experienced land when the new Soviet state launched tains and forests of inner Siberia, the and fur-game hunters. After the arrival of numerous industrial projects in northeastern

Tungus tribes gradually split into three major Russians, they became actively engaged Siberia using a labor force of thousands clusters. Those who moved northward in fur-trapping and trade for sable, marten, of convicts. An Even "autonomous area " was and westward formed the largest portion, lox, and squirrel pelts. Subsistence hunting declared in 1931 but soon abolished. today known as Evenk (current popula- concentrated on large meat animals, The entire valley ot the River was tion 30,000 in Russia and about 20,000 in such as elk, wild reindeer of" the lorest and gradually transformed into a zone ot northern China). Those who moved tundra, deer, bear, and mountain sheep. gold-minnig, logging, and prison camps. eastward—to eastern Yakutia, Kolyma River, Fishing and fowl hunting was hit less impor- Even hunting bands retreated into and the northern Okhotsk Sea—called tant, except in coastal areas with good remote areas, but eventually they were themselves Even (presently about 17,000). salmon runs. brought under Soviet administration and Migrants into the Amur River basin merged into a state-run economy of mixed with local tribes and formed a num- The Even made clothing ot reindeer and herding and trapping. ber of small fishing and hunting nations, elk skin, tancily decorated with beads, which are described in the chapter on Amur reindeer and elk hair embroidery, and small The Even nation is now in a desperate River peoples. metal ornaments. All items—leather sittiation. The newly formed Association of apron, gloves, hide leggings, caps, borders of the Native People of Chukotka and This original distribution of the Tungus hide coats—were elegantly ornamented. Kolyma (ANPCK) recognizes Even culture as tribes was modified by a number of Men's trousers are brief, rather Chinese in severely "damaged." State-run mines later migrations. Some groups ot Evenk, style, and need extra leg protectors for and industrial zones cover traditional hunt- fleeing Russian invaders, moved to the warmth—evidence that the originally ing and grazing areas. Although strong

Amur River valley, the southern coast of came from the south. in numbers, the Even population is scattered the Okhotsk Sea, and Sakhalin Island. (about 17,000 in Yakutia, Magadan, Another piece ot evidence tor the "inner and Kamchatka provinces). There are few

" The Even, like all Timgus peoples, are Siberian origin ot the Even is their communities where Even are numerous fairly recent arrivals in the North Pacific traditional social system. Unlike most Native enough to start education and cultural activi- region. In some areas they first arrived peoples ot the Pacific coastland. Even were ties in their Native language. Even just before or soon after the Russian invasion organized into a network of patrilineal clans, political power in the Pacific provinces of in the mid- 1600s. Experienced warriors and strict rules forbade marriages within a Siberia is very limited and centered around a and reindeer riders armed with iron lances clan. Clan members might be scattered over newly-established Even section within and Russian firearms, they pushed back a huge territory, but they steadfastly pre- the ANPCK. Because of this, the Even polit- their less powerful neighbors, especially local served their clan affiliation and patrilineal ical agenda is focused on preserving Native Yukaghir and Koryak. The Even drive descent. Normally, two or more clans formed lands and on lobbying for government continued throughout Russian colonial rule, a marriage unit in which cross-cousin support in language, education, and other until they covered the Kolyma River marriage was the preferred pattern. In tormer related programs tor cultural survival. valley, the Anadyr River basin, and the inte- times. Even always migrated in bands that rior of the Kamchatka Peninsula. included members ot various clans to ensure For further reading, see: Arutiunov 1988c; intermarriage. Many Even clans were Jochelson 1926; Kreynovich 1979;

The Even's traditional economy, as part actually ot Yukaghir origin, while several Levin and Vasil'yev 1964; and Service 1978. of the original Tungus pattern, focused on Even were also incorporated into reindeer herding and land game hunting. Yukaghir clans.

In both activities, reindeer were important as riding and pack animals. Even reindeer are In the 1700s Even converted to the Russian large, strong, and fully tamed, unlike those Orthodox Church and soon became raised by Chukchi and Koryak herders. devout Christians. Children were regularly

Well trained to bear a good-sized rider, an baptized, and marriages were licensed

Even reindeer can carry a load of 80 by Orthodox priests. Russian-style family kilograms (180 pounds) and travel 50 miles and personal names replaced original a day. The Even herds, however, were of Even names, and members ot a patrilineal relatively small size, numbering in the dozens clan all took the same last name. or a few hundreds. To ride reindeer. Even Through conversion. Even beliefs mixed used a special saddle and a harness similar to with Christian values and legends, though some shamanistic practices survived,

and shamans were respected as spirittial

leaders. "Shaman" is actually a Tungus word;

the Russians introduced it to other European languages.

31 southernmost portion of the the forests of the Siberian interior, the river valley with its plentiful salmon runs. TheSiberian Pacific, once part of Pacific coastland, and even the remote shores They lived by fishing, hunting, and the ancient empires of China and of the . Migrations of peoples plant gathering; later, around the first centu-

Korea, is formed by the lower from China and the Central Asian steppe ry B.C., the Manchu people of northern

Amur basin. The Amur River is the largest in brought agriculture, animal husbandry, China introduced farming and animal breed- Siberia (about 2,700 miles), equal in size metalware, and pottery to the gateways of ing into the region. and might to Alaska's . For ages, Siberia. the Amur River served as a cultural "high- • Once agriculture was established in the way" along which peoples moved, exchang- As an age-old cultural crossroad, the fertile middle section of the Amur Basin, the ing and mixing customs, beliefs, and Amur basin has a complicated history. In population grew, and the area became the artistic traditions. The Amur was the distant prehistory, people settled in the heartland of powerful empires. The Manchu main route of communication connecting people of the Middle Amur had fortified

cities, an army, and a codified system of

32 —

administration. The lower reaches of the Woodworking was another major local dwindled, as Native speakers had no say in

river, however, where the climate was craft, using metal tools imported by Chinese, public life. Although Native people

more severe, retained their original himting Korean, or Russian traders. Finely carved received government funds to develop village

and fishing economies. In the mid- 1800s wooden dishes and boxes were made schools, medical facilities, and economies,

the river became an international border, for both personal use and for sale, and vari- they were ever more outnumbered and over- separating the on its north- ous parts of dwellings, gravehouses, boats, powered throughout the area. The state ern bank from China to the south. and sledges were lancily decorated. Images of supported Native salmon fisheries and fur

trees, dragons, tigers, and birds dominate trapping for economic reasons and promoted The Native people who inhabited the lower in Native art. Birds—mainly waterfowl dancing and decorative arts to keep Native Amur valley were a mixture of various were prominent in local myths about the identity afioat. Tungus and Manchu tribes from the interior, creation ol the universe and the construction Nivkh, and probably Ainu migrants of the "world trees" that link the upper, That precarious balance was recently from Sakhalin Island and the Amur estuary. middle, and lower worlds. threatened by new plans for industry and

Except for the Nivkh, all Native peoples development. Due to Russia's current of the Amur valley speak closely related lan- Snakes also appear often in Amur art and economic crisis, local authorities are desper- guages of Tungus-Manchu stock. They folklore. According to Nanai legend, ate lor foreign investment. The hunger share the same general name tor themselves, the earth was originally smooth and covered for funds is opening the door to any propos-

nani ("local people"), and a number with water, until a giant serpent plowed al backed by foreign cash. China is pushing of clan names and clan groups cross ethnic deep valleys with his body. The water flowed for new construction and dam projects, lines. Presently, those nations are known down the valleys, leaving dry land lor to supply its growing population in the as: Nanai (population 12,000), Ulchi humans and other creatures. Snake images north. The outcome for the valley would be

(3,200), Udegei (1,900), Oroch (900), and appear in Native art in the form of degradation of the environment, collapse Negidal (600). Another 1,500 Nanai and spirals and zigzags. of the salmon runs, and new pressure on

4,000 Oroch live on the Chinese side of the Native peoples.

Amur and along adjacent streams. The Rtissians first entered the Amur valley in

the mid- 1600s, but Chinese troops drove To protect their lifestyle, Amur River nations All Native peoples of the Amur valley them back for about 200 years. In the 1800s, are becoming more assertive. In 1992 the practiced salmon fishing and hunting for Russia formally annexed the north side of Udegei gained worldwide attention through land animals of the forest and for marine the valley and all the lower portion. Russian their staunch refusal to surrender tribal mammals on the coast and the Amur peasants, settlers, and Orthodox missionaries lands in the Bikin River valley to a Russian- estuary. Groups that controlled good fishing soon poured into the area. Railroads, Korean logging venture. Udegei village coun- grounds along the river—such as the towns, and villages were built, while Native cils rejected the proposal and sent hunters Nanai and Ulchi—led more or less sedentary peoples were steadily forced to gather at a to guard the borders of their land. The lives. Others—such as the Negidal, few locations within their tribal lands and to Udegei hired a lawyer to defend their rights Udegei, and Oroch—tended to be hunters surrender their hunting and fishing and held public rallies outside government and followed a more mobile lifestyle. grounds. Within fifty years. Native people buildings. Several international groups,

As river and estuary fishermen, Amur people were a minority among a booming Russian activists, and government officials were skilled in building various kinds of population of Russian, Chinese, and Korean also rallied to support the Udegei. As birchbark canoes and large wooden boats, up newcomers. of 1993, the Bikin valley logging project to 10 meters (25 feet) long. They were was delayed for further social and environ- also experienced dog breeders and outstand- After Soviet power was established in the mental evaluation. ing skiers, using skis lined with seal and area, it tried to protect Native people reindeer skin in the deep snow of the north- by designating their traditional lands as terri- For further reading, see: Black 1988; Ivanov, ern forests. torial "autonomies." A handful of "Native Levin, and Smolyak 1964a; Laufer 1902; districts" were created in the 1920s to boost and Okladnikov 1981.

Amur valley people were famous for Native political activity and participation elaborate clothing and footwear made of in administration. Those districts were inte- salmon fishskin. All clothing was gorgeously grated into a larger Lower Amur "national decorated, especially shamans' robes and area," following the pattern applied to other festival garments. The decorations, often in minority nations in Siberia. many colors, show Chinese-style motifs, modified according to the local tradition for But the valley, with its abundant fish and intricate designs. timber resources, was too important for Russian industry. The Lower Amur "national

I area" was soon annulled. "Native districts"

lost their specific rights and gradually became ordinary precincts. Native languages

33 Nivkh

Igor Krupnik

Nivkh teacher Only 10% ofthe

Nukhba and Nivkh still know

students, reading their native language, newly published and most ofthese are

primer in the over the age offifty. Nivkh language. Khabarovsk Arsenev Regional Museum.

s Siberia's Pacific coastland runs heart of the forests of inland Siberia, while The Nivkh, or Gilyak, as the older

^^^L farther south, to the gateways its southern tributaries reach the borders literature calls them, are a cultural mystery.

^K^^L of Japan and China, it sphts in of and northern China.Sakhalin Island Linguistically they are isolated, showing

^M^^^^ two, as if reflecting two different resembles a giant fish, with its head turned no direct affinities with their closest neigh- cuhural streams. The eastern stretch turns northward toward the mouth of the Amur bors, the Ainu of Sakhalin Island and into a narrow 700-mile-long strip—SakliaUn River. Both mainland and island are inhabit- the Tungus and Manchu inhabitants of the Island, whose southern tip nearly joins the ed by one Native Siberian nation—the Amur River region. Physically Nivkh island of , the northernmost Nivkh. Their present population of some also differ from the surrounding Siberian

portion of Japan. The western stretch follows 4,600 people is split almost evenly between populations. In terms of subsistence,

the rock)' coast of the present-day Russian the island and mainland. they are more like the Koryak and Itelmen, Maritime Province and becomes the huge coastal sea-mammal hunters and

Amur River vallev. The river streams into the fishermen of the Kamchatka Peninsula and northern Okhotsk Sea coast. On the

34 —— other hand, certain features in ancient Nivkli In contrast to their neighbors, the Nivkli Nivkh contacts with the Russians began in spiritual culture reflect cultural connections displayed many cultural and subsistence the mid-1 800s, when Sakhalin Island with the people ot the Northwest coast of adaptations that indicate a subarctic origin and the Amur River valley were incorporated North America. or at least close contacts with arctic into the Russian empire. Soon Russian people. Their traditional winter dwelling was peasants were sent to colonize Sakhalin, and

According to Nivkh traditional beliefs, an earthen house built hah-undcrground, in the 1880s the island was made a place of

Sakhalin Island is actually a giant beast lying entered by way of a smoke hole in the roof exile and convict labor. This continued on its belly. Its back is covered by a Nivkh clothing was made of seal skins into the first decades of the Soviet regime; thick "hair" of trees, and people live in that and animal furs. Hunting for seal, sea lion, several local industries, including logging, hair, like small insects. The beast's "head" and beluga whale from large wooden coal-mining, and oil, were manned primarily is formed by the island's northernmost boats occupied a prominent role in Nivkh by convicts. extension. Cape Mary, and its feet are two economy. Nivkh were renowned dog- southern peninsulas stretching into the breeders and dog-sled drivers. Dog sledding, As Saldialin's immigrant population grew, the

LaPerouse Strait. Periodically, the beast rises, a characteristic feature of arctic life, government forced the Nivkh and other as if bothered by the people on its back, was adopted from the Nivkh by all their Native people out ot their traditional lands like a sleeping dog. When the beast moves, neighboring nations, the Ainu, Orok, through a series ot resettlements. In 1946 people feel the earth trembling and and Amur River people. The Nivkh sled, all Sakhalin Ainu and halt of all Orok were roaring in earthquake. their way of harnessing dogs, and their relocated to Japan. The Native residents

practice of driving a sled from a seated posi- of Sakhalin were overwhelmed by incoming The Nivkh shared Sakhalin Island with tion are close to the Itelmen style and Russians. At present, the Native people a few other Native nations. Their southern to Chukchi and Koryak reindeer driving. constitute barely 0.4 percent of the total neighbors were Ainu who originally island population of 700,000. came from the island ol Hokkaido, pushed Traditionally, Nivkh lived in clan-organized northward by Japanese expansion. Ainu village commtmities that changed The breakdown of the Soviet state system were inland hunters and fishermen with location two or three times a year. In the and Russia's recent economic crisis placed a many cultural features that show their south- spring they traveled to the shore tor new threat to the Nivkh and other Native ern origin. Nivkh-Ainu relations were sea-mammal hunting and salmon fishing; residents. Sakhalin Island is currently Russia's mainly hostile, as Nivkh raided Ainu villages there they usually occupied wooden largest oil-producing area in the Pacific. for goods, women, and slaves. plank houses, often built on piles. In There are several new plans to expand off-

the tall they moved inland to winter settle- shore oil-drilling and to construct pipelines

The Nivkh's only northern neighbors were ments along the river valleys. More across the island to pump oil to ship a tiny group of Tungus-speaking Orok permanent dwellings were built at the winter terminals or to the mainland. As the dream (now about 600). They once came from the site—semi-imderground houses covered of an "oil El Dorado " dominates the nearest mainland, with their small reindeer with earth and grass, or, later, large public mood on the island, the fate ot its herds, and preserved the original Tungus frame houses copied from the Manchu Native residents is given low priority. If subsistence pattern of hunting and fishing and Chinese. new foreign-sponsored oil projects become supplemented by small-scale reindeer reality, the results will be more resettlement breeding. In the 1800s another group of The most distinctive feature of Nivkh ot Native peoples, a high risk of sea

Tungus-speaking people migrated to ritual life was their tamous "bear festival. " Its pollution, and further appropriation of the island—the reindeer-breeding Evenk climiix was the sacrifice ot a live bear, Native fishing and himting lands. (presently 200 people altogether), who also usually captured as a cub and raised in the settled in the island's northern interior. village by a certain clan or lineage. Sakhalin's Native people are responding

Nivkh were also in contact with the Chinese, Preparation for the festival lasted several to the challenge by organizing their at least for the last few centuries, and since years, while the captured bear grew to first political groups at village, district, and the 1700s with the Japanese as well. maturity in a specially built corral. The provincial levels. Their agenda focuses

These contacts provided the Nivkh with bear festival usually took place in winter and on issues of local self-government, protection metalware, tobacco, , manufactured included—besides the ritual feeding and of tribal lands, and state investment in clothing, beads, and porcelain in exchange killing of the bear—dog races, group Native educational, economic, and cultural for furs, fish-skin, and eagle feathers. games, a communal feast, and group dances. programs.

The festival was given by a group of

relatives to honor the death ot a kinsman. For further reading, see; Black 1973;

Generally, it was an inter-clan ceremony Ivanov, Levin, and Smolyak 1964b; and in which a clan of wife-takers restored Watanabe 1972.

their connection with a clan of wife-givers

a connection broken by a kinsman's death. Several neighboring peoples—Ainu, Orok, Amur River nations—also practiced this tradition of bear sacrifice.

35 36 Ancestral Times

William W. Fitzhugh

Native American Origins

evidence oi early bone and stone tools suggests that A second wave of Asian settlers left artifacts in a style called the Thethe earliest cultures and peoples of the New World Siberian-American Paleoarctic tradition. Sites of this tradition, which arrived from Asia at the end of the last Ice Age, about contain microblades, cores, bifaces, burins, and other specialized

12,000-15,000 years ago. Spreading rapidly in uninhabit- stone tools, are found on both sides of Bering Strait, at Ushki Lake ed territory where animals were plentiful and had little fear of (Figs. 19, 20), Diuktai, and other Siberian sites, and later, by humans, these early groups soon populated nearly the entire territory 10,000 years ago, at Alaskan sites of the culture (Fig. 22). of the Americas, except for the arctic regions and Greenland, Because Denali sites are limited to Alaska and the Northwest which were settled by a later wave of arctic-adapted Asian peoples Coast, that culture may be the ancestor of modern Athapaskan and about 4,000 years ago. By virtue of geography, Alaska and eastern Tlingit peoples. Siberia played prominent roles in the history of Asian-American contacts and exchanges for more than 10,000 years. The third and final group of American cultures thought to have Asian connections are Eskimos and Aleuts. Early Eskimo-Aleut cul-

When Europeans began to explore America, it was thought that ture is believed to have appeared about 8,000 years ago in the

Native Americans must have had European ancestry, but when Vitus Bering Sea and North Pacific region. Its earliest sites are found at

Bering discovered Bering Strait in 1741, theories of Asian origins Anangula and Ocean Bay, and its distinctive features include a began to receive support. Today there are numerous theories about focus on sea-mammal hunting using , kayaks, oil lamps, the peopling of the New World, but all of them acknowledge the and other northern maritime adaptations. Although Eskimo- importance of Siberia and Alaska in this process. One prominent Aleut culture probably derived from earlier cultures ol the area, the current theory proposes three migrations of Asian peoples to account influence of Siberian Neolithic cultures was also important. for patterns in Native American languages, gene pools, and archeo- logical data. This theory holds that most of the peoples and cultures While this three-part theory accounts reasonably well lor current of the Americas originated in the earliest wave of Asian peoples, knowledge, little is known for certain about the early history who arrived in Alaska over the Beringian land bridge, or along its of the Americas, and of Siberia and Alaska in particular. The real pre-

Pacific coast, and spread south when glacial ice began to melt about history of will not be known for decades or centuries and

12,000-14,000 years ago. Archeological traces of these first Amer- no doubt will be illuminated by Native oral history and tradition. icans are seen in what archeologists call the , with its distinctive type of fluted point, a variety of which is known also in Alaska. To date, no known prototype for American Clovis culture has been found either in Asia or the Americas.

17. 18.

Aleut figurines stylizedform is unlike any other Harpoon hunting magic other engraved decorations,

Collected by M. Mangus in Port prehistoric Eskimo or Aleut Old Bering Sea culture socketpiece raised bosses, and drilled holes for

Mailer, Alaska, 1981. National figurines. The central figure wears found on St. Lawrence Island, mounting decorative bristles— Museum ofNatural History, a bird or seal crest; the figure Alaska, by E.D. Jones in 1936, illustrates an important aspect of

Smithsonian Institution, at right, a topknot. Facialfeatures dated ca. 1 B.C. to A.D. 500, early Eskimo hunting magic.

M492418 (left), 8.5 cm; resemble Aleut and Pacific Yupik National Museum ofNatural By making beautifid , A492416 (center), 9.3 cm; ceremonial masks. Limb joints History, Smithsonian Institution, hunters showed respect for animal

A492417 (right), 8.5 cm. are marked with lines, and collars #A378054. 21 cm. spirits, which in turn offered

or necklaces are shown. Grooved themselves to the people and were " These remarkable ivory figurines perforations on the backs facilitat- This engraved socketpiece offos- received as "honored guests. were found at an archeological ed mounting. They probably silized walrus ivory, part of an site in Port Moller, Alaska, but had religious significance and may Old Bering Sea culture harpoon, little is known oftheir original depict deities or ancestors. depicts a predator capturing its location, culture, or age. They are prey. This imagery—together with absolutely unique; their bold,

37 Beringia: The Asian-American Land Bridge

Scientists believe that people first moved into the Americas ago. As the Ice Age climate warmed, glacial ice melted and the sea across the Beringian land bridge, or along its southern level began rising. Bering Strait appeared about 1 1,000 years ago, shores. This "land bridge" (actually the exposed sea floor and by 6,000 years ago the modern shorelines of Alaska and Siberia

of the Bering and Chukchi seas) today lies 50-100 meters were established.

(150-300 feet) underwater but existed as dry land at several periods during the last million years. In effect it was more like an extension Through most of the glacial period, glaciers blocked access to the rest of Asia than a "bridge," a vast expanse of tundra, almost 1,000 miles ot North America. Ice covered the Brooks and Alaska ranges, and wide, connecting Asia and North America. This area was a produc- glaciers covering the Canadian Rockies merged with the Laurentide tive habitat for arctic-adapted plants and animals, including caribou, Ice Cap in eastern to create a solid glacial mass from the mammoths, and other large game, and its southern coast was rich in Pacific to the Atlantic. But by 12,000-14,000 years ago, narrow marine mammals, fish, and seabirds. Once early Asian peoples mas- channels began to open to the east and south, and ice-free corridors tered the basic techniques of arctic survival, probably 20,000-40,000 may have opened east of the Rockies and along the coast of Alaska years ago, human expansion into Beringia and the later peopling of and British Columbia. Through these corridors the first Asian the New World was sure to follow. migrants may have moved south into more temperate regions, dis-

covering a vast, pristine, rich, uninhabited land. Within 1,000 years

The first route into the Americas has been debated for more than these "first Americans" expanded throughout North and South a century. These debates have been largely theoretical, because America. Only the Canadian arctic, covered by ice until 5,000 years the archeological sites of these early migrants are now under water. ago, and Greenland remained unoccupied until Eskimo peoples

Beringia probably reached its greatest extent 17,000-25,000 years expanded east from Alaska about 4,000 years ago.

19.

Early Ushki culture at Ushki Lake on the Kamchatka

(ca. 12,000 B.C.), River, where people begari settling

Kamchatka, Siberia to catch salmon. Over time their Collected by Nikolai Dikov. camps were buried under volcanic

Northeastern Interdisciplinary ash and silt, creating a deep strat-

Research Institute, Magadan, ified record ofsuccessive cultures. Russia. Left to right (top to The earliest remains, dating to bottom): bifacial blade 12,000 B.C. (Level VII), include #YI-VII-30, 8.7 cm; stemmed outlines ofskin tents andfireplaces points, 2.8 c?n, and #Ush-V-75, with bones of bison, horse, and 2. 7 cm; drilled stone beads; sahfion. Level VLL also three microblades, Y-414, contained a himiati grave

Y-I-410, and 409; and stemmed covered with red ocher, and more point #Y-I-73-Vn, 4.2 cm. than 1,000 decorative ground-

stone beads.

One ofthe earliest archeological

sites in the North Pacific region is

20.

Late Ushki culture 3, 000 years after the first occupa-

(ca. 9000 B.C.), tion, people returned to Ushki

Kamchatka, Siberia (Level VI) and built Eskimo-style Collected by Nikolai Dikov. houses with central hearths and

Northeastern Interdisciplinary subterranean entrance tunnels.

Research Institute, Magadan, One house contained a dog burial

Russia. Left to right (top to bot- and a ritually scorched bison tom): leaf-shaped bifacial points shoulder blade. Late Ushki stone

#Ush-I-IVDG, 9.3 cm; #Ush-80, tools include leaf-shaped bifaces 5 cm; #Ush-88, 3.9 cm; CO and projectile points, scrapers, point, 2.5 cm; round skin scraper, , and microblade technology.

2.2 cm; flake knifl #Ush-82, 5.9 Similarities to Siberian Diuktai cm; tivo microblade cores #UI-VI- and American Denali culture sites

22-Zh, 4. 1 cm and 3 cm; and indicate that Late Ushki is part of two microblades, #U-VI-315. Siberian-American Paleoarctic

tradition. 20

38 21.

Paleoindian tradition The oldest manmade objects in 21 Three points from the National Alaska date to about 10.000 B.C. Museum ofNatural History, Their makers are called

Smithsonian institution. Top left, Paleoindians, the first inhabitants Clovis-like fluted point ofNorth America. Unlike A39] 806 from Utokok Riven Denali culture (Fig. 22), Utokok,

Alaska, ca. 9000 B.C., 5.5 cm; Healy Lake, and Putu points

bottom left Putu point have no known links to Siberia.

SIC-200-1, Putu site, north Alaska. ca.8500 B.C.. 2.3 em;

right, Healy Lake point,

ininumhered, central Alaska, ca. 9000 B.C., n.4 cm.

22.

Denali culture Among the earliest archeological

(ca. 8700-5200 B.C.) sites in Alaska are smallfishing

Dry Creek, Alaska. University of and hunting camps on river ter-

Alaska Museum. Left to right races near Mount Denali. Denali

(top to bottom): two bifaces tools include bifaces, stemmed #UA77-44-3884, 12 cm, and points, burins, and microblades

UA74-41-199, 5 cm; two burins, made from wedge-shaped cores.

UA77-44-370 and UA76-1 55- Denali sites date later than

5496, 2. 6 cm; two microblade Siberian members of the Siberian-

cores DCr73-24, 3.2 cm, and American Paleoarctic tradition, DCr79-32, 4 cm; two microb- indicating eastward expansion of lades DCr73-47 and 48. a tradition arising in Asia.

23.

Early maritime cultures Siberian cultures quickly adapted in Alaska to the rich supply ofsea mammals,

Ocean Bay culture, 4000 B.C., fish, and seabirds along Alaska's from the KOD-363 site. Pacific coast. At this time glacial Ridge, Kodiak Island. Koniag, ice still blocked sections ofthe Inc., Kodiak, Alaska. Lef to coast. But even before 4000 B. C.

right: slotted bone shafr with maritime cultures like Ocean Bay microblades, #363-89-6-129- I were using kayaks, harpoons,

245, 10.8 cm, 363-89-372-2. and throwing boards (note the 363-89-3-49-2, and 363-89-6- tiny bone hook, which held a

27-2; ivory throiving-board pin. in place on a tltrowing

3.4 cm; and two harpoon heads board) to capture seals, sea lions,

#363-881-1-20-129. 9.3 cm, and sea otters, and smaller har-

and #363-881-137-210, 9.8 cm. poons for fsh and waterfowl. The

use of slotted bone points with

Coastal sites in the Aleutians microblade insets ties Ocean Bay

and on the GulfofAlaska. 8,000- culture to earlier Siberian 10,000 years old, indicate that and Mesolithic tradi-

tions.

39 The Siberian Neolithic: Origins of Settled Village Life

the onset of warming at the end of the Ice Ages, larger populations and increased sedentary life by 9,000-10,000 Withcultures of eastern Siberia, as in Pacific Alaska, began to years ago, well before their appearance in Alaska. Most striking,

specialize in sea and river hunting and fishing. Economies however, is the presence of ceramic cooking vessels and clay animal

based on sea mammals, fish, and shellfish proved more figurines that were probably hunting charms. These ceramics

stable than the previous land hunting economy, resulting in popula- are among the earliest in the world and indicate the potential of

tion growth and a settled way of life. Large coastal and riverine vil- intensive fishing and maritime hunting economies for higher

lages in Jomon and Russia's Lower Amur River sites indicate cultural development.

24. 25.

Sakhalin Island Late By late Neolithic times, ca. "Nefertiti" of the Amur, Neolithic, Siberia 3000-1000 B.C., Sakhalin Island Siberia (cast) Sakhalin Regional Museum, Russia: cultures had toggling hatpoons, Original at the Museum ofHistory four bone hai-poon heads, from the ceramics, and an array ofstone and Culture ofthe Peoples ofSiberia

Nevelsk II site, collected in 1957 by scrapers, knives, points, and micro- and the Far East, Novosibirsk,

Kozyrev, left to right: #70-215, blades. By this ti?ne the distinctive Russia, #KN-63-48090. 11 cm. 7.5 cm, 70-219, 8.7 an, 70-216, features ofcoastal Siberian Excavations at the Kondon site in

9.3 cm, and 70-214, 11.5 ct7i; Neolithic, seen here in a collection the lower Amur River recovered this

three arroivheads, from the Imchin from the Nevelsk II site, are frdly remarkablefired clayfigurinefrom

II site, northern Sakhalin, #3753- developed. The variety ofharpoon a Neolithic dwelling dating to 153, 2.4 cm, #3753-74, 5.2 cm, types indicates the evolution ofhar- 4000-2000 B. C. An armless bust

and 3753-189, 3.5 cm; scraper poon technology. Hunters seem to with a flat, sivept-backforehead

#3753-215, from Imchin II, 6.2 have used decoration as hunting and carefidly modeledfacialfea- cm; microblade core #3760-497, magic to please the spirits ofprey tures, the Kondon figurine may have

and two microblades #^516-14 and increase their success. Similar served as a sevon (shamans helper

and 4516-10, frvm hnchin II; two belief andpractices arefound or guardiari used to ward offdis-

pottery sherds, left #4334-752, from among ALiskan Eskimo cultures. ease) or dzhulin (female household

the Sadovnik II site, southern deity or guardian).

Sakhalin, and right, #4720-3811,

from the Imchin II site, northern Theform resembles Alaskan Eskimo, Sakhalin, 10 cm and 1 1.5 cm. Aleut, and Indian figurines that

were used both as children's dolls

and as charms and religious icons.

40 26. 27.

Tarinski culture The Tarinski cidture ofKamchatka Tokarevski culture richest marine habitats ofthe North

(3000-1000 B.C.), south- exhibits features common to other (1500-1 B.C.), northern Pacific. Protectedfivm the open ern Kamchatka, Siberia Late Neolithic Siberian cidtures, Okhotsk Sea, Siberia ocean andfed by nutrients fivm the Kamchatka Regional Museum, such tu Taria, Northern Chukotka, Kamchatka Regional Museum, Amur River, the Okhotsk Sea

Russia, left to right, top row: Ymyiakhtakh, and Ust-BeLtia. Russia, lefi to right: tivo bone har- nurtured the development ofhighly arrow head #29864-A5l310, 6.2 Other elements, such as labrets, poons #cp-88 dz-1530, W.5 cm, complex prehistoric cidtures.

cm, Bol'shoi Kamen site; bone indicate contacts with the wider and #OL-83 N-35, 7.5 cm; tivo Tokarevski culture closely parallels

tool #29925-A9/106, 7.8 an; North Pacific region. Labrets, T- stone points #VX-1219-CP-89-d- the development ofEskimo

slate labret #G1-30283, 5.8 cm, shaped or plug-like ornaments worn 14-25, 6.5 cm cm, and VX-1218- and Aleut cultures in its economy,

Jiipanovo site; human figure in a hole in the lip, arefound in CP-Vll-84g, 8 cm; below, two dwelling types, village life, and #G1-30282, 3 cm, Bol'shoi Kamen most North Pacific cultures ofthis bone spear prongs #M-37 OL-87- technology. The latter includedfixed

site; tivo obsidian arrowheads period. Tarinski material also 20, 15.5 c?n, and #OL-83-P-37 and detachable harpoons, and

#29864-A5l3l6, 2.2 cm, and include chipped stone projectile 20 an. trident for birds andfish. #29864-A5l353, 2.8 cm; below, points and asymmetric knives made Many ofthe haipoon forms show

round scraper #29925-A9l89, ofcolorfid chert; T-shaped scrapers; Tokarevski culture is known from close stylistic parallels with early 3 cm; bone pin or creaser #29925- bone spatulas, pins, and creasers for excavations in the Magadan region Eskimo harpoons from the Bering A9I654, 9.4 cm; gray stone scraper aimping boot soles; and stone adzes ofthe Okhotsk Sea. Like the Bering Sea, but lack the ornamentation of

29864-A5/573, 6.4 cm; obsidian and gouges for woodworking and Sea, the Okhotsk is seasonally cov- early Eskimo and Aleut cultures. point #29864-A5l372, 4 cm; boat building. Human figures of ered with pack ice and is one ofthe below, two obsidian scrapers chipped stone probably represented

#29925-A9l565, 3.2 cm and spirit guardians used as hunting #29925-A9l31, 4.9 an, mouth of ma^c andprotective devices. Such

the Riabukhina River; and figures arefound in many Siberian engraved bone pendant #29925- sites ofthis and Liter periods and are A9I136, 10 cm. known in Alaskan Eskimo and

Canadian Dorset culture.

27

28. 26

Tokarevski stone An exceptionalfeature of Tokarevski

pendants, northern culture is its use ofground stone

Okhotsk Sea, Siberia pendants for ritual charms andpro-

(1500-1 B.C.) tective devices. Pendantforms Kimchatka Regional Museum, include human and animal shapes

Russia, lefi to right: #VX-1224, 2.7 and oval discs incised with skeletal

cm, ; #VX-1228, 41 cm; #VX- patterns. Many display notched

1227, 3.3 an; #VX-1226, 3.6 an; edges. These pendints probably #VX-1225, 6 cm. served as personal guardians. A number ofcultures in the Nortli

Pacific and arctic regions use

pendant charms thatfeature skeletal

patterns, animal images, and

notched edges.

41 Development of Northern Maritime Societies

During the past 6,000-8,000 years, peoples living along northern maritime forms appear among peoples of the Okhotsk Sea, the shores of the North Pacific and Bering Sea learned to the Aleutian Islands, and the Pacific coast of Alaska and the

adapt their technology and cultures to the rigorous Northwest Coast. While the roots of this adaptation to northern climate, environment, and animals of this northern mar- maritime settings began in the Siberian Paleolithic and was pioneered itime region. This process, epitomized by the Eskimo-Aleut type by the earliest Alaskan peoples, it is most notable among later cul- of culture, included development of special technology and skills for tures where bone, ivory, and other organic materials have been hunting marine mammals with skin kayaks, harpoons, throwing preserved. Siberian and Alaskan/Northwest Coast cultures began boards, and multi-pronged bird and fish spears; warm tailored skin to exhibit these tendencies simultaneously about 4000-5000 garments; semi-subterranean dwellings heated by blubber- and B.C. New inventions and skills spread so quickly through a chain of oil-fueled lamps; and special tools such as boot-creasers, , needle maritime-based societies across thousands of miles, that today it cases, and others. This process is most dramatically noted in the is difficult to tell how and where these developments first occurred. development of North Alaskan Eskimo culture; more generalized

29.

Denbigh and the Arctic In the early 1 960s archeologists The early Ocean Bay cultures of It is thought that Denbigh culture

Small Tool tradition working at Cape Denbigh in Kodiak Island used similar is part ofa larger entity known to (2500-1500 B.C.), discovered a new harpoons with bilateral barbs (see archeologists as the Arctic Small

Alaska arctic culture, the Denbigh Flint Fig 23). Tool tradition (ASTt), which orig-

University ofAlaska Museum, Complex. Fhis ctdture left behind inatedftom developments within

Fairbanks, left to right (top to delicately flakedflint points, Denbigh people had great appreci- Siberian Neolithic cultures about bottom): three endblades #IYEB6- knives, perforators, skin scrapers, ation for flne flint-working tech- 3000 B.C. Denbigh brought new 8, 3.5 cm; UA64-99-9, 3.4 an; microblades struck ftvm wedge- niques. Their tools are beautifully changes and perhaps new people and #CS-66-2700, 7.7 cm; two shaped cores, and burins, a special craftedftvm multicolored chert, into the Bering Strait region. A bone harpoon heads, #UA68-62- class of tool used for grooving chalcedony, and other glass-like reflned version ofearly arctic inte- 322, 10.3 cm, and #UA68-62- bone, antler, ivory, and wood. rocks. "Ripple"flaking, a flne art rior hunting andflshing cultures, 260, 9.6 cm, fi-om the Denbigh Fhe burins, microblades, and the in itself ensured that a hunter's the ASTt quickly became estab- site; black chert projectile point delicate flaking styles ofthese tools would glitter, thus pleasing lished in Alaska and spread, with-

#CS-354, 6.5 cm, from the tools were nearly identical to those and attracting animal spirits. in a few centuries, south along the

Campus site; Denbigh grey chert found in late Neolithic cultures in Bering Sea coast to the Alaska

borer #UA64-99-46, 5.2 cm; northern Yakutia and Chukotka. Denbigh culture was succeeded in Peninsula. Moving east, they pio- Denbigh mitt-shaped grey chert Denbigh lacked only the pottery western Alaska by Norton culture neered human settlement in

burin #UA64-99-108, 2.5 cm; found in these Siberian sites. (small points at left), which the Canadian Arctic (only recently

below left: mitt-shaped broivn Instead ofmounting microblades retained Denbigh's flint-working free ofglacial ice), Greenland, chertflake knift #UA6^-99-25. III slotted points, the Denbigh cul- traditions and added stone grind- and Labrador. In the process ASTt

4 cm; black chert side blade ture used crescent-shaped bifacial ing and Siberian-derived ceramics cultures learned to exploit seal

#UA6'i-99-67, ^. 7 cm; and grey sideblades, which produced a to its technology, and semi-subter- and other marine animals, but chert end scraper #UA64-99-42, stronger cutting edge. ranean dwellings to its settlements. they never became proflcient 2. 7 cm, ftom the Denbigh site; The latter indicates increased hunters oflarge marine mammals, brown chert microblade core Denbigh harpoons did not toggle sedentary life as a result ofa more perhaps because they lacked effi- ftom the Campus site #CS-3-16, but had detachable points with productive arctic maritime cient toggling harpoons. 3.6 cm. restraining lines. Smallflxed har- economy.

poons were used for birds and flsh.

42 Harpoons and Northern Sea-Mammal Hunting

Developments in harpoon technology resuked in a major Maritime Archaic Indian cultures of subarctic and breakthrough in the hunting of hirge marine mammals Labrador, 5,000 miles from Bering Strait, dating around 7,000 years

in the northern , especially in ice-covered seas. For ago. Since the first Denbigh/ ASTt people who entered the Canadian

thousands oi years peoples all over the world—as early as Arctic had simple barbed harpoons (similar to those in Fig. 29), 40,000 years ago in the rivers and lakes of East —used barbed toggling harpoons may have been borrowed by Pre-Dorset people in harpoons to capture large fish for which hooks were too weak and contact with Maritime Archaic Indians in Labrador about 4,000

inefficient. Whether fixed onto shafts, detachable, or equipped with years ago. Shortly after, small Maritime Archaic-type toggling har-

restraining lines, harpoons were important implements of Paleolithic poons appeared in ASTt cultures in Canada and Alaska, where they

hunters and were used for both land and marine game. became common among the earliest true arctic maritime culture to adapt fully to the arctic coasts and islands of the Chukchi Sea. This

On the northern sea coasts, harpoons were indispensable in captur- culture, known as Old , hunted seals, small whales, walrus, ing sea mammals, but they remained relatively inefficient until and polar bear, and is found in northwest Alaska and on Wrangel the invention of the toggling harpoon. Upon striking prey, a toggling Island, 200 miles north of Chukotka. harpoon detaches from its shaft, turns, and sticks beneath the skin and blubber of the animal. Lines from the harpoon let the hunter It remains to be seen whether early Asian cultures participated in tire his prey and eventually dispatch it with spear or club. While this the development of toggling harpoons. Similar harpoons are known technique worked well from boats, the toggling harpoon had its from Jomon culture sites in Japan dating as early as 6,000 years ago. greatest impact along coasts where pack ice forms in winter, for here However, it is not clear that these forms led to the complex toggling hunters could exploit an ecosystem previously unavailable to man. harpoons of later Jomon or were part of Bering Sea developments. Ultimately this led to an explosion of arctic coastal hunting cultures The dating of Late Neolithic harpoons in the Russian Far East, on as Eskimo peoples expanded north from the Bering Sea into north- Sakhalin Island (Fig. 24), and elsewhere is still uncertain. But ern Chukotka, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. after 2000 B.C. virtually all coastal cultures of the North Pacific and

Bering and Chukchi seas had access to this technology. In the suc-

Archeologists believe the toggling harpoon was invented about 6,000 ceeding two millennia, refinements in toggling harpoons, the addi- to 7,000 years ago, but its place of origin is still unclear. Toggling tion of restraining floats, and the development of open boats harpoons appeared in the North Pacific around 4,000 years ago, in with whaling crews permitted peoples north of the Aleutian Islands the later stages of the Arctic Small Tool tradition in Denbigh culture to hunt large whales. This development, which may have had an and its Canadian equivalent, Pre-Dorset culture. However, the earli- important Siberian component, produced a major cultural revolution est toggling harpoon known in North America was found in early among northern Bering Sea cultures after A.D. 500.

30.

Old Koryak bone harpoons (ca. A.D. 1000) from northern Kamchatka,

collected by A.K. Ponornarenko's team, Kamchatka Regional

Museum, Russia, left to right: barbed harpoon #29726-A4l549,

11.5 cm; toggling harpoon

#29726-A4/542 (head pin),

#29726-A4l541 (head), and

#29726-A4l540 (blade); and tog- gling harpoon with asymmetrical barbs #29726 A4/550, 6.5 cm.

The ancestor ofKoryak cidture ofthe northern Okhotsk Sea and

Kamchatka is known as Old

Koryak culture. Like Old Kerek to the north, Old Koryak has a strong

Eskimo "flavor" in its bone and

ivory technology. The seal harpoons

illustrated here include toggling forms with round shaft sockets and

barbed blades (left). At center is a complete "Eskimo type" toggling

harpoon assembly with foreshaft,

harpoon head (ivith hole for the

retrieving line), and chert endblade.

The sealing harpoon head at right

is particularly interesting; its barbs resemble metal arroivpoints found in Iron Age sites in

the Amur Basin to the south. 43 The Rise of Eskimo Cultures 31.

of the most dramatic developments in the prehistory Eskimo cultures #UA85- 150- 1261, 8.4 cm; and Oneof the North Pacific was the development of Eskimo of Bering Strait below: Thule Eskimo culture bone cultures. Eskimo culture is thought to have originated in Harpoons from St. and stone arrow head collected by

the Bering Sea region through a process ot local cultural Lawrence island, Alaska Chambers in 1933, dated ca. 1200, development and interaction with other cultures of the Pacific Coast, Left to right: Ipiutak Eskimo culture National Museum ofNatural Aleutian Islands, and Siberia, a process that occurred over thou- bone harpoon with stone side History, Smithsonian Institution,

sands of years. By at least 6,000 years ago, a distinct Eskimo/ Aleut blades, collected by H.B. Collins in #A346907, 17.7 cm.

language was in place among peoples of the southern Bering Sea. 1921, d^tedca. 1 B.C. to AD. 500, National Museum ofNatural The early Eskimo cultures ofBering

Little is known of the first 4,000 years of this development because History, Smithsonian histitution, Strait and north Alaska are recog-

most Bering Sea sites of this period were submerged by rising seas. #A346914, 10 cm; Early Punuk nized by the distinctive styles, shapes,

But by 2,500 years ago, a series of early Eskimo cultures known as Eskimo culture ivory harpoon and decoration oftheir tools—in Okvik, Old Bering Sea, and Ipiutak appeared in fully developed form collected by H.B. Collins in 1929, this case a group ofharpoon heads.

in Bering Strait and northwest Alaska while, to the south, Norton dated ca. A.D. 500, National From left: The Ipiutak harpoon culture exhibited strong Eskimo cultural identity as well. Eskimo-like Museum ofNatural History, head has midtiple spurs and side-

cultures also appeared in Chukotka and northern Kamchatka at Smithsonian Institution, blades. The early Punuk head is

this time. The features of these early Eskimo cultures include inten- #A346907, 10.2 cm; Old Bering decorated with incised lines and

sive use of sea mammals, relatively permanent village settlements Sea Eskimo culture ivoyy harpoon drilled holes that may once have

with semi-subterranean dwellings, toggling harpoon technology, skin collected by H.B. Collins in 1931, held seal bristles. The feather"-

boats, blubber oil lamps, and distinctive religion, mythology, and dated ca. 500 B. C, National spurred Old Bering Sea head is

art styles combining hunting magic with engraved and sculptural art. Museum ofNatural History, carved as a bird ofprey. The Late

Many of these traditions can be traced from these early Eskimo Smithsonian histitution, Punuk head illustrates the simplifi- cultures into the historic period, a remarkable history of cultural con- #A353767, 13 cm; Late Punuk cation ofhunting technology among tinuity linked to a single ethnic group or closely related series of Eskimo cidture ivory harpoon, the Inupiaq north ofBering Strait groups. dated ca. A.D. 1000, University of after A. D. 1000. Among Yupik peo-

Alaska Musemn, Fairbanks, ple to the south, artistic treatment

Okvik, Old Bering Sea, and Ipiutak peoples overlapped in time of harpoon heads was retained and must have known each other. These early cultures each had dis- until the historicalperiod. A bone-

tinctive artistic designs and styles of harpoons, which must have mounted arrowhead is also

developed in part to mark hunting territories and social space. When illustrated.

elaborately decorated artifacts were buried as grave goods, these

identities were also conveyed to the aherworld.

31

44 Contacts, Trade, and War

about A. I). 500 most of the fine flint-working

technology of the Late NeoHthic period in northeastern Siberia and western Alaska had been replaced by metal Byor groimd slate blades and bone and ivory tools, as these cultures and early Eskimo cultures of Bering Strait became familiar with metal through trade with iron-using peoples to the west and sotith.

The first evidence of iron among the cultures of Bering Strait and northwest Alaska are found in the Old Bering Sea and Ipiutak cultures, where iron tips were used on drills and delicate engraving tools. Even when iron or bronze was not available directly, knowledge oi metalwork is seen in ivory imitations of metal chains used on ritual drinking vessels, and in the bone imitations of metal ornaments that decorated Siberian shamans coats.

In exchange for metal (and later during the historic period for glass beads, tobacco, and manufactured products supplied across

Bering Strait through Russian-Chukchi-Eskimo trade systems)

Alaskan Eskimos supplied furs, jade, finished wood products, and other commodities to their Asian counterparts. These exchanges took place at annual trade fairs that attracted large numbers of peo- ple from throughout western Alaska. Many Asian products even- tually reached Canadian Eskimo and Alaskan Indian and Aleut peo- ples through the rapidly expanding trade networks that developed during the past 3,000 years across Bering Strait.

In addition to economic exchanges, contacts across Bering Strait and with other regions of Alaska and Canada promoted major social and political changes. As populations grew and diversified as a result of increasingly efficient local hunting and fishing economies,

Alaskan and Siberian societies began to experience stress and competition for resources and access to trade goods. The result is particularly evident after A.D. 500 when slat armor, sinew- backed bows, and other elements of war technology seem to have been introduced into Alaska from Siberia. Raiding and warring across Bering Strait and along the coasts of Alaska to acquire goods, slaves, and prestige became a common occurrence during the past 1,000 years, resulting in fortified refuges, the appointment of war captains, new social and political hierarchies, and the spread of new technologies.

These patterns were established long before Europeans entered the region. Rather than increasing the levels of violence, the appearance of Europeans— first Russians and later Euroamericans—appears to have caused its decline. But while inter-cultural warfare may have declined when Native peoples found they could acquire trade goods directly from Europeans, the saving in lives was far offset by death from introduced European diseases and other factors.

32.

Barbed Aleut harpoon very long and madefivm whale rib.

(ca. A.D. 1000) This harpoon has a socketfijr a National Museum ofNatural stone endblade. The three parallel

History, Smithsonian Institution, lines below the socket are probably

#A395958, 23.6cm. Prehistoric the hunter's mark, which allowed

Aleut groups used elaborate barbed him to be credited with the kill harpoons to capture sea lions, seals, should his woundedprey escape and andpossibly even whales. When be captured by another hunter. The hunting whales, they anointed distinctive pattern ofbarbs may harpoons ivith a poison madefrom have served the same purpose. aconite and the dried ofwhalers. Aleut harpoons were Sakhalin Island's Okhotsk Culture (A.D. 500-1500)

Late prehistoric Okhotsk Sea cuhures flourished in they also had contacts with Kamchatkan hunters and reindeer the southern Okhotsk Sea region, Hving in large settled herders. They knew metal, but it was an expensive and rare trade

villages in deep, well-insulated pithouses. They hunted item, and their tools were largely of stone. Pottery was widespread,

seals, sea lions, and birds, and collected seaweed and decorated with stamped impressions of bear tracks, dogs, foxes, shellfish; land game included bears, pigs, and small animals. Okhotsk geese, and other animals. These images probably honored the spirits culture people lived as htmters and gatherers on the fringe of of these useful creatures and served in part as hunting charms. rice-farming and pig-breeding societies in Japan and China, and

33.

Okhotsk culture pottery sherds (ca. A.D. 500) Sakhalin Regional Museum, Russia. Sherds depicting [8843]

bat or seagull (?) #3757-2138, 5 cm; [8845J goose #3757-2156, 11 cm; [8842J bear #739-16, 3.7 cm; [8846] dog #3761-2481, 5.5 cm; [8844] bear paiv #739- 13, 4.3 cm; and [8841] fox #3761-1769, 3.5 cm. From the

Ust'-Timaicha, Ozerk I,

Promyslovoe site, on southern

Sakhalin Island.

46 34. 35. 34 Bear head Southern Sakhalin PiDnirc hear head, from the Island

Utesiidid I site, soiitl)eni Sakhalin Left to right, top row: two small

Island, about A. D. 1000. bone harpoons #5081-19 and Sakhalin Regional Museum, #5081-21, from Solov'evka, Russia, #3756-49. 9 em. ca. A.D. 1000-1500, 5.2 cm and 5 cm; two toggling harpoons Bear rituals must have been an #5395-1011 and #5395-1553,

itnportant part of Okhotsk reli- from the Promyslovoe II site,

gious life, for carvings of bears 9 cm and 7 cm: bone harpoon

have been fund in these sites. #5082-2, from the Promyslovoe II

Okhotsk people probably captured site, and stone point 5081-14

young bears, reared them, and rit- from Solov'evka, 5-5 cm and 2.6 ually killed and ate them, just as cm; stone point #5081 -1 2, from

the of this region have Solov'evka. 5 cm. Bottom row:

done in the historical era. two stone arrow heads, 5081-13 and 5081-11, from Solov'evka, 3.5 cm and 4. 1 cm; bone sealfigure #5082-1, fivm the

Promyslovoe II site, 4 cm;

clay figure ofa #3756-50, from the Utesnaia I

site, 4.3 cm; knifi blade #5081-9, from Solov'evka, 7.5 cm.

Okhotsk culture harpoons,

made of bone, are often highly complex artistic creations,

vaguely animal in shape or per-

haps representing insects or

beasts with spiritual connotations. Small harpoons for spearing

fish did not require decoration, for the spirits ofthese animals were not considered as powerful

and as difficult to capture.

47 Crossroads Times

Valerie Chaussonnet

Home

is a way of doing tilings, the looli of a dwelling,

Home is notjust a wooden or skin Homethe sound of one's mother-tongue—all the things that make up the social language of the culture. Home structure, notjust a house or represents shelter, not only from the elements, but also from the power of evil spiritual forces. Therefore, charms and village. It is a feeling offamiliarity, a house guardians are as important to a home as the lamp, the hearth, and the sleeping platform. combination ofsmells, tastes, sounds, " In their structure and placement of furniture, Alaskan and Siberian images, and warmth. family houses reflect a culture's notions of status and gender

divisions, of relationships to animals, spirits, and the creation of art. Construction and use of the home follow rules and taboos that

36. make the home a strong habitat, a sound shelter from dark forces, and an image of balance and rightness.

Koryak winter scene. as a storage area

Maritime village and workplace in From hide-covered summer tents to semi-underground winter at the turn ofthe good weather. dwellings, the wide variety of local styles demonstrates great ingenu- century. Koryak hous- W fochelson, Spring ity in the use of local resources and materials and in adaptation

es were octagonal, 1901. Jesup to climate or to the demands of a nomadic life. Some Native types of

built partially under- Expedition. dwellings (somewhat modernized) are still in use today, mainly

ground. A "storm American Museum of temporary structures used during summer camps and hunting trips. roof like an invert- Natural History neg. Others, such as semi-subterranean wooden houses, have been

ed cone kept snow #4123. totally replaced—but often the new houses still contain traditional from covering the divisions of space. , dwelling and served

48 37.

Village in Chukotka skin iaranga whose skin cover is Detailfrom walrus tusk carving, held down with stones and collected in 1948. Vladivostok ropes, and men smoking and chat- Maritime Museum, Russia, ting in gutskin parkas.

#2688. 16 cm. The other side of the tusk features

Village scene at Mechigmen (the walruses and the name artist wrote Mesimin), a formerly lantagai, another village in the Asian Eskimo then Chukchi same area now called landogai. community in the vicinity of Lorino which was deserted early this century, with baidara drying upside doivn on its rack, a

49 38.

Women's corner Koniag oil lamp from Kodiak The soot from the lamp is used to Koiiiag wooden grease bowl, and Island, Alaska, A.D. 1400, col- make tatoos on women's chins, as

wooden handle with carved lected in 1 932 by Ales Hrdlicka. a fertility charm, and on the

piijfins, frotn the KAR-001 site on National Museum ofNatural cheeks, hands, arms, and thighs. Kodiak Island, Alaska, A.D. History, Smithsoniayi Institution, 1400, both from Kodiak Area #A365544. 4.3 cm; The grease saved in the Koniag

Native Association collections. wooden bowl was used as food Bowl unnumbered, 14.2 cm; han- Inupiaq steatite oil lamp from and as fuelfor the lamps. The dle #UA83- 193- 1804, 15.8 cm. Point Hope, Alaska, early 1 900s. bowl's elegant shape reminds one National Museum ofthe ofa canoe. Three miniature stone oil American Indian, #1216807.

lamps, models or girls' toys, 10.5 cm.

from lefi to right:

Used to light the home, dry clothes

Ocean Bay I culture sandstone oil hanging above them on a rack,

lamp from the KOD-363 site on atid boilfood, oil lamps are the Kodiak Island, Alaska, 4000 B. C. property of women and the essen- Kodiak Area Native Association, tial piece offrrniture in the #363-90-10-84-18. 7.2 cm; Eskimo and Aleut house. They

truly are, as Molly lee puts it, the

"cornerstone oflife" (?i.d.:10).

50 39.

Home guardian

Koryak house guardian andfire boardfrom Kamchatka, Siberia, about 1950, made ofwood with dark pigment and leather. Kamchatka Regional Museum, Russia, #11174. 35 cm.

Fire boards and drills are used to

light fires in the hearth. The Koryak and Chukchi consider the fire board a powerful guardian spirit ofthe house. A special cere-

mony is held as the first fire of

the year is lit with the fire board, attended only by men, inside /^d'chum. The scratch marks

around the mouth of this particu-

lar board testify that the spirit was fed grease or meat. The leather

string was used to hang the board

in the house. ,

40.

Men's workshop Nivkh knife from Sakhalin Island, This drill handle was probably Athapaskan gouge made by

Small box and men's working Siberia, from the mid- 1900s, used to start fires, and the smiling Jonas Robert, Venetie, Alaska, of

tools. Clockwise, fivm top: made ofcarved wood and steel bird is a reminder ofthe story wood, steel, screws. The point is

Sakhalin Regional Museum, that it was Raven who gave fire to made from a steel file. University Nivkh wooden drill haft from the #3216-3. 23 cm. men. ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks, village of Chir-Unvd, on Sakhalin #70-54-33. 16 cm. Island, Siberia, late 1800s or Inupiaq flint faker from Meade Prehistoric Eskiyjio knife from early 1900s. Sakhalin Regional River (Atqasuk), Alaska, 1 960, Point Hope, Alaska, made Tlingit dragonfly awlfrom Museiwi, #2730. 31.3 cm. made ofivory, copper, sea mam- ofantler andjade. University of Southeast Alaska, collected in

It was used in the fabrication of mal hide, a?id wood. University of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, 1881 by J.J. McLean, made wooden objects. Its handle is Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, #1-1940-148. 10.5 cm. ofmountain goat horn and metal. ornate in the typical volute style of #UA64-2 1-479. 22.5 cm. National Museum ofNatural the Nivkh. Eskimo jadeite whetstone from History, Smithsonian Institution, Bering Sea Eskimo ivory double- , Alaska, col- #E060133. 13.1 cm.

Yupik snuffbox from Ukogiimut, face drill handle collected in 1 926 lected in the 1800s by Mrs. Jefriry " Alaska, 1870s, made of ivory by Karl Lomen on Seward "from the Eskimo Kingegan. and wood with pigment. National Peninsula, Alaska, datedfr'om the National Museum of the Museum ofNatural History, 1800s. National Museum of American Indian, #6/7881. Smithso nian Institutio n Natural History, Smithsonian 13 cm.

#E36252. 8 ctn. Lid and bottom Institution, #A332197. 4.5 cm. both bear the same red marking, Prehistoric Eskimo drill and bit possibly the mouth ofa seal. Chukchi bird-like drill handle frotn Point Barrow, Alaska, made of bone, collected in 1 927 made ofantler and black chert. by E.K. Fel'dman in Chukotka, University ofAlaska Museum, Siberia. Vladivostok Maritime Fairbanks, #UA8 1-86-299.

Museum, Russia, #647-61. 8 cm. 5.3 ctn.

52 41.

Eskimo boxes: the realistic and the abstract Realistic box in the shape of two seals, from Nortoji Sound, Alaska, collected in the 1870s by Lticien Turner, made ofwood with pigment and glass beads. National Museum ofNatural History, Smithsonian Institution, #E024346. 19 cm.

Abstract wooden box from an unknown provenience in Alaska,

collected by Mrs. Thea Page in the 1800s. National Museum of the American Indian, #4/5203.

10.5 cm. Two crosses mark the ends of the box and lid where the faces oftwo animals, one on the back of the other, would be. The lid and body ofthe box are hitjged together with a wooden peg. —

Children: Dolls and Toys

Doll-making has been practiced in the North Pacific since The toys ofSiberian and Alaskan very ancient times. Archeologists have found 5,000- year-old ceramic dolls in the Amur River region—small children are often accurate miniature human figures that were once clothed and probably served as amulets. Some ancient Eskimo dolls with movable arms and versions ofobjects from the adult legs were probably inspired by Siberian examples. The Alaskan doll-making tradition—using wood, ivory, leather, grass, or paper world: tools and weapons for playing has developed from simple toys ior children to modern collectors' items. Whereas Alaskan dolls are naturalistic, dolls from Siberia's hunter, dolls to sew clothes for. Amur River region are almost abstract.

42. 42

Collector's doll

Yi{/>ik male doll in gutskiii parka, made by Louise Toll from Hooper Bay, Alaska, offabric, fur, gutskin, and beads. University ofAlaska Mitseuni, Fairbanks, #UA83-3-13. 30.5 cm.

54 43.

Dolls to play with

These three dolls were used as toys

before they were collected. They were made for children, not for the collectors' market.

Athapaskan doll (center), collect-

ed by Liicien Turner in St.

Michael, Alaska, in thel870s.

It is made of wood, hair, beads, cotton, and leather. National Museum ofNatural History, Smithsonian Institution, #£029766. 15.5 cm.

Two Yupik dolls collected in 1927 in Tanunak, . The feet on the small doll with bone head are made ofcaribou fur Teet and hands on the taller doll are made oj small rodent paws andfur held with grass. Note the tatooed lines on the chin ofthe wooden face, attributes ofadult feminity in harmony with the female "frowning" mouth. A necklace of beads and a small 43 metal bell hangfrom her neck as an amulet; originally, she was probably also wearing earrings. University ofAlaska Museum,

Fairbanks, #UA 1084-1 OH (left) and #UA64-21-189 (right). 12, nd 14

44.

Asian dolls for boys

Two Ulchi wooden dolls, hunters

with braid, belt, and hunting

bag, from the Amur river, Siberia, 1927. Khabarovsk Regional

Museum, Russia, #1082 and #2183. 13.5 cm and 18 cm.

Nanai wooden stick dolls for

boys called "buchukem ", f-o)n the Amur River region:

back: 4 dolls fivm the early 1900s. Vladivostok Maritime

Museum, Russia, #NV-766.

6.5 to 14.8 cm. front: seven dolls made by A.A. Passar in 1991.

Left to right: young man. hiDitcr

on skis, two dogs, tiger cub,

little boy, and bear cub. Khabarovsk Regional Museum,

Russia, #9735. 5 to 13.4 cm.

55 45.

Toys and games Nivkh toy wooden chain with Koniag ivory doll's head and

From the top left: bear heads from Sakhalin Island, jointed arm from Kodiak Island, Siberia, made in 1990. Sakhalin Alaska, dated about A. D. Udegei wooden toy boat called ana Regional Museum, Russia, #528. 1400, collected in 1935 by Ales from the Amur River, Siberia, 22 cm. Hrdlicka. National Museum 1914. Khabarovsk Regional ofNatural History, Smithsonian Museum, Russia, #2785- 12 cm. Two Athapaskan games: "Move Institution, #A377654 (head), the button over" puzzle and # A377653 (arm). 4.5 cm

Two Yupik story knives, one old, made by Isaac Tritt fro?n Arctic and 6 cm. one new, used by little girls to Village, Alaska, in 1961, of

draw in the snow as they tell sto- wood, cotton string, plastic but- Western Eskimo Thule Culture

ries. The larger wooden knife ton; and ring and pin toy ivory dollfrom Cape Prince of was made in the 1940s or 1950s. made by Abel Tritt from Arctic Wales, Alaska, dated about A.D. University ofAlaska Museum, Village, Alaska, in 1970, of 1000, collected in 1929 by Henry Fairbanks, #UA67-98-285. 28 wood, cotton string, tanned cari- B. Collins. National Museum of cm. The smaller ivory knife bou hide, and caribou tarsal Natural History, Smithsonian was collected on the Lower Yukon bones. University ofAlaska Institution, #A344639. 6.2 cm. by Edward W Nelson in Museum, Fairbanks, #UA67-98- the 1870s. National Museum 100 and #UA70-54-12. 18 cm

ofNatural History, Smithsonian and 1 7 cm. Institution, #E038537.

56 46.

Father and son In up iaq father and child collector's dolls made by Ethel Washington, Alaska, in the 1930s The heads are carved in wood. National Museum ofNatural History, Smithsonian

Institutio n, unnum bered.

29 cm and 1 1 cm.

46

47.

Elegant paper dolls Ulchi Khaka dolls made from paper, yarn, andfabric, by

G. Kuisali, Amur River, Siberia, 1991. The body with the head is inserted into a slit in the dress at the neck. Khabarovsk Regional Museum, Russia, #VX3/14,

15, and 16. 12 cm.

47

57 48.

Noisy toys Nivkh rattle made offishskin, Nanai wooden cradle rattle for From the top right to bottom: wood, and rattle, from Sakhalin boys, from the Amur River, 1926. Island, 1960s. Sakhalin Regional Khabarovsk Regional Yupik rattling leather ballfrom Museum, Russia, #101. 12.5 cm. Museum, Russia, #1236 F-833.

St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, 12 cm (sticks). made ofdyed (red) and bleached hiupiaq "wolfscarer" (bull roarer) sealskin, caribou hair, and rattle. iwisemaker made by Chester University ofAlaska Museum, Seveck from Point Hope, Alaska, Fairbanks, #UA67-98-256. in 1966, ofbaleen with a 12.5 cm. cord. University ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks, #UA66-4-2. 15 cm.

58 49.

Two men chasing a giant goose Koryak wooden toy from Siberia from the late 1800s. National Museum ofNatural History, Smithsonian Institution, #£175599. 16.2 cm.

49

50.

Miniature toys

Chukchi walrus ivory toys: ax, snow beater, 2 oars, 2 knives, and a spear, from Chukotka, col- lected in 1925 by Lupandin. Vladivostok Maritime Museum,

Russia, #976. 4 to 8 cm.

50

59 Fashion

or processed fur and skins, dentalium shells, and, Fashion is a universal human passion Dyedlater, beads have been the object of active and passionate trade for centuries. Early western explorers commented that finds strong expression in Native on the stunning dress and look of Alaska's original inhab- itants. Clothing, jewelry, and body ornaments identify one's ethnic Alaskan and northeastern Siberian group and social status, and also play the role of protective amulets.

cultures. This tradition is rich in face In Siberia and Alaska, sewing is the specialty of women. The Tlingit Indians developed a unique tradition of weaving, and the seam- painting and tattooing, elaborate stresses of the Amur became expert at sewing and embroidering fish- skin to look like Chinese cotton and silk patterns. Because much jewelry, beautifulfur garments, and of the work of piecing together animal skins, embroidery, and orna-

mentation has spiritual meaning, sewing is guided by numerous embroidery. rules, like those governing men's hunting. Pouches made to hold sewing tools, thread, and sinew are often fine examples of the owner's

skill in a variety of materials. Needles (originally made of bird bone), creasers, and other tools allow gifted seamstresses to do the

fine stitching and embroidery that is the hallmark of North

Pacific sewing.

51.

Koryak pouch Koryak birdfoot bagfrom Kamchatka, Siberia, about 1950,

made of bird fret, reindeer fur, leather, and beads. Kamchatka Regional Museum, Russia, #11082. 26.5 cm.

60 52.

Small bag and ulus

Ulus are Eskimo w())ncn's

knives. The round blade cuts skins and meat, for eating or sewing.

The same smooth curve is found in the skirt ofwomen's dresses and parkas, in sewing bags called

housewives (see Tig. 53), and in

womens oil lamps.

Yupik sealskin pouch from

St. lawrence Island, Alaska,

collected by Tarrar Burn, 1800s. I he white applique design

and edges are bleached sealskin. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian

Institution, #1116763. 13 cm.

Trom the top, a modern Yupik made by Virginia Johnston from Bethel Alaska, from moose antler and a steel blade. University ofAlaska Museum, Tairbanks, #UA91-9-12 6.5 cm. 52 Two prehistoric ulus from Point Hope, Alaska, made ofold

ivory and slate, and baleen and

slate. University ofAlaska Museum, Tairbanks, #1-1940- 045 and #1-1940-046. 7.4 cm

and 9. 7 cm.

Toy Inupiaq ulu from Point Barrow, Alaska, made of yuw ivory (handle), and old ivory

53. (blade), collected by ]. £. Stanley. National Museum ofthe Sewing bags American Indian, Smithsonian Orok embroidered bagfrom histitution, #514578. 5 cm. central Sakhalin Island, 1900- 50, made of and

cotton embroidery floss. Sakhalin

Regional Museum, Russia, #2338-5. 12.7 cm.

Yupik fur "housewife" made of

caribou fur, yarn, leather, and an ivory fastener, collected in 1886

by I. Applegate in Togiakumute,

Alaska. Small tools were kept in the bottom , the body of the

bag was rolled around it, and it 53

was finally secured with the ivory fastener. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, #£127354. 15 cm.

Aleut gutskin pouch made of seal gut, feathers, yarn, and cotton floss, and collected in 1931 by Mrs. Edward C. Robinson. National Museum ofNatural History, Smithsonian Institution, #£362860. 14.5 cm.

61 54.

Children's fashion

Koryak child's hat from Kamchatka, Siberia, about 1950, made of reindeer fur, otter fur, beads, leather, and plastic. The hat is zoomorphic, the two beaded disks on the side ofthe head imitating eyes and the fur attach- ments representing antler buds.

It is made oftwo layers offur for additional ivarr?ith and sofiness. Kamchatka Regional Museum, 54 #23365. 22 cm.

Athapaskan child's bonnetfrom Venetie, Alaska, made in 1968 ofpink felt, flannel, glass beads, and rabbitfur, with cloth ties. University ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks, #UA70-54-64. 19.2 cm.

Nanai child's fishskin mitts made in 1959 by Olga Samar frotn the village Nergem, Amur River region. Khabarovsk Regional 55. Museum, Russia, #9502. 14 cm. Scraping skin Inupiaq hide scraper from Point Nivkh mitt covers from Sakhalin Koryak two-hand hide scraper Hope, Alaska, from the late Island made in the 1930s offab- and scraping boardfrom 1800s, made ofa wooden handle ric and cotton embroidery floss. Kamchatka, Siberia, about 1950, with baleen lashing around the Sakhalin Regional Museum, made ofwood with a stone blade. chert blade. University ofAlaska

Russia, #1194-4. 22.4 cm. The board is held vertically Museum, Fairbanks,

against the body to fr-ee the two #UA939/141. 9 cm. hands for scraping downwards with the scraper Kamchatka Denbigh Culture black and grey Regional Musetm, #11278 chert scraper from Norton Sound, (scraper), and #14340 (boara Alaska, dated about 1500 B.C. 51 cm and 42 cm. University ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks, #IYH1-D. 3.4 cm.

Nanai woman's knife and creaser called churuen, usedfor skins and birch bark, from the village ofKondon on the Amur River, Siberia, datedfrom the 1950s, made ofengraved wood with a small metal blade. Khabarovsk Regional Museum, Russia, #775313. 13.5 cm.

62 56.

Koryak embroidery Koryak seamstresses are renowned

Koryak cmhroidcn'd band for for their virtuosity in embroider-

use oil clothing, made of leather, ing various parts of clothing such

dark and white reindeer fiir as the opuvans, the lower he?n

applique and slit embroidery, and of their wide coats. Reindeer fur

silk and cotton threads. coats do not last more than one

Kamchatka Regional Museum, year, but the opuvan and other Russia, #15577- 56.5 cm. fancy parts ofgarments can be cut and recycledfor the next

season's clothing.

57.

Koryak malakhai Koryak adult man's hat called

malakhai, made after 1950 oftwo layers of reindeer fur for

the winter, otter fur, dog

fur, beads, leather, and plastic. Kamchatka Regional Museum, Russia, #28270. 28.5 cm.

57

56

63 58.

Sewing tools Okvik culture (Eskimo) ulu han- Koryak bone thimble from Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, Prehistoric Eskimo ivory needle dle in the shape ofa vole-beast Kamchatka, Siberia, about 1950. #1-1940-159 and #UA-68-62- case from Point Barrow, Alaska. A made ofold ivory, collected in Kamchatka Regional Museum, 71. 6.2 cm and 5.8 cm. ofleather was used to wrap 1931 by Henry B. Collins on St. Russia, #l4353IE-685. 3.5 cm. the fine bird bone needles in, then Lawrence Island, Alaska, dated Thimble holders were attached folded and kept inside the tube about 1 A.D. National Museum Prehistoric Eskimo ivory thimble ivith a leather strap to the end of drilled in the needle case. Held ofNatural History, Smithsonian holder fi-om Point Hope, Alaska, the needle case, and themselves vertically, this case shows two wal- Institution, #A352540. 8 cm. and prehistoric Aleut bone held a leather thimble. As with rus snouts and tusks. University needle or andfrom Amaknak most Eskimo tools, they were often ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks, Island, Alaska. University of ornate and delicately engraved. #UA-81-86-200. 11 cm.

59.

Eskimo elegance Prehistoric Eskimo ivory comb

from St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. University ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks, #UA85-150-1246.

Yupik ivory earrings collected in Kushunuk, Alaska, in 1879 by

Edward Nelson. The human faces

wear labrets below the mouth. National Museum ofNatural History, Smithsonian Institution, #E36859 and #E36860. 2 cm.

64 60.

Ornaments

Thii icni'i is from the collection of the National Museum ofNatural History, Smithsonian Institution.

Old Bering Sea culture (Eskimo) old ivory ornament and ivory disk

from St. Lawrence Island, Alaska,

dated at about A.D. 500, collect- ed by Henry B. Collins in 1929

(ornament) and by Moreau

Chambers in 1933 (disk). #A371923 and #A37184l. 3.7 cm and 4.5 cm.

Western Thule culture (Eskimo) ivory woman with hair in bun, collected in Punuk Island,

Alaska, by Henry B. Collins in

1 929, dated at about A.D. 1 000. #A342783. 3.7 cm.

Inupiaq blue bead labret 60 collected by EE Eelloivs in Icy Cape, Alaska, from the 1800s. #E398256. 2.5 cm.

String ofglass beads collected by Henry B. Collins in 1931 in Norton Sound, Alaska, from the 1800s. #A357008. 7 cm. Beads traveled a long distance fom China or Venice before ending up

on Alaskan labrets, amulets,

jewelry, pouches, or clothes.

61 V

61.

Jet and baleen (see Eig. 26 p. 41), and which labrets before being allowed to 1938. National Museum

Labrets, or lip plugs, are worn purpose is aesthetic as well as mag- wear such a large size. The ofNatural History, on the chin, at the corner ofthe ical and an affrmation of status. smooth flat part was inserted into Smithsonian Institution, mouth, or sometimes on the the lip or cheek and rested #A375350 (green labret), 5 cm, cheeks, by men and women among Top: Inupiaq large baleen labret against the gums. #A375703 (thin jet labret), 2.7 almost all Alaska Native cultures. f-om Point Hope, Alaska, from cm, #A395433 (jet bead), 3 cm, The rules dictating who wears the 1800s. University ofAlaska Koniag jet and stone oniamciils and #A395760 (jet whale tail labrets and ofwhat size and shape Museum, Eairbauks, #UA1070. and labrets from Kodiak Island, ornament), 3 cm. vary from group to group. It is an Young Inupiaq men wore small Alaska, about A.D. 1400, collect- ancient practice which seems to ed by Ales Hrdlicka in 1935 and have originated in Asia

65 62

62.

Footwear From lefi to right: Inupiaq doll's boot made in The seamstress took advantage of

The variety of materials usedfor Aleut child's boot from Vnalaska, Candle, , the black and white natural pat- footwear illustrates the ingenuity, Alaska, made m 1910- 12 of Alaska, in 1946, ofsealskin, tern to make these boots striking. skill, and attention to detail that sea lion throat. #UA77-32-7. caribou hide, and sinew. characterize North Pacific sewing 13.3 cm. #UA86-8-9A. 9.7cm. Yupik doll's boot, made as an art form. All are from the between 1920 and 1940 of

University of Alaska Museum, Athapaskan child's moccasin, Athapaskan child's cowhide boot, fishskin, thread, leather, and Fairbanks, collection. made ofcommercially processed made ofdomestic , otter, cloth. #UA64-70-2C. 7 cm.

leather, fir, glass beads, felt, and leather ties. #UA88-13- cotton cord, and flannel lining. 3A. 13 cm. The use ofcalfskin

#UA89-13-6A. 10.4 cm. is unusual.

63 63.

Gutskin parka Yupik doll's gutskin parka from Tanunak, Nelson Island, Alaska, made in 1 926 ofseal gut and thread. University of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, #UA 1084-7. 21.6 cm.

The guts are inflated, dried, then cut lengthwise and

sewn with a special stiching so

as to remain waterproof.

66 64.

Ball pincushion

Iniipiaij piiicnihio)i made by Grace Bailey fivm Kotzelme, Alaska, in 1986, of bleached

sealskin, leather, felt, sequins, and beads. University ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks, #UA86- 13-26. 10 cm.

64 65.

Ainu elegance Ainu woman's lieadband and

glass beads from southern

Sakhalin Island, late ISOOs-early

1900s. The band is made of

silk and cotton. Sakhalin Regional

Museum, Russia, #85 - 5 and #58. 30 cm and 70 cm.

67 Spirits

Charms and amulets are as fundamental as food and shelter Spirits fill the world, and rocks, to survival in a spirit-inhabited land. Small animal and human-like figures, strangely shaped pendants, carvings, trees, and animals all live in human- and metal or bead attachments might be worn on clothing or against the skin to guard one's soul. Charms are attached like societies and behave like people. to kayaks and equipment to insure a successful hunt. To understand the unknown, to cure Until recently, masks were used only for ceremonial purposes,

such as dances, funerals, and other occasions. Masks might be realis- illness, and to please the spirits of tic, fantastic, or abstract, but once a mask was put on, it changed animals neededforfood, spirits need the identity and the state of the wearer. In the same way, hats worn by dancers and shamans have fringes that conceal the wearer's to he honored with elahjMMH^iiuals face, signifying that a transformation is taking place. This rich mask- ing tradition continues to inspire Native artists today. and ceremonies.

66

66.

Masks that look Unlike most Yupik masks, fantastic Institution, #£073852- 1. 20 cm.

like people or abstract (see Fig. 68), Inupiaq This mask is unusually smallfor a Inupiaq wooden female mask with masks usually look realistically Tlingit mask. It displays an array of

tattoos from Point Hope, Alaska, human. The painted hair is neatly facialpainting which a Tlingit from the late 1800s to the early combed, and the chin tattoos are a man would wearfor special occa-

1900s, collected by Pedersen in fertility charm. 1929. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Tlingit maskfrom the late 1800s, Prehistoric Eskimo stone pendant Institution, #A348825. 22 cm. made ofwood, pigment, and from Point Hope, Alaska. University human hair Natiofial Museum of ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks, Natural History, Smithsonian #1-1940-152. 3.2 cm.

68 67. 67

Small faces Tokarevski culture ivory pendant from Kamchatka, Siberia, dated

2000 to 1000 B.C. Kamchatka Regional Museum, Russia, #VX-1223. 3.5 cm.

Prehistoric Eskimo old ivory doll headfrom Point Hope, Alaska. University ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks, #1-1940-033. 2 cm.

68.

Yupik faces Co)U'entric circle mask from Rasboinsky on the Yukon River, Alaska, and black and white mask from Pastolik, Alaska, col- lected by Edward W. Nelson in the 1870s. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian

Institution, #E38862, 20.5 cm, and #E43770, 24 cm.

The concentric mask is one ofa pair ofalmost identical masks. It originally hadfeathers around

the top.

69.

Dancing finger mask Dancers wear finger masks in Yupik wooden fjngcr tnask pairs. This one originally had a

from the Lower Kuskokwim River series of fathers around it, region, Alaska, collected by which would bounce during the

Edward W. Nelson in the 1870s. dance. It has two baby walrus National Museum ofNatural tusks and a [cmale "frowning" History, Smithsonian Institution, mouth, a symbol associated ivith

#E38649. 14 cm. sea mammals. The outer edge

is painted red, showing the tradi-

tional Yupik lifeliiw.

69 70 n

72.

Snakes, fish, and beasts

Tlingit killer whale amulet fivrii

the late ISOOs-early 1900s. and prehistoric Tlingit stone snake- beast with red pigments. National Museum ofNatural History,

Sm ithson ian Institu tio , #£229550 and #£067854. 16.5 cm and 4.5 cm.

Nanai Dadgifu, the spirit com- panion ofKalgama (see £ig. 75), collected in 1905 by B.O. Pilsudsky in the village of Troitskoe on the Amur River,

Siberia. Vladivostok Maritime

Museum, Russia, #2116-39. 15.3 cm.

Nanai bracelet with snake spirit

made offish skin sewn on fabric, 72 from the Amur River, Siberia, collected in 1913 by LA. Lopatin. Vladivostok Maritime Museum,

Russia, #917-174. 24.5 cm.

73.

Transformations Two prehistoric Tskinio ivory

Inupiaq ivory drum handle with bird-caribou amulets from St. walrus-man spirit fivm Point Lawrence Island, Alaska. Barroiv, Alaska, collected by PH. National Museum ofNatural Ray in 1881. National Museum History, Smithsonian Lnstitution, ofNatural History, Smithsonian #A346^07. 5.2 cm. 73 Institution, #£56515. 12 cm. The face looks inside the drum, These compound creatures have the drum frame resting on ears and look like caribou crossing " and being lashed to the "neck. water, but the long beaks betray

their transformational and spiri- Nanai bear spirit made of wood tual nature. and birch bark applique, fivm the

Khabarovsk region, Siberia, 1 992.

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, unnumbered. 7 cm.

Ancestor-gods took the forms ofbears to visit humans, and as such they are honored during the bear festival, now being revived in the Russian Par £ast.

Koniag human-raven transforma- tion figure from Kodiak Island, Alaska, about A. D. 1400, made

wood. Koniag, Inc. Kodiak, of , #UA85- 143-6888. 10 cm.

71 74.

Magic pendants and those shown here, except the Prehistoric St Lawrence Island Cottonwood bark Koniag skeletons Koniag wooden amulet, are ftom Eskimo old ivory fox head pen- multi-faced amuletfrom the KAR- Objects that have magical proper- the National Museum ofNatural dant, collected by Ales Hrdlicka 001 site on Kodiak Island, Alaska,

ties often carry the outline of History, Smithsonian Institution. in 1937. #A390552. 2 cm. dated about A.D. 1400. Koniag, a skeleton, a sign of life and From left to right: Inc., Kodiak, unnumbered. death, inside and outside nature, Punuk (?) Eskimo culture long 8. 4 cm. as well as of strength. Skeleton Bering Sea Eskimo ivory animal ivory pendant or ear ornament marks are found on early prehis- pendant collected by Edward collected by Henry B. Collins on Prehistoric Aleut ivory seal toggle

toric Eskimo animal representa- W. Nelson in Pastolik, Alaska, in St. Lawrence Island, Alaska in ft-om , and ivory tions, such as in the Ipiutak cul- 1878. #E33372. 7 cm. 1931, dated at about A.D. 1000. bear-whale amuletfrom Moknak,

ture. Holes, eyes, and circles, also #A356968. 5.4 cm. both collected by Ales Hrdlicka of very ancient origin, are often Prehistoric ivory caribou hoof(?) in 1937 and 1938. #A386269 conduits for the soul. Alaskan cul- pendant, and ivory figure with and #A395757. 6 cm and 8 cm. tures have produced over the cen- crest (?) from Uyak, both collected turies countless small amulets, on Kodiak Island by Ales Hrdlicka pendants, toggles, and objects in 1935 and 1938. #A377893

bearing those magic signs. All and#A395188. 6 cm and 7.5 cm.

-'9

74

75.

Wooden sevens (spirits) Museum ofNatural History, and shaman Sm ithso n ia n Institution,

Erom left to right: E073837. 24 cm.

Nanai healing spirit, collected in Nanai guardian offshing, 1904 by K.D. Loginovskii in the Kalgama, collected in 1913 by

village of Troitskoe, on the Amur I. A. Lopatin on the Amur River. River. Vladivostok Maritime Vladii'ostok Maritime Museum, Museum, Russia, #2146-2. 23.5 Russia, #917-96. 24.5 cm.

cm. This spirit was carved by a A Nanai fsherman offers his first shaman to help a person suffering catch to Kalgama, smearing the

lung ailment to combat the evil fsh 's blood on the figure's mouth. A

spirits who caused it. shaman will carve Kalgama's com- panion, Dadgifu, in the event

Tlingit shaman with dagger and of unsuccessfilfishing (see Fig. 72).

typically long shaman's hair style, from the late 1800s. National

75

72 76.

Shaman's drum cover with helping spirits Udegei shamans drum cover from Khor River, Russia, collected by N.A. Zorin in 1907. Vladivostok Maritime Museum, Russia, #2180-8a. 74 cm.

This drum cover is made of birch bark, cotton, and leather. Various

animal spirits are painted on

the bark, including bears, dragon-

like creatures, snakes, tigers,

and birds, as well as two suns

ofen found on the drum itself and on shamans' coats in many

Siberian cultures.

Shamans are healers (chasing

away evil spirits that cause sick-

ness), priests (honoring ancestors

and conducting ceremonies) , and

ambassadors ( negotiating with the Masters of the Animals and other

spirits). They travel to the land above and the land below with

the help of their drum, belts, rat-

tles, helping spirits, and occasion-

ally hallucinogenics. Shamans

divine the future, identify spirits, and insure that the community

follows rules and taboos.

77,

Home guardian 77 Chukchi hanging amulet, guardian offimily prosperity, from Anadyr, Chukotka, Russia, collected in 1892 by L.F. Grinevetskii. The dark pigment is soot from its stay in the house, and it bears traces offood around the mouth, having been fed by its hosts. It was hung by a baleen link. Vladivostok Maritime

Museum, Russia, #945-7.

1 6. 5 cm.

73 78.

Shaman's belt with bells

Udegei shaman's belt used during

shamanistic performance, collect-

ed by Yu. M. Degtiarev in the vil- lage of Gvasiugi on the Amur River, Siberia. Vladivostok

Maritime Museum, Russia, #4018-6. 30 cm.

The belt is made ofleather, metal,

and grass. The bells, in concert

with the drum-beating during the

dance, attract the spirits and

allow them to meet with the

shaman for a dialogue, a fight, or

difficult negotiations.

78

79.

Night and day mask

Atthipaskaii (liigalik) black lUid

white female mask with labret

and nose pendant, collected by Edward W. Nelson on the

Kuskokwim River, Alaska, in 1879. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian

histitution, #E06-i2-i2. -i7 cm.

74 80.

Gang of spirits

Nanai (?) g'liig of spirits fivm the Amur River region, collected by Stanislaw Poniatowski in 1919. National Museum ofNatural History, Smithsonian Institution,

#£303728. 7 to 12 cm.

80

81

82

81. 82.

Shaman and The wooden shaman is dressed in Ceremonial garments Some of the creatures on the bib

helping spirit leather andfur It is a poiuerful Nanai shaman's bib collected in are similar to those on the

Udegei shaman-ancestor figure protector for the practicing 1905 by B.O. Pilsudsky in the Vdcgei drum cover (Fig. 76).

riding his helping spirit, collected shaman, as it represents a shaman village ofTroitskoe, and Oroch 1 hey are oriented towards to head

in 1959 hy V.G. Lafkin in the traveling to the ivorld ofspirits ceremonial belt nmmw with of the shaman wearing the bib,

village of dvasiugi. Vladivostok on the back of his helping spirit, a pouch sckty colleded in 19-^5 by in order to help hnii. nilhcr ihiiii

Maritime Museum, Russia, tiger-like beast. M.P. Biriustiukova in the village painted for the beneft of the #4511-19. 35.5 cm (beast) and of Usna-Orochnaia. Vladivostok audience. The sekty pouch con-

27 cm (shaina>ij. Maritime Museum, Russia, #893- tains grass (tobacco?) and is

240 (bib), and #1016-6 and-7 made of various furs.

(belt), cm and 182 cm.

75 Cuisine: Food for People, Food for Spirits

or this work the women weave beautiful baskets; the Food is a community event in both men help by carving ingenious small combs to prepare the grass for twining and coiling into baskets. Siberia and Alaska. Hunting is F Food also has a spiritual dimension. Both Alaskan and Siberian traditionally reservedfor men, while peoples traditionally share food with spirits, Ancestors, or Masters,

serving it in special dishes. women fish, pick berries, and Artifacts rank from delicate and ornate to massive, simple, and rustic, gather plants. but always display a keen sense of design. In nomadic cultures where

little is carried, dishes, spoons, knives, and cups are pretty to the mfortable to the hand, and pleasant to the mouth.

83

83.

Basketry for berries Tlingit beny basket with "shamans with wined grass and thread Prehistoric Eskitno old ivory grass and beauty hat design", from about 1910, embroidery. University ofAlaska comb with engraved circle from

From top, right to left: made ofsplit spruce root, grass, and Museum, Fairbanks, #UA81-3- St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, col- fern frond. University ofAlaska 182AB. 7 cm. lected by Henry B. Collins in

Athapaskan basket collected by I. Museum, Fairbanks, #UA840-31. 1931. National Museum of Applegate in in 10.5 cm. Yupik grass co?nb from the Natural History, Smithsonian the 1880s, made ofbirch bark, red Kuskokwim region, Alaska, made Institution, #A353766. 4.7 cm. glass beads with white hearts, Nivkh wooden spoon fivm north- in the early 1900s ofbone with and leather. National Museum of ern Sakhalin Island, late 1800s- hinged bone blade. This ingenious Tsimshian cedar bark basket made Natural History, Smithsonian early 1900s. Sakhalin Regional arid delightfrl small comb was col- by Violet Booth from Metlakatla, Institution, #£277596. 17.8 cm. Museum, Russia, #947-11. 25 cm. lected by G.B. Gordon. National Alaska, in 1980. University of Small Aleut basket made by Museum ofthe American Indian, Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, Christine Dushkin from Smithsonian Institution, #1/6658. #UA81-3-44. 10 cm. Sandpoint, Alaska, in 1980-81, 7 cm.

76 85.

Closed baskets and box Alaska Museum, Fairbanks,

From left to right: #UA8F3-I60AB. 14 cm.

Koryak basket from the Ulchi box to carry dishes during

Ghizhiginsk area, collected by reindeer herding trips, from F.K. Gek in 1885. Vladivostok the late 1800s-early 1900s, made Maritime Museum, Russia, ofwood and reindeer skin, #913-94. 19 cm. with glass trade beads. Sakhalin Regional Museum, Russia, Yupik grass basket made by #990-2. 26.5 cm. Betsy Altsuk from Nightmute, Alaska, in 1981. University of

4

85

77 86.

Black and white spoons Koniag bone spoon collected in and baskets 1935 by Ales Hrdlicka on

Nanai ( round) atid Oroch Kodiak Island, Alaska, dated (square) birch baskets from the around A.D. 1400, and Tlingit

Khabarovsk region, Siberia. engraved moimtain goat

The round basket was made by horn spoon from the late 1800s. Nanai artist A.K. Samar National Museum ofNatural in 1991. Khabarovsk Regional History, Smithsonian Institution, Museum, Russia, #VX-312 #A377796 and #E1 76708.

and #490. 13.5 cm and 20 c?n. 14.6 cm and 17-5 cm. "

87.

Simple and hearty "Crowbill's Drinking Cup, beauty inscribed Chukchi container from Yupik wooden spoons from the Plover Bay, Chukotka, Siberia, lower Kuskokwim region, fi'orn the made in the latel 80(h-early

1920s (wide), andfrom southwest 1 900s, of wood and horn. Alaska, from the 1800s (small) Natiotuil Museum ofNatural University of Alaska Museum, History, Smithsonian Institution, Fairbanks,#UA6 10-5916 and #E292261. 17 cm. #UA64-64-10^. 21 cm and 15.2 cm.

87

88.

Ainu food ritual Ainu wooden plate and \kupitsuy

(ritual libation sticks), from

southern Sakhalin Island, late ISOOs-early 1900s. Sakhalin

Regional Museum, Russia,

#87-16 (plate) and 48-12, 14,

17, and 19. 19.5 c?n (plate),

and 30.5 to 35.5 cm (sticks).

Besides holding their long mustaches out ofthe sake dru)ik in honor of their ancestors, the ikupasuy are considered the mediators between humajis

and gods, speaking to them in a

symbolic language encoded in

the art.

79 89

89.

Yupik small bowl Yupik red and black painted bowl with fish or shrimp design, collected by Henry B. Collins on

Nunivak Island, Alaska, in 1927. National Museum ofNatural History, Smithsonian Institution, #A340180. 12.4 cm 90. 91.

Ulu Nivkh bear festival the bear festival, villagers

Alaska Inupiaq ulu from the late Nivkh wooden hear festival scoop sacrificed a captured cub raised by

1800s to early 1900s, made of and spoon with bear figures a woman fivm the community

wood, steel, and nails. University font northern Sakhalin Island, as her own child. They dressed it ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks, late ISOOs-early 1900s. Sakhalin in ceremonial costume and

#UA91-9-8. 15 cm. Regional Museum, Russia, offered it food at a banquet so that

#944-2 and #948. 61.8 cm and it would take back to the realm

23.5 cm. of gods a benevolent message fivm

the village. These two artifiacts

The figure ofthe bear is central to were used ritually in this festival the Ainu, Nivkh, and groups from and carry images ofthe bear.

the Amur River, as the Ancestor The fiestival, abandoned afier

and God who descended to visit 1950, is being revived.

humans in a bear shape. During

81 People, Animals, and the Land

unting is the chief means of living off the land, The peoples of the Alaskan and and specialized equipment—from to snowshoes—was invented for arctic hunting. Siberian interior depend on a close H In Northeastern Siberia reindeer herding has roots deep in the past.

relationship with land and animals The distinction between interior and coastal peoples there is mainly between sea mammal hunters and reindeer breeders, rather for survival Animals provide the than sea hunters and land hunters. Reindeer herding was never a traditional Alaskan economic activity. hunter and trapper with meat, the

seamstress with fur and skins, and the trader with items for trade

with coastal peoples.

92.

Udegei hunting panache Udegei hunter's hat called bogdo made by Irina Ivanovna Kialuyigzioga, from the vilL of Gvasiugi, Amur River, Siberia, in 1984-86. The materi-

als she used are fabric, various

furs, including squirrel for the

tuft, silk, and leather. Khabarovsk Regional Museum, Russia,

#9123-3 (hat). 27 cm.

82 n

93.

Alaska hunting Western Eskimo wooden snow The narroiu slits allow the hunter ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks, and trapping goggles collected in Norton Sound, to see, while protecting the eyes #UA593 and #UA69-68-4.

Prehistoric Eskimo child's ice Alaska, by Lucien Turtur in against the harsh reflection oj light 20 cm and 46 cm. creeper collected on Seward the 1870s. National Museum of on the s)iow and ice. Peninsula. Alaska, by Karl Lonieti Natural History, Smithsonian Prehistoric ivory Eskimo projectile in 1926, made ofivory. National Institution, #E 0243-40. 13.2 cm. hiupiaq snares, on the right from point from Northern Alaska, Museum ofNatural History, Teller, Alaska, 1950s, tnade of and grey chert projectile point

goggles by baleen, bird bone; o)i Sm ithso n ia n Institutio , Inupiaq snow made wood, and from the Denbigh culture, Alaska,

#A332255- 4. 7 cm. Ice creepers Elijah Kikinyah, from Anaktuvuk the lefr, made by Simon Paneak about 1 500 B. C. . University of were secured to the boot with Pass, Alaska, in 1969, with fr'om Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska, Alaska Museum, Eairbanks, leather thongs to avoid sliding. wood, caribou leather, and in 1969, of a willow twig and WAS 1-86-463 and #CS-66-

graphite. University of Alaska braided sinew. University 690. 4. 6 cm and 4 cm. Museum, Eairbanks, #{JA69-58- 17C. 14 cm.

94.

Snow shoes Inupiaq model snow shoes from Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska, fivm the 1950s, made of wood and sinew.

University of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, #UA83-25-3AB. 26.5 cm.

83 95

95. 96.

Kerek dog spirits number ofKerek people (around Sleds Kevek dog ipiriti from Northern •tOO) live on the coast between Athapaska)! sled model with dogs

Kamchatka, Siberia, collected the Chukchi and the Koryak areas. and driver, made by Micah in 1855 by RK. Gek. Vladivostok The markings on these dogs, Malcom from Eagle, Alaska, in

Maritime Museum, Russia, especially the one in the center, too 1988, with birch and pine. #1132-7, -8, and -11. 5 to 7 cm. numerous and complex to be mere University ofAlaska Museum, Very few artifacts from the representations of harness, attest to Fairbanks, #UA88-3-6. 42 cm.

Kerek culture are found iii niuse- the importance ofdogs and their Model ofan Ulchi sled called um collectiojis. A very small domestication in this culture, as in hudra, from the village ofBidava the two neighboring cultures. Amur River, 1990. Khabarovsk Regional Museum, Russia #9742-26. 16.5 cm. 96

84 97.

Sleds Top: Koryak sled model from Bottom: Eskimo sled modelfivtn Ghizhiga, Siberia, collected in Norton Sound, Alaska, collected 1886 by G.G. Poliakov, made of

in 1910 by Henry B. Collins. The wood and leather. Vladiiwstok runners are made of ivory, the Maritime Museum, Russia, #912- body ofwood, red pigment, and 20. 36 cm. A full-sized sled might sinew. National Museum of measure 2 to 2.5 meters in length, Natural History, Smithsonian and be pulled by 10 to 12 dogs.

Institution, #£260534.

85 98

^^^^

98.

Reindeer herding Chukchi walrus tusk with scene large-scale herding in the Alaska commercially made steel of reindeer herding and sledges late 1600s. Reindeer herding was reindeer bellfrom the 1 900s, from Ghizhiga Bay, Siberia, col- introduced into Alaska in the

collected by Otto Geist. University lected in 1922 by V.K. Arsenev. 1890s, but it was never a success; ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks, Vladivostok Maritime Museum, the idea ofholding animals #UA64-21-160. 9 cm. Russia, #1211-1. 23.5 cm. "captive" offended the beliefs of traditional hunting peoples.

Top: Chunk of Chiikcl.u or Siberians have herded reindeer for Siberian Eskimo walrus tusk more than 2,000 years: the

collected in 1948 (see also Fig. 37 Chukchi and Koryak adopted

p. 49). Vladivostok Maritime Museum, Russia, #2688. 16 cm.

86 99.

Hunting paraphernalia Udegei hunter's mitt from the

Udegei uma (Ijniiter 's belt), 1 950s. Khabarovsk Regional konikhi (knife sheath), and ladu Museum, Russia #5808. 30 cm. (pouch), made by Irina Ivanovna The tinmib has an opening at

Kialungzioga, from the village the base, protected by the flap, to of Gvasiugi, Amur River, Siberia, allow the hunter to operate his in 1984-86. Fabric, fur, silk, without taking the mitt and leather. Khabarovsk Regional off. It is as lavishly and brightly Museum, Russia #8695-20. decorated as the rest of the

42 cm (belt). hunter's outflt.

87 People, Animals, and the Sea

sea is rich with fish and mammals for the fisherman

For peoples ofthe North Pacific Theand hunter; it tempers the cHmate; and it offers a means of transportation, for which many types of boats coasts, the sea is the center oftheir were devised. All of these circumstances have made coastal cultures distinctly different from those of the interior. The economic and spiritual lives. beauty and sophistication of sea-hunting equipment reflect the

sea's central importance.

100

100.

Hunting the whale Inupiaq umiak (baidara) model Inupiaq stone and ivory labret Three Inupiaq whaling Whale himtuig involved magic made by Victor Swan from (lip plug) in the shape ofa charms from the 1700s, collected as well as skill; hunters carried Kivalina, Alaska, in 1970, of whale tail, collected in thel870s by Henry B. Collins in 1929 amulets for a successful hunt wood, scraped caribou hide, by Edward W. Nelson on King in Point Hope, Alaska, from the Aleut and Eskww hunters wore and cordage. University ofAlaska Island, Alaska. National Museum collections ofthe National special costumes and tnagnificent Museum, Fairbanks, #UA70- ofNatural History, Smithsonian Museum ofNatural History, bentivood visors to honor the 50-185. 31.7 cm. histitution, #E043757. 5.1 cm. Smithsonian Institution, left to spirits of the animals they hunted. right: red chert whale-man charm The Koryak held elaborate Inupiaq kayak modelfrom the Aleut harpoon modelfrom #A344673, 5 cm; ivory whale ceremonies to greet the captured Bering Strait, Alaska, from the , Russia, charm pierced at the blow-hole whale as a high-ranking guest. the early 1960s, made ofgutskin, collected in 1899 by N.M. #Ai3477l4, 4 cm; black chert Smaller sea mammals andfish wood, and ivory. University Tilman, made ofwood, ivory, whale charm #A347715, 5.9 cm. were also honored with respectfd ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks, thread, and red pigments. rituals and with ornate weapons #UA67-132-6. 24.3 cm. Vladivostok Maritime Museum, and lures. Russia, #2160-7. 18 cm.

88 101.

Sea hunting visor Ynpik hunter's wooden visor from Rasboinsky, Yukon River, Alaska, painted black, blue, and green, collected in the 1870s by Edward W. Nelson. National Museum ofNatural History, Smithsonian Institution, #E049068. 16 cm.

101

89 102.

Fishing and sea hook. National Museum of 1929. National Museum of Prehistoric wooden stylized hunting gear Natural History, Smithsonian Natural History, Smithsonian figure ofan Eskimo hunter wear-

From left to right: Institution, #E065651. 9 cm. Institution, #A345173. 9 cm. ing a bentwood hat, from St. Laivrence Island, Alaska, collected

Prehistoric Eskimo old ivory Prehistoric Aleut ivory float Prehistoric Aleut ivory fish by Moreau Chambers in 1935. sinker from St. Lawrence Island, plugfrom , hook and harpoon headfrom National Museum ofNatural Alaska, collected by Moreait Alaska. University ofAlaska Amaknak Island, Alaska. History, Smithsonian Institution, Chambers in 1955. National Museum, Fairbanks, University ofAlaska Museum, #A569829. 4 cm. Museum ofNatural History, #UA68-62-52. 2.7 cm. Fairbanks, #UA68-62-99 and Smithsonian Institution, UA68-62-124. Both 5.5 cm. Inupiaq metal seal harpoon

#A370755. 10.8 cm. Athapaskan wooden shuttle for from Point Hope, Alaska, 20th weaving nets frvm Rampart, Koniag miniature whaling century, collected by Henry

hiupiaq fish hook made by Mark Alaska, 20th century. University harpoon frvm Kodiak Island, B. Collins in 1929. National Clevelandfi-om Ambler, Alaska, ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks. Alaska, A.D. 1400, made Museum ofNatural History,

before 1970, ofaluminum, nail, #957. 18 cm. ofivory and slate, collected by Sm ithson ia n Institu tio n, plastic, baleen, steel, copper wire, Ales Hrdlicka in 1937. #71347819 5.4 cm. and thread. University ofAlaska Prehistoric Aleut bone projectile National Museum ofNatural Museum, Fairbanks, #UA70-50- point from Amaknak Island, History, Smithsonian Three prehistoric Eskimo ivory

65. 18 cm. Alaska. University ofAlaska Institution, #A 390553. 5 cm. prongs for fish or bird spear Museum, Fairbanks, #UA68-62- frvm St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. Inupiaq fishing lure from the 254. 15 cm. Inupiaq ivory net gauge frvm University ofAlaska Museum, , collected by Point Barrow, Alaska, datedfrvm Fairbanks #2-1934-2245, Edward W. Nelson in the 1870s, Prehistoric Eskimo ivory hafpoon the late 1800s. Universitji #2-1934-2266 and

made ofstone, bone, sineiv, glass head collected by Henry B. Collins ofAlaska Museum. Fairbanks #2-1934-2302. 5 cm. beads, puffin beaks, and an iron on Punuk Island, Alaska, in #UA8 1-86-1 89. 11 cm.

90 103.

Tlingit canoe Tlingit wooden canoe model from Yakutat, Alaska, from the 1800s. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian

Institution, #16/8476. 29.9 cm.

Until airplanes were used, seas

and rivers offered the most effec- tive means oftransportation; the

first migrants to Alaska from Asia might indeed have come by boat

(see pp. 37 atid 42-43).

27 cm and 16.5 cm.

91 105

105.

Aleut kayak

Aleut model of a two-man baidarka {or kayak) froyn the Commander Islands, Russia, collected in 1891 by N.M. Tilman. Made ofwood, gutskin, bone, fabric, and glass beads. Vladivostok Maritime Museum, Russia, #2305. i9 cm.

Floats for an actual kayak are made of inflated sealskins, and attached to the harpoon in order to slow down the wounded game, and allow the hunter to locate and retrieve it later when the animal sinks. The Aleut are very skilled at maneuvering kayaks, which can also be made as three-man crafts. Aleut hunters would not hesitate to hunt a large whale, armed with magic protection ft-om ancestor-whalers and with aconite poison smeared on their harpoon. 106.

Floating face

Asian Eskimo float plug flvni Island, Russia, collected in 1885 by F.K. Gek, made ofwood and blue glass

beads for the eyes. Vladivostok Marititne Museum, Russia, #1132-34. 7 cm.

This delightfully carved plug

is used to close the opening of an

inflated sealskin float, and carries the friendly face ofa per- son loith a frowning mouth, symbolic of both females and sea mammals. 106

107.

Whale effigy to Ritually potent quartz crystals take along were inserted into the blow-

Inupiaq wooden whale effigy hole and the eyes, and there is a from Little Diomede space under the board in the Island, Alaska, from the 1800s, center where a large crystal was collected by Henry B. Collins kept. The board was lashed in 1929. National Museum of on the umiak through the holes Natural History, Smithsonian on the sides, for good luck Institution, #347918. 20 cm. when hunting.

93 " — Strangers: War, Trade, Contact

arfare and trade were the main types of contact between Each cultural group in Alaska neighboring native groups—and between continents and existed for centuries before outsiders arrived from and Siberia looked upon all others w beyond the North Pacific Rim. as ''strangers. Very ancient Chinese influence can be seen in clothing and artifacts from Siberia's Amur River region. Drawn by the , Russia

expanded into northeastern Siberia in the 1600s and into Alaska in the 1700s. American whahng ships arrived in the 1850s. Each had

its influence on the cultures living there.

94 108. 109.

Trade Tobacco box and pipe Ancient Native trading networks ofAlaska Aluseuin, Fairbanks, 1870s. National Museum of Koryak snuff box f-oin across Bering Strait expanded by #UA900-79AB. 11 cm. Natural History, Smithsonian Kamchatka, Siberia, about 1950,

the late 1700s, when new products The Ajnerican eagle is beaded Institution, #E036282. 9 cm. made of mountain goat horn,

became available. Tobacco, beads, on the back of the mitts. The lid is underneath the belly of wood, and a metal chain and

and metal were among the most the fish. metal pipe cleaner. Kamchatka popular trade items. Clockwise Eskimo pipe from Norton Sound, Regional Museum, Russia, from the top: Alaska, from the 1870s, collected Aleut basket bottle made by Mary #8-E-180. 8 cm. by Edward W. Nelson. Made Hillhouse from Nikolski, Alaska, Yupik snuff box with a face, of wood, iron, leather, brass, and in 1 982, oftwined grass and Tlingit stone pipe bowlfrom collected by Edward W. Nelson in beads. National Museum of thread embroidery over a glass Yakutat, Alaska, with three Kushunuk, Alaska, in the 1870s. Natural History, Smithsonian bottle with metal lid. University human faces, from the 1880s. The eyes and labrets are made of Institution, #E032870. 19 cm. ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks, National Museum ofthe ivory. National Museum of A metal piece for cleaning the #83-3-30-ab. U.2cyn. Amei'ican Indian, Smithsonian

Natural History, Smithsonian pipe bowl is attached to the pipe The fine basket-making tradition Institution, #9285. 2.8 cm.

Institution, #£036260. 7. 8 an. with beadwork strands. ofthe Aleuts weaves itself

around a Euro-American bottle. Alaska peg calendar collected in Ainu bronze pipe bowlfrom the 1950s by Rhoda Thomas, Southern Sakhalin Island, late Trade glass beads collected in

University ofAlaska Museum, 1800s-early 1900s. Sakhalin St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, in Fairbanks, #UA67-98-278AB. Regional Museum, Russia, #VX the late 1800s-early 1900s.

22.5 cm.Missiormries gave such B/N. 7.8 cm. Uiiversity of Alaska Museum,

calendars to Native converts to Fairbanks, #UA71-34-l . 35 cm. help them keep track ofweekdays Tlingit wooden pipe bowlfrom and remember when to go to Chatham Strait, Alaska, from the In the center: Ainu woman's blue church. 1880s. National Museum ofthe glass beads from Sakhalin Island, American Indian, Smithsonian Russia, from the late 1800s-early Athapaskan doll mittens from Institution, #9246. 6 cm. The 1900s. Sakhalin Regional Rampart, Alaska, made bowl opens like the mouth ofa Museum, Russia, #58. 70 cm. between 1908 and 1920, of bird-like creature.

smoked hide, plucked beaver fur, and glass beads. University Yupik snuffbox in the shape

of a fish, collected by Edward W Nelson in Kulwoguwigumut, Kuskokwim Bay, Alaska, in the

109

95 110, m, 112,

1 13

110, 111, 112, 113.

Scenes of warfare Asian Eskimo engraved walrus tusk with scenes of battles, made by Yukau from , Chukotka, Russia, in 1947. Vladivostok Maritime Museum, Russia, #1206-1. Tusk: 55 cm.

The event represented is the

unsuccessful attempt by Russian

Major Plavlutskii to conquer

the Chukchi in the , with the help ofthe Yakut. One side represents the Yakut warriors leaving the wooded areas with

reindeer and Yakut sleds, and car-

rying a flag with a Russian

icon. The other side depicts the

battle itselfin a Chukchi village

on the tundra .

96 114.

Geared for warfare Prehistoric Eskimo old ivory Prehistoric Eskimo bone wrist war arrow pointfrom Western guardfor bowman from Point Alaska. National Museum of Hope, Alaska, and two prehistoric Natural History, Smithsonian Eskimo bone plates from an Institution, #A333291. 16.5 cm. armor suit fr'om St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, collected by Henry Chukchi or Asian Eskimo walrus

B. Collins in 1929. National ivory warrior figure in armor Museum ofNatural History, and shieldfrom Chukotka, Russia, Smithsonian Institution, collected in 1885 by F.K. Gek. #A347829 and #A355982. 7.8 Vladivostok Maritime Museum, cm and 14 cm. Russia, #1132-18. 3 cm.

115. 115

Spear point Nivkh copper spear point from Sakhalin Island, Russia, from the late 1800s-early 1900s. Sakhalin Regional Museum, Russia, #1668-278. 56.2 cm.

97 " Alaska Native Graphic Arts

"So Pretty to Me, 1960, byAlvin

Amason, Aleut artist, Fairbanks, Alaska

(b. 1948, Kodiak). Collection ofthe

artist. 76x56 cm.

Graphic arts, the embellishment beadwork on cloth and skin began to In the past, simple graphics (e.g. circle and of flat surfaces with decorative dominate Athapaskan graphic arts. In the dot designs) might convey complex

or symbolic designs or pictorial . 19th century the Aleut ornamented meaning, while some of the most complex

representation, is a well- wooden hats and visors with polychrome designs (e.g. the swirls and curves that developed form of expression among all paintings of birds and animals, scenes ornament Old Bering Sea implements (Fig.

Alaska Native groups. In the north, Eskimo of domestic life and hunting exploits, and 18) may be primarily decorative. Simple graphic traditions are indigenous, dating mythical figures, as well as elaborate graphic designs were also applied as marks of from prehistoric zig-zag incising and simple geometric borders and motifs (Fitzhugh and ownership on personal property or as border designs, which evolved into figures, Crowell 1988:164-65). In interior Alaska, references to totemic animals that protected and then into complex pictographic scenes George Thornton Emmons, collecting their owners (Himmelheber 1987 [1938]:

(Ard 1970:51, 55; 1982:275; Giddings among Athapaskans in the early 1 900s, 24-25). On Kodiak Island and in northwest 1967:194). obtained simple rectangular bone stretchers Alaska, such proprietary designs were engraved with geometric designs made also used in prehistoric times. Among the In southeast Alaska, a highly complex graph- by the Tahltan for their packstraps; carefully Chukchi, Bogoras noted that the eyes ics tradition flourished among Northwest balanced and textured, they imitate of killed bears and whales were pierced, "and

Coast peoples, celebrating myths, history, porcupine quillwork, as do incised designs the viscous fluid from them, mixed with

house groups, and clans through crest on some early birchbark baskets soot, [was] used for painting the paddles of : designs on wood, skin, and . In the (Emmons 1911, fig. 12). the boat in a special manner" to commemo-

1700s or earlier, when Russian fur traders or rate a successful hunt (1904-09 15:408). Siberian Native entrepreneurs introduced glass beads to Alaska Natives, elaborate floral

98 Circles, Dots, Spirals, and

Raven's Footprints hunting hat or painted on its surface, the 117. 118. Circular motifs have been used among circle and volute also resemble wings, linking

" nearly all Native American groups from pre- the hunter with such powerful birds as "Kayak" by Sylivster "In Homage, 1974, history to the present. Incised and painted the thunderbird and eagle, and with magical Ayek, Inupiaq by John Kailukiak, spirals, dots, dotted circles, ovoids, and flight (Black 1991:38). artist. Anchorage Yupik artist,

rosettes represent the eye while addressing and Nome, Alaska Tooksook Bay, Alaska cosmic concepts such as physical and The track of Raven is another common (b. 1940, King (b. 1951, Tooksook transcendental functions of sight, peripheral- motif among Alaska Native peoples. Simply Island). Anchorage Bay). Anchorage iry, spiritual wholeness, and transforma- wrought. Raven's footprint is composed Museum ofHistory Museum ofHistory tion—what Ann Fienup Riordan has called of three or four straight lines, although the and Art, #73-097-5. and Art, #75-040-1. "the eye of awareness" (1987:43-47; track may sometimes be incorporated into Smith and Spier 1927; Fitzhugh and Kaplan more complex borders and designs (Fitzhugh 1982:202). and Crowell 1988:305). These simple lines 119. are a graphic reminder of the beginnings Eye motifs or ovoids, which are used exten- of cultural time, for among most Alaska "Engraving and sively in stylized Northwest Coast Native peoples. Raven is regarded as creator. Etching, " 1976, graphics, often signify joints or points of Other simple linear motifs include skeletal by Lawrence

connection (Holm 1965:37), as do dots patterns and "lifelines. ' When used to Ahvakana, Inupiaq or circles in other groups (Fienup-Riordan illustrate skeletal patterns, spurred straight- artist, Suquamish,

1987, Schuster 1951, Bogoras 1904-09). line combinations are often connected to Washington (b.

Yupik and Inupiaq Eskimos once decorated concentric circles, thus linking the "interior" 1946, Barrow). almost every type of implement with or biologic features of the animal portrayed Private collection. nucleated circles, from women's needle cases with external physical and cosmic realms and bag handles to the drill bows collected (Fitzhugh and Kaplan 1982:198-201). by Kotzebue during his first contact with the Inupiaq of Kotzebue Sound in 1816, and on engravings decorating 2,000-year- old Okvik dolls and weapons (Figs. 18, 31). 117

In Aleut art, circles and dots are often incised on carved and painted spirals (volutes), which may simultaneously represent a birds beak and a phallus, refer- ring, as Black suggests, to earthly abundance as well as a universal system of "cosmological reproduction" (Black

1991:43). When attached to the sides of a

118

119

99 Early Graphics

The earliest known form of graphic art is known primarily through the descriptions In another form of personal adornment work on stone in the form of pictographs of non-Native explorers, the sketchbooks of among Alaska Natives prior to and petroglyphs in natural settings: rock out- artists who accompanied them, and later European contact, the body was pierced for croppings, caves, and prominent boulders. accounts of mariners, teachers, and anthro- nose ornaments and labrets (lip plugs)

In the north, these works are rare, usually pologists, and from the work of at least one (Fig. 61). Labrets carved from stone, wood, executed in remote locations rather than per- Native graphic artist, St. Lawrence Island or ivory were often worn in pairs, below manent settlements. They are probably Yupik Florence Nupok (1908-71), who was the mouth on both sides. Labrets were com- the work of men—hunters on the move some very interested in body decoration and fre- mon among northern Eskimos who wore distance from home. In southeast Alaska, quently illustrated tattoos. Today, among the pieced skin parkas that had gores of lighter petroglyphs are often found near ancient vil- Siberian Yupik, Alaska Yupik and Inupiaq, skins on each side of the chest. The graphic lage sites (Emmons/de Lagima 1991:78). some female elders have tattoos on their symmetry of the labrets and the tusk-

Graphics on stone in that region may have hands and faces, and some less visible tattoo- shaped gores linked the wearer metaphorical recorded the movements of particular ing may still be done among St. Lawrence ly with the natural world by emulating an clans and groups into new territories, cele- Island Eskimos, both men and women, important animal—the walrus (see Fitzhugl brated important tribal events, or marked to indicate affiliation with specific kin groups and Kaplan 1982:169; Chaussonnet and specific communal interests such as plentiful and to celebrate certain events. In some Driscoll 1994:111). salmon streams (ibid.). Detailed incising regions, young women were tattooed at has also been found on pebbles at prehistoric puberty. The marks on their chins were said Today, northern skin-sewers still make sites in far-flung regions, including Yakutat to be "sewn" on, emphasizing connections fancy squirrel-skin parkas with miniature

(de Laguna 1964:169), Point Hope, between domestic skills and standards blocks of squirrel-skin piecing at the back

Cape Krusenstern, late prehistoric sites at of female beauty (Chaussonnet 1988:224; of the hood, as well as other graphic Kodiak (Fitzhugh and Crowell 1988:134), Moore and Johnson 1986:108). elements. Though the specific meanings of and other areas (Ard 1970:108-10). these "fancy" skin graphics are unknown, they have magical implications. Through

A less durable though highly visible form such designs, the adorned human of graphic art was the tattooing and body becomes a graphic text, transmitting painting of the human body. This art is messages about ethnicity, home village,

hunting prowess, sewing skills, and other

topics (Schevill 1986:1-5).

120.

"This My Mother Mary, and Baby George, " 1958, by George Ahgtipuk,

Inupiaq artist. Anchorage. Pen and Ink on Caribou Skin. Alaska State Museum, Juneau, #V-A-725.

100 Gender and Graphics Production Among Native peoples, men generally work Women also gather materials in groups, but produced mainly by men (Hall, Blackman, with rigid materials, while women's work almost always on land. The symbols used by and Rickard 1981:49-54); the graphics

more often involves pliant raw materials such women, sewn into fancy parkas or woven made by women from these regions are gen- as skins and grasses. Even today, materials into baskets, tend to be non-representational erally worked into soft goods—baskets, are divided along male and female lines, and are usually worked into an object blankets, robes, and other traditional gar- although this is changing somewhat as tradi- rather than applied to it (with the exception ments. Men intervene in the production of tional roles are modified and as new of felt and skin applique, which has been some soft goods, such as Chilkat robes, materials become available. Women have also popular among north Alaska Eskimo women which require a pattern board created by had a somewhat more restricted access for some time [Ray 1969:38-41]). Gender- men, and woven spruce root hats, which to certain materials, as well as less familiarity based divisions of materials, tools, and men paint with crest designs. with the tools for working them and, symbols may have some connection to the possibly, the type of subject matter used transfer of ideas and symbols to paper, Graphic designs in basketry were an historically in decoration. for it appears that— unlike Canadian Inuit important means of female expression. Some women—few women work in that patterns, like "Mouth I'rack of the Wood-

Ivory, for example, which is obtained by medium in Alaska. worm" and Tongue of the Thunderbird, " are hunting walrus, and whalebone, which thought to refer to myths recalling clan is found when traveling and beachcombing, In southeast Alaska, the graphic arts of men origins and history (Paul 1944:47,49), but are usually collected by men who travel were most often produced on wood as most are simple, lyrical, and representational, together in hunting crews and fraternal pattern boards, house screens, house posts, such as "Leaves of the Fireweed," "Hair groups. Ivory is processed almost exclusively and other objects. These works of art were Seal's Ribs, " and "Stick Fish Weir." Emmons by men and often inscribed with pictorial often monumental (and grew even larger noted that basketry designs predate representations. Mens connection with the when metal tools became available), requir- European contact but are fundmentally sea is underscored throughout the process. In ing the felling of large trees, from which unlike other types of Tlingit art. He specu- addition, hunting and trade exposed men planks were hewn, then carved or painted. lated that the "geometric character of

to new people and fresh ideas that women This was not considered women's work, the design " had been borrowed, probably were less likely to experience firsthand. and only now are women beginning to break from interior Athapaskan quillwork into totemic carving and painting crest (Emmons/deLaguna 1991:220-221). designs on wood.

Today, serigraphy (silkscreen printing) is an established industry on the Northwest

Coast, particularly in Canada. This art is

121.

Beaded Disk by

Madeline Krol,

Athapaskan artist,

Whittier, Alaska

(b. 1946, Galena).

Moose hide and glass beads. Private collection. 8 cm.

101 From Stone, Wood, and Printmaking Skin to Paper When formal education became compulsory A serious attempt to introduce printmaking Paper was not available until European con- for Alaska Native children, they were in was made during tact. It became even more available with introduced, almost always unhappily, to long a nine-month series of multi-media work- the advent of formal schooling and emphasis hours indoors and an inexplicable disregard shops, the Designer-Craftsman Training on written communication. Alaska Natives, for weather, seasons, and movements of Project under the Manpower Development with their eye for innovation, must have seen animals (on which their lives had traditional- and Training Act, sponsored nearly thirty many possibilities for applying the new ly been based). They were also introduced years ago in Nome by the Indian Arts and techniques and materials almost immediate- to pencil and paper. Drawing and penman- Crafts Board (Ard 1982:270). The project, ly. Edward William Nelson, for example, ship were emphasized in many districts, supervised by George Fedoroff, was managed related the following anecdote: in part because teaching mainstream Western by Inupiaq artist Ronald Senungetuk.

subjects was difficult in poorly equipped Of the thirty students involved in the pro-

During one winter at St. Michael, a young schools (Ray 1969:44). In some areas, the ject, only one, Florence Nupok Malewotkuk,

Eskimo . . . came from the country of importance of signing one's work was intro- was a woman. Nupok, who had been the Kaviak Peninsula and remained about duced, and many teachers collected student encouraged by Otto Geist to produce ethno- the station. While there he took great work, using it to illustrate annual reports graphic drawings while she was still a pleasure in looking at the numerous illustrat- and personal memoirs. teenager, was the only student who had pre- ed papers we had, and would come day vious experience with graphics on paper after day and borrow them; finally he came A few teachers realized the importance of (Ray 1969:64). and asked me for a pencil and some documenting Native life from their paper, which I supplied him. Some days later students' point ot view, and most comment- Later, the Visual Arts Center of Alaska

I chanced to go to his tent, and tound ed on the artistic abilities ot local people. made printing equipment available to Native him lying prone upon the ground, with an In Wales in the 1890s, government teachers artists, but most ot the Native participants old magazine before him, engaged in copy- Harrison Thornton and William T. Lopp, (all originally men) preferred to work in ing one of the pictures on the piece of and later Susan Bernardi, all promoted draw- three dimensions and returned to large-scale

paper. . . . He had done so well that I asked ing and painting. They used student works, . Canadian painter Gabriel Gely him if he could draw me some pictures of including woodcuts, to illustrate the annual resided in Shishmaref during the early 1970s

Eskimo villages and scenes. He agreed to try school newspaper, The Eskimo Bulletin. at the behest of the Community Enterprise to do so and was furnished with a supply Sheldon Jackson included some of the draw- Development Corporation (CEDC), of pencils and paper. (1983 [1899]: 197-98) ings in his reindeer reports as well where he encouraged many people to draw (Jackson 1895). and to begin carving whalebone along

Near the turn ot the century, Franz Boas with Melvin Olanna. Whalebone is now the used sketches by Qeqertuqdjuaq, a The close connection of contemporary primary material used in producing art local artist, to illustrate folktales recounted in graphic arts on paper with written in Shishmaret, but there is no corresponding

The Central Fjkimodm. Waldemar communication, among Alaska Natives at industry in drawing or printmaking.

Bogoras, while among the Chukchi in 1904- least, may contribute to its lack of populari-

09, obtained a number ol drawings from ty, however. Whenever possible, most shamans and others. The attempt to transmit Native artists today still prefer to work with a sense of the intimate association ot Native traditional materials—ivory, skin, and peoples with land, sea, and animals also led wood. The sophisticated development of early anthropologists to commission graphic arts among the Tlingit and other Native cartography, although Native people Northwest Coast groups and the long history rarely need maps themselves. ot two-dimensional works among Alaskan Eskimos would suggest that the switch

to graphics on paper might be a natural one.

Such a transition occurred in the Canadian Arctic—but not in Alaska. 122

102 The Artists The reasons why graphics production on Native Alaskan graphic artists represent non-Native vocations— reindeer herding, paper has not been sustained among extremely diverse training and backgrounds. teaching, and business. Kivetoruk Moses

Alaska Native artists seem fairly clear. First, The style and medium useci by each is clearly keenly recognized the value the written paper remains a less-than-comtortable associated with the artist's time period word held for non-Natives; for an extra five material tor most, who prefer to work on and with the impact of European contact in dollars, he would include a written story familiar surfaces in three dimensions. the respective regions. Most "contemporary" with his paintings (Ray 1969:56).

Second, the printmaking process requires artists, spanning the last two generations, much space, which is unavailable to have been formally trained. Other artists are By the late 1930s, Moses, Aligupuk (see most rural residents, and some processes generally called "traditional, " although Fig. 120), and Mayokuk were all well estab- need expensive equipment, usually graphics production on paper is itself not a lished and had become very prolific, selling installed at a university or other institution. tradition. primarily to collectors and to gift shops, Also, Native men traditionally worked which subsequently sold their work to and trained in communal settings such as In St. Michael at the turn of the century, tourists. Moses, the most painterly and best the kazigi (men's house), usually in kin Guy Kakarook was drawing and producing known of the group, remained in northwest groups, while carving is often still done by water-colors combined with crayon on Alaska, settling in Nome, where a market younger men in a modified communal paper, keeping his work in notebooks. He for Native art had been established since the environment such as an abandoned village was probably influenced directly by Sheldon Gold Rush. His experience is not isolated; home. Printmaking is a more solitary Jackson, General Agent of Education many Inupiaq men turned to art production endeavor, and perhaps therefore unpopular. for the during the period after working for many seasons away from

1885-1906 and a zealous Presbyterian their homes, often after a job-related injury

Finally, although the creation of the origi- , who apparently provided forced their return. nal design may be an invigorating moment, Kakarook with government-issue art supplies the printing process itself is somewhat (Ray 1969:46). Kakarook also engraved George Ahgupuk and Robert Mayokuk tedious. And although problems of tediimi on ivory. In Nome during the same period, moved on to urban Anchorage, where the and repetition could be resolved by Angokwazhuk (Happy Jack) was a master souvenir market still dominates, and working through an established press or engraver whose work on ivory was renowned produced there successfully for the rest of by hiring an artist's representative, up and down the Pacific coast. their lives. Other men, including Melvin few Native artists pursue these options. Olanna, sought alternative careers as artists

Ray has noted that "the early school pro- because they had been handicapped by ill-

grams had little direct bearing on [later] ness and feared (or were informed by elders)

successful commercial 'Eskimo art' on paper that they would not become proficient

and animal hides" (1969:44) like that hunters (Fair 1993:16; Senungetuk 1990:5). produced by Kivetoruk Moses, Robert As Olanna's success grew, he turned from

Mayokuk, and George Ahgupuk two genera- ivory carving and occasional printmaking to

tions later. But all of these men were large sculpture in wood, whalebone, or aware of the important associations of writ- imported stone, establishing studio-resi-

ten communication and graphic arts with dences in Shishmaref and W;ishington State. formalschooling and with newly introduced

123

123.

"Four Views" by Milo Minock,

Inupiaq artist, Pilot

Station, Alaska. Anchorage Museum ofHistory and Art, #72-102-1.

103 "

Moses, Ahgupuk, Mayokuk, and other reindeer herder, commercial fisherman, Wilbur Walluk (see Ray 1969:53-57). artists of their era are ohen described andentrepreneur in northwest Alaska. Moses Ray has credited George Ahgupuk with insti- as "self-taught" (presumably through obser- served as a mentor to George Ahgupuk, gating the shift from engraving on ivory to vation), but many were directly influenced his young brother-in-law, and to Harvey production on paper (1969:53), but the by non-Natives—traders, teachers, and shop- Pootoogooluk, now a prominent Shishmaref precedent for graphic art production was, by keepers—although few records of these whalebone sculptor. He may also have Aghupuk's productive years, already in encounters remain. Kivetoruk Moses was influenced David Oakie and members of place. Ahgupuk, along with Milo Minock of first introduced to art supplies by the wife of the Tingook family, also from the Pilot Station, turned graphics production a trader in Deering; he turned to art Shishmaref-Cape Espenberg area, as well as back toward tradition by applying his origi- full-time after an injury sustained in a plane nal pen and ink drawings to smoothly crash ended his varied career as hunter, processed skins—moose, caribou, and seal.

124, 125.

^oint

124,125

126.

"The Hunt, Nadein found his

1 970s, by Semion vocation as an artist

Nadein, Evenk artist while at a hospital from Sakhalin as a young man,

Island (1931-1982). where he started to

Cut-out X-ray film. cut-out X-ray films

Sakhalin Regional with hunting scenes,

Museum, Russia, reindeer, and Evenk

#3345-3. 23x19 cm. folk tales.

126

104 " "

127, 128, 129

127, 128, 129. 130.

"Myte, " "Ania, Paper, pencil, water- "Ukiu Vok Miut II

and "Kutkiniako, color. Kamchatka (

1965, by Kirill Regional Museum, Vilkge), " 1963, by Vasilievich Kilpalin, Russia. #30013, -14, Bernark Katexac,

Koryak artist from -17. 21x15 cm each. Inupiaq artist, Nome, Topoliovka, Siberia Alaska (b 1922,

(1930-1991). King IsLind). Artist's

proof, woodcut. Anchorage Museum ofHistory and Art, #71-179-001.

Bernard Katexac, Peter Seeganna, Teddy

Pullock, and Sylvester Ayek (see Fig. 117) were all well-established King Island ivory carvers who trained in printmaking at various workshops statewide. Seeganna and

Ayek also worked in various other media at Anchorage's Visual Arts Center. Seeganna, a particularly promising artist, died of a congenital heart condition in his mid-30s.

Teddy Pullock settled in Brevig Mission,

Alaska, where he is a carver. None of these artists pursued printmaking for very long, although Katexac and Seeganna exe- cuted various commissions on paper, as did Melvin Olanna.

130

105 Other artists have pursued formal educations and are now established contem-

porary artists. Fred Anderson, an Aleut

from Naknek who trained first as a painter, has produced many masks and notable

and is now working on a massive series of drawings (Steinbright 1986:9).

Joseph Senungetuk is one of the best

known graphic artists in Alaska. An Inupiaq who trained at the San Francisco Art

Institute, Senungetuk is the author of Give or Take a Century (1970). This chronicle of his family's difficult move from Wales to

Nome is illustrated with many of his prints and drawings. The younger brother of

artist Ronald Senungetuk, he now concen-

trates primarily on masks, large-scale sculp-

ture, and projects in ethnomusicology.

132

131.

"Transition, " 1978, by Fred Anderson,

Aleut artist, Naknek,

Alaska (b. 1949, Naknek). Anchorage Museum ofHistory and Art, #79-030-2. 132.

"A Dream in

Anchorage, " 1973, by Peter Seeganna,

131 Inupiaq artist from King Island. Anchorage Museum ofHistory and Art, #73-097-4.

106 "

Acknowledgements Aleut Alvin Amason (see Fig. 116), a points out: "The people in my area don't My thanks extend to George Ahgupuk, professor at the University of Alaska know whether to continue going back Alvin Amason, Saradell Ard, Michael

Fairbanks, is another prominent graphic into making masks because ot the shaman- Burwell, Steve Henrikson, AJdona Jonaitis, artist. A noted painter who produces ism [associated with them] . . . but the Marilyn Kwock, Dinah Larsen, Mary occasional prints, Amason frequently tex- performances seem sort of incomplete with- Larson, Melvin and Karen Olanna, Harvey tures, builds up, and "adds on" to most out the masks" (Steinbright 1986:38). Pootoogooluk, Dorothy Jean Ray, of his pieces. He often writes on his work, Comments by John Kailukiak, in fact, may Shelley Reid and Dan Savard (Royal British thus combining graphics, sculpture, clarify why graphics on paper have not Coliunbia Museum), Joseph Senungetuk, and oral tradition in an avant-garde blend become a popular medium lor Alaska Native Ronald Senungetuk, Theresa Thibault, that recalls other media and earlier artists, why the conscious gesture toward Walter Van Horn, Bill and Karen Workman, traditions. tradition is so powerful and so ultimately and many Native artists not mentioned

satisfying: here. Permission to use materials from the

John Kailukiak (see Fig. 118), a Yupik Tradition, Innovation, Continuity project, artist who also participated in the Nome Everything else [in my masks] is pretty much Alaska State Council on the Arts, comes training project and graduated from from home, even the colors we collect from Jean Palmer, Acting Director. Most art

the Rhode Island School of Design, is also from the beaches and hills. . . . My designs pieces reproduced here were originally an accomplished painter. Since his are similar to those done before, those selected by curator Ronald Senungetuk for return to Toksook Bay several years ago, collected by Nelson and Curtis. My designs this project. however, Kailukiak has concentrated go back to that age. I've thought about on three-dimensional works, primarily using exotic wood for my masks but even masks. Ironically, maskmaking may though the product might be nice ... it be considered a more daring step on Nelson just doesn't seem right to work with

Island than works on paper, for masked wood different than driftwood. It's just that dancing was once vigorously prohibited by feeling .... Christian missionaries. As Kailukiak Hunting and artwork are the two main

things in my life. It's hard for me to stay in

the city. I've been tempted to go into the city

in order to have better access to materials,

but I don't want to go where I can't hunt.

-John Kailukiak (Steinbright 1986:38-39)

133.

"The Silent Sea, 1967, by Joseph Senungetuk, Inupiaq artist. Anchorage,

(h. 1940, Wales). Anchorage Museum ofHistory and Art, #85-069-1.

133

107 Map reproduced courtesy ofthe Alaska Native Language Center, University ofAlaska Fairbanks, from Unungam Ungiikangin...

by Bergsland and Moses, 1 990.

108 1994 Populations and Speakers of North Pacific Region Languages

Language Family Language Name Population Speakers Language Family Language Name Population Speakers Tungusic Udegei 1,600 100 Athapaskan-Eyak 500 80 Oroch 300 100 Tanaina 900 75

Nanai/Goldi (Russia) 12,000 5,000 Ingalik 275 40

Nanai/Goldi (China) 4,000 50 Innoko 200 12

Ulchi 3,200 500 2,300 300 Orok 300 30 Upper Kuskokwim 160 40 Negidal 500 100 Tanana 380 30 Solon (China) 23,000 ?? Tanacross 220 65

Evenk/Tungus (Russia) 30,000 9,000 Upper Tanana 340 115

Evenk/Tungus Han 300 15 (Mongolia) 2,000 ?? Kutchin 3,000 700

Evenk/Tungus Eyak 5 2

(Oroqen: China) 4,132 4,000 Tlingit Tlingit 11,000 575 Even/Lamut 17,000 7,500 Haida Haida 2,200 55 Nivkh/Gilyak Nivkh 4,500 400 Tsimshian mH Coast Tsimshian 4,500 1000 Ainu Ainu 16,000 10 Nass-Gitksan 5,500 2,000

Turkic Yakut (Sov. Census 1985) 380,000 357,000 Wakashan

Yukaghir Yukaghir 900 100 (Kwakiutlan) Haisla* 1,000 250 Chukotko- Heiltsuk-Oowekyala* 1,200 450

Kamchatkan Itelmen/Kamchadal 1,500 100 Kwakiutl* 3,300 1,000 Koryak and Aliutor 9,000 4,600 Wakashan 1 mil; Aliutor subtotal 1,000 100 (Nootkan) Nootka* 3,500 500

Kerek 400 3 Nitinat* ?? ?? Chukchi 15,000 10,000 Makah* 600 200

Eskimo-Aleut Inupiaq (Alaska) 13,500 3,500 Salishan Bella Coola* 700 150

Sirenikski 1

Siberian Yupik 2,000 1,300

Chapiinski (Russia)

subtotal 900 300

St. Lawrence Is. (USA) Note: This map was adapted from Crossroads of Continents: Cultures ofSiberia and

subtotal 1,100 1 ,000 Alaska, by William W. Fitzhugh and Aron Crowell, U)88. Figures have b een

Naukanski 450 70 updated by Igor Krupnik, Smithsonian Institution, an d Michael Krauss, Alaska

Central Alaskan Yupik 20,000 10,500 Native Language Center, University of Alaska Fairban

Pacific Gulf Yupik 3,000 450 Krauss's report to UNESCO dated January 25, 1994, except for the figures

Aleut (USA) 2,000 340 marked with an asterisk, which are from 1977 data.

Aleut (Russia) 300 5 * Figures for 1977- 109 .

American Museum ofNatural History 9: Covorrubios, Miguel 1911 The Tahltan Indians. University of Bibliography 123-176. 1954 The Eagle, the Jaguar, and the Serpent: Pennsylvania Museum Anthropological 1903 The Jesup North Pacific Expedition. Indian Art ofthe Americas: North America: Publications A (1): 1-120. Achirgina-Arsiak, Tatiana The American Museum Journal 5{5):72-\ 19. Alaska, Canada, and the . New 1916 The Whale House of the Chilkat. 1992 Paianitok! Etudes/Inuit/Studtes 16 1905 The Jesup North Pacific Expedition. York: Knopf Anthropological Papers ofthe American (l-2):47-50. Proceedings of the International Congress of Museum ofNatural History 1 9 Part 1 Americanists, 13th Session, Coyhis, Don pp. 1-33. Amason, Alvin New York 1902 pp. 91-100. 1993 Presentation at the Rural 1991 The Tlingit Indians. 1982 The Contemporary Native Artist. Development Workshop, "Seeds of Edited with additions by Frederica de Native Arts Issues 81/82, edited by Suzi Bockstoce, J.R. Diversity." University of Alaska Fairbanks. Laguna; biography by Jean Low. Seattle: Jones. Anchorage: Alaska State Council on 1986 Whales. Ice, and Men: the History of Universiry of Washington. 32-36. the Arts. pp. Whaling in the Western Arctic. Seattle: Crowell, Aron University of Washington Press. 1988a. 's Pacific Coast. Fair, Susan W. Antropova, V.V., and Crossroads of Continents: Cultures ofSiberia 1993 Alaska Native Art: History, V.G. Kuznetsova Bogoros, Waldemar and Alaska. Edited by WW Fitzhugh and Traditions, Transitions. Arts From the Arctic. 1964 The Chukchi. The Peoples Siberia. of 1901 The Chukchi ot Northeastern Asia. A. Crowell. Washingron, D.C.: Smithsonian Fairbanks: Institute of Alaska Native Arts M.G. Levin and L.P. Potapov. Chicago and American Anthropologist }:S0-10S. Institution Press, pp. 130-140. and Anchorage Museum of History and Art. London: University of Chicago Press. 1902 Folklore of Northeastern Asia, as 1988b. Dwellings, Settlements, and Originally published in Russian in Compared with that of Northwestern Domestic Life. Crossroads of Continents, Fienup-Riordon, Ann 1956 as Narody Sihiri. : ANSSSR. ' America. American Anthropologist 4:577-683. Cultures of Siberia and Alaska, edited by 1983 Nelson Island Eskimos: Social Structure pp. 799-850. 1 904-09 The Chukchee. The Jesup North WW Fitzhugh and A. Crowell. Washington, and Ritual Distribution. Anchorage: Alaska Pacific Expedition 7, Memoirs of the American D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, Pacific University Press. Antropova, V.V. Museum of Natural History. Leiden/New pp. 194-208. 1987 The Mask: The Eye of the Dance. 1964 The . The Peoples Siberia. of York (Reprinted 1975, New York: AMS Press) Arctic Anthropology 2A (2): 40-55. M.G. Levin and L.P. Potapov. Chicago and 1910 Chukchee Mythology. Cruikshonk, Julie 1990 Eskimo Essays: Yupik Lives and How London: University of Chicago Press. The Jesup North Pacific Expedition 8(1), 1 990 Life Lived Like a Story. Lincoln: We See Them. New Brunswick and London: Originally pubHshed in Russian in 1956 as Memoirs of the American Museum ofNatural University of Nebraska Press. Rutgers Universiry Press. Narody Stbiri. Moscow: ANSSSR. History. Leiden/New York (Reprinted 1975, 851-875. pp. New York: AMS Press). Doll, W.H. Fitzhugh, William W., and 1913 The Eskimo of Siberia. 1870 Alaska and Its Resources. Boston. Valerie Chaussonnet (eds.) Ard, Saradell (Frederick) The Jesup North Pacific Expedition 8(3), 1 994 Anthropology of the North Pacific Rim. 1970 An Analysis ot Two-Dimensional Memoirs of the American Museum ofNatural Damas, David (ed.) Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Eskimo Pictorial Representation with History. Leiden/New York (Reprinted 1975, 1 984 Handbook ofNorth American Indians. Press. Relevance for Art Teaching in Alaska. New York: AMS Press). Volume 5 (Arctic). Edited by D. Damas. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Fitzhugh, William W., and Aron University, Department of Education. Burch, Ernest S., Jr. Press. Crowell (eds.) 1982 in William W. Fitzhugh and Susan 1974 Eskimo Warfare in Northwest Alaska. 1988 Crossroads ofi Continents: Cultures ofi Kaplan. Inua: Spirit WorUi the Bering Sea of Anthropological Papers of the University of Dauenhauer, Nora Marks, and Siberia and Alaska. Washington, D.C.: Eskimo. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Alaska 16:1-14. Richard Dauenhauer Smithsonian Institution Press. Institution Press. 1979 Indians and Eskimos in North 1987 Haa Shukd. Our Ancestors: Tlingit Alaska, 1816-1977: a Study in Changing Oral Narratives. Seattle: Universiry of Fitzhugh, William W., and Arutiunov, Sergei A. Ethnic Relations. Arctic Anthropology Washingron Press. Susan Kaplan 1988a. Chukchi: Warriors and Traders of 16:123-151. 1990 Haa Tuwundagti Yis, For Healing Our 1982 Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Chukotka. Crossroads Continents: Cultures of 1978 Traditional Eskimo Societies in Spirit: TUngit Oratory. Seartle: University of Eskimo. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Siberia and Alaska. Edited by of WW. Northwest Alaska, in Alaska Native Culture Washington Press. Institution Press. A. Crowell. Fitzhugh and Washington, and History, edited by Y. Kotani and WB. D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, Workman. National Museum ofEthnology, Davis, Nancy Yaw Fortuine, Robert 39-41. pp. Senri Ethnological Series 4. Osaka, Japan, 1984 Contemporary Pacific Eskimo. 1989 Chills and Fever: Health and Disease 1988b. Koryak and Itclmen: Dwellers of the pp. 253-304. (Reprinted 1980). Handbook of North American Indians. 111 the Early History ofAlaska. Fairbanks: Smoking Coast. Crossroads Continents: of 1981 The Traditional Eskimo Hunters of Volume 5 (Arctic). Edited by D. Damas. Universiry of Alaska Press. Cultures Siberia and ALuka. Edited by of Point Hope, Alaska: 1800-1875. Barrow, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Fitzhugh and A. Crowell. Washington, WW Alaska: North Slope Borough. Press. Giddings, J. Louis D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 31- 1 984 Kotzebue Sound Eskimo. Handbook 1 967 Ancient Men ofthe Arctic. New York: 35. of North American Indians 5 (Arctic). Edited de Laguna, Frederica Alfred A. Knopf 1988c. Even: Reindeer Herders of Eastern by D. Damas. Washington, D.C.: 1 972 Under : The Siberia. Crossroads Continents: Cultures of of Smithsonian Institution, pp. 303-319. Histor)' and Culture of the Yakutat Tlingit. Goldman, I. Siberia and Alaska. Edited by WW Fitzhugh Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology 7 1 975 The Mouth ofHeaven: An and A. Crowell. Washington, D.C.: Burch, E.S., Jr, and T.C. Corell {in three parts), Washington, D.C.: Introduction to Kwakuitl Religious Thought. Smithsonian Institution Press, 35-38. pp. 1972 Alliance and Conflict: Smithsonian Institution Press. New York: Wiley Inter-regional Relations in North Alaska. Berger, Thomas Alliance in Eskimo Society, edited by D.L. de Laquna, Frederica, Francis A. Groburn, Nelson H.H. l^SS ViUaif- ]uurney. New York: Guemple. Seattle: University of Washington Ridden, Donald F. McGeein, 1976 Eskimo Art: The Eastern Canadian Hill and Wang. Press, pp. 17-39. Kenneth S. Lane, J. Arthur Fried, Arctic. Ethnic and Tourist Arts: Cultural and Carolyn Osborne Expressions from the Fourth World. Edited by Bergsland, Knut Graburn. Berkeley: University Carpenter, Edmund S. 1 964 Archaeology of the Yakutat Bay Area, Nelson H.H. l'-)'-)4 Aleut Thitionary. Alaska Native 1973 Eskimo Realities. New York: Holt, Alaska. Smithsonian Institution Bureau of of California Press. Language Center, Universiry of Alaska Rmehart and Winston. American Ethnology, Bulletin 192. Fairbanks. 1973 Some Notes on the Separate Realities Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Hall, Edwin S., Jr., Margaret B. of Eskimo and Indian Art. The Ear North, Printing Office. Blockman, and Vincent Rickord Bergsland, Knut, and 2000 Years ofAmerican Eskimo and Indian 1 98 1 Northwest Coast Indian Graphics. L. Dirks (editors) Moses Art, edited by Henry Collins, Frederica de Dikov, N.N. Seattle: Universiry of Washingron Press. 1990 Unangani Ihignkangm Kayux Laguna, Edmund Carpenter, and Peter 1994 The Paleolithic of Kamchatka and TuniLsangm/Unangam Uniikangis Ama Stone. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery Chukotka and the Problem of the Peopling Hall, Edwin TunuzaniislAleut Tales and Narratives, eollect- of Art. pp. 281-289. of America. Anthropology of the North Pacific 1984 Interior Norrh Alaska Eskimo. ed 1909-1910 by WalJemar Jochebon. Rim. Edited by WW Fitzhugh and V Handbook ofNorth American Indians. Vol. 5 Appendix: Aleut Lore Published in 1840 and Choussonnet, Valerie Chaussonnet. Washington, D.C.: (Arctic). Edited by D. Damas. Washington, 1846 by loann Veniaminov, re-edited by 1988 Needles and Animals: Women's Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 87-96. D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. Knut Bergsland. Alaska Native Language Magic. Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of 338-346. University Center, of Alaska Fairbanks. Siberia and Alaska. Edited by WW Fitzhugh Duff, Wilson

and A. Crowell. Washington, D.C.: 1981 The World is as Sharp as a Knife: Halloweil, A.I. Block, Lydio T. Smithsonian Institution Press, Meaning in . The World 1 926 Bear Ceremonialism in the Northern 1973 The Nivkh (Gilyak) pp. 209-226. Is as Sharp as a Knife: An Anthology in Hemisphere. American Anthropologist T^: of Sakhalin and the Lower Amur 1-173. Honour of Wilson T>uff, edited by Donald W. Arctic Anthropology 10 1-110. (1): Choussonnet, Valerie, and Abbott. Victoria, British Columbia: the 1982 y4/fKf^rf. Anchorage, Alaska: Bernadette Driscoll British Columbia Provincial Museum, Hatt, Gudmund Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association. 1994 The Bleeding Coat: The Art of pp. 209-224. (Reprinted in Indian Art 1969 Arctic Skm Clothing in and 1988 Peoples of the Amur and Maritime North Pacific Ritual Clothing. Anthropology Traditions of the f^orthwest Coast, edited by America. An Ethnographic Study. Arctic Regions. Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of of the North Pacific Rim. Edited by WW. Roy L. Carlson, 1983. Burnaby, British Anthropology 5(2):1-132. (Origmally pub- Siberia and ALuka. Edited by Fitzhugh and V. Chaussonnet. Washington, Columbia: Simon Frazer University, lished in Danish in 1914) WW Fitzhugh and A. Crowell. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 47-66). D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 109-131. Hoviland, William A. 1990 The Russian Conquest of Kodiak. Duncan, Kate 1990 . Unpublished manuscript. University of Clark, Donold 1984 Some Warmer Tone: Alaska Fort Worth: Holt, Rinehart, and Alaska Fairbanks, Department of 1984 "Pacific Eskimo: Historical Athabascan Bead Embroidery. Fairbanks, Winston, Inc. Anthropology. Ethnography." Handbook ofNorth American Alaska: University of Alaska Museum. 1991 Glory Remembered: Wooden Headgear Indians.Voliime 5 (Arctic). Edited by D. 1988 Northern Athapaskan Art: A Himmelheber, Hons Alaska Sea Hunters. Juneau: Alaska State of Damas. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Beadwork Tradition. Seattle: University of 1987 [1938] Eskimo Artists. Zurich: Museums. Institution Press. Washington Press. Museum Rietberg. Boos, Fronz Collins, Henry B., Frederica Dyson, George Holm, Bill 1888 [1964] The Central Eskimo. 6th De Loguno, Edmund Carpenter, 1986 Baidarka. Edmonds, Washington: 1 965 Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Annual Report of the Bureau of American and Peter Stone Alaska Northwest Publishing Company. Analysis ofForm. Seattle: University of Ethnology for the Years 1884-1885, pp. 1973 The Ear North, 2000 Years of Washington Press. 399-669.'Washmgton, D.C.: U.S. American Eskimo and Indian Art. Emmons, George Thornton 1981 Will the Real charles Edensaw Please Government Printing Office. Reprinted by Washington, D.C.: National Gallery 1907 The Chilkat Blanket. Memoirs ofthe Stand Up? The Problem of Attribution in the University of Nebraska Press, 1964, with of Art. American Museum ofNatural History. Northwest Coast Indian Art. The World is as an introduction by Henr)' B. Collins. 3(4):229-277. New York. Sharp as a Knife. Victoria, British Columbia: 1897 The Decorative Art of the Indians of British Columbia Provincial Museum, the North Pacific Coast. Bulletin the of pp. 175-200. 110 1983 Thi' BiK of D,iyligl>t. Northwest Coast Kan, Sergei Lyons, W.J. Schneider, Harold K.

Indian Art. Seattle/London; University of 1 989 Symbolic Immortality: Tlingit Potlatch 1964 The Koyukon Feast fot the Dead. l')8') Economic Man. Salem: Sheffield Washington Press. of the Nineteenth Century. Washington, Arctic Anthropology pp. 133-146, Publishing Company. 1987 Spirit and Ancestor A Century of D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, Northwest Coast Indian Art at the Burke Knecht, Richard A., Sven Mauss, Marcel Schuster, Carl

'''i Museum. Seattle: University of Washington Haakonson, and Shawn Dickson ri'KI //v 6'//r, New York: I I Joint Marks: A Possible Index of Press. n.d. Two Early CA)ntact Sites on Kodiak W.W Nort.in. Cultutal Contact between America, Island, Alaska. Unpublished manuscript on , and rhe Far East. Royal Tropical

Holm, Bill, and William Reid file at the Kodiak Area Native Association. Merck, C.H. Institute i'): 4-51. Amsterdam.

1975 Form and Freedom. A Dialogue on 1 980 Siberia and Northwestern America Northwest Coast Indian Art. Houston: Kodiak Area Native Association 1788-1792: The Journal of Carl Heinrich Senungetuk, Joseph E. Institute lor the Arts, Rice University. 1987 The History ot the I'raditional Merck. Kingston, Ontatio: The Limestone 1^)70 (lire or lake a Century: An Eskimo Native Village of Old Harbor and Its Ptess. Chronicle. San Francisco: Indian Historian Holmberg, Heinrich Johan Govetnment. Llnpublished manuscript on

1985 Hohnbergs Ethnographic Sketches. file at the Kodiak Area Native Association. Moore Sharon, D., and Falk (ed.). Fairbanks: University of Alaska Sophie M. Johnson Senungetuk, Ronald W. Press. Originally published as Kotzebue, O.V. 1986 Souts. The Artists Behind the I4')0 Eskimo tiraphics Exhibit. Ethnographische Skizzen ueber die Volker des 1821 A Voyage of into the South Work. Edited by Suzi Jones. Fairbanks: Unpublished manuscript submitted to the Russischen Amerika (1855-6.3). Sea and Beerings Straits, for the Purpose of Univetsity of Alaska Museum. Alaska State Museum and the Institute of Exploring a North-East Passage, Undertaken Alaska Native Arts as an exhibition plan. Hrdlicko, Ales in the Years 1815-1818. London: Longman. Morrow, Phyllis

1 944 //'( Anthropology of Kodiak IsUind. Hursr, Reese, Orme and Brown. 1984 It IS Time lor Drumming: a Service, Elman R. Philadelphia: The Wistar institute ot Summary of Recent Research on Yup'ik 1^)78 The Reindeer Tungus of Siberia. Anatomy and Biology. Reptinted by AMS Krasheninnikov, Stepan P. Ceremonialism. EtudestlnuitlStudies 8 Profles in Ethnology. New York: Harper and

Press, New York. 1972 Exploration ofKamchatka (Originally (Special Issue):1 13-140. Row. pp. 1 13-Ml. published in 1755). Portland: Oregon Hughes, Charles Historical Society. Murdoch, John Shavanda, B.

1984 Asiatic Eskimo: Introduction. 1892 Ethnological Results of the Point 1 987 The Cycle of Collecrive Grief Handbook ofNorth American Indians. Krauss, Michael E. Barrow lixpedirion. 9th Annual Report of the Llnpublished manuscript. University of Volume 5. (Arctic). Edited by D. Damas. 1983 Sufvival or Extmction for Alaska Bureau of American Ethnology for the Years Lethbridge, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, Native Languages. ALiska Native News. 1887-1888. Washingron, D.C. (Reprinted pp. 24.V261. February. Anchorage, Alaska. 1988 with Introduction by William W. Simeone, William

1 988 Many Tongues—Ancient Tales. Fitzhugh, Classics of Smithsonian 1990 Identity, History, and the Notthen Institute of Alaska Native Arts Crossroads of Continents: Cultures ofSiberia Anthropology Series, Smithsonian Athabaskan Potlatch, Unpublished disserta- 1 984 New Traditions: an Exhibition of and Alaska. Edited by WW. Fitzhugh and A. Institution), tion. Ontario: McMaster L'mversity. Alaska Native Sculpture. Fairbanks, Alaska. Crowell. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Ptess. pp. 145-150. Nabokov, Peter, and Smith, Dorothy A., and

Ivanov, S.V., M.G. Levin, and 1 994 Crossroads? A Twentieth-Century Robert Easton Leslie Spier A.V. Smolyak History of Contacts across the Bering Srrait. l')8') Native Ainernan Architecture. New l')27 The Doi and Circle Design in 1964a. The Nanays. The Peoples ofSiberia. Anthropology ofthe North Pacific Rim. Edited York: Oxford Universiry Press. Northwestern America. Society of Edited by M.G. Levin and L.P. Potapov. by WW Fitzhugh and V. Chaussonnet. Americanists (NS) 19: 47-55. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Nagishkin, Dmitrii Press. Originally published in Russian in Press, pp.365-379. 14S0 Folktales of the Amur: Stories from the Spencer, Robert F. 1956 as Narody Sibirt. Moscow: ANSSSR. Russian Far East. New York: Harry N. 1 ') 5 4 / /;,• North Alaskan Eskimo: A Study 1964b. The Nivkhi. The Peoples ofSiberia. Kreynovich, E.A. Abrams, Inc. /Leningrad: Aurora Art m Ecology and Society. Washington, D.C: M.G. Levin and L.P Potapov. Chicago and 1979 The Tundra Yukaghir at the lurn of Publishet. Smithsonian Institution.

London: Universiry of Chicago Press. the Centurv. Arctic Anthropology 1 984 Notth Alaska Coast Eskimo. Originally published in Russian in 1956 as 16 (1): 178-217. Nelson, Edward W. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 5

Sihiri. Moscow: ANSSSR. 1 1 Narody 9S3 1 8991 The Eskimo About Bering (Atctic). Edited by D. Damas. Washington, pp. Krupnik, Igor Strait. Buteau of American Ethnology D.C: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 1987 Bowhead versus in Annual Reporr, Vol. 1. Reprinted 320-337. Jackson, Sheldon Chukotka Aboriginal Whaling. Arctic 40 (1): Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Institution 1895 Report on Introduction of Domestic 16-32. Press, 1983, with introducrion by William Steinbright, Jan (ed.) Reindeer into Alaska (1894). 55rd Congress, 1988 Asiatic Eskimos and Marine W. Fitzhugh. l')86 ALiskameui '8b Fairbanks: Institute 2nd Session, Sen. Ex. Doc. 92. Washington, Resources: A Case of Ecological Pulsation or of Alaska Native Arts. D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. Equilibrium? Arctic Anthropology 25 Okladnikov, Aleksei P.

(1): 94-106. 1 98 1 Ancient Art of the Amur Region. (Also Sullivan, Robert J., S.J. Jochelson, Woldemar 1993 Arctic Adaptations. Native Whalers entitled: Art of the Amur. Ancient Art ot the 1936 The Ethnology of the Ten'a Indians 1907 Past and Present Subterranean and Reindeer Herders ofNorthern Eurasia. Russian Far East). Leningrad: Aurora. ot Interior Alaska. Master of Arts disserra- Dwellings ot the Tribes ol Northeastern Asia Hanover and London: Universiry Press of tion at the Catholic Univetsity ot America, and Norrhwestern America. Congres . Originally published as Olson, Wallace Washington, D.C. International des Americanistes. 15th session, Arkticheskaia Etnoekologiia in 1989, 1991 The Tlingii: An Introduction to Their Quebec, pp. 115-128. Moscow: Nauka. Culture and History. Auke Bay, Alaska: Swanton, John R. 1908 The Koryak. The Jesup North Pacific Heritage Rescatch. Disttibuted by Sealaska 1408 Social Condition, Beliefs, and Expedition. 6. Memoirs of the American Lantis, Margaret Heritage Foundation. Linguistic Relationship of the Tlingit

Museum ofNatural History. 1 938 I'he Alaska Whale Culr and Its Indians. Annual Report, Bureau of American Leiden and New York. Reprinted in 1975 by Affinities. American Anthropologist Paul, Frances Ethnology 1904-1905. 26:391-485. Press, AMS New York. n.s.40:438-464. 1 944 Spruce Root Basketry ofthe Alaska 1926 The Yukaghir and Yukaghirized 1947 Alaskan Eskimo Ceremonialism. Tlingit. Washington, D.C: Education VanStone, James W. Tungus. The jesup North Pacific Expedition. Monographs ofthe American Ethnological Division, Indian Service. 1974 Athabaskan Adaptations. Illinois: 9. Memoirs the American Museum of of Society, (New York) 1 1 . New York: J.J. Harlan Davidson, Inc. Natural History. Leiden and New York. Augusrin. Pullar, Gordon L. Reprinted in 1975 by AMS Press, New York. 1984a Nunivak Eskimo. Handbook ofNorth 1992 Ethnic Identity, Cultutal Pride, and Vaughan, Thomas, and 1933 History, Ethnology, and Anthropology American Indians 5 (Arctic). Edited by D. Generations of Baggage: A Personal Bill Holm ofthe Aleut. Washingron, D.C.: Carnegie Damas. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Experience. Arctic Anthropology V) (2). 1982 Soft Gold, the Fur Trade and Cultural Institution of Washington. Institution, pp. 209-223. University of Wisconsin Press. Exchange on the Northwest Coast ofAmerica. 1984b Aleut. Handbook ofNorth American Portland: Oregon Historical Society. Jonaitis, Aldona Indians 5 (Arcric). Edited by D. Damas. Ray, Dorothy Jean

1 986 The Art of the Northern Tlmgit. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1969 Graphic Arts ot the Alaskan Eskimo. Voblov, I.K. Seatde: Universiry of Washington Press. pp. 161-184. Native American Arts 1. Washington, D.C: 1959 Eskimo Ceremonies (ttanslated by 1 988 From the Land of the Totem Poles. The Indian Arts and Crafts Boatd. Chatles Hughes). Anthropological Papers of Northwest Coast Indian Art Collection at the Laufer, Berthold 1975 The Eskimos of Bering Strait. 1 650- the Unwersily of.Alaska 1 (2)^71-90.

American Museum ofNatural History. New 1 902 The Decorative Art of the Amur 1898. Seattle: Univetsity of Washington York: American Museum ol Natural History; Tribes. The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, 4. Press. Reprinted 1992 Watanabe, Hitoshi Seattle: University of Washington Press. and Memoirs of the American Museum ofNatural 1977 Eskimo Art: Tradition and Innovation 1 972 The Ainu. Hunters and Gatherers History. Leiden and New York. Reprinted in in North Alaska. Seattle: University of Today. Edited by M. Bichieri. New York: Jones, Dorothy Knee 1975 "by AMS Ptess, New York. Washington Ptess. Holt", Rinehan, and Winston, pp, 448-484, 1980 A Century ofServitude: FribilofAleuts 1981 Aleut and Eskimo Art. Tradition and under U.S. Rule. University Press of America. Lee, Molly Innovation in South ALiska. London: C. Yugtun Qaneryaromek Calivik / n.d. Eskimo/Inuit Architecture: Hurst & Company. Yupik Language Center Jones, Suzi (Ed) a Survey of Indigenous House Form in the 1984 Bering Srrait Eskimo. Handbook of n.A. Unpulilishcd nianusuipl. Bethel,

1 982 Eskimo Dolls. Anchorage, Alaska: Pte-modetn Period. Unpublished manu- North American Indians 5 (Arctic). Edited by Al.isk.i: Kiiskokwiin College. Alaska State Council on the Arts. scripr. Department of Anthropology, D. Damas. Washington, D.C: Smithsonian 1 986 The Artists Behind the Work. University of California, Berkeley. Institution, pp. 28S-302. Zimmerly, David W. Fairbanks, Alaska: 1983 Baleen Basketry of the North Alaska 1 986 Qiijacj: Kayaks ofSiberia and Alaska. University of Alaska Museum. Eskimo. Barrow, Alaska: North Slope Ray, Dorothy Jean, and Juneau Alaska: Division of State Museums. Biirough Planning Deparinienr. Alfred A. Blaker Jordan, Richard H., ''67 and I I 'yknno Masks: Art and Ceremony. Richard A. Knecht Levin, M.G., and B.A. Vasil'yev Ne.inle/I ondon: Llniversiry of Washington 1988 Archaeological Research on Kodiak 1964 The Evens. The Peoples ofSiberia. Press. Island, Alaska: The Development of Koniag Edited by M.G. Levin and L.P. Potapov. Culture. The Late Prehistoric Development of Chicago , Hid London: University of Chicago Schevill, Margot Blum Alaska's Native People. ALiska Anthropological I'less, ( )iigni.illv published in Russian in I •JH6 ( 'o\Unne ,i\ ( onnnuniuition. Bristol, Association Motwgraph Series 4. Edited by l';5(, .,s Narody Sibiri. Moscow: ANSSSR. R.L: I lallenrellei Museum ol Anthropology; Shaw, Harrni, .uid Dumond. pp. 670-690. Seattle: University ol W.ishirigion Press.

1 1 1 Contributors (University of Alaska Fairbanks, involved in language and cultural Krupnik is involved in several

1 989) and is noted for her preservation for a number of international research projects that Aleut involvement in cultural programs years, recently as liaison officer for focus on cultural preservation and with the Native community in the North Slope Borough change, and the environmental Unangan (Aleut) storyteller Barbara Svarny Carlson was Fairbanks. She is the Program Commission on Inupiat History, knowledge of circumpolar people. Officer ot Education at Doyon Language, and Culture. She is raised in Unalaska and is of the Foundation in Fairbanks. Bernice Chairperson of the Keepers of the Qawalangin Tribe. She has a Archeology

is has two children. Treasures Alaska, an organization William Fitzhugh is the passion for the preservation of married and W. devoted reclaiming, revitalizing, Unangan culture with an emphasis to project director for Crossroads Wright, a graduate and perpetuating the diverse cul- Alaska and director of the Arctic on the oral tradition. Intertwining Miranda student ot anthropology at the tures of the peoples of Alaska. Studies Center at the Smithsonian the arts of dance, tattooing, and University of Alaska Fairbanks, Institution, where he has served storytelling, she captivates young serves as vice-president of Rachel Craig is Inupiat as chairman of the Department of and old alike with tales from a the Treasures Alaska. Ilitqusiat Coordinator for Alaska's Anthropology. specialist in time "so long ago that things were Keepers of A Athapaskan born Northwest Arctic Borough, han- archeology and anthropology very different from the way they A Koyukon of at campsite, Tson Yil, dling questions and issues relating Arctic regions, he has conducted are today." the family Miranda is involved in cultural to Inupiaq culture. She has fieldwork in Labrador, Baffin

perpetuation collected oral history among areas, Tlingit preservation and Island, and other northern Nora Marks Dauenhauer efforts of the peoples of Alaska. Inupiaq elders, helped to develop including, recently, the Yamal She served as the education the Inupiaq language curriculum Peninsula in Siberia. Special inter- was born in 1927 in Juneau, coordinator for the Crossroads for Northwest Arctic Borough ests include prehistory and envi- Alaska, and was raised in Juneau Alaska project. schools, and is involved in various ronmental archeology, circumpolar and Hoonah, as well as on the projects to preserve Inupiaq lan- maritime adaptations, and culture family fishing boat and in seasonal Melinda Chase, formerly of guage, dance, and craft-making contacts. He has produced several subsistence sites around Icy Strait, Tanana Chiefs Conference village skills. She has also served in the exhibitions, including Inua and Glacier Bay, and Cape Spencer. government services, is currently Alaska Humanities Forum and the Crossroads of Continents. Recent Her first language is Tlingit; she employed by the University of Alaska Historical Society, and is a books include Anthropology the began to learn English when of Alaska Interior Campus as rural board member of Keepers of the North Pacific Rim, co-edited with she entered school at the age of education coordinator for the Treasures Alaska. Valerie Chaussonnet, and eight. She has a B.A. in anthropol- Galena . She is involved Archeology the Frobisher Voyages. ogy (Alaska Methodist University, of with the Alaska Native Leadership Yupik 1976) and is internationally Project and the Anvik Historical Larry Kairaiuak is also known recognized for her fieldwork, tran- Ethnology Society. by his Yupik name, Apacuar. Valerie Chaussonnet, Curator scription, translation, and explica- He was born in Bethel, Alaska, of Crossroads Alaska, has been asso- tion of Tlingit oral literature. and grew up in the village ot ciated with the Arctic Studies Her poetry, prose, and drama have Alutiiq

is where Yupik was his been widely published and anthol- Gordon L. Pullar director Chefornak, Center at the Smithsonian of the Alaska Native Human first language. He holds a B.A. Institution since 1986. A member ogized. She is Principal Researcher Development Program, in history (University of Alaska ot the Crossroads Continents in Language and Cultural Studies Resource of College of Rural Alaska, Fairbanks, 1991) and has worked curatorial team, she contributed at Sealaska Heritage Foundation in Fairbanks, in the Fairbanks North Star chapter clothing to the exhi- Juneau. She has four children and University of Alaska a on School District for the translated thirteen grandchildren. and the President of the national Borough bition catalogue and board of Keepers of the Treasures: Alaska Native Education Program. the Russian chapters into English.

Richard Dauenhauer, born (1942) Cultural Council of American She has lectured in the United Alaska Natives, Darlene Orr is a Siberian Yupik States on Arctic cloth- and raised in Syracuse, N.Y., Indians, and and Canada

Native Hawaiians. is a past residing in Nome, Alaska, ing the peoples of Siberia. has lived in vVlaska since 1969. He now and president ol the Kodiak Area where she teaches Russian and her Valerie was co-editor of From 1981 to 1988 he served as Native language at the local col- the North Alaska's seventh poet laureate. Native Association. Anthropology of Pacific lege. She also carries out linguistic Rim with William W. Fitzhugh. He holds a B.A. degree in Slavic Richard is an archeologist fieldwork in Siberian Native lan- She lives in Washington, D.C, languages, an M.A. in German, Knecht and the director of the Alutiiq guages on the verge of extinction with her husband and son. and a Ph.D. in comparative litera- for the Kodiak Area for the Alaska Native Language ture. He has taught at Alaska Museum Methodist University and Alaska Native association in Kodiak, Center, University of Alaska Alaska Native Alaska. northern Fairbanks. Pacific University in Anchorage Originally from Graphic Art Michigan, he worked on archeo- and teaches part-time at the Susan W. Fair is an independent logical projects University of Alaska-Southeast in throughout Siberian Peoples scholar, writer, and folklorist who the eastern before to Juneau. Three volumes of his poet- U.S. coming Igor Krupnik is a research lives in Eagle River, Alaska. She the late ry have been published, and he Alaska as a student of anthropologist at the Arctic has worked intensively with Alaska Richard Jordan in 1983. He has Studies Center of the Smithsonian is widely recognized as an editor Native artists for twenty years and directed numerous excavations Institution in "Washington, D.C. essays and translator. He is Director has published numerous of Language and Cultural Studies throughout the Kodiak archipel- Born and educated in Russia, he on Native art. The University of

is currently completing studying at Sealaska Heritage Foundation, ago and spent almost twenty years Alaska Press is about to publish Juneau. In 1991 Nora and Richard a Ph.D. in anthropology from the cultural legacy and traditional her book on tradition, and she is Dauenhauer shared an American Bryn Mawr College. economies of Siberian Native presently working on an ethnohis- Book Award for their Tlingit people. He has authored tory of northwest Alaskan Inupiat work. Inupioq numerous publications both in for the National Park Service. Jana Harcharek is Inupiaq Russian and English: his Afhapaskan from Barrow, Alaska, where she Arctic Adaptations: Whalers and was raised and taught to appreciate Reindeer Herders Northern Bernice Joseph is an Athapaskan of from Nulato, Alaska, and currently the value of learning both the Eurasia was published in 1993 by the University Press of resides in Fairbanks. She has a Inupiaq ways and the ways of the New Dr. B.B.A. in business administration western world. She has been England. At the Smithsonian,

112