586
Pliysiolo[.!ir Adjustme11t lo Cold mul Altitude
pn•s<>nt day Arctic people. The figurine how Clothing, Its ever is of Paleolithic age and is of interest as showing that tailored skin clothing was worn as early as 20,000 years ago.2 Evolution and According to a written communication dated May 1967 from James A. Ford, PhD, Development By Curator for the Florida State Museum, in Europe: the Inhabitants The hanged individuals found in the peat bogs of Denmark wore long nightgown-like woolen cloaks with hoods and Mark Twain in of the Artie the Connecticut Yankee makes the point that the Eurnpean peasants of the Middle Ages Robert L. Woodbury, wore kilts and nightgowns, a fashion retained Abrrdeen Prol'ing Ground, kid hy jJE>ople like the Scottish highlanders and the Greek Evizones. Fitted tailored clothing was just coming into the vogue in court circlPS at ARCHAEOLOGY and history provide the time of Queen Elizabeth. The adoption of fascinating material concerning the evolu trousers as we know them today took centuries. tion and development of clothing in most Sir Walter Raleigh wore very short pants or cultures. According to a written communica small clothes and the close-fitting hose were at· tion of June 1967 from Henry B. Collins of tached to these pants as high up the thigh as the Smithsonian Institute· possible. By the time of George Washington, Archaeology reveals nC1thing as to the develop breeches had descended to the knees and by ment of Arctic clothing-. The frozen ground has Abe Lincoln's day they were dragging the preserved fragments of skin boots, pieces of ground and had a strap under the instep to sewed skin, sinew thread. c,tc. but not enough to hold them down. show what the whole f'.arments looked like. Seal The adoption of tailored clothing on the skin boots. nn the other hand, appear to have Amerindian side had a similar histocy but did been exactly like those of today. I am speaking not proceed so far. By the 17th century, Wood here of lx>ot fragments excavated at old (1,000 land Indians wore leg-length leggins, but they year<; or slightly older) sites in Alaska and did not go further than this. Greenl:md. So. all we can say is that the pre European women retained the skirt but at historic Eskimos wore tailored >
Arch Enr•irorz Health-Vol fl. Ort 1968 CLOTHING-WOODBURY 587
culture to meet this difficult environment. He shake.... But when you go north from the can have no agriculture, and the dog is his only Slavey and Dog-Rib Indians to the Eskimo domestic animal. He is a hunter by necessity, country the conditions suddenly change. You and moves his residence in accordance with are now in contact with a people who have (or season and food supply. The seal, the walrus, had, till they became "civilized") a system of and the caribou are generally the most impor- living almost perfectly adapted to a cold cli tant food animals, but this varies from place to mate, while the northern Indians have a system place. With minor exceptions everything is eat- almost unbelieveably ill-adapted to the condi en. Seal blubber is used for fuel. Wood is tions in which they live. scarce, for over most of the Eskimo area there An example of adaptive Indian clothing are no trees, and driftwood is not available is seen among the Kutchin Hunters of the ewrywhere. In its absence, bone supplies the Fort Yukon area who wore a caribou skin fnunework for boats and sledges, and whale parka adapted from the Eskimo, complete ribs furnish roof beruns. There is a little native with the long tail for insulation when squat iron in Greenland, and native copper in parts ol Canada. These are beaten into knife blades. ting or sitting. EBewhere bone, walrus, ivory and stone have Eskimo clothing has always been made of to serve, and soft soapstone is used to make skins and furs, primarily because these were blubber lamps and cooking vessels. Sinew and the only materials available. The experi hide provide thread, thongs, ropes and lashings. ences of explorers have shown that they are Fur, hide and gut are made into clothing, boots, also the best materials when comfort and waterproofs, boat covers and tents. Earth. warmth for weight are the criteria. They re stone, wood, whalebone and snow serve for quire skill in making and repairing, as well building materials, with ice or gut for windows. as a certain wisdom in use, which has to be A coating of ice is used to smooth and protect learned. Besides suitable clothing, the Eski sledge runners. Moss supplies lamp wicks and mo have also developed excellent slit gog diapers, and is placed inside footgear. The Eskimo winter house and the snow hut gles to prevent snow blindness. are examples of perfect adaptation to environ- The winte~ costume, for both me? and ment. Many primitive peoples fail to do as well. w<;>men, consists of ~o layers: outside, a The Athabascan Indians near Great Bea,r ,.-l'Ong loose-hooded shirt, trousers, boots and Lake, who live in just as severe a climate as the mittens, worn with the hair out, and inside, Eskimo, formerly inhabited conical Indian tip- an undershirt, drawers and socks worn with is, covered with caribou skins, even in winter. the hair in. Caribou skin is the most widely These dwellings are cold, drafty. and smoky. used material for both layers, and probably Steffansson4 has described this people's the best but others are often substituted. ciathing and habitation as follows: The Esknno of Northwest Greenland, for The Indians (other than the Eskimo or Eski- instance, wear undershirts of birdskin (auk mo-Indians) like Europeans, generally wear or little auk), and trousers of polar bear ~hing ill-suited for keeping the body w~rm. skin, if they are men, short trunks of fox fur, . most northerly of the Athabascan Indians, if they are women. Sealskin is much used ~instance, appear to suffer a great deal from almost everywhere, especially for outer gar- lliie winter I traveled for several months ments and boots. It is not as warm as cari \\ilh the Dog-Rib and yellow Knife Indians. I bou but it is stronger and more waterproof. found they were so poorly clad, that during the In a taped interview with Admiral Donald day when out of door,;, thev had to be continu- MacMillan by Dr. Terris Moore, DCS,5 the ally moving, for if they st~pped for even half use of Greenland Eskimo clothing on the an hour at a time they became so chilled that trail and in snow house camps on the polar their hands became numb. The Indians are sea ice was discussed. '"eally in continual/fear a large part of the win- Dr. Moore was primarily interested in the ter of ceasing from active motion when out of fact that on Peary's polar dash his men slept doors. In the evening their wigwams are cheer- in their clothes successfully and did not use ful with a roaring fire but by no means com- sleeping bags. Also, he used the interview as fOJtabJe, for while your face is almost scorched furth h with the heat of the flames, your back has hoar- an opportunity to discover er tee - f~ forming upon it. At night the Indians go niques which were not revealed in Peary's to sleep under their blankets, covering up their Secrets of Pow Travel, 1917. Some high heads and shivering all night so the blankets lighl'! follow.
Arch Environ Health-Vol 17, Oct 1968 588 CLOTHING-WOODBURY
Peary's polar party used Greenland Eski cold and secure in the knowledge that no mo clothing and bivoWlC techniques. Peary's one would ever see the snow houses of that non-Eskimos wore the same clothing as the camp again. Eskimos except that they wore conventional _ Now let us look at the Asiatic arctic peo winter Long Johns of the period. The ple by returning to Wulsin:3 Greenlanders wear a narrow fox fur "g" Apparently the Asiatic peoples did not follow string to protect against chafing. The chaf the practice of the Greenland Eskimo, who take ing problem stems from the use of polar bear off the roof of a sod house in spring, so that it skin pants, because of the wiriness of the may air and sun all summer while the owner is hair, however, this same wiriness gives supe away and be fit for occupancy in the fall. True rior insulation and durability. domed snow houses, like those of the Central Eskimo in North America, do not occur any· For footwear, Peary's polar party wore where on the Asiatic coast. the Greenland equivalent to the mukluk of The lamps, which have been mentioned as the Western Arctic. These were made with a part of the house furniture, are shallow dishes sole of square flipper seal which gave excel of clay or sandstone. Near the coast they bum lent traction even on windswept, clear, new blubber; inland they burn tallow tried out of ice. reindeer bones which have been crushed with a The procedure for preparing camp for the stone hammer. Bogoras calls this a better fuel night was generally as follows: Teams of than blubber, as it burns with a soft bright three men each prepared their own snow biv light, without smoke or odor. The wick is of oauc. After feeding the dogs, the men en dried sphagnum. tered the house and blocked the door with a In its fundamentals the dress of the Chuk snow block. A vent hole was cut above the chee is like that of the Eskimo. Both use two door, but below the snow bed. Tea was made layers of fur garments, made of a variety of skins, but by preference of caribou skin or its on Peary's version of the Nansen stove by equivalent, reindeer, with sealskin as a substitute burning one ounce of alcohol per meal. Bis for body garments and the preferred material cuits were eaten spread with sweetened con for boots. There are minor differences in the way densed milk which was thawed above the of preparing the skin.~, the Chukchee using stove just enough to permit spreading. Half urine and decoctions of alder bark, whereas the a can of milk was left frozen for the morn Eskimo merely dry and scrape them. ing. Then the senne grass insulation from Differences between the two peoples in the the campers' boots was dried out over a cut and style of their garments are of some in small lamp and redistributed, and then the terest. The Chukchee man wears a pair of fur campers spread a canvas sheet on each snow shirts, reaching almost to the knees. The inner bed and pulled on sleeping overboots. Fox shirt is worn fur side in, the outer one fur side out; while they are not sewed together, they fit tail rings to make the seal between the polar each other so well that they behave much like a bear pants and the boots were put on, if not single garment. These shirts are without hoods. already in place. The Greenland equivalent but the inner one has a broad fur strip at· of the parka was then tied through the tached, which can be folded up around the neck crotch to make it snug for the night. At this like a collar. The sleeves are narrow at the point. the campers then laid down, pulled wrist. and so full at the shoulder that the arms their mittens into deep cut sleeves, pulled can be drawn in and put next to the bare body. their anus inside over their chest, and tos..."€d The trousers are short-waisted and barely one sleeve over the face opening to prevent reach the navel, being held up by a sinew striDI! the collection of frost which sublimes from in the upper hem; they have a constant tenden· water vapor in the breath and causes frost cy to slip down. They are cut narrow, and fit bite of the nose. tightly. The leg of the boot is worn inside the trousers. The interview also describes digging a Boots resemble those of the Eskimo in a gen· snow cave into a drift during a driving bliz eral way, but there is usually a strip of upright zard when building a snow house is imprac skin sewed around the edge of the sole; to this. tical. In the morning after a breakfast much in tum, the upper is attached. For the coldest like the evening meal, the men dug holes in time of year, soles are made of the skin taken the snow-sleeping couches and relieved from between the toes of the reindeer's foot. themselves, protected from the wind and which is covered with very tough bristly hair.
Arch Environ Health-Vol 17, Oct 1968 CLOTHING-WOODBURY 589
These pieces are sewed together, dried, and Kamchatka as far as latitude 55 degrees north. used hair out. For other seasons soles are made Inland they are scattered as far west as the of thong seal hide, worn hair in, or of split wal Kolyma Mountains and northward their graz rus hide, with reindeer as a poor substitute. ing grounds touch those of the Chukchee, in The Reindeer Chukchee get the hides of sea latitude 64 degrees north. The country is large mammals by trade from the Maritime section ly tundra, with many low plateaus and small of the tribe. Fawnskin socks are used in winter. elevations. The precipitation is usually small and grass insoles at all seasons, even when the but the atmosphere is often humid and cloudy. boots are worn without socks in summer. Changes of wind bring rapid changes of tem The costume is completed by mittens and a perature. There are violent cold windstorms in fur cap with ear flaps, which fits the head close winter. Altogether the climate is subarctic. ly. A small square bib of fur is worn under the The Koryak are short and well built, some chin, to protect the shirt against frost from the what Mongoloid in appearance. They are the breath. A gannent called "overcoat" by Bogo healthiest folk in N ortheastem Siberia after * is smietimes added to the costume which the Chukchee, according to Jochelson. Like the has been described; it is a long loose shirt with Chukchee, they are divided into maritime anf!l a hood, made of thin cotton cloth, gut, or light reindeer-herding scetions. skins. Iis function is to keep out the wind and The Reindeer and Maritime sections of the prot.ect the clothes against snow. Koryak dress much alike, in clothing of rein Clmkchee w1>men wear two layers of fur, just deer skin. These garments closely resemble as the men do, but the shirt and trousers are those worn by the Chukchee, and need not be made in one piece, forming a union suit which described afresh in detail: they include fur is looee at the shoulders, snug at the waist, and shirts and trousers for men, the fur combina lOQae and baggy in the legs, with drawstrings at tion suit for women, and sometimes as "over the bottom. It has a deep V neck, front and coat." a long loose hooded shirt of thin material llaek, trimmed with several rows of fur, through that serves as a windbreak. There is a which the wearer steps when the suit is put on. difference to be noted between Koryak and Tbe sleeves are long and wide and loose at the Clmkchee, however, in the conventions which wrist. The trousers extend a little below tl).e govern the use of women's clothing. Chuckcbee knee, and are worn outside the boots, wlikh women drop part or all of the top of the combi reach to the knee. This gannent is not very nation suit, as may be required for coolness or Pl'lletical, and the women complain of it. Cold convenience in working, and strip down to tiny winds blow in at the neck. The sleeves are a leather trunks when the inner room grows too lllliaance, and th~ wearer often drops half the hot for them, no matter who may be present. bodice, so the right arm, shoulder and breast The Koryak women, on the contrary, are very are exposed, to get 6n. With her work. The modest- Those of the Maritime section are whole garment must be removed, falling below ashamed to be seen by strangers in the fur Ille knees, to attend to the needs of nature. The combination suit only, but they are still covered baggy trousers make it difficult to walk in deep by the overcoat. snow. AU these inconveniences are so great that In summer, both sexes are apt to dress in a hel'dswornen sometimes adopt men's costume. single layer of old shabby winter clothing, with Babits are put into a fur union suit with a most of the fur worn off, but sometimes they hood. which has no openings for the hands or use garments of similar cut made of curried feet. A diaper flap is sewed on at the back and leather. Adults sleep naked, under fur blankets, £amened in front by strings; it is tilled with a but small children wear light sleeping suits to mixture of reindeer mess and hair. and can be keep them from soiling the bedding. changed readily. Older children wear similar From our survey so far, it would appear that suits with mittens and boots. They receive there are only a limit.eel number of house types clothing of adult cut at six or eight, but the di in use among circumpolar peoples. They are as aper-piece is ret.fi.ined, in the case of girls, for follows: several years longer. 1. The house that is partly or wholly sunk in Among the Maritime Chukchee and Eski the ground, and banked above ground with lll Arch Environ Health-Vol 17, Oct 1968 590 CLOTHING-WOODBURY admirably comfortable, but bas a short life, and Yakut-The Yakuts appear to be Mongo can be built only under certain rather limited loid and Tatar combination in type. Women weather conditions. wear a loose dress and head cloth; men wear 3. The log cabin, with a flat or ridged roof. It a long shirt, short trousers, a hat or ear-flap is hard to build, unless abundant timber and cap. In the winter both sexes wear high steel axes are available, and hard to beat effec .hoots and tailored skin garments. tively without a stove and chimney. It is the Yukaghir.-These people are the paleo house of the frontiersman of a civilized people. It can be cleaner and more comfortable, but is asiatics of the Kolyma River Valley. They less effective thermally, than the underground wear tailored skin clothing nowadays aug house. mented by Russian style gannents. Some of 4. The conical tipi, made of poles covered the lowest temperatures ever recorded with birch hark, skins, furs, or felta. This is ex (Northern Hemisphere) have occurred in tremely portable, but of a most inefficient de their region. sign for keeping warm. Tungus (Evenki).-Yakutsk in the Ya 5. The circular felt-covered tent, with vertical kut, USSR, and mongoloid, these people are walls and a domed or conical roof, seen in a well-proportioned and have black eyes and crude form among the Chukchee and at its best hair. They are said to have a reindeer cul in the Mongol yurt. While in theory this ture. Manufactured clothing has replared should be no better than the tipi, because both skin garments except for winter jackets. types are subject to air leakage at the bottom of the walls, and are smoky, in fact the best Samoyed (Nentsy) .-The majority are yurt is a very much better dwelling than the brunette, and short and stocky, round-head best tipi. Perhaps this is true because the Mon ed, broad faced, full cheeked, and have a go1s, who are an advanced people with abun scanty beard. They live along the northern dant animal transport, can affort to do a better coast of USSR from near Munnansk to job in detail than the Siberian primitives, by across the northern tip of the Urals, in using more and better wall coverings, stopping cluding Novaya Zemlya and the Western up the cracks, and covering the floor with ade shores of the Ob Estuary. Both sexes wear quate insulation. trousers and long coats of tailored skim. The striking thing about sleeping arrange Their boots are of seal or deer skin: an occa ments among all these peoples is the absence of sleeping bags. The tendency is rather to warm sional individual wears manufactured cloth the sleeping space, by one means or another, garments. Hunters and herders wear leather and to sleep naked under fur blankets. The rea snow goggles in the spring and fall. son, perhaps, is that this solves the problem of Kamchadal.-Hunters and trappers on the accumulation of insensible perspiration in the Kamchatka peninsula, the Kamchada1s the bedding, which has troubled Arctic explor train sledge dogs for other tn'bes and are ex ers. pert dog drivers. They wear tailored fur With regard to clothing, the rule everywhere clothing in the winter but more and more in the circumpolar zone is to use fur, prefetably as in two layers, and to make garments loose. Fur with many such people, they wear manufac is usetl both because it is the best material, and tured textile clothing particularly in the because, as a rule, skins are literally the only mild season. material available. There are interesting varia While Mongols and Tibetans are not pre tions in design and fashion. some apparently cisely circumpolar people, they do live in a disadvantageous, which have been discussed revere environment and their clothing is of earlier. some interest. Some additional circumpolar people rate Among the Mongols men and women wear a a brief mention. long gown with sleeves which can cover the Yuit (Siberian Eskimo).-These people hands. The men gird up the gown with a belt or are located on the west coast of Bering sash; the women let it hang from the shoulder. Strait along Chukchi Sea to longitude 177° Underneath the men wear loose trousers and east; colonies on Wrangel and Big Diomede the women apparently a petticoat. Both sexes islands. In the past there was a certain use boots that come to mid calf and have hard amount of travel back and forth to Alaska. soles and turned-up soles. They are uncomfort Their clothing is essentially that of the Eski able for walking but the Mongol never walks mo previously described. unless he has to. They are worn many sizes too Arch Environ Health-Vol 17, Oct 1968 CLOTHING-WOODBURY 591 large, to admit wool or fur socks which are used be all on this end of history. Although no only in winter. clothing other than fur-in, fur-out garments The Tibetans wear much the same costume covered by a windproof garment as yet deal except that an overlong greatcoat is substituted adequately with the frost accumulation for the gown. It t.oo has the long sleeves to pro problem, textile clothing increasingly is tect the hands. \\'lwn the sash is removed the finding its way into the cultures of circum coat forms the sleeping garment. Any fur that comes to hand is utilized. The headgear is a fur polar people. hat with ear laps. What is ahead? Finally, in the later half European circumpolar people include So of this century, some real attention is being viet, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian given to conscious, scientific design of cloth Nomadic Lapps whose mode of life is simi ing. But, we have a long way to go to sur lar to that of Reindeer herdsmen all across pass the tailored skin clothing of 20,000 Eurasia. In addition to Lapps are the Kare year~ ago worn on the statuette from Bu lians, with broad heads and faces, wide set ret! eyes, medium stature--slender but well pro In conclusion I would like to quote Prof portioned; gray eyes and light hair predomi John R. Platt, PhD, of the University of nate. Michigan:6 Woolen and cotton clothing worn is either On the technological side, we develop some homemade or of Soviet manufacture. things well and other things not at all. We send men into orbit and we can fly faster than To complete our circumpolar trip, we sound, but our clothes are inferior to those of a have the Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian Ice bird in many ways. The technical design of landic and Danish people which puts us clothes is still prehistoric, in spite of synthetic back on Greenland. These people wear es fibers and sewing machines. The fibers must sentially modern north European clothing still be drawn out like animal or plant fibers, based on the layer system with long woolen then spun, then woven or knitted, and then cut underwear or perhaps Brynje net under and sewn more or less to fit, just as fibers and wear, woolen skirt and trousers, thick knit cloth have been spun and sewn for thousands of ted sweaters with over long sleeve to protect years. And then these threads do not protect us against .rain or cold, or ventilate or shade us in the wrist and hand and cotton windproof the hot sun, unless we put on and take off 1.uter layers. Footwear varies from felt to many layers, which we must carry around in a le. lther boots with wrapped footcloths, sen suitcase. Why should someone not make us a negras~. sheep skin boot liners, or knitted single suit that would shed rain and that we woolt•n ;::ocks. could ruffle up for comfort in any weather, as a Wbtle not truly circumpolar in origin but bird ruffles its feathers? A bird needs no suit impon• nt for its increasing tL"€ among cir case. The reason is that no one has put a task CUITJpol;, • people is quilted clothing. This force on the problem of designing clothing ma may be two layen- of cotton fabric with un terial of variable porosity and variable thermal fCOure Reference> .i .i •• ~:ti:, '-~-~ Ar!.:tiske Skind~ragter i Eurasien og Clothing, Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co., 1949, ::mm,.a. Etncnra/i.,h Studie. Copenhagen: .r. H. chap 1. S?huitz~ l~tl4, 4. Steffansson. V.: The Friendly Arctic, New ii<~ ~~hi.a.·1kov. A. P.: A Palt!olithfr Statuette frorr;. York: The Macmillan Co., 1943. ,~,{· m _'.frr.terwh , lssledoraniui po Arhheologu 5. l\fome. T.: lntervieu: of Admiral Donald Mac ·" R. _lr>4!, Nu ~. pp 104-H~'-'. Jlillan, tape recording 1959. in collection of Univer ~ 1 \\ ulsin. F.R.. '"Adaptations to Climate Among sitv of Alaska Museum. ;,~-~uro1,.,an Peoples,·· in .N7whurgh, L.H. (ed.): 6. Platt. .J.H.: Diversity, Science 154:1132-1139 ·.»U>kigy of Heat Re!{ulatwn and Scrence of rDed 191:iH. A.rch Enuiron Health-Vol 17. Oct 1968