Article 13

Understanding Eskimo Science

Traditional hunters’ insights into the natural world are worth rediscovering.

Richard Nelson

Just below the Arctic Circle in the boreal The leader of the hunting group is ronment. Because of this, we have great forest of interior Alaska; an amber after- Moses Sam, a man in his 60s who has difficulty understanding our rootedness noon in mid-November; the temperature trapped in this territory since childhood. to earth, our affinities with nonhuman -20°; the air adrift with frost crystals, He is known for his detailed knowledge life. presaging the onset of deeper cold. of the land and for his extraordinary suc- I believe it’s essential that we learn Five men—Koyukon Indians—lean cess as a bear hunter. “No one else has from traditional societies, especially over the carcass of an exceptionally large that kind of luck with bears,” I’ve been those whose livelihood depends on the black bear. For two days they’ve tra- told. “Some people are born with it. He harvest of a wild environment—hunters, versed the Koyukuk River valley, always takes good care of his animals— fishers, trappers, and gatherers. These searching for bears that have recently en- respects them. That’s how he keeps his people have accumulated bodies of tered hibernation dens. The animals are luck.” knowledge much like our own sciences. in prime condition at this season but ex- Moses pulls a small knife from his And they can give us vital insights about tremely hard to find. Den entrances, hid- pocket, kneels beside the bear’s head, responsible membership in the commu- den beneath 18 inches of powdery snow, and carefully slits the clear domes of its nity of life, insights founded on a wis- are betrayed only by the subtlest of eyes. “Now,” he explains softly, “the dom we’d long forgotten and now are clues—patches where no grass protrudes bear won’t see if one of us makes a mis- beginning to rediscover. from the surface because it’s been take or does something wrong.” Since the mid-1960s I have worked as clawed away for insulation, faint con- an ethnographer in Alaska, living inter- cavities hinting of footprint depressions mittently in remote northern communi- in the moss below. Contemporary Americans are likely ties and recording native traditions to find this story exotic, but over the centered around the natural world. I Earlier this morning the hunters took course of time episodes like this have spent about two years in Koyukon Indian a yearling bear. In accordance with been utterly commonplace, the essence villages and just over a year with Inupiaq Koyukon tradition, they followed elabo- of people’s relationship to the natural Eskimos on the Arctic coast—traveling rate rules for the proper treatment of world. After all, for 99 percent of human by dog team and snowmobile, recording killed animals. For example, the bear’s history we lived exclusively as hunter- traditional knowledge, and learning the feet were removed first, to keep its spirit gatherers; by comparison, agriculture hunter’s way. from wandering. Also, certain parts were has existed only for a moment and urban Eskimos have long inhabited some of to be eaten away from the village, at a societies scarcely more than a blink. the harshest environments on earth, and kind of funeral feast. All the rest would From this perspective, much of hu- they are among the most exquisitely be eaten either at home or at community man experience over the past several adapted of all human groups. Because events, as people here have done for million years lies beyond our grasp. plant life is so scarce in their northern countless generations. Probably no society has been so deeply terrain, Eskimos depend more than any Koyukon hunters know that an ani- alienated as ours from the community of other people on hunting. mal’s life ebbs slowly, that it remains nature, has viewed the natural world Eskimos are famous for the cleverness aware and sensitive to how people treat from a greater distance of mind, has of their technology—kayaks, harpoons, its body. This is especially true for the lapsed into a murkier comprehension of skin clothing, snow houses, dog teams. potent and demanding spirit of the bear. its connections with the sustaining envi- But I believe their greatest genius, and the

1 ANNUAL EDITIONS basis of their success, lies in the less tan- before the time of Columbus. Since then, gible realm of the intellect—the nexus of The Inupiaq hunter even in the far north, Western education mind and nature. For what repeatedly possesses as much and cultural change have steadily eroded struck me above all else was their pro- knowledge as a highly these traditions. Reflecting on a time be- found knowledge of the environment. fore Europeans arrived, we can imagine Several times, when my Inupiaq hunt- trained scientist in our the whole array of North American ani- ing companion did something especially own society mal species—deer, elk, black bear, wolf, clever, he’d point to his head and de- mountain lion, beaver, coyote, Canada clare: “You see—Eskimo scientist!” At goose, ruffed grouse, passenger pigeon, first I took it as hyperbole, but as time During winter, ringed and bearded northern pike—each known in hundreds went by I realized he was speaking the seals maintain tunnel-like breathing of different ways by tribal communities; truth. Scientists had often come to his holes in ice that is many feet thick. These the entire continent, sheathed in intricate village, and he saw in them a familiar holes are often capped with an igloo- webs of knowledge. Taken as a whole, commitment to the empirical method. shaped dome created by water sloshing this composed a vast intellectual legacy, Traditional Inupiaq hunters spend a onto the surface when the animal enters born of intimacy with the natural world. lifetime acquiring knowledge—from from below. Inupiaq elders told me that Sadly, not more than a hint of it has ever others in the community and from their polar bears are clever enough to excavate been recorded. own observations. If they are to survive, around the base of this dome, leaving it Like other Native Americans, the In- they must have absolutely reliable infor- perfectly intact but weak enough that a upiaq acquired their knowledge through mation. When I first went to live with In- hard swat will shatter the ice and smash gradual accretion of naturalistic observa- upiaq people, I doubted many things they the seal’s skull. I couldn’t help wonder- tions—year after year, lifetime after life- told me. But the longer I stayed, the more ing if this were really true; but then a time, generation after generation, I trusted their teachings. younger man told me he’d recently fol- century after century. Modern science For example, hunters say that ringed lowed the tracks of a bear that had exca- often relies on other techniques—spe- seals surfacing in open leads—wide vated one seal hole after another, exactly cialized full-time observation, controlled cracks in the sea ice—can reliably fore- as the elders had described. experiments, captive-animal studies, cast the weather. Because an unexpected In the village where I lived, the most technological devices like radio col- gale might set people adrift on the pack respected hunter was Igruk, a man in his lars—which can provide similar infor- ice, accurate prediction is a matter of life 70s. He had an extraordinary sense of an- mation much more quickly. and death. When seals rise chest-high in imals—a gift for understanding and pre- Yet Eskimo people have learned not the water, snout pointed skyward, not dicting their behavior. Although he was only about animals but also from them. going anywhere in particular, it indicates no longer quick and strong, he joined a Polar bears hunt seals not only by wait- stable weather, the Inupiaq say. But if crew hunting bowhead whales during the ing at their winter breathing holes, but they surface briefly, head low, snout par- spring migration, his main role being that also by stalking seals that crawl up on the allel to the water, and show themselves of adviser. Each time Igruk spotted a ice to bask in the spring warmth. Both only once or twice, watch for a sudden whale coming from the south, he counted methods depend on being silent, staying storm. And take special heed if you’ve the number of blows, timed how long it downwind, keeping out of sight, and also noticed the sled dogs howling inces- stayed down, and noted the distance it moving only when the seal is asleep or santly, stars twinkling erratically, or the traveled along the open lead, until it van- distracted. According to the elders, a current running strong from the south. ished toward the north. This way he stalking bear will even use one paw to As time passed, my own experiences learned to predict, with uncanny accu- cover its conspicuous black nose. with seals and winter storms affirmed racy, where hunters could expect the Inupiaq methods for hunting seals, what the Eskimos said. whale to resurface. both at breathing holes and atop the Like a young Inupiaq in training, I spring ice, are nearly identical to those of gradually grew less skeptical and started the polar bear. Is this a case of indepen- to apply what I was told. For example, I believe the expert Inupiaq hunter pos- dent invention? Or did ancestral Eski- had I ever been rushed by a polar bear, I sesses as much knowledge as a highly mos learn the techniques by watching would have jumped away to the animal’s trained scientist in our own society, al- polar bears, who had perfected an adap- right side. Inupiaq elders say polar bears though the information may be of a differ- tation to the sea-ice-environment long are left-handed, so you have a slightly ent sort. Volumes could be written on the before humans arrived in the Arctic? better chance to avoid their right paw, behavior, ecology, and utilization of Arc- The hunter’s genius centers on know- which is slower and less accurate. I’m tic animals—polar bear, walrus, bowhead ing an animal’s behavior so well he can pleased to say I never had the chance for whale, beluga, bearded seal, ringed seal, turn it to his advantage. For instance, Ig- a field test. But in judging assertions like caribou, musk ox, and others—based en- ruk once saw a polar bear far off across this, remember that Eskimos have had tirely on Eskimo knowledge. flat ice, where he couldn’t stalk it with- close contact with polar bears for several Comparable bodies of knowledge ex- out being seen. But he knew an old tech- thousand years. isted in every Native American culture nique of mimicking a seal. He lay down

2 Article 13. Understanding Eskimo Science in plain sight, conspicuous in his dark vironment has long been sufficient human life infuses the whole spectrum of parka and pants, then lifted and dropped justification for its use. their thought, behavior, and belief. his head like a seal, scratched the ice, and It’s often said that a fish might have imitated flippers with his hands. The no concept of water, never having left it. bear mistook his pursuer for prey. Each “Each animal knows way In the same way, traditional peoples time Igruk lifted his head the animal kept more than you do,” a might never stand far enough outside still; whenever Igruk “slept” the bear Koyukon Indian elder was themselves to imagine a generalized crept closer. When it came near enough, concept of biophilia. Perhaps it would be a gunshot pierced the snowy silence. fond of telling me. impossible for people to intimately That night, polar bear meat was shared bound with the natural world, people among the villagers. who recognize that all nature is our own We often think of this continent as A traditional hunter like Igruk plumbs embracing community. Perhaps, to bring having been a pristine wilderness when the depths of his intellect—his capacity a word like biophilia into their language, the first Europeans arrived. Yet for at to manipulate complex knowledge. But they would first need to separate them- least 12,000 years, and possibly twice he also delves into his animal nature, selves from nature. that long, Native American people had drawing from intuitions of sense and inhabited and intensively utilized the body and heart: feeling the wind’s touch, land; had gathered, hunted, fished, set- listening for the tick of moving ice, peer- tled, and cultivated; had learned the ter- In April 1971 I was in a whaling camp ing from crannies, hiding as if he himself rain in all its details, infusing it with several miles off the Arctic coast with a were the hunted. He moves in a world of meaning and memory; and had shaped group of Inupiaq hunters, including Ig- eyes, where everything watches—the every aspect of their life around it. That ruk, who understood animals so well he bear, the seal, the wind, the moon and humans could sustain membership in a almost seemed to enter their minds. stars, the drifting ice, the silent waters natural community for such an enormous Onshore winds had closed the lead below. He is beholden to powers we span of time without profoundly degrad- that migrating whales usually follow, but have long forgotten or ignored. ing it fairly staggers the imagination. one large opening remained, and here the In Western society we rest comfort- And it gives strong testimony to the ad- Inupiaq men placed their camp. For a ably on our own accepted truths about aptation of mind—the braiding together couple of days there had been no whales, the nature of nature. We treat the envi- of knowledge and ideology—that linked so everyone stayed inside the warm tent, ronment as if it were numb to our pres- North America’s indigenous people with talking and relaxing. The old man rested ence and blind to our behavior. Yet their environment. on a soft bed of caribou skins with his despite our certainty on this matter, ac- A Koyukon elder, who took it upon eyes closed. Then, suddenly, he inter- counts of traditional people throughout himself to be my teacher, was fond of tell- rupted the conversation: “I think a whale the world reveal that most of humankind ing me: “Each animal knows way more is coming, and perhaps it will surface has concluded otherwise. Perhaps our than you do.” He spoke as if it summa- very close.…” scientific method really does follow the rized all that he understood and believed. To my amazement everyone jumped path to a single, absolute truth. But there This statement epitomizes relation- into action, although none had seen or may be wisdom in accepting other possi- ships to the natural world among many heard anything except Igruk’s words. bilities and opening ourselves to differ- Native American people. And it goes far Only he stayed behind, while the others ent views of the world. in explaining the diversity and fecundity rushed for the water’s edge. I was last to I remember asking a Koyukon man of life on our continent when the first leave the tent. Seconds after I stepped about the behavior and temperament of the sailing ship approached these shores. outside, a broad, shining back cleaved Canada goose. He described it as a gentle There’s been much discussion in re- the still water near the opposite side of and good-natured animal, then added: cent years about what biologist E. O. the opening, accompanied by the burst of “Even if [a goose] had the power to knock Wilson has termed “biophilia”—a deep, a whale’s blow. you over, I don’t think it would do it.” pervasive, ubiquitous, all-embracing af- Later, when I asked how he’d known, For me, his words carried a deep met- finity for nonhuman life. Evidence for Igruk said, “There was a ringing inside aphorical wisdom. They exemplified the this “instinct” may be elusive in Western my ears.” I have no explanation other Koyukon people’s own restraint toward cultures, but not among traditional soci- than his; I can only report what I saw. the world around them. And they offered eties. People like the Koyukon manifest None of the Inupiaq crew members even a contrast to our culture, in which pos- biophilia in virtually all dimensions of commented afterward, as if nothing out sessing the power to overwhelm the en- their existence. Connectedness with non- of the ordinary had happened.

This article originally appeared in Audubon magazine, September/October 1993, pp. 102–109. Adapted from Biophilia by Richard Nelson, 1993. Published by Island Press. © 1993 by Richard Nelson. Reprinted by permission of Susan Bergholz Literary Services, New York. All rights reserved.

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