Crossroads Alaska : native cultures of Alaska and Siberia

1. Crossroads Alaska : native cultures of Alaska and Siberia

2. Table of Contents

Crossroads Alaska : native cultures of Alaska and Siberia

Chaussonnet, Valérie

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Crossroads Alaska

Native Cultures

Arctic Studies Center {National Museum of Natural History ISmithsonian institution | " \

Washington, D.C.

Captions indicate the largestdimension, of the height, length, width,or diameter of the artifact

Cover Photos:

Bock Cover.

Udegei shamansdrum cover fromKhor River, AmurRiver region, Russia,from the late 1800s.Made of birch hark,cotton, pigment, andleather. VladivostokMaritime Museum,Russia. #2180-8a.74 cm. See alsoP-73. _

Bottom Center.

Asian Eskimofloat plug from BigDiomede Island,Russia, collected in1885 by F.K. Gek,made of wood andblue glass beads forthe eyes. VladivostokMaritime Museum,Russia, #1132-34. 7cm. See also p. 93.

Botton Right.

Athapaskan (Ingalik)night and day maskfrom the KuskokwimRiver, Alaska, 1879,made of wood, pig-ments, and feathers.National Museumof Natural History,SmithsonianInstitution,#E64242. 47 cm.See also p. 74.

Top Left.

Western Thule culture(Eskimo) ivorywoman with hair inbun, collected inPunuk Island,Alaska, by Henry B.Collins in 1929,dated at about A.D.1000. #A342783.3.7 cm. See alsop. 65. , . ~

Middle Left.

Ulchi Khaka dollmade from paper,yarn, and fabric, byG. Kuisali, AmurRiver, Siberia, 1991.The body with thehead is inserted intoa slit in the dress atthe neck. KhabarovskRegional Museum,Russia, #VX3/14.12 cm. See also p. 57.

Inside FrontCover.

Udegei shaman-ancestor figureriding his helpingspirit, collected in1959 by V.G. Lar'kinin the village ofGvasiugi. The wood-en shaman is dressedin leather and fur.This is a powerfulprotector for the prac-ticing shaman, as itrepresents a shamantraveling to the worldof spirits on the backof his helping spirit, atiger-like beast.VladivostokMaritime Museum,Russia, #4511-19.35-5 cm (beast) and27 cm (shaman).See also p. 75.

Inside BockCover.

Tlingit shaman withdagger and typicallylong shamans hairstyle, from the late1800s. NationalMuseum of NaturalHistory, SmithsonianInstitution,E73837. 24 cm.See also p. 72.

Chaussonnet, Valerie

Crossroads Alaska: native cultures of Alaskaand Siberia / Valerie Chaussonnet.

112 pp. 21.59 X 29.68 cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Eskimos - Alaska - Material culture -Exhibitions. 2. Eskimos - Russia - Siberia -Material culture - Exhibitions. 3. Indians ofNorth America - Alaska - Material culture -Exhibitions. 4. Eskimo art - Alaska-Exhibitions. 5. Eskimo art - Russia -Siberia - Exhibitions. 6. Indian Art -Alaska- Exhibitions. I. Title.

E99.E7C525 1995979.8'004971-dc20 '95-804CIP

This catalogue is set in Adobe Caramondand Futura Bold.

Printing: Upstate LithoDesign: Harp and Company

2

Acknowledgement's

Crossroads Alaska was born out of alarger "Crossroads" concept, which was firstdeveloped through the major internationalexhibition Crossroads of Continents: Cultures ofSiberia and Alaska (1988-1992), and througha symposium held in Washington, D.C., inSeptember 1988, both under the leadership ofthe Smithsonian Institutions Arctic StudiesCenter. Two volumes were published, theexhibition catalogue (edited by William W.Fitzhugh and Aron Crowell), and the acts ofthe symposium under the title Anthropologyof the North Pacific Rim (edited by William W.Fitzhugh and Valerie Chaussonnet). The ideafor Crossroads Alaska, a more compact andeasily traveled exhibition, came from regret atbeing unable to bring the original Crossroadsexhibit to locations where the artifacts origi-nated (except, in Alaska, at the AnchorageMuseum of History and Art).

Crossroads Alaska was organized by theArctic Studies Center, National Museum ofNatural History, Smithsonian Institution,under the direction of William W. Fitzhugh,and curated by Valerie Chaussonnet.

The exhibition was designed, edited, andproduced by the Office of Exhibits Central,Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

The Alaska tour was coordinated byCoordinator Extraordinaire Jean FlanaganCarlo, Fairbanks, Alaska.

Funding and assistance were provided by:the Alaska Humanities Forum; the AlaskaState Council on the Arts; the Alaska StateMuseums, Juneau, and Sheldon JacksonMuseum, Sitka; the Anchorage Museum ofHistory and Art; British Petroleum;the Department of Anthropology, NationalMuseum of Natural History, SmithsonianInstitution; the City of Fairbanks Hotel/MotelBed Tax Fund; the Friends of the AlaskaState Museum; the Friends of the Universityof Alaska Museum; Man and the Biosphere;the National Endowment for the Arts;the National Park Service, Anchorage, andthe Bcringian International Park project;the National Science Foundation; theSmithsonian Institution Special ExhibitionFund; the University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks; and Young and Associates.

The lending museums and institutionsfor the exhibition are: the National Museumof Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,Wishington, D.C; the National Museumof the American Indian, SmithsonianInstitution, New York; the University ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks; the Koniag AreaNative Association, Kodiak, Alaska; theArsenev Maritime State Museum,Vladivostok; the Saklialin Regional Museum,luzhno-Sakhalinsk; the Arsenev RegionalMuseum, Khabarovsk; the NortheasternInterdisciplinary Research Center, Magadan;and the Kamchatka Regional Museum,Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski i.

We wish to acknowledge Russian-Americanscientific cooperation and friendship inarctic matters, in particular the persistenceof the Sakhalin Museum team and thevision of the Arctic Studies Center at theSmithsonian Institution for making thisexhibition happen.

For their support, assistance, andencouragement, we wish to thank thefollowing individuals: Brenda Abney, GlennAdams, Harry Adams, Eduard EfimovichAlekseev, Galina Aleksandrovna Aleksiuk,Helen Alten, Alvin Amason, TerenceArmstrong, Sergei Aleksandrovich Arutiunov,Mark O. Badger, James H. Barker, Fran^oiseBarlesi, Hugh Bennett, Steve Bouta, KarenBrewster, Marga Bufifard, Pat Burke, ToddBurrier, Vladimir Valer'evich Bychkov, J.B.Bynum, Harold Campbell, Glen and ElenaCarlo, Rosemary Carlton, James Carr,Helene Carrere d'Encausse, Sue Carter, AlexCastro, Wanda Chin, Lora Collins, PeterCorey, Aron Crowell, Liudmila MikhailovnaDanilina, Hazel Daro, Richard and NoraDauenhauer, Mark Daughhetee, ValerieDavidson, Anatolii Panteleevich Derevianko,Koji Deriha, Dominique Desson, EileenDevinney, Terry P. Dickey, Edith Dietze,Nikolai N. Dikov, E. James Dixon,Bernadette Driscoll, Nancy Eddy, SarahElder, Danny Fielding, Ann Fienup-Riordan,Jean Flanagan Carlo, Joseph Engel, MarnieForbis, Paul Gardinicr, Martinc de Gaudemar,Craig Gerlach, Nelson H.H. Graburn,Jana Harcharek, Mike Headley, SteveHenrikson, Gail Hollingcr, Chang-suHouchins, Jerry Howard, Karlin Ichoak,Mina A. Jacobs, Teresa John, Aldona Jonaitis,

Suzi Jones, Cynthia Jones, LeonardKammerling, Bruce Kato, Paula Kaufman,Mike Kelton, Basile Kerblay, Gennadiiand Tatiana Khokhorin, Richard Kilday, RichKleinleder, Richard A. Knecht, Vera Vasil'evnaKobko, Kathryn Kolkhorst Ruddy, AleksandrK. Koniapatskii, Michael E. Krauss, HollyKrieg, Igor Krupnik, Georgii GavrilovichKudelin, Vladislav M. Ladishev, DinahLarsen, Joe Leahy, Aleksandr Lebedintsev,Molly Lee, Mary-Jane Lenz, Ted Levin,Glenda Lindley, Jon Loring, Eve Macintyre,Martha Madsen, Ron Manook, Reed Martin,Rolando Mayen, Laura McLean,Pamela Moore, Emanuel Morgan, ShirleyMoses, Bradford Nageak, David Neakok,Valerie Jean Nelson, David Norton, VictoriaOliver, Aleksandr Oriakov, Darlene Orr,Natalia Pavlovna Otki, Ol'ga Pavlova, RobertPerantoni, Betsy Pitzman, Aleksei K.Ponomarenko, Anna AleksandrovnaPonomareva, Roger Powers, AndreiValentinovich Ptashinskii, Gordon L. Puilar,George Quist, Diane Rathman, RosemaryRegan, Chris Reinecke, Carol Renter,James Renter, Paul Rhymer, Svetlana PavlovnaRozhnova, Susan Rowley, Caroline Sadler,Bernard Saladin d Anglure, Peter and SaltanatSchweitzer, Linda Shea, Valerii OrionovichShubin, Ol'ga Alekseevna Shubina, JohnSiske, Sergei Slobodin, Liz Smalls, Tim Smith,Ben Snoufifer, Aleksandr BagmoevichSoktoev, Walter Sorrell, Mary Stachelrodt,Tim Stone, Svetlana Aleksandrovna Tag'ek,Tasian Tein, Sue Thorsen, Ted Timreck,Anton Tynel', Anthony Valentine, C^atharineValentour, Walter VanHorn, RuslanSergeevich Vasil'evskii, Igor Vorobei, AlvinaVoropaeva, Tibor Wildner, WilliamWalton, Eric Wishington, Betsy Webb, KimWells, Janet Williams, Pat Wolf, RositaWorl, Miranda Wright, Kenneth Young,Jocelyn Young, and Jon Zastrow.

Special thanks to my parents Colette andPierre Chaussonnet, and to my husbandNorman R. Dorsett.

Fhis catalogue was edited byRosemary Regan.

The artifacts were photographed byCarl Hansen and Laurie Penland,National Museum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution.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 Alutiiq, Gordon L. Pullar and Richard A. Knecht

16 Aleut, 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 Far East and Chukotka, Igor Krupnik

24 Siberian Yupik, 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 Cuisine: Food for People, Food for Spirits

82 People, Animals, and the Land

88 . People, Animals, and the Sea

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

As originally conceived almostrwenry years ago, the Crossroadsproject was planned as a wayto explore and celebrate theshared heritage of the peoples and culturessurrounding Bering Strait. The Russian,Canadian, and American curators who creat-ed the original exhibit Crossroads ofContinents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaskaopened a new era of cooperation in researchand museum studies across Bering Straitthat had been abandoned for more than halfa century as a wave of political, ideological,and economic competition swept overthe globe. Ironically, nowhere was this clashmore evident than along the shores ofthe North Pacific and Bering Strait, whereNative peoples had been in contact forages before Europeans arrived.

To outsiders this region appeared almosttoo remarkable for words. Its lands andwaters teemed with life, and its peoples hadlearned to utilize its resources to producecultures of great vitality and distinctiveness.In the Natives' clothing and skin boats; intheir social organization and mythology;and in their art and religion, early explorersand scientists sensed sophistication andcomplexity. Perhaps most striking, from theEuropean point of view, was Native recog-nition of a special spiritual link that joinedhumans, animals, and their homelands ina bond of mutual respect that permeated allaspects of life. Such beliefs, if they hadever been present in Western culture, hadfallen prey to human domination thousandsof years earlier as people learned to manip-ulate their environment and imposed anideology of human control over everythingin their path.

That path reached around the globe tothe North Pacific from two directions, asRussian Pomors and Cossacks advancedto Bering Strait from the west in the 17thcentury and as European explorers andwhalers advanced from the east in the 18thand 19th centuries. By the mid-20thcentury, with its peoples racked by Western-introduced diseases and its environment

depleted of its most valuable furs andseamammals, Cold War military confronta-tion and industrial development broughta new wave of external forces into theregion. Languages, cultures, and kin wereseparated on either side of an artificialboundary that Native peoples hadnever previously recognized.

The same fate befell the early archivaland artifact collections gathered by the earli-est Westerners who visited these regions.Artifacts documenting the early history ofNorth Pacific peoples, collected by explorersand scientists over two centuries from the1740s to the 1920s, found themselves oneither side of impenetrable political barriers.The greatest collection of early Alaskanartifacts, gathered by the Russian scientistI.e. Voznesenskii from Russian Americain the 1840s, had been sent to St Petersburg,where it became inaccessible to Americans.In a corresponding twist of fate, the largestand best-documented collections of north-eastern Asia, gathered by Russian anthropol-ogists W. Bogoras and W. Jochelson forthe Jesup North Pacific Expedition^, wentto the storerooms of the American Museumof Natural History in New York City, andthereafter were never seen in Russia. ThusNative people as well as the general popula-tion of Russia and North America becameforever estranged from a major portionof their heritage.

Deprived of the means for learning aboutthe history of Native cultures in their ownlands, Americans and Russians on bothsides suffered intellectual and aesthetic losses.Throughout the 20th century, as politicaland economic forces prevailed, it becameincreasingly difficult for outsiders or Nativepeoples to see this region as having shareda common past. In the absence of contactsand dialogue across Bering Strait, its peoplesbegan to be seen as separate, alienated,aligned only with their current political states.

The Crossroads of Continents exhibit wasdesigned to address this accident ofhistory by combining cultural materials fromnortheastern Siberia and northwesternNorth America into a single joint travelingexhibition that could be seen by peoples

on both sides of Bering Strait. After nearly adecade of planning, during which our pro-ject was interrupted by the Soviet invasion ofAfghanistan and the downing of the Koreanjetliner, it seemed that we would finallyaccomplish our goal when the last hurdle,Soviet agreement to display the Crossroadsexhibition in the Soviet Union, was clearedin 1987. Shortly after, in 1988, Crossroadsof Continents opened at the Smithsonian andbegan a three-year North American tour toSeattle, New York, Indianapolis, Los Angeles,Anchorage, and Ottawa. The show wasgreeted with great acclaim, and its messageof cultural interchange and open bordersfound resonance in a new-found spirit ofopenness and political reconciliation of the"glasnost" era.

But just when the Crossroads exhibit wasabout to complete its tour in North America,new and unforeseen barriers emerged as theeconomic and social structure of the SovietUnion collapsed, leaving its museums with-out funds and its transportation and securitysystems in disarray. Our colleagues at theInstitute of Ethnography (Soviet Academy ofSciences) now had more immediate concernsthan honoring exhibit agreements; norcould they guarantee the safety of the objectsfor the planned Russian tour. For a whilewe thought that the absenceof Russian fundscould be solved by American donors,but none could be found. We then tried toarrange a tour in Japan; but this also fellvictim to problems of financing and sched-ules. Ironically, the forces of change thathad helped launch Crossroads now blockedour efforts to bring the message of jointBeringian heritage to both sides.

By this time it became clear that the bigCrossroads which, with its large number ofartifacts, heavy display cases, and complicat-ed travel and conservation requirements,could never meet another one of our goals—that of bringing early Beringian collectionsback to the Native communities wherethey had originated. For this a new and sim-

6

pier arrangement had to be made. It alsoseemed best to prepare a completely differentexhibit, one that built upon the Crossroadsthemes but used artifacts horn local Siberianand Alaskan museums and depended onlocal curators. In short we wanted to create ashow that would enhance local artistic andeducational programs rather than be seen asanother "outsider" view of Native cultures.

With this goal in mind we assembled ateam ol "mini-crossroads" curatorsthat included the project directors, ValerieChaussonnet and William Fitzhugh,together with E. James Dixon, RichardJordan, and Roger Powers of the Universityof Alaska, and Darlene Orr of theCarrie McLaine Museum in Nome. Withfunds from the Smithsonian and theAlaska Humanities Council, we travelled tothe Russian Far East in March 1991, toinspect collections and consult with curatorsfrom museums of the Russian Far East.Staging our own "crossroads of curators," wearrived in Provideniia on a Bering Airflight from Nome and began the process ofinspecting collections and discussing thepossibilities of our new exhibit and culturalexchange plan.

The Russian Far East research tour,which was arranged by Valerii Shubin ofthe Sakhalin Museum, was wildly successful.Over a period of two weeks we were ableto visit museums in Provideniia, Anadyr,Magadan, Khabarovsk, luzhno-Sakhalinsk,Vladivostok, and Novosibirsk, wherewe consulted with scientists and curators;studied collections; and made preliminaryselections of exhibition materials. Wereturned with ideas and encouragementfrom new-found Russian colleagues, andduring the next two years developed an exhi-bition plan that eventually won financialsupport from the Informal Science Educa-tion Program of the National ScienceFoundation for Crossroads Alaska/Siberia.The Foundation, and later the NationalEndowment for the Humanities, was partic-ularly interested in using the exhibit as apilot project for rural delivery of science andarts education.^

This exhibition and book, both beautifullypresented by Curator Valerie Chaussonnet,are unique in several respects. While illustrat-ing themes previously explored in the largerexhibition (cultural diversity and complexity;history, art, technology, and religion; andshared traditions and cultural patterns),"mini-Crossroads" carries these ideas directlyto the peoples whoare responsible for them,in the form of a small touring exhibit andcatalogue that represents the efforts and ideas

of local culture experts and museum curatorswho represent the cultures of the NorthPacific and Beringian region directly. Almostall the objects illustrated have never beenpublished or previously exhibited. It alsotakes advantage of a special artistic featureof the cultures of the region—the produc-tion of detailed, elegant miniatures andmodels that were made specifically by theirNative creators to represent these itemsto their own people (often, but not exclu-sively, to children), as well as to outsiders.By selecting niiniatiues and models wealso solved the thorny problem of how toillustrate objects from the many culturesof the region in a small space, and, in thecase of this publication, in a small book.

The presentation that follows, like theexhibit, is organized along thematiclines. Following introductions to the individ-ual cultures that occupy the region, andtheir histories from ancient times to the pre-sent, the materials have been grouped intocategories of subsistence, technology, domes-tic and social life, art, and religion. Thefocus throughout is on traditional culturesas they existed in the 19th-early 20thcenturies, before Russian/Soviet or Euro-American cultures produced massive changesin the lives and material culture of NorthPacific peoples. We have also tried to presentboth the traditional ethnographic viewsof these diverse cultures together with mod-ern views written by contemporarycultural leaders.-^

This exhibit and catalogue should thereforebe seen in at least two dimensions. Aboveall, it illustrates the marvelous diversity andingenuity of the cultures and peoples ofthe North Pacific region who have learned toadapt to their environments in uniqueand creative ways. This is especially obviousin the design of Native clothing anddecorative styles applied to garments andartifacts, for which each culture has a distinc-tive pattern that is clearly differentiated fromthat of its neighbors. Second, one can seewithin this vast array of diversity many com-mon themes and similarities — similaritiesin harpoon technology of hunting sea mam-mals used throughout the North Pacificcoastal regions; in artifact types and ritualused by reindeer-herding peoples in Siberia;in cross-cultural similarities in hunting"harvest" festivals, in attitudes toward thedead; and in beliefs about spirits andhumans' place in the world around them,and many others.

We have always thought that Crossroadsshould be seen as a beginning rather thanan end. If so, we would be gratified ifCrossroads Alaska/Siberia may at least be "theend of the beginning": the end of oureffort to bring portions of the great museumcollections from the North Pacific out ofthe storerooms and in front of the public ina way that explores diversity while at thesame time seeks continuities. We also hopeit is the end of a tradition in whichWesterners take the lead in presenting thecultures of North Pacific peoples to othersand themselves. Even in the course ofour project we have seen evolution in atti-tudes and approaches that bring Nativepeoples of today into closer contact withtraditional knowledge that they havebeen deprived of for more than 150 years.Fortunately, now there are few physical barri-ers to the exchange of information andmaterials across Bering Strait. We may hopethat our experience of the 20th centurywill be seen as anomalous in the larger frameof time, and that the process of exchange,once reborn, will accelerate. We can onlyhope that the beauty of these materials willcontinue to inspire new generations ofNorth Pacific peoples to express their viewsof themselves and the world aroundthem with the grace and artistry seen in thecreations of their ancestors. This, surely,is a proper role for museum treasures.

1

The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, directedby Franz Boas, the "father" of AmericanAnthropology, was the first truly scientificexploration of the cultures and history of theNorth Pacific and took place in 1897-1903.

2

Important contributions were also madeto the project by the Smithsonian's SpecialExhibition Fund, the Alaska HumanitiesCouncil, the National Park Service,and the State Department's Man and theBiosphere Program.

3

Unfortunately, because of commimicationdifficulties and printing deadlines, it wasnot possible to acquire contributions fromNative scholars and cultural specialistsfrom the Russian side of the Alaska-Siberia"Crossroads" area. In a future edition wehope to be able to include their perspectiveson their own cultures, when the exhibittours the Russian Far East in 1996-97. Forthis volume, we invited one of the leadingRussian ethnographers of the region, IgorKrupnik, to present general profiles of theseSiberian Native groups.

7

"First glance atthe ground glass."Tanana, Alaska.F. B. DraneCollection, about1920. University ofAlaska, Fairbanks,Alaska and PolarRegion Archives, neg.#91-046-520.

Introduction

Valerie Chaussonnet

Dwelling is the manner inwhich mortals are on theearth." "Building DwellingThinking" in Basic Writings,Martin Heidegger

Making a dwelling a home by conceiving,fabricating, and using unique, personal,functional, or surprising objects is a universalhuman endeavor that found a high expres-sion among the Native peoples of Alaskaand the Russian Far East. Crossroads Alaskais about the living spirit of North Pacificcultures, as contained within a collection ofsome three hundred very old to brandnew small objects. Ranging from thousand-year-old insect-shaped harpoon heads tolate nineteenth-century tool boxes in theform of fish, these objects were designed tomake their owner feel at home in hisor her universe. Most of" these artifacts werebuilt for use in the village or away on thehunt rather than for market, and several areminiatures used as teaching aids. Theywere all chosen from American and Russianmuseum collections as objects that besttell the story of the inexhaustible creativityand resourcefulness of Alaskan andSiberian people when it comes to making theworld a warmer, more beautiful, moresignificant, more efficient, and thereforemore human home.

Dwelling is basically the art of creating one'ssurroundings from the existing environmentand resources, according to the aestheticand social rules of one's group. Within thiscontext, artists have individual freedomto interpret the rules, limited only by skillsor tools. North Pacific resources in termsof materials and cultural imagery areextremely vast and varied, and many artifactspresented in this exhibition testify to thejoy, humor, fear, or obsessions of generationsof highly skilled craftsmen and crafts-women. Unfortunately, most creators

of objects in the ethnological collectionsof museums are anonymous, but their heirs(the museum public and researchers,including today's Native descendants) maycatch a glimpse of their minds, lives,values, and through these, of the life of aparticular culture at a particular time.The artifacts in the collection presented heresometimes carry the marks of owners,users, collectors, or dealers as well. We fur-ther hope the photos in this cataloguewill convey the excitement and happinesswe felt in exhuming artifacts fromdrawers, sorting and sharing them throughan exhibition.

Some pieces already travelled in previousexhibitions. These museum "stars"include the whale labret (Fig. 100), the nightand day mask (Fig. 79), and some of thearcheological Kodiak and Ushki pieces(Figs. 20, 21, 38, 73 and 74). Others havenever been exhibited before, despite theirobvious appeal (e.g. the giant goose. Fig. 49).Many were travellers before they werecaptured into a museum collection, many forlong distances, such as every single beadin the exhibition and most of the metal.Some pieces presented here are rare, suchas the Kerek dogs (Fig. 95) or the AsianEskimo masks (Fig. 70) from the Vladivostokcollections.

Crossroads Alaska has a life and characterof its own. The feel of the show is intimateand precious. Because of the small size ofthe artifacts, one must draw close to the arti-facts, as to a jewelry display.

Images are always a reduction. Thiscatalogue is an image of an exhibition, andthe exhibition an image of North Pacificcultures. However, cultures are complex. Nomatter how large or comprehensive theexhibition, making an exhibit about culturesis truly a magic trick! In such exhibitions,what we take to be a picture of a culture isusually what artists, the artifacts' makers,lead us to see. The hallmark of this particularexhibition is the small size of the objects,many of them miniatures and models.Indeed, Crossroads Alaska's miniatures areobjects that were originally designed to edu-cate, testify, and demonstrate in theirNative context. Since the reduction was orig-inal and intended by the creators of theobjects, we feel that through our selection wehave been as loyal to the spirit of thecultures as an exhibition can be. Here theseminiature teachers continue to fulfillthe purpose for which they were created.

It should be obvious to all that everyobject has a spirit. This fact, if recognized,presents museums with a major dilemma.How can an exhibition convey the spirit of aculture through the spirit of its objects?Objects of the real world roam free and trav-el along nomadic paths of hunters, giftgivers,and traders long before they are trappedinto storage spaces, and then sent to travel inclimatically conditioned plexiglas exhibitcases. In their free state, they usually travelby pockets, small pouches, canoes, dog orreindeer sleds, and as a rule, the small onestravel the most. With Crossroads Alaskawe have tried to return some of these smalltreasures to the familiar trails. We hopewe have contributed at least a little to awak-ening among viewers some echo ofthe strength that created these pieces.

9

Inupiaq

Jana Harcharek andRachel Craig

Barrow womensewing beardedsealskin coverover umiak frame.Photo CharlesBrower.

Denver Museumof Natural History,neg. #BA21-753.

achel Craig: Our name forourselves is Inupiaq ("the realpeople"). The root of the word isinuk ("a person, a human being").

Jana Harcharek: I am an Inupiaq ofAlaska's North Slope Borough. As the indige-nous people of that region, we have occupiedan area encompassing more than 90,000square miles and sustained ourselves on itsabundant natural resources for thousands ofyears. Archeological evidence shows that thePoint Hope area has been continuously inhab-ited since approximately 400 B.C., thoughhumans may have used the general area severalthousand years earlier. People bearing anInupiaq technology were using local resourcesin the north Alaskan interior from aboutA.D. 1000 until well after A.D. 1300. Inupiatcontinue to occupy the same area and utilizethe same resources as they did centuries ago,living in harmony with one another, reveringthe land, the ocean, and all of its bounties.

RC: I am an Inupiaq of the NANA(Northwest Arctic Native Association) region,which lies south of the North Slope. It is avaried environment, with forests, tundra,canyons, mountains, wide valleys, sand dunes,rocky beaches, and sandy beaches. Some ofits people live on the coast of Kotzebue Sound;some along the river systems. All speakInupiaq, with varying dialects that revealones place of origin.

JH: Long before contact with explorers andwhalers in the mid-to-late 1800s, coastalInupiaq life was woven into a complex societybased on subsistence hunting of bowheadwhales {Baleana mysticetus). Ceremonies associ-ated with the bowhead were practiced through-

out the year to ensure a successfiil season. Aremarkable ceremonial building excavatedat Utqiagvik, near Barrow, suggests that for pre-historic villagers, whales were the focus ofsocial and spiritual life.

Traditional knowledge, passed from generationto generation, proves that the Inupiat haddetailed information about bowhead behavior,which only recently, and only to a limitedextent, has been acknowledged by western sci-ence. This knowledge endures through thecontinuing practice of customs associated witha subsistence lifestyle.

RC: The elders of the coastal region viewKotzebue Sound as their food-storagearea. From it they harvest beluga whale, beard-ed seals, ringed seals, spotted seals, and wal-rus—not to mention salmon, humpies,trout, white fish, sheefish, herring, smelts, tom-cod, flounder, and bullhead in season. Inthe fall, when heavy storms begin to move inbefore freeze-up, they harvest blue musselsalong die beach and catch sea ribbons in nets.

RC: Let me tell you about the NANA region.At the west end, below the Arctic Circle, arethe people of Deering, known asIpnatchiagmiut ("people of the bluffs"). Theirsis a coastal culture. In addidon to harvestingfrom Kotzebue Sound, they also pick berries,sourdocks, and willow leaves to vary their diet.

About 1915, teachers from the Bureau ofIndian Aifairs (BIA) persuaded the Natives ofDeering to move their village to Putu, whichwas well forested and had rivers abundant withfish. However, some stayed behind and othersmoved in, so that today Deering is growing inpopula-tion like any of our other villages. The

name of the new village was anglicized fromthe Inupiaq word nuurvik to Noorvik ("theplace that people moved to"). Those of us withroots in the Deering area also have relatives inNoorvik.

The next village east is Buckland, whose peoplehave been known as Kangigmiut since timeimmemorial. For centuries the Kangigmiuthave harvested beluga from Escholtz Bay. Thisis usually a community effort right after icebreak-up, the only time that the beluga migratethrough that area. The Kangigmiut were ,also known in traditional times for their claypottery, much sought after before metal potsand pans were brought to the region. Anotherdelicacy from Buckland is smelts, whichvillagers dry every spring (now they also storethem in freezers). Although Bucklandpeople are considered coastal, they live upriveralong the Buckland River.

Not far from Buckland is the ghost town ofCandle. A thriving gold-mining town in theearly 1900s, it had a hospital, three hotels,restaurants, and people of many ethnic groups,including Inupiat from around the region. Butwhen the price of gold dipped, people movedaway. The Kialukiigmiut are gone, but thosewho once lived there still return to fish or pickberries. There is also a reindeer herd at Candle.

In the east, inland, the Kuuvagmiut ("peopleof the big river") lived in a forested area alongthe Kobuk River. The Inupiaq name usuallyrefers to people living on the Upper Kobuk inthe villages of Kobuk, Shungnak, and Ambler.Being inland, the area is subject to extremeheat in summer and cold in winter. Vegetationis lush, and wild game and fish abound. Intraditional umes, the Kuuvagmiut's trading

10

items were dried fish, Rirs, and birchbark

baskets. They hunted caribou in the Noatak

Mountains, using log floats to bring

dried meat, fat, marrow, and sicins back to the

villages.

The ancient Kobuk people lived in smallsetdements near the headwaters oi the Kuuvak,until gold miners came (1898) and schoolsbegan to be established (1905-15). Because offlooding in the spring ice break-up, somefamilies left Kobuk to establish the village ofShungnak in the 1920s. In the 1950s,some of the Shungnak people decided toestablish another village closer to sourcesof wild game, fish, berries, and greens. And sothe town of Ambler was born.

In the delta of the Kobuk River, the peopleare called Kuugmiut. They have a legend thatafter the Great Flood covered the area, somesea serpents became land-locked. So the seaserpents dug their way out to the sea, and that'swhy the Kobuk River has so many bends.From the village of Kiana on down, the ser-pents gave birth to their young, who dug outthe sloughs and smaller creeks—and that's howthe Kobuk Delta was made. I like this storybetter than the one that scientists tell about iceages and the receding icepack.

The village of Kiana has been there since tradi-tional times and is known as Katyaak ("thefork where the rivers meet'). Many familiestake pride in tracing their roots to Katyaak.The Gold Rush rejuvenated the site, and theEnglish language made a big impact on theculture. However, subsistence food gatheringstill continues here, as it does in all of ourvillages.

Downstream from Kiana is Noorvik (men-tioned above), established around 1915.A thriving community of coastal and riverpeople, today it is one of the largest villagesin the region. Noorvik once had a sawmill anda hospital, but now the sawmill is abandonedand the old hospital has become livingquarters for teachers.

In the northern part of the NANA region,just south of the North Slope, is Kivalina,originally a summer campsite along the Singaq,a favorite site for seal hunting, fishing, andberry picking. One summer, BIA teachers pro-ceeded to build a school there. In the mean-time, the Native people went back upriver totheir winter homes, close to supplies of woodfor heating, cooking, and building. Soon,however, they found they had to move back toKivalina if they had children of school age.Living on the coast was difficult, far fromwood and favorite fishing areas, but the BIAteachers had the power to make them conform.Today, the village of Kivalina is consideringa move to higher ground. With global warm-ing, the water table is rising, the beach on theocean side is shrinking, and the land on the

lagoon side is eroding. There is no room fornew houses and families crowd into existinghomes. So much for decisions by governmentpeople with no experience in the Arctic!

Southeast of Kivalina is Noatak, where twogroups of people lived. Those who settledin the forest were the Napaaqtugmiut("people of the forest"). The other group, theNunataagmiut, traveled to the headwatersof the Noatak River every year, following thecaribou. After ice break-up in the spring,they returned to the coast to fish, hunt seamammals, and pick berries. In betweenmany of these villages are hunting camps.

In the center of the NANA region, onthe coast, is the village of Kotzebue, named forOtto von Kotzebue, a Russian explorer ofGerman origin. But from time immemorial,the village has been called Qiqiqtagruk ("thebig island"). Qiqiqtagruk has always been thehub of the region. Before any stores werebuilt, huge trade fairs were held here, withpeople from the interior and from the coastbriskly trading with each other. Some Eskimoseven came over from Siberia with tobaccoand reindeer skins to trade. Old Eskimos talkof previous generations crawling into bed tosleep off the effects of Siberian tobacco. It mayhave been mixed with opium.

JH; On the North Slope, the arrival ofmissionaries and institutionalized "education,"beginning about 1900, has had its conse-quences. Churches nearly eradicated traditionalreligion. Shamanistic rituals are no longerpracticed, although some elders have informa-tion about these rites. Fortunately, song anddance have remained strong. The recent revivalof Kivgiq ("messenger feast") means that peoplehave retained intricate ceremonial danceforms through the ages.

RC: The education system almost totallydestroyed our traditional culture. Because ourparents were punished in school for speakingInupiaq, they tried to make school easier for usby speaking only English to us. In this waythey inadvertently became an extension of BIAteachers who wanted to make us assimilateinto industrial society.

Since then, however, we have developed anInupiaq language curriculum and areteaching it in school. But to be successful, thiseffort must have the support of Inupiaqspeakers at home. Few parents speak the lan-guage now; for some students, Inupiaqhas become a secret language that their parentscan't understand.

JH; Traditionally, education consistedin acquiring survival skills. One learned howto navigate on sea and land, in all weathers,using astronomy, wind, ocean currents, weather

patterns, and land forms. Skill in huntingwas and still is necessary for cultural continuityin the Arctic.

Modernization has meant that people must beequipped both with traditional skills, whichenable them to thrive culturally, and with skillsneeded for success in the modern world.Inupiat had to institute forms of governmentand corporate enterprise that were initiallyforeign to them; they must now have formalschooling in order to profit from these oppor-tunities. But their experience of survivalin the Arctic has taught them how to adapt totheir environment and rise to challenges.

RCs Our region is much like other ruralareas of Alaska. We have worked hard toget decent housing, water, sewers, telecommu-nications, health sei-vices, education, and jobopportunities for our villages. We have devel-oped a world-class mine in partnership withCanadians, but with metal prices very low, wedon't know how long the mine will stay open.We still need to develop activities for youth,to keep them from the alcohol and drugculture. We also want to instill in them ourtraditional values, our hunting skills, oursurvival techniques, and to ground them intheir identity as Inupiaq people.

JH; The Alaska Native Claims SettlementAct of 1971 mandated the formation otregional and village corporations. In response,the Inupiat formed the Arctic SlopeRegional Corporation and various villagecorporations. In addition, the North SlopeBorough was incorporated as a home-rulegovernment in 1972. Its primary goal was toprovide residents with the same basic servicesenjoyed by other Americans. Since then,schools, clinics, fire stations, housing, and otherservice facilities have been built. The regionaland village corporations have prospered.Many young Inupiat attend prestigious schoolsand colleges to learn how successful corpora-tions are run and how governments can benefitpeople.

RC; WTiatever happens, we are very muchconcerned that our people continue toprovide for their families through subsistencehunting, fishing, and plant-gathering. There isnot enough local industry to replace oursubsistence activities. That is how our fore-fathers lived; it is the way we live.

JH; Many challenges face the Inupiat today.In addition to having to adapt to changescaused by development, we also need to main-tain those values that make us who we are.This means taking the best ot what bothworlds have to offer and remembering alwaysthose values taught us by our ancestors.

For further reading, sec: Burch 1984; Hall1984; and Spencer 1984.

Larry Kairaiuak: The YupUt("the real people") of the Yukon-Kuskokwim River delta wereone of the last Native peoples tobe invaded by outsiders. There has not beenmuch contact, due to the lack of naturalresources in the region, so Yupik Eskimoshave maintained most of their traditions,culture, and language.

Yupik communities cover a large area ofwestern Alaska, chiefly along rivers and theBering Sea coast. Many Yupik villagesconsist of several large extended families. Asin most Native communities in Alaska,this social structure has produced a traditionof sharing and giving.

Darlene Orr: As a Siberian Yupik grow-ing up on St. Lawrence Island in the BeringSea, I heard stories of the Ungazighmiit,the other Siberian Yupik people who lived inthe forbidding Soviet Union. But nothingthat I heard prepared me for my first meet-ing with one. For forty years the ColdWar had cut off all communication and trav-el in the Bering Strait region. Before then,since time immemorial, the Siberian Yupikhad moved freely and frequently betweenSt. Lawrence Island and the coast ofChukotka in Russia, a distance of only 40miles. When the "Ice Curtain" came down,the two halves of the Yupik populationwere cut off from each other, but the moun-tainous Soviet coast constantly remindedSt. Lawrence Islanders that there were friendsand kin on the other side.

It wasn't until 1988 that we began to redis-cover those ties, when the Soviet governmentallowed a "Friendship Flight" from Alaska

to the port town of Provideniia in Chukotka.I was among the twenty Yupik passengerson that flight. Shortly after I stepped off theplane, a Native man came up to me and saidin Yupik, "I'm from the Kivak clan. Whichclan are you from?" I was speechless. Herewas a man from a different country, speakingmy Native language, telling me he was fromthe same clan I was!

That trip was the first of many exchangesbetween the two sides. Today, Yupik peoplecan travel back and forth without visas.

LK: The indigenous people of Alaskabelieve that there was a time when peoplecould become animals, and animals couldbecome people. A special relationshiplinked people to animals, the spirit world,land, and sea. This unique connection to theuniverse has been essential to survival inthe arctic regions. In the animal world, themembers of each species look after eachother. They warn each other when danger isnear, or they call others when one findsfood or a safe haven. They bring food fortheir young that are not capable of survivingon their own.

DO: On the American side, most Yupikpeople live on St. Lawrence Island, 200 milesoff the Alaskan coast and 40 miles fromthe Russian mainland. Two villages areon the island, Savoonga and Gambell, eachwith a population of 550. In Chukotka,the communities with dominant Yupik pop-ulations are Sireniki and New Chaplino.Sireniki has a population of 800, of whicha little more than half are Yupik; in NewChaplino most of the 500 residents areYupik. New Chaplino used to be the tradi-

tional coastal village of Ungaziq (Chaplino),but in 1958 the Soviet government saw fit tomove it inland. The Russian Yupik weremade to live within fluctuating boundariesshared by Russians and Chukchi. TheChukchi and Russian people have becomethe majority in an area that was onceoccupied by Yupik alone.

Forced relocations and the presence of othercultures have had an adverse effect on theYupik (Chaplinski) language. Today virtuallyno one under the age of 30 speaksChaplinski. Although literacy in the Nativelanguage began in 1932, it was subject tomany changes under Soviet policies.Chaplinski was used to teach Russian and todisseminate Communist beliefs. The youngergeneration of Chaplinski speakers hasbeen affected by Russian pronunciation. Ofcourse, they say we're the ones who havethe strange accent.

Unlike Chukotka, few people on St. LawrenceIsland are non-Yupik, and most islandersstill speak Siberian Yupik. However, with theintroduction of television, VCRs, and radio,English is quickly becoming a major force ofchange in language and culture.

LK: When a Yupik hunter catches game ofany kind, he distributes it to relatives orother community members. Elders, widows,and families who are unable to provide forthemselves are the first to receive a share.There are also other kinds of sharing rituals.Every spring, a seal party is given in honorof the first bearded seal caught that season,or the first game caught by a young hunter.Food, clothing, and toys are given awayat the seal party.

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Another custom is being revived in south-western Yupik communities. Residentsof a community prepare for this event tormonths, and invite several surroundingcommunities, the extended relatives of thehost village. This event lasts tor severaldays. Traditional Eskimo dancing takes placeevery night, and each village takes turnsin providing the entertainment. Fhe host vil-lage entertains on the tinal night, and giftsare distributed to guests that night or the tol-lowing day. Gifts range from local foodsthat were collected during the year, to cloth-ing or store-bought items. Communitymembers' accomplishments are recognizedat this time as well. If a child has gatheredberries for the tirst time, the parents orgrandparents give plastic bags of frozenberries to elders from the invited villagesor to relatives of the deceased personfor whom the child is named.

DO: Another aspect of Yupik life thatdiffers on both sides is the economic base.On St. Lawrence Island, Yupik still practicesubsistence hunting and fishing, withmuch the same traditional patterns ot distri-bution. Technologically, American huntersare more advanced than their Russian coun-terparts, having the latest models of boats,outboard motors, snow machines, andall-terrain vehicles available to them. On theRussian side, equipment is often antiquatedor homemade. Under the Soviet system,all equipment belonged to collective andstate farms. On these cooperatives, chosenmembers of a community have the jobsof hunting, fishing, trapping, and fur farm-ing. They are paid in cash and in kind.

LK: Our villages maintain a subsistencelifestyle, and our survival is tied to theland and sea. A respect for all things in theYupik environment, sometimes a harshand unpredictable one, is basic to survival.Yupik always treat the animals they catchwith respect. This tradition of handlinggame respectfully, from the moment it iscaught until it is consumed, has been passedon from one generation to another. Ourthoughts and actions affect the successof each hunt or gathering of wild plants.

Yupik believe that animals give themselvesup for us to eat, therefore we must payrespect to them as well as the environmentthat provides these animals.

DO: With the collapse of Communism,life in the former Soviet Union has beenchanging at a breathtaking pace. While goodthings can be said for its demise, thetotalitarian system actually helped to main-tain one aspect of Yupik culture: spiritualbeliefs. On St. Lawrence Island, the firstmissionaries arrived in 1894, exerting theirinfluence to replace the Native religionwith Christianity. They succeeded. On the

Soviet side, Yupik retained more of theirNative beliets because Communismproved to be an inadequate replacement.Spiritual beliets were also reinforcedby old Russian customs.

LK: Among the Yupik, Ellam Yua (Spirit ofthe Universe), the equivalent of the ChristianGod, was the basis of all spirituality. EllamYua provided and watched over everything inexistence. Today, Yupik still speak aboutEllam Yua, regardless of the dominant reli-gions in the region—the Moravian, RussianOrthodox, and Catholic churches.

DO: Recently in Provideniia, visiting thefamily ot a deceased triend, I broughtNative food with me. The family put somefood aside to be placed in a fire so that thespirit could partake of it. Another practice Iobserved was the placing of a pot in themiddle of the deceased person's living roomto keep evil spirits at bay.

Traditional spiritual customs are still observedon the Russian side, where Christianityhasn't had much inHuence. Such traditionalpractices have ceased on St. LawrenceIsland. With the increased travel to Russianow, missionaries have been bringingtheir Christian message to the Yupik vil-lages, and it has had a warm reception fromsome people. At present, with a depressedRussian economy and low morale, almostanything trom America is seen as wonderful.

LK: Death within a community allows peo-ple to give and share. When someonedies, relatives and friends look after the fami-ly. The community grieves together. Peoplefrom surrounding villages also take partin this event. After the funeral, family andrelatives host a potlatch for the villageand visitors from nearby villages.

One way of easing the pain ot loss ot a lovedone is to name a child after the deceased.The child is often spoken to or treated inexactly the same way as the person for whomhe or she is named. Relatives of the deceasedgive the child gifts of all kinds, rangingfrom the deceased's favorite foods to clothingor toys at special occasions. Yupik believethat no one really passes out of existence, andthat when a child is named after a deceasedperson, that person's soul is reborn. Inone case, a child was named after his pater-nal grandfather, who had died about touryears before. Because a girl child in the fami-ly had already been given the grandfather'sname, some people in the village wouldnot address the boy by name, insisting thatthe older child had the name first. Onewoman was adamant until she dreamed thatthe deceased grandfather was making teaby squeezing used tea bags. The next morn-ing, she visited the boy's mother and askedif any ot her children made tea that way.

The mother replied that her son did. Thewoman told the mother about her dreamand asked her to give the boy a fresh cup oftea from now on. From that time, thewoman addressed the boy by the grand-father's name.

DO: Under Soviet rule, traditionalivory/bone carving and Native dancing wastransformed into an economic resource.Carvers work in a cooperative where theyperfect their craft under a master (oftena Chukchi), and dancers perform as a profes-sional ensemble. Compared to Yupikdancers from St. Lawrence Island, RussianYupik dancers look very dramatic andpolished. But most people don't realize thatthey are trained to be professional dancers.On St. Lawrence Island, anybody can danceif they want, as it is a form of recreationand not livelihood.

Carving on the island is still done onindividual basis, too, as a means of bringingin cash. A controversial source of cash isthe selling of ancient artifacts dug up attraditional village sites around the island.This method ot getting quick money nowholds an attraction to Yupik on the Russianside. This is especially true since the coun-try's economy has been in upheaval, and anymeans of extra income appears good.

Life for American Yupik is better in terms ofaccess to material goods, but that does notnecessarily guarantee a higher quality of life.In fact, many people on St. Lawrence Islandare on some form of government assistance.(Russian Yupik also received governmentassistance, but were required to hold a job inreturn.) Unfortunately, St. LawrenceIslanders share with the Russian Yupik theproblems of alcoholism, suicide, and vio-lence. However, with the opening ot the bor-der and the renewal of kinship ties, a senseof pride is being re-established among theYupik people. The younger generation ofRussian Yupik is now making an attempt tospeak their Native language again, and thereis great interest in cultural exchanges onboth sides. We see changes from the reimifi-cation of this culture, and we also seethe effects from forty years of separation andacculturation, yet we can only guess whatthe future holds for the once homogenousSiberian Yupik people.

For further reading, see: Damas 1984;Fienup-Riordan 1983, 1990;Fitzhugh and Kaplan 1982; and YugtunQaneryaramek Calivik n.d.

13

As the decade of the 1990sopened, the Alutiiq people ofsouth-central Alaska were singingand performing traditionaldances, carving ceremonial masks, makingtraditional clothing, building kayaks,and taking action to preserve their language.Only a decade before, many thought thatthese symbols of Alutiiq culture had perhapsvanished forever. Then the Kodiak AreaNative Association (KANA), the regionaltribal organization of the Alutiiq ofKodiak Island, began efforts to preserve andrevitalize traditional culture. This move-ment spread to the Alutiiq people of PrinceWilliam Sound and the Kenai and Alaskapeninsulas. Associated with this effort hasbeen a "sobriety movement" that addressesthe issue of alcohol abuse at a grassrootslevel, as well as new efforts of taking controlof political power and resource management.Several Alutiiq communities have imple-mented mariculture and salmon hatcheryprograms to develop an economic base. The

Kodiak Island village of Larsen Bay securedthe repatriation of nearly 800 human skele-tons excavated in the village in the 1930sand shipped to the Smithsonian Institution.An elaborate reburial ceremony took placein 1991. Now Prince William Sound Alutiiqcommunities are in the process of repatriat-ing human remains taken from that area.Today Alutiiq communities are expe-riencinga significant resurgence of pride in theirheritage and ethnic identity.

History

The struggle for the survival of Alutiiq cul-ture came in the wake of 250 years ofacculturation, first to Russian culture andthen, beginning in 1867, to Americanculture. This intense period of contact fol-lowed more than 7,000 years of flourishingculture and population growth. The firstEuropean landing in Alaska, by Danishexplorer Vitus Bering in 1741 on behalf ofRussia, was on Kayak Island in PrinceWilliam Sound, in northern Alutiiq territory.Ships bearing Russian fur hunters beganto contact Alutiiq people regularly by the1760s. Alutiiq culture was at its peak at

that time, with an estimated populationof 20,000 spread among numerous villages,some with as many as 1,000 inhabitants(Jordan and Knecht 1988:232; Crowell1988:132-135; Hrdlicka 1944:19).

The Alutiiq fiercely resisted the Russianpresence; mass attacks by armored Alutiiqwarriors were repelled only by firearms,which were unfamiliar and frightening topeople in a land where thunder is rarelyheard. For two decades, they withstoodRussian attempts to occupy Kodiak Island(Black 1990). Finally the Siberian merchantGregori Shelikhov loaded two ships withmen, muskets, and cannon and arrived atThree Saints Bay in August 1784. Hedemanded that ruling families among theAlutiiq provide their children as hostages.Terrified villagers gathered children, elders,and warriors—as many as 2,000 in all—on a fortified sea stack (a column of rock ris-ing out of the sea). Alutiiq people had longused such refuges when attacked by invaders.

14

Shelikhov attacked in the early morninghours of August 13, 1784. Five smallcannons panicked the Alutiiq defenders, andseventy-one Russians stormed up thecliffs. In the ensuing pandemonium, manyhundreds died. Male adults and elderswere executed—hundreds, according tosome Russian accounts. About 500 womenand children were taken to Three SaintsBay as hostages. Alaska became Russian, andAlutiiq life changed forever. The Alutiiqname for the rock is A'wauq, which means"to become numb" (Knecht, Haakanson,and Dickson n.d.)

Alutiiq people soon became impressedlaborers for the Russian-American Company.Hunters were forced to join in the huntfor sea otters. Women were set to sewclothing, gather berries, and perform othertasks. Even the aged were put to work gath-ering bird eggs from the sea cliffs. Epidemicsof disease hitherto unknown among thepeople devastated entire villages (Fortuine1989:201). Elders, the vital tradition-bearersin a culture without a written language,were among the first to die. Family trees,epic stories, songs, and specialized knowl-edge, accumulated through thousandsof years, died with the elders. In the villages,even today, the death of a elder is likea library burning. Eventually the RussianOrthodox Church intervened, and thecompany began to relax its grip. By the mid-1800s, the population on Kodiak Islandhad dropped from 10,000 to about 1,500(Holmberg 1985:36).

In 1867 Alutiiq lives were again jolted whenthe Americans occupied Alaska. Canneriessprang up near many villages, and thousandsof workers poured into the area. Salmon,the staple of the Alutiiq diet, became a com-mercial commodity and fed the Americaneconomy thousands of miles away. Over-fishing wiped out runs of salmon that hadfed Natives for many generations. Linesappeared on the map as land also becamea thing to be owned. Alcohol became yetanother epidemic that brought deathand loss, as it does today. Traditional cloth-ing and housing, tolerated and evenadopted by the Russians, were viewed asbackward by the Americans, and soon beganto disappear.

Schools and missions brought more unfamil-iar ways and a new language. Teacherspunished children for speaking the Alutiiqlanguage, a practice that persisted intothe 1960s. The kayak, which held a place forthe Alutiiq as the horse did for the PlainsIndian, was discarded in favor of woodenskiffs. The sea otter hunt also became athing of memory, as sea otters were nearlyextinct by the early 1900s. World War 11wroughtstill more changes to the Alutiiqpeople. Roads and airstrips brought strangers

into towns and villages that had beenreachable only by sea. More young peopletraveled outside Alaska, usually for the firsttime; some returned, but as changed people.

Over the past three decades, two majordisasters struck Alutiiq communities.The first was the Great Alaska Earthquake of1964, which destroyed several Alutiiqvillages. The second disaster fell on March24, 1989, when the oil tanker ExxonValdez ran agroimd in Prince WilliamSound, just four miles from the Alutiiq vil-lage of Tatilek. Eleven million gallons ofcrude oil spread through the sound, affectingall the Alutiiq villages. While the long-term effect of the spill is being debated, thetrauma it has caused remains evident.

Alutiiq Identity

The identity of the Alutiiq people is oftenconfusing to many. Russian fur tradersin the 18th and 19th centuries applied theterm Aleut to both the indigenous people ofthe Aleutian Islands (who called themselvesUnangan) and to the Alutiiq (who calledthemselves Sugpiaq) (Clark 1984:195-196).These two cultures have many differences,however, including different languages. TheAlutiiq language was known as Sugcestunor Suk.

The Alutiiq people include at least threemajor subgroups: the Chugachmiut ofPrince William Sound, the Unegkurmiut ofthe Kenai Peninsula, and the Qikertarmiutof Kodiak Island. The Alutiiq are alsosometimes called Koniagmiut or Koniag.Because of close linguistic relationshipwith the Inuit people of the Arctic, anthro-pologists have often classified the Alutiiqas Eskimos—a label that the Alutiiq strenu-ously object to.

Alutiiq Political Structures

Once, each Alutiiq village was governed bya chief ( Toyuq), a second chief (Siikashiq),a third chief (Staristaq) who was the lay read-er of the village's Russian OrthodoxChurch, and a council of elders (KANA1987:1). Elders today still speak of the oldtribal governments and their effectiveness.

By the 1970s new political systems were inplace in Alutiiq communities. The federalBureau of Indian Affairs required a model oftribal government that fit its own needsrather than those of the communities. Somevillages formed governments under thefederal Indian Reorganization Act. Others setup an elected council headed by a "presi-dent" (these are called "traditional councils"although they are modeled after the U.S.government rather than a traditional system).

Although not officially political bodies, thecorporations formed under the Alaska NativeClaims Setdement Act (ANCSA) of 1971exert considerable political influence in man-aging land and other resources. ANCSA'sintention was to divide the state alongcultural boundaries, with each major Nativegroup creating a regional "for-profit" cor-poration. The Alutiiq cultural area, however,was divided in three sections. Thtis theAlutiiq of Kodiak Island are represented byKoniag, Inc.; Prince William Sound andthe Kenai Peninsula are represented by theChugach Alaska Corporation; and AlaskaPeninsula by the Bristol Bay Native Corpora-tion. This has created new issues of identity,as many Alutiiq people—like otherNative groups in Alaska—tend to identifythemselves first as shareholders in a par-ticular regional corporation rather than anethnic identity.

The Alutiiq tribal governments of todayhave also utilized the geographic boundariesestablished by ANCSA to create regionaltribal organizations that provide health,social, educational, and cultural programs tothe villages and represent the villagesin political issues. These organizations arethe Kodiak Area Native Association,Chugachmiut, and the Bristol Bay NativeAssociation.

Conclusion

The people of the twenty remaining Alutiiqcommunities are addressing the impactof the past 250 years of contact. There islittle doubt that the catastrophic events ofthat period have had a cumulative effecton today's Alutiiq people and their culture.Today, however, the resurgence of culturalpride and ethnic identity, control ofresources, and political power is reshapingthe future for Alutiiq people and theircommunities. They have weathered the lateststorms and will decide what they will allowto be changed in their culture and what theywill retain. They control their own destiny.

"Our people have made it through lotsof storms and disasters for thousandsof years. All the troubles since the Russiansare like one long stretch of bad weather.Like everything else, this storm will pass oversome day."

—Barbara Shangin, Alutiiq elder,Chignik Lake, 1987

For further reading, see: Black 1990;Clark 1984; Crowell 1988a; Davis 1984;Fortuine 1989; Holmberg 1985;Hrdlickal944; Jordan and Knecht 1988;Knecht, Haakanson, and Dickson n.d.;Kodiak Area Native Association 1987; andPullar 1992.

15

i I Aleut

Barbara Svarny Carlson

Aleuts on board shipat Unalaska, being ■relocated away fromthe war zone duringthe summer of1942.All of the Aleuts on thePribilof Islands andalong the Aleutian

chain up to Akutanwere hastily removedand forced to live inextremely primitiveconditions in long-abandoned canneries

in southeast Alaska,where many died fromill health. They werekept there and onlyallowed to return atthe conclusion of thewar in 1945. The

There is no such thing as an Aleut.We call ourselves Unangan, orUnangas in the Atkan dialect.This is our name for ourselves, the indige-nous people of the Aleutian Archipelago.

When Russian explorers came to our land,the first island people that they came uponwere the Sasxinan, who lived in what theRussians named the Near Islands, becausethey lie near Russia at the western end of theAleutians. For uncertain reasons, theRussians called them Aleut, and as theymoved eastward on their conquest, theRussians continued to call the peopleAleut—even when they crossed a majordividing line of language and culture andencountered Alutiiq-speaking people (previ-ously called Sugpiaq) of the AlaskaPeninsula. Recognizing a language difference,however, they sometimes referred to us asFox Aleuts and the Alutiiq as Koniag Aleuts.The Russian language became the commondenominator of acculturation among thesediverse groups.

We "Aleuts" are actually three differentmaritime peoples who had their own identi-ties and subdivisions before contact: theAJutiiq-speakers, the Central Yupik-speakersof Bristol Bay, and the Unangam Tunuu-speakers. Why should we hang on to"Aleut," a foreign name? We should reviveour original names to show pride in ourcultural heritage and to reclaim andmaintain our identities as a distinct people.

Who We Are:

Pre-Contact Tribes and Dialects

Unangax is the singular form of a wordwhose stem, una, refers to the seaside.Unangan and Unangas are plural forms, andUnangam is the possessive.

Before contact, the Unangan may have hadas many as nine distinct subgroups, or tribes,and dialects. Where possible, the majorislands are named in the indigenous language(see Bergsland 1994 and map p. 108);foreign names are in parentheses. From westto east:

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were forced to liveatAtka upontheir release fromJapanese captivity.National Archives,neg #80-6-12163.Courtesy of the AleutPribilof Association.

1) the Sasxinan, on: (Near Islands);Atux (Attn), Samiyax (Shemya), andAngatux (Agattu);

2) the Qaxun, on: (Rat Islands);Amchixtax (Amchitka), Idmaax (Buldir),Qixsa (Kiska), and Unyax (Semisopochnoi);

3) the Naahmigus, on: (Delarof Islands);Tanaxax (Tanaga), and Amatignax(Amatignak);

4) the Niigugis, on: (Andreanof Islands);Kanaga (Kanaga), Adaagix (Adak),Atxax (Atka), Amlax (Amlia), andSaguugamax (Seguam);

5) the Akuugun or Uniigun, on: (Islands ofthe Four Mountains); Qagaamila (Kagamil),Amuuxtax (Amukta), Yunaxsxa (Yunaska),and Chuginadax;

6) the Qawalangin, on: (Fox Islands);Samalga (Samalga), Umnax (Umnak),Nawan-Alaxsxa [one of the earliest recordednames for Unalaska], Amiq or Tanax-Amix(Sr. Paul), Angaaxchalux (St. George),Xulustaakan Tangingin (The Seals' Place),and (Pribilof Islands);

7) the Qigiigun, on: (Krenitzin Islands);Sidaanax (Sedanka), Akutanax (Akutan),Akungan (Akun), and Qiqalgan (Tigalda);

village ofAttu wascaptured by theJapanese and the peo-ple sent to Japan wherea third of them died.Surviving Attuans

8) the Qagaan Tayagungin, whose homelandextends to Port Moller on the north side

of Alaska Peninsula and Kupi eanof Point onthe south side; Unimax (Unimak), Sanagaic(Sanak), and Qudugin (Pavlov Island);

9) the Qagiigun, on (Shumagin Islands);Ugnaasaqax (Unga), (Nagai), (Big Koniuji),Tangimax (Little Koniuji), Tanganuk(Korovin), and Siitikdax (Popot); theQagiigun are sometimes included withQagaan Tayagimgin.

Traditionally, we did not live beyondKupreanof Point on the Alaska Peninsula.We called the people who lived beyondthat, Kanaagin.

The Sasxinan dialect is no longer spoken inthis country. During World War II, theSasxinan were wrenched from their island ofAtux (Attu) and taken as prisoners toJapan. Alter returning to this country uponliberation, the twenty-four survivorswere denied repatriation to Atux; instead theUnited States government moved themto Atxax (Atka), the home of the Niigugis.There the Sasxinan needed to adopt theNiigugis dialect.

However, the Sasxinan language survivesin Russia. In the 1830s, the Russians forciblyremoved some Sasxinan from Atux to theCommander Islands; a small number of theirdescendants still live there and speak ahighly Russianized version of the Sasxinandialect. On the other Commander Island,Bering, a few elders still speak Niigugis. Inthe 1960s the Russians evacuated theSasxinan from Copper to Bering Island. TheRussians had similarly transported Niigugisfrom Atxax, for seasonal and permanentlabor in the harvesting of fur seals, but pre-dominantly they moved Qawalanginfrom Unalaska to the Pribilof Islands (Jones1980).

The Urgent Work of Reclamationand Revitalization

It has been predicted that the Unangamlanguage may be extinct by the year 2055. IIit dies out, indigenous knowledge preservedin that language may also disappear.

Tanang awaa ("work of my country") isa formulaic beginning that opens certainstorytelling sessions of the Unangan. Thesewords announce that the informationpresented is proudly shared as a product of alarger body, the collective people. In ourregion, the work of individuals is valued, butcooperative efforts are of infinitely loftiervalue. In the oral tradition, stories and narra-tives were passed down from one generationto the next, but sometime after contact thestories ceased to be told in public places,then ceased, in most cases, to be told at all.

Much ethnographic information can beextracted from the surviving stories and nar-ratives of the Unangan. The cooperativemarriage ol indigenous information withmodern technology can help to retrieveindigenous information—in basketry, design,carved works, literature, medicinal plants,science, htimor, subsistence, or similarlyvaluable things—for the benefit of all.But the survival of the Unangam way of lifeis paramount to this venture. If informationsurvives without the people, then the worldwill have lost a crucial ingredient in therecipe for the survival of mankind and themanagement of renewable resources.

Our Unangam identities have become sotenuous that we are excavating, sifting, andmeticulously labeling the artifacts of oursociety with increasing fervor. If we do not,something may disappear forever. Theendangered Unangam language is a virtuallyuntapped resource of clues about our history,found objects, our profound relationshipwith land and sea, rules to live by, and per-haps most importantly, a unique view of theworld. The Unangam folklore is a vital partof our contribution to the world bank ofknowledge.

Looking toward the Future

People who have left their Unangam villageshave a deepened sense of the sacred value oftheir origins, as seems to be a trend amongAlaska Natives. They feel a loss—be it ofNative foods, songs, dance, stories, or seeingbeauty reflected in artfully made objects.They miss seeing other people who look likethem; they miss feeling the wind, fog, saltyair, the rain that comes at you sideways.They need to know about their heritage andto share that knowledge with family andcommunity. They need to hear someoneshout, "Aaiig, Lhiangax!"[WeWo, "Aleut").Many of those people are searching for thesethings when they return to the village or toAlaska. These people consider theiroriginal villages home even if they have notbeen able to return for many years. Theyshare a common feeling: "Where we arefrom is important to us. What we like to eatis important. Our art is important. Ourdance and music are important."

Unangam foods are elemental to our culture.To have Native foods sent to us when weare away is one of the most vitalizing, identi-ty-rich gifts that friends or family canbestow. Some of our traditional subsistencefoods include alax (whale), isux (hair seal),aanux (red salmon), and qax (any kind offish). From the beaches some favorites are:chiknan (limpets), waygin (blue mussels),agugaadan (sea urchins), qasiiqun (chitons orgumboots), chalan (clams), and kahngadgin(seaweed). Saaqudax (cow parsnip, "piiuchki-is" in Russian), fiddlehead ferns and othernative vegetables seem to make one feel

healthier. My personal favorite is driedsalmon with chadux (seal oil). Qagaasakung("thank you") to my parents, who generouslykeep me supplied. Without it, I would notbe able to feel so strongly who I am!

There is an ambivalence I feel when 1 walkinto a museum exhibit, touched to the coreby what I see. I feel gratitude and wonderthat these beautiful and precious objects havebeen collected and cared for so that peoplelike myself can learn from them. I appre-ciate the labors of so many people—archeol-ogists, anthropologists, educators, linguists,and others. At the same time, I grieve thatmany of the villages where these itemscame from are now virtually empty of theiroriginal cultural property.

There is a sad irony in the relations betweenmuseums and indigenous peoples. On theone hand, the collection and preservation ofthese artifacts is a major aid to culturalreclamation and revitalization. On the otherhand, it is a tragedy that these preciousremnants of our cultural heritage lie on dis-play in lands sometimes unknown totheir original owners. There is an awesomeresponsibility that pairs museum institutionsand indigenous peoples as equal partnersas we both search for culturally appropriateways to document traditional knowledgeand skills. The cooperative spirit of repatria-tion in evidence all over the world is anencouraging statement of humanism.This traveling exhibit. Crossroads Alaska, is atestament to hosts of kindred spirits whohave labored to share this marvelous collec-tion. This is one method of repatriatingindigenous things: to make this fine projectaccessible to small Alaskan communitieswhere the works will be studied and appreci-ated. These valuable links to Unangamculture are validation of our origins, touch-stones to our identities.

Acknowledgments

Qiigaasakiing ("thank you") to KnutBergsland, Professor Emeritus, University ofOslo; Moses L. Dirks; Nick Galaktionoff;Platonida Gromoff; Michael Krauss, AlaskaNative Language Center, University ofAlaska Fairbanks; and Doug Veltre,Department of Anthropology, University ofAlaska Anchorage.

For further reading, see: Bergsland 1994;Bergsland and Dirks 1990; and Jones 1980.

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A Holistic World-View

The Den'a see a unity in the human, natural,and spiritual worlds; in both the seenand unseen worlds, all things have a spirit,and everything is connected. This holisticworld-view is implicitly expressed inDen'a ceremonies. It is explicitly expressedin the sharing of water and food, andoften in the use of fire.

Anthropologists have classified many Den'aceremonies, feasts, and healing rituals as"potlatches," "feasts tor the dead," "mortuaryfeasts," or "memorial potlatches." Whilea potlatch is formally defined as the distribu-tion oi material wealth as a means toincrease social recognition, this term is onlya superficial description oi: a traditionalceremony, overlooking the scope, intention,and deeper meaning ot many Den'aceremonies.

Ceremonies

A brief examination oi Athapaskanceremonies will reveal the deeper meaning oiDen'a rituals. Water, food, fire, song,and dance are important elements in manyof these ceremonies. As the body is nour-ished by food and water, so is the soulfed through music and dance. Fire providesan avenue to the spiritual world. Thecooperation required to conduct these cere-monies, whose great antiquity dictatesprotocol and procedure, makes each a com-munity event. To the untrained observer,organization appears haphazard. However,upon closer scrutiny, the protocol establishedin the distant past becomes evident.

In the Athapaskan culture, when aperson dies, the whole village comes togetherto grieve with family and friends of thedeceased. After the person is laid to rest, astrong spiritual connection is maintainedthrough water, food, song, and dance as theDen'a prepare to free the yega or spiritfor its next journey in the Den'a life cycle.

Women share memories of the deceasedas they gather to bead and to sew garmentsfor the "give-away." Men share memorieswhile on their hunting or fishing excursions.These are occasions lor expressing grief asmembers tell stories, laugh, cry, and expressanger, guilt, sorrow, or love.

Grief and/or guilt are also expressed throughsongs composed for the deceased. Theseeulogies immortalize the talents and works ofthe cieceased and are an important partof community cohesiveness. In earlier times,our people took note when someoneexcelled in a particular area; however, thisdid not make him or her better than the rest,for everyone had their place in the commu-nity. A death in the community creates avoid—for example, the loss of a good hunter,an understanding friend, a fast runner, anindustrious worker, a loving member ofa family, or a community leader. The processof composing these songs provides an avenuefor healing as the absence of this familymember is directly addressed. In learning tosing these songs, community membersgo through the same healing process as thecomposer.

By giving gifts to those who came togetherto grieve with family and friends, thefamily pays the earthly debts of the deceased.Once these ties to mother earth are severed,the yega (spirit) of the deceased is freeto continue its life cycle in the next dimen-sion. The yega of the animal kingdom isalso honored as gifts of traditional food areplaced in a fire to nourish the deceased ashe or she adjusts to life in a differentworld. This adjustment period applies to themourners as well. Active participation in ahealing ceremony provides an avenue to dealwith grief or guilt while adjusting to thevoid created in the community through theloss of a member. These rituals restoresocial balance and order to the family and tothe community.

Conclusion

Transition from oral to written commu-nication has brought vast changes inthe way Den'a stories and histories are told.By itself, the literature offers a limitedscope, perception, and understanding ofDen'a belief Repeated visits, stories,and inclusion in celebrations and healingceremonies are needed to open thesoul to a real view of the Athapaskan world.It is through participation that thesignificance of a "give-away" ceremony isappreciated. In his study of "potlatches"among the KwakuitI of the Pacific North-west, I. Goldman notes that "Gifts,such as animal skins, become symbolic of theinterconnection between all spheres oflife. . . . Exchange brings into connection thecontemporary and natural world and themythic world of the ancestors." This state-ment demonstrates that, much likethe Den'a, the world of other Native Peoplealso have seen and unseen realms whereall things are connected.

This connection supports the life cycle ofthe Den'a, who have in place an indigenousmethod to maintain the social order. Byaccepting one another for who they are andaccepting ourselves for where we are, theDen'a exhibit a healing force that returnsyou to normal growth, development,and function.

For further reading, see: Coyhis 1993;Cruikshank 1990; Dall 1870; Goldman1975; Haviland 1990; Lyons 1964; Mauss1990; Nelson 1899; Schneider 1989;Shavanda 1987; Simeone 1990; Sullivan1936; and'VanStone 1974.

Reaffirming the community as a livingentity while maintaining the healthof the individual is an important feature ofDen'a healing ceremonies. At a recent"memorial potlatch " in Minto, a Den'a elderthanked those in attendance for takingthe time to join in their ceremony, saying"You help lift us up. We support oneanother. We come together to honor specialpeople, but in the process we also honorone another and ourselves."

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Tlingit

Tlingit LawrenceShields of the Cape jFox tribe beats a idrum as totem pole !carver Lee Wallace's'Brown Bear pole is ;raised at Westmark/Cape Fox lodge onAprils, 1991,in Ketchikan.Photo HallAnderson, 1991.

The Tlingit Indians live in south-east Alaska from Yakutat toDixon Entrance, predominantlyon the coast, but also with inlandcommunities in southwest Yukon andnorthwest British Columbia. A variety of evi-dence as well as Tlingit tradition suggestthat the Tlingits migrated to the coast at anearly date and spread from the southernrange of their territory to the north, wherethey were expanding toward the CopperRiver at the time of European contact.

The relationship of Tlingit to other NativeAmerican languages is uncertain. There isgreat cultural similarity between Tlingit andadjacent Northwest Coast groups but noobvious linguistic affinity. On the otherhand, many features of Tlingit phonologyand grammar systematically parallelAthapaskan languages (including Navajo),but there are few similarities in vocabulary.Most linguists believe that Tlingit is geneti-cally related to the Athapaskan family of

languages and that the recendy extinctEyak language and nearly extinct Tongassdialect of Tlingit are the "missing links"in the Na-Dene language chain. Still, theorigin of much of the Tlingit vocabularyremains a puzzle.

Coastal Tlingits live in and on the edge ofa rain forest, and this environment hasshaped their distinctive lifestyle, material cul-ture, and intellectual culture. Tlingit peopleuse the food resources of the land andsea, especially salmon, seal, deer, and berries.Trees are important in art. Native Americanculture of the Northwest Coast has capturedthe imagination of explorers ever sincefirst contact. These are the people of totempoles, elaborately carved wooden bowlsand bentwood boxes, plank houses, ocean-going canoes, Chilkat robes, button blankets,and other well-known cultural objects

and events, especially the ceremony knownin Tlingit as koo.eex', and in English as"potlatch." Many features of these cultures,especially totem poles and potlatch, haveoften been misunderstood. The unifying fac-tor in Tlingit folklife is the social structure,which determines the function of verbaland visual art, and the patterns of social andritual interaction.

Social Structure:

Moiety, Clan, and House Group

All of Tlingit society is organized into tworeciprocating divisions, called moieties,named Raven and Eagle. Raven is sometimesknown as Crow, and Eagle as Wolf Crowand Wolf may be older terms. In contrast toclans, moieties have no political organiza-tion or power, but exist for the purposes ofexogamy (regulation of marriage) andexchange of ritual services. Traditionally, aperson married into the opposite moiety,although this pattern is no longer strictlyobserved. The moieties also group the clansfor other kinds of reciprocal actions. For

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example, Ravens not only marry Eagles, butaddress songs and speeches to them aswell. Eagles commission Raven artists to cre-ate visual art. Raven and Eagle clans hosteach other at potlatches, and engage in recip-rocal ritual display of visual and verbalart representing the spirit world. Each moi-ety consists of many clans. Most clans aredispersed though a number of commimities,but in any given community certain clanspredominate tor historical reasons. Politicalorganization rests at the clan level; clansown heraldic crests, personal names, andother property.

Clans are further subdivided into housegroups, sometimes called "lineage" in anthro-pological literature. Simply stated, thehouse where people lived or once lived waspart of their identity. Historically theterm referred to both residence and kinship,but now it is only a term of kinship, fornot all members ot a house group physicallyreside in the ancestral house, not all resi-dents of a clan house are members of thathouse group, and few of the original housesare still standing.

Tlingit society is matrilineal, which meansit is organized through the mother's line. ATlingit is born into his or her mothersmoiety, clan, and house group. The father'sclan is just as significant, but it fimctionsin a different way. While a person belongs tohis or her mother's clan, he or she is alsoknown as a "child of " the father's clan. Thisconcept is basic to any serious understandingof Tlingit culture. Most songs, especiallylove songs, are addressed to members of theopposite moiety, who are identifiedaccording to their fathers' clan rather thantheir mothers' and their own.

Ownership and Reciprocity

Two main features characterize Tlingit cul-ture and folk arts: ownership and reciprocity(or balance). Songs, stories, artistic designs,personal names, land, and other elements ofTlingit life are considered the propertyof a particular clan. The Tlingit term for thisconcept of tangible and intangible propertyis at.oow.

The patterns of visual art and oral

literature follow and reinforce the patterns of

social structure. The two moieties, Eagle

and Raven, balance each other. In host-guest

relationships at ceremonials, they share

in each other's joy and work to remove each

other's grief, matching song with song,

speech with speech, and display of art piece

with display of art piece. The exchange

of speeches between the two moieties follows

the pattern of exchange of marriage, goods.

and services, and the images in the songs and

speeches are built around references of

relationship to the opposite moiety. A song

or speech by a host must be answered

by a guest so that the words may be received

formally. Within the speeches themselves,

information and images may be balanced

artistically and emotionally: physical

and spiritual, living and departed, humans

and animals, living creatures and the land.

The Concept of At.oov/

At.oow is probably the single most importantspiritual and cultural concept inTlingit folkiife. The word literally means"an owned or purchased object." Thismay be land (geographic features such as amountain, a landmark, an historical site,a place such as Glacier Bay), a heavenly body(the sun, the Big Dipper, the Milky Way),a spirit, a personal name, an artistic design,or a range of other objects or things. Itcan be an image Irom oral literature, such asan episode from the Raven cycle on atunic, hat, robe, or blanket; it can be a storyor song about an event in the life of anancestor. Ancestors can themselves be at.oow.At.oow can also be spirits ol various kinds:shaman spirits and spirits of animals,trees, and geographic features. Through pur-chase by an ancestor, an "object" is ownedby his or her descendants.

When asked why Tlingit people feelso strongly about at.ooiv, Tlingit bead artistEmma Marks replied, ''At.oow is our life."The Tlingit word she used was haa kusteeyi,which translates as "our culture," "our way oflife," or "life itself " For the Tlingit people,art and other at.doiv are inseparable from lifeitself Its sources are in nature, and its func-tions are spiritual and social. We cannot con-duct our traditional ceremonies or makespeeches in a spiritual context without them.

Ceremonial Display

The traditional art pieces called at.oow arebrought out only on special occasions,usually in a ceremonial context, the mostwidely known of which, called "potlatch"in English, is a memorial ceremony involvingritual distribution of food and gifts. InTlingit tradition, the ceremonial is called^of.fV.v'("invitation"). It begins with a ritualcalled L S'aati Shda Gaaxi ("the widow'scry"), during which guests bring out theat.oow of their clan to wipe away the tearsof the hosts. This ritual display of visualart is accompanied by oratory delivered byselected individuals who are genealogicallyrelated to the deceased, and by songs.When we put the at.oow on our grandchil-dren, we wrap them in our care; whenwe wear them, we know that our ancestorsare present. When we do this, we aredoing what the art was designed and createdto do. We are also imitating our ancestors,doing things in remembrance of them.

This is the greatest honor we can give tothem, and to our relatives among thehosting clan.

This ritual display shows how serious our artis, how it goes beyond mere form, andhow strongly we feel about our at.oow. Eachpiece records and alludes to an historicaland spiritual event; each piece of visual art isassociated with songs that can be heard,dances that can be seen, and spirits that areneither seen nor heard except as manifestedin the performance. All visual art, but espe-cially the older pieces that are at.oow, isa very important ingredient to our lives andhelps us to siu vive spiritually.

Art and Land

Our art, with its attendant system ofat.oow, is also the spiritual and social ele-ment that holds our people and landtogether. Tlingit art is inseparable Irom theland. The designs are usually images ofanimals, places, or spirits associated with theplaces. Art materials come from the landand sea: wood, abalone, cedar bark, moun-tain goat wool, sheep horn, spruce roots,silver, copper, and gold. As we gather loodand raw materials for art in our subsistenceeconomy, we maintain close contact withOLU' environment, and this intimate relation-ship is reflected in the form and contentof our art. We know our animals by havingclose contact with them when we huntthem and when we prepare them for use. Welearn early how to prepare each animalwe skin. We know the skeletal forms. This isreflected in our art.

Our art comes from various levels of ourexperience: the first-hand knowledgeof animals gained by participation in a sub-sistence economy; the knowledge otwhere we are and the history of where wehave been; the sacred knowledge oflegend and myth; the social knowledge ofourselves as family, house group, clan,and nation. In all these ways, as Tlingit elderand artist Emma Marks observed,"Oiu" at.oow is our life."

For further reading, see: Dauenhauer andDauenhauer 1987, 1990; de Laguna 1972;Emmons 1991; Kan 1989; and Olson 1991.

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Native Peoples of theRussian Far East

Igor Krupnik

Thousands of years ago, theindigenous people who inhabitedthe Pacific gateways oi Siberiamade a historic breakthroughtoward a more settled life on the coast.Those ancient Siberians, predominantlynomadic caribou hunters and fishermen,started to move to the seashore tor a fewmonths every spring or summer to huntmarine mammals, fish for migratingsalmon, and collect bird eggs, seaweeds,and shellfish on the beaches.

In that new pattern, they followed generalshift: of Native people of the North Pacificregion, who, one by one, turned to coastallife and to the abundant and far morestable resources of the sea. This maritime-focused economy spread along both theSiberian and American sides of the NorthPacific, from Japan, Sakhalin Island,and Kamchatka to British Columbia andWashington State, like a giant arcconnecting the two continents.

The northernmost section of thisNorth Pacific cultural rim was occupiedby the ancestors of present-day YupikEskimos and Aleuts in Western Alaska andof several Native nations in northeasternSiberia: Koryak, Itelmen, Chukchi,Nivkh, and Asiatic or Siberian Eskimos.They all shared a number of culturaldevelopments and adaptations. Their econ-omy became a flexible mixture of threemajor components: hunting for sea

mammals, either from boats or on ice;hunting for land mammals (caribou, moose,elk, grizzly and polar bear, etc.) and birds;and fishing. They mastered dog-sled drivingand built sophisticated boats of skin andwood propelled by paddles and sails. Whenthey settled on the coast, they started tolive in permanent, socially organized villagesconsisting oi several dwellings—sod housesor dugouts in winter, skin or birch-bark tentsand wooden plank houses in summer. Intime, they developed elaborate rituals andcommunity festivals and produced decoratedfur and gutskin clothing, skin drums, wood-en masks, and ivory carvings.

Not all indigenotis Siberians moved tothe coast. Some remained inland andpreserved their original lifestyle of nomadichunting and fishing. The people of theSiberian interior created a fairly distinct cul-tural universe, due to the continuous influxof migrants from regions farther inland.These "inlanders" contributed cultural pat-terns, beliefs, and subsistence practicesthat originated in the forests and tundra ofnorthern Asia. OI those, by lar thegreatest development in aboriginal life inSiberia was the domestication of reindeer.

There are several theories on the origin ofindigenous reindeer herding, but fewclues tell us when it spread to the Pacificmargins of Siberia. It probably happenedshortly before Russians came to the areain 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.

The herders' life followed the annual cycleof the reindeer, with seasonal migrations forpasture grounds over hundreds of miles.People started to travel and to transport theirbelongings on domesticated reindeer, tolive on reindeer meat and fat, to make cloth-ing and tents ol reindeer hide, and toget everything they needed by exchangingreindeer products with their neighbors.

Through the barter process, Native lile innortheastern Siberia became highly spe-cialized. Coastal people focused even moreon marine hunting and fishing; the main-land folk—Even, Evenk, Yukaghir, and theinland groups of Chukchi and Koryak—became nomadic herdsmen or reindeer-driven hunters. As a result, interior folkwaysand art were influenced by a new modeof lile, while ceremonies focused on domes-tic reindeer occupied the pivotal place inlocal worldviews and festivals. As timepassed, those two basic traditions, the interi-or and the coastal, cross-bred at severallocations along the Siberian Pacific area.That mixture produced a thriving diversityof lifestyles and artistic expression, whichhas survived into the present as the pricelesscultural legacy of Native Siberians.

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live just across the Bering_ Strait, along the coast of Siberia'sH Chukchi Peninsula. They areknown as Asiatic Eskimo in Russia and asSiberian Yupik in America. As direct culturalheirs of the ancient coastal dwellers at thecrossroads of continents, they form the west-

ernmost population within the Eskimo/Inuitcultural area, which extends from BeringStrait to Greenland. Asiatic Eskimos present-ly number about 1,700; they are closelyrelated to the Yupik-speaking inhabitants ofSt. Lawrence Island and nearby westernAlaska.

Asiatic Eskimos call themselves Yupigyt("the real people"). During the 1600s and1700s, they lived all along the Siberianside of the Bering Strait, on the Arctic coastof the Chukchi Peninsula, and south onthe Bering Sea shores. Their neighbors, theinterior Chukchi people, gradually pushedthem out of this area, until they finally

retreated to the mountainous promontoriesat the sout eastern and northeasternedges of the Chukchi Peninsula. The south-ern branch of Siberian Yupik, around themodern town of Provideniia, is Hnguisticailyand culturally akin to the people of St.Lawrence Island. The northern group, whoformerly lived at the rocky East Cape(Cape Dezhnev), maintained close contactswith the American Natives of the BeringStrait narrows—the Diomede and Kingislanders and people of Wales, Alaska.

Siberian Yupik, like the residents of St.Lawrence, Diomede, and King islands, usedto live in large permanent coastal villagesand rarely engaged in inland activities. Theywere first and foremost sea-mammalhunters, skilled in harvesting walruses, seals,and large whales, using multi-seat skinboats equipped with paddles and gut sails.During the 1800s they changed theirtraditional dwellings from sod houses andcommunal dugouts to large tents madeof walrus hide and known by the Chukchiword iaranga. Their diet was based onwalrus, seal, and whale meat and blubber,supplemented by fish, birds, beach products,and reindeer meat bartered from reindeer-men of the interior. This style of life was vir-tually the same as that of ancient BeringStrait hunters of past millennia (except forbartering for reindeer meat, which waspreviously supplied by caribou hunting).

Despite active contacts with Americanwhalers and traders in the late 1800s,Siberian Yupik retained their lifestyle wellinto the present century. Their communitieswere organized along the lines of patrilinealclans that dominated social networksand ceremonial activities. Elaborate rituals,including whale and walrus festivals,with sacrifices and exchanges of gifts, werearranged as thanksgiving to sea andanimal spirits. Communal dancing andshamanistic performances accompanied bygroup singing and drum-beating thrivedon Siberian shores even in the 1930s, unop-posed by Christian missionaries, in con-trast to the situation among Native Alaskanson the other side of Bering Strait.

Wood is scarce on Siberia's rocky Arcticcoasts, but walrus ivory, fur, and hides areabundant as raw material for art, and a

tradition sprang up of gorgeous ivory carvingand ornamented fur clothing. Europeancontacts spurred souvenir production—deco-rated tusks, ivory figurines, models ofskin boats, fur carpets and slippers. Peoplestayed strong and proud in theif ethnicroots, in the close relations they maintainedwith the spirits of their land and sea, andof the animals they hunted.

Since the 1930s, this vibrant culture hasundergone dramatic changes luider thepressure of acculturation. The Soviet regimeclosed small villages and camps, andmoved residents to larger villages of prefabri-cated wooden houses, with modern schools,clinics, and community buildings. SmallNative cooperatives, started in the 1920s,were gradually absorbed into large state-runfarms devoted to commercial fox-farmingand supplying the inland reindeer industry.Sea-mammal hunting and fishing werereduced to secondary activities. Native whal-ing became extinct by the 1950s or 1960s,and traditional rituals and hunting cere-monies eroded altogether.

Yupik villages became dominated by out-siders. Shamans were oppressed as "classenemies," while Yupik children and young-sters accepted the new ideology of com-munist society. Since the 1960s, children nolonger speak the Native language, andthe authority of elders, once revered fortheir knowledge of ritual and survival, wassupplanted by Russian bureaucrats andCommunist functionaries. As a result,Siberian Yupik society disintegrated undergovernment policies of planned economyand paternalistic protection. The young,the middle-aged, and the elderly wereequally cut adrift from participation intheir own fates.

A few components of Native life survived,nevertheless, including some hunting forseals and walruses from skin and wood boats,food-sharing, subsistence plant-gathering,and dog-sled driving. The Native diet is stillbased mainly on fish and sea-mammal meat,and winter clothing—at least for huntersand elders—is still made of traditional rein-deer and seal skins. Some Yupik culturalhall-marks, such as group dancing, decora-tive ivory carving, and souvenir skin produc-tion, even received governmental financialsupport under a Soviet policy aimed atprotecting Arctic Natives.

The revival of Siberian Yupik culture wasspurred in the late 1980s when the "IceCurtain" dividing Bering Strait was broken.Contacts quickly resumed betweenSiberian Yupik and Native Alaskans, par-ticularly between Yupik communities fromProvideniia Bay and St. Lawrence Island.Since then, communications have boomed,propelled by regular group and fimilyvisits, air and boat crossings, and even directtelephone lines. The Siberian Eskimo'sofficial return to the international ArcticNative commimity was achieved in1989, when a Soviet Eskimo delegationattended the Inuit Circumpolar Conferencemeeting in Greenland, to become a partof the ICC political and cultural network.

For this Siberian Yupik revival, Russia'scurrent economic crisis bodes a futureof uncertainty and distress. As the centralizedstate economy disintegrates, so does theentire former system of employment, tech-nology and food supplies, and cash flow.Dependence on state subsidies, a shortage ofgrassroots political skills, and a lack ofautonomy in economic and civic decisionsprevent Yupik communities from imple-menting any alternative strategies for theirfuture.

The struggle for more control through self-government has become a key issue.Siberian Yupik people must renegotiate theirplace in a local administrative systemformerly dominated by Russians and otheroutsiders, and they must build a newbalance of power at community and districtlevels. As current economic problemsdrive outsiders from the area, local peopleare steadily regaining their numericaladvantage, prestige, and political muscle.Under such a trend, Siberian Yupik commu-nities may implement new models ofeconomic and social organization, perhapswith the help of their relatives andpartners across Bering Strait.

For further reading, see: Achirgina-Arsiak 1992; Hughes 1984; Krupnik 1987and 1988; and Voblov 1959.

25

Chukchi

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

T

he Chukchi are the largest Nativenation (about 15,000) on theAsian side of the North Pacific.■ At present, they populate a hugearea that reaches from Bering Strait to theKolyma River valley deep in inland Siberia,and extends along both the Arctic andPacific coasts of northeast Asia. Their namewas given to them by Russians, who

n;

also bestowed it on the Chukchi Peninsula,Chukchi Sea, Chukchi AutonomousArea, and the Chukchi District, which facesAlaska across Bering Strait.

The Russian name "Chukchi" actually comesfrom the Chukchi word Chauchu ("richin reindeer"). Reindeermen use this word todistinguish themselves from coastal folk,who are usually called Anqallyt ("the sea peo-ple"). During the Soviet era, a newChukchi name was introduced for the entirenation—Luoravetlans ("the real people").

Although an indigenous Siberian nation,the Chukchi apparently came to BeringStrait later than the Eskimos, anthropolo-gists trace their origin to the ancient resi-dents of interior and coastal Siberia, aroundthe northern Okhotsk Sea, that is, abouta thousand miles from Bering Strait. Theirclosest kin are the Koryak people of northernKamchatka, with whom the Chukchi sharesimilarities in language, beliefs, and historicaltradition.

Originally caribou hunters and inland fisher-men, many Chukchi have successfullyadapted to an Eskimo-like lifestyle and cul-ture. Those people of inland stock whosettled on the coast and took up walrus andwhale hunting are known as MaritimeChukchi. Many are genetically descendedfrom Eskimos who mixed with theChukchi and were assimilated by them. Theold Eskimo legacy, however, became part ofCoastal Chukchi culture, as seen in itsceremonies, dances, folktales, and beliefs.

Those Chukchi who retained their originalinland lifestyle became reindeer herders.In the 1700s, these were the warlike nomadswho stopped Russian colonial expansionat the gateways of America by fierce and suc-cessful military resistance. Raiding bandsof Chukchi warriors confronted Russian par-ties, refused to pay the fur-tribute to theauthorities, and destroyed Native groupswho were loyal to the Russians. In order tosubjugate the Chukchi by force, Russiasent several military expeditions in the early1700s, but all were defeated, and Russiawithdrew from the area for more than a cen-tury. Russian Orthodox missionaries wereno more successful in converting Chukchi toChristianity and challenging theirindigenous traditions. In the 1800s, theReindeer Chukchi were twice as numerousas the Asiatic Eskimos and MaritimeChukchi combined.

As the most powerful local nation, Chukchiare strong in their ethnic identity andproud of their cultural roots. In their formerrelations with neighboring Native tribes,they normally obliged others to learn theirlanguage. Their high status was built onmilitary power and wealth in reindeer herds,which made other Natives depend uponthem for food, furs, and clothing. The imageof "authentic reindeer folk," never sub-jugated by anybody, is still a dominant partof the Chukchi mentality.

The Chukchi traditional worldview, like thatof the Siberian Yupik, was dominated bythe idea that all nature is animated, and allthings—animals, birds, trees, and evenstones—have spirit "masters." The world isinhabited by numerous spirits and maliciouscreatures who can influence human well-being and the normal courses of life. Successin hunting, reindeer herding, traveling,and other activities mostly depends upon thegoodwill of "animal masters" and localland spirits. By rituals and observances, peo-ple can generally get along with the super-natural world. Real communication, howev-er, is maintained by the rare tew, theshamans, assisted by their personal "helpingspirits." Images of spirits and mythologicalcreatures are very common in Chukchidrawings and decorative art.

According to traditional Chukchi cosmology,several "worlds"—from five to seven,or nine—are situated one above another.While the earth is inhabited by livinghumans and animals, the upper and lowerworlds are populated by maliciousspirits, deceased people, or special types of"upper" and "lower" beings. Ordinarypeople must spend their lives in the presentreality, but shamans could move freelybetween the earth and the upper and lowerworlds during seances. Many Chukchifolktales and art objects represent a shaman'sjourney through the various physical andspiritual worlds.

The Reindeer Chukchi of the interior wereamong the last Siberian Natives to giveup their language, beliefs, and rituals underthe pressure of acculturation. In someremote areas, shamanistic performances andceremonies continued well into theCommunist era. But since the 1950s, Sovietofficials have compelled thousands offormer herdsmen to settle along the coast inlarge modernized villages. Here, theirformer preference for the free nomadic lifequickly eroded, and they mixed withMaritime Chukchi, Eskimos, and Russiannewcomers.

Due to their numerical strength anda greater share in local and Soviet powerstructures, the Coastal Chukchi havegood prospects for building some form ofself-government at village and evendistrict levels. With the demise of a Russian-controlled administration, new Chukchileaders will soon emerge as an alternativeregional political force. On the other hand,the Chukchi lack the Siberian Yupik'snetwork of personal and cultural ties withNative Alaskans and a shared languagethat greatly facilitates international contacts.

The Reindeer Chukchi of the interior mustaddress a different set of political targets.Their reindeer economy is viable, and thereis no power to share in the tundrawilderness, since few Russians live in theinterior beyond a handful of miningand rural communities. The main battle sofar is focused upon privatizing reindeerherds presently monopolized by state farms.As the new property system for reindeerbecomes established, whether as cooperativefamily, or even private herding enterprises,the issue of land claims, pasture allocation,and compensation for lost and pollutedgrazing areas will eventually surface as themain political priority.

The biggest threat to the revival of ReindeerChukchi is the generation gap inducedby decades of Soviet acculturation. Althougholder people rooted in Native traditionare numerous and respected, the middle-ageand younger generations are now attachedto a more comfortable village life. Raised inSoviet boarding schools, they lack theexperience and stamina of real tundra herds-men. The survival of Chukchi cultureand language depends upon the success ofhundreds of current village residents inreturning to their former lifestyle.

For further reading, see: Antropova andKuznetsova 1964; Arutiunov 1988a; andBogoras 1909.

27

Cultural affinities between NativeSiberians and Native Alaskans gofar beyond the Bering Strait area.Anthropologists have found strik-ing parallels between the myths, rituals,and dwelling types of the Koryak—inhabi-tants of the Kamchatka Peninsula—andthose of Tlingit, Tsimshian, and other Nativepeoples of Americas Northwest Coast.

The central figure of Koryak mythology isBig-Raven (Quikil or Quikinnaqu),who appears as the first man, the father andprotector of the Koryak, as well as apowerful shaman and a supernatural being.As the Great Transformer of the world,Big-Raven presides at every shamanistic cere-mony. Almost all Koryak myths and folk-tales deal with the life, travels, adventures,and tricks of Big-Raven and his family.About 80 percent of those episodes have par-allels in the mythology of the NorthwestCoast indigenous peoples.

These similarities have led researchers to seekancient cultural connections or even acommon origin for these peoples separatedby the North Pacific. Koryak (as wellas neighboring Itelmen and Chukchi) wereonce called "Americanoids" and werethought to be return migrants from Americato Siberia, after the initial peopling of theNew World. Although this hypothesis lacks

proof beyond similarities in myths andbeliefs, Koryak-Northwest Coast affinities arestill a key subject for research.

I he Kamchatka Peninsula is a hugeextension at land that stretches tor 1,000miles into the Pacific, separating theBering and Okhotsk seas. I he land is moun-tainous and volcanic, covered by tundrashrubs in the north and by coniferous forestin the south. It possesses the most abundantresources in all Siberia for feeding people—deer, moose, Dall sheep, fur-bearingand marine mammals, shellfish, and aboveall, bounteous runs of Pacific salmon.

The indigenous people of this land arethe Koryak, who live at and aroundthe northern stem of the peninsula, and theItelmen, former inhabitants of its centraland southern section. Like the Chukchi, theKoryak are divided between coastal mar-itime hunters and inland nomadic herders.Before the arrival of Russians, Itelmenwere predominantly river fishermen. Oncenumerous and militant, the Itelmen werenearly destroyed by contact. Their popula-tion dwindled to the present count of 2,500people, and their legacy all but perishedunder the pressure of epidemics and accul-turation. Despite heavy losses, the Koryakmanaged to preserve their traditions.

The Koryak occupy a special position withinthe Siberian portion of the Pacific Rim.They used to live at the very intersection ofall cultural influences entering the SiberianPacific from various directions. Along thecoast, Koryak land lay between the Eskimoand Aleut sea-mammal hunting area to thenorth, and the Itelmen, Nivkh, and AinuPacific salmon-fishing area to the south. Theinland portion of the Koryak tribe liesbetween the arctic tundra, where ReindeerChukchi follow their herds, and the Even/Tungus area of subsistence hunting andfishing in the northern forests. This uniquecombination of neighbors has broughtvarious legacies into Koryak culture.

Originally, the Koryak did not callthemselves by that name, and the origin theword is unknown. The Russians mayhave introduced it in the late l600s whenthey first met with the Reindeer portionof the tribe, since the word means "(being)with reindeer."

The Koryak had no common tribal name.The coastal people were called Nemelan("village dwellers"), while the reindeerherders preferred the name Chauchen orChauchuven ("rich in reindeer," the sameas the Chukchi word C^hauchu).

By the time of their first contacts withRussians in the 1650s, the Koryak,unlike Chukchi, did not have an integratednation with a common language andidentity. The interior herders were actually aseparate folk of several nomadic bands,with a dialect of their own. Coastal dwellerswere divided into a dozen regional groups,each having a dialect distinct from that ofthe reindeer people. This deep splithelped Russians to incorporate Kamchatkaresidents, despite their strenuous resis-tance, into a Siberian administrative systemby the early 1700s.

Taxation, christianization, and epidemicssoon followed. Half of the Koryak(and all Itelmen) converted to the RussianOrthodox Chtirch. While the reindeerpeople mostly preserved their originallifestyle, the coastal groups became moreassimilated. Small farms and livestock wereintroduced among southern Koryakand Itelmen. People moved from under-ground dwellings to log houses and gave upindigenous fur clothing for Russian-srylegarments. Although salmon still dominatedthe Native diet, bread, flour, and potatoesbecame popular. Local edible plantsand berries, formerly of great importance,were gradually replaced by introducedvegetables.

As Soviet power became established onSiberia's Pacific coast, the entire Koryakterritory was declared a Koryak AutonomousArea in 193L Following the new govern-mental policy, modern administrative postswere built, schools were introduced, andNative villages were reorganized as collectivefarms for commercial fishing, trapping,and herding.

To forge a new nation out of a dozentribal divisions, Soviet administrators sup-ported the idea of a "general" Koryakethnicity. They introduced a written Koryaklanguage based on a Reindeer Koryakdialect, which was incomprehensible tocoastal Koryak. Russians and other newcom-ers streamed into the area and transformedKoryak villages into mixed communities.In 1956 Native education was abandonedaltogether.

1 he influx of outsiders tinned the Koryaknation (presently 9,000 people) into aminority on their own land. Smaller villageswere closed, and their residents wererelocated to larger new communities withmixed populations. Continuing resettlementuprooted most of the former Koryaktribal divisions, and the entire nation wasplaced under enormous pressure toassimilate.

But that very policy finally triggered arevival. When a tiny community of Paren'Koryak refused to abandon their oldvillage in 1985, the story of Paren' resistanceattracted attention from the media, fromother Koryak, and even from internationalNative organizations. In the late 1980s,Koryak activists gained political momentum.A Koryak Native association has beencreated, and in 1990 the Koryak Auton-omous Area seceded from KamchatkaProvince to become an independent memberof the Russian Federation.

The Koryak's political agenda is similar tothat of the Chukchi, being split intoseparate "coastal " and "interior" streams.Unlike the Chukchi, however, the Koryakstill lack a common ethnic identity andlanguage. Therefore, issues of regional inter-est as opposed to general Koryak loyaltywill be extremely acute. To make thingsworse, the Koryak area has few commercialresources beyond fishing, and a collapsein local industries, services, and transporta-tion could be a real challenge to a smallnation. Since Russians are now fleeing thearea, Koryak land may soon return to itsoriginal owners—but in a state of recessionand economic despair.

For further reading, see: Antropova 1964;Arutiunov 1988b; Jochelson 1908; andKrasheninnikov 1972.

29

leather apron and a tur parka cut like a19th-century European morning coat;and social organization based on patrilinealclans with strict marriage regulations.

In their age-old move through the moun-tains and forests of inner Siberia, theTungus tribes gradually split into three majorclusters. Those who moved northwardand westward formed the largest portion,today known as Evenk (current popula-tion 30,000 in Russia and about 20,000 innorthern China). Those who movedeastward—to eastern Yakutia, Kolyma River,and the northern Okhotsk Sea—calledthemselves Even (presently about 17,000).Migrants into the Amur River basinmixed with local tribes and formed a num-ber of small fishing and hunting nations,which are described in the chapter on AmurRiver peoples.

This original distribution of the Tungustribes was modified by a number oflater migrations. Some groups ot Evenk,fleeing Russian invaders, moved to theAmur River valley, the southern coast ofthe Okhotsk Sea, and Sakhalin Island.

The Even, like all Timgus peoples, arefairly recent arrivals in the North Pacificregion. In some areas they first arrivedjust before or soon after the Russian invasionin the mid-1600s. Experienced warriorsand reindeer riders armed with iron lancesand Russian firearms, they pushed backtheir less powerful neighbors, especially localYukaghir and Koryak. The Even drivecontinued throughout Russian colonial rule,until they covered the Kolyma Rivervalley, the Anadyr River basin, and the inte-rior of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The Even's traditional economy, as partof the original Tungus pattern, focused onreindeer herding and land game hunting.In both activities, reindeer were important asriding and pack animals. Even reindeer arelarge, strong, and fully tamed, unlike thoseraised by Chukchi and Koryak herders.Well trained to bear a good-sized rider, anEven reindeer can carry a load of 80kilograms (180 pounds) and travel 50 milesa day. The Even herds, however, were ofrelatively small size, numbering in the dozensor a few hundreds. To ride reindeer. Evenused a special saddle and a harness similar to

that used by the horse-riding peoples otinner Asia. They never milk reindeerand rarely use sledges for driving, unlikeChukchi, Koryak, and other Siberianherdsmen. The Even are renowned throughthe Siberian Pacific as experienced landand fur-game hunters. After the arrival ofRussians, they became actively engagedin fur-trapping and trade for sable, marten,lox, and squirrel pelts. Subsistence huntingconcentrated on large meat animals,such as elk, wild reindeer of" the lorest andtundra, deer, bear, and mountain sheep.Fishing and fowl hunting was hit less impor-tant, except in coastal areas with goodsalmon runs.

The Even made clothing ot reindeer andelk skin, tancily decorated with beads,reindeer and elk hair embroidery, and smallmetal ornaments. All items—leatherapron, gloves, hide leggings, caps, borders ofhide coats—were elegantly ornamented.Men's trousers are brief, rather Chinese instyle, and need extra leg protectors forwarmth—evidence that the Evens originallycame from the south.

Another piece ot evidence tor the "innerSiberian " origin ot the Even is theirtraditional social system. Unlike most Nativepeoples ot the Pacific coastland. Even wereorganized into a network of patrilineal clans,and strict rules forbade marriages within aclan. Clan members might be scattered overa huge territory, but they steadfastly pre-served their clan affiliation and patrilinealdescent. Normally, two or more clans formeda marriage unit in which cross-cousinmarriage was the preferred pattern. In tormertimes. Even always migrated in bands thatincluded members ot various clans to ensureintermarriage. Many Even clans wereactually ot Yukaghir origin, while severalEven were also incorporated intoYukaghir clans.

In the 1700s Even converted to the RussianOrthodox Church and soon becamedevout Christians. Children were regularlybaptized, and marriages were licensedby Orthodox priests. Russian-style familyand personal names replaced originalEven names, and members ot a patrilinealclan all took the same last name.Through conversion. Even beliefs mixedwith Christian values and legends,though some shamanistic practices survived,and shamans were respected as spirittialleaders. "Shaman" is actually a Tungus word;the Russians introduced it to otherEuropean languages.

By the early I 80()s Even were tully depen-dent on trade with Russians tor variousgoods, including ammtmition, tea, tobacco,flour, and bread. Russian pressure onthe Even increased dramatically in the 1930s,when the new Soviet state launchednumerous industrial projects in northeasternSiberia using a labor force of thousandsof convicts. An Even "autonomous area" wasdeclared in 1931 but soon abolished.The entire valley ot the Kolyma River wasgradually transformed into a zone otgold-minnig, logging, and prison camps.Even hunting bands retreated intoremote areas, but eventually they werebrought under Soviet administration andmerged into a state-run economy ofherding and trapping.

The Even nation is now in a desperatesittiation. The newly formed Association ofthe Native People of Chukotka andKolyma (ANPCK) recognizes Even culture asseverely "damaged." State-run minesand industrial zones cover traditional hunt-ing and grazing areas. Although strongin numbers, the Even population is scattered(about 17,000 in Yakutia, Magadan,and Kamchatka provinces). There are fewcommunities where Even are numerousenough to start education and cultural activi-ties in their Native language. Evenpolitical power in the Pacific provinces ofSiberia is very limited and centered around anewly-established Even section withinthe ANPCK. Because of this, the Even polit-ical agenda is focused on preserving Nativelands and on lobbying for governmentsupport in language, education, and otherrelated programs tor cultural survival.

For further reading, see: Arutiunov 1988c;

Jochelson 1926; Kreynovich 1979;

Levin and Vasil'yev 1964; and Service 1978.

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The southernmost portion of theSiberian Pacific, once part ofthe ancient empires of China andKorea, is formed by the lowerAmur basin. The Amur River is the largest inSiberia (about 2,700 miles), equal in sizeand might to Alaska's Yukon River. For ages,the Amur River served as a cultural "high-way" along which peoples moved, exchang-ing and mixing customs, beliefs, andartistic traditions. The Amur was themain route of communication connecting

the forests of the Siberian interior, thePacific coastland, and even the remote shoresof the Arctic Ocean. Migrations of peoplesfrom China and the Central Asian steppebrought agriculture, animal husbandry,metalware, and pottery to the gateways ofSiberia.

As an age-old cultural crossroad, theAmur basin has a complicated history. Indistant prehistory, people settled in the

river valley with its plentiful salmon runs.They lived by fishing, hunting, andplant gathering; later, around the first centu-ry B.C., the Manchu people of northernChina introduced farming and animal breed-ing into the region.

• Once agriculture was established in thefertile middle section of the Amur Basin, thepopulation grew, and the area became theheartland of powerful empires. The Manchupeople of the Middle Amur had fortifiedcities, an army, and a codified system of

32

administration. The lower reaches of theriver, however, where the climate wasmore severe, retained their original himtingand fishing economies. In the mid-1800sthe river became an international border,separating the Russian empire on its north-ern bank from China to the south.

The Native people who inhabited the lowerAmur valley were a mixture of variousTungus and Manchu tribes from the interior,Nivkh, and probably Ainu migrantsfrom Sakhalin Island and the Amur estuary.Except for the Nivkh, all Native peoplesof the Amur valley speak closely related lan-guages of Tungus-Manchu stock. Theyshare the same general name tor themselves,nani ("local people"), and a numberof clan names and clan groups cross ethniclines. Presently, those nations are knownas: Nanai (population 12,000), Ulchi(3,200), Udegei (1,900), Oroch (900), andNegidal (600). Another 1,500 Nanai and4,000 Oroch live on the Chinese side of theAmur and along adjacent streams.

All Native peoples of the Amur valleypracticed salmon fishing and hunting forland animals of the forest and for marinemammals on the coast and the Amurestuary. Groups that controlled good fishinggrounds along the river—such as theNanai and Ulchi—led more or less sedentarylives. Others—such as the Negidal,Udegei, and Oroch—tended to be huntersand followed a more mobile lifestyle.As river and estuary fishermen, Amur peoplewere skilled in building various kinds ofbirchbark canoes and large wooden boats, upto 10 meters (25 feet) long. They werealso experienced dog breeders and outstand-ing skiers, using skis lined with seal andreindeer skin in the deep snow of the north-ern forests.

Amur valley people were famous forelaborate clothing and footwear made ofsalmon fishskin. All clothing was gorgeouslydecorated, especially shamans' robes andfestival garments. The decorations, often inmany colors, show Chinese-style motifs,modified according to the local tradition forintricate designs.

I

Woodworking was another major localcraft, using metal tools imported by Chinese,Korean, or Russian traders. Finely carvedwooden dishes and boxes were madefor both personal use and for sale, and vari-ous parts of dwellings, gravehouses, boats,and sledges were lancily decorated. Images oftrees, dragons, tigers, and birds dominatein Native art. Birds—mainly waterfowl—were prominent in local myths about thecreation ol the universe and the constructionof the "world trees" that link the upper,middle, and lower worlds.

Snakes also appear often in Amur art andfolklore. According to Nanai legend,the earth was originally smooth and coveredwith water, until a giant serpent ploweddeep valleys with his body. The water floweddown the valleys, leaving dry land lorhumans and other creatures. Snake imagesappear in Native art in the form ofspirals and zigzags.

The Rtissians first entered the Amur valley inthe mid-1600s, but Chinese troops drovethem back for about 200 years. In the 1800s,Russia formally annexed the north side ofthe valley and all the lower portion. Russianpeasants, settlers, and Orthodox missionariessoon poured into the area. Railroads,towns, and villages were built, while Nativepeoples were steadily forced to gather at afew locations within their tribal lands and tosurrender their hunting and fishinggrounds. Within fifty years. Native peoplewere a minority among a boomingpopulation of Russian, Chinese, and Koreannewcomers.

After Soviet power was established in thearea, it tried to protect Native peopleby designating their traditional lands as terri-torial "autonomies." A handful of "Nativedistricts" were created in the 1920s to boostNative political activity and participationin administration. Those districts were inte-grated into a larger Lower Amur "nationalarea," following the pattern applied to otherminority nations in Siberia.

But the valley, with its abundant fish andtimber resources, was too important forRussian industry. The Lower Amur "nationalarea" was soon annulled. "Native districts"lost their specific rights and graduallybecame ordinary precincts. Native languages

dwindled, as Native speakers had no say inpublic life. Although Native peoplereceived government funds to develop villageschools, medical facilities, and economies,they were ever more outnumbered and over-powered throughout the area. The statesupported Native salmon fisheries and furtrapping for economic reasons and promoteddancing and decorative arts to keep Nativeidentity afioat.

That precarious balance was recentlythreatened by new plans for industry anddevelopment. Due to Russia's currenteconomic crisis, local authorities are desper-ate lor foreign investment. The hungerfor funds is opening the door to any propos-al backed by foreign cash. China is pushingfor new construction and dam projects,to supply its growing population in thenorth. The outcome for the valley would bedegradation of the environment, collapseof the salmon runs, and new pressure onNative peoples.

To protect their lifestyle, Amur River nationsare becoming more assertive. In 1992 theUdegei gained worldwide attention throughtheir staunch refusal to surrender triballands in the Bikin River valley to a Russian-Korean logging venture. Udegei village coun-cils rejected the proposal and sent huntersto guard the borders of their land. TheUdegei hired a lawyer to defend their rightsand held public rallies outside governmentbuildings. Several international groups,Russian activists, and government officialsalso rallied to support the Udegei. Asof 1993, the Bikin valley logging projectwas delayed for further social and environ-mental evaluation.

For further reading, see: Black 1988; Ivanov,Levin, and Smolyak 1964a; Laufer 1902;and Okladnikov 1981.

33

Nivkh

Igor Krupnik

s Siberia's Pacific coastland runs^^^L farther south, to the gateways^K^^L of Japan and China, it sphts in

^M^^^^ two, as if reflecting two differentcuhural streams. The eastern stretch turnsinto a narrow 700-mile-long strip—SakliaUnIsland, whose southern tip nearly joins theisland of Hokkaido, the northernmostportion of Japan. The western stretch followsthe rock)' coast of the present-day RussianMaritime Province and becomes the hugeAmur River vallev. The river streams into the

heart of the forests of inland Siberia, whileits southern tributaries reach the bordersof Korea and northern China.Sakhalin Islandresembles a giant fish, with its head turnednorthward toward the mouth of the AmurRiver. Both mainland and island are inhabit-ed by one Native Siberian nation—theNivkh. Their present population of some4,600 people is split almost evenly betweenthe island and mainland.

Nivkh teacherNukhba andstudents, readingnewly publishedprimer in theNivkh language.

Only 10% of theNivkh still knowtheir native language,and most of these areover the age of fifty.Khabarovsk ArsenevRegional Museum.

The Nivkh, or Gilyak, as the olderliterature calls them, are a cultural mystery.Linguistically they are isolated, showingno direct affinities with their closest neigh-bors, the Ainu of Sakhalin Island andthe Tungus and Manchu inhabitants of theAmur River region. Physically Nivkhalso differ from the surrounding Siberianpopulations. In terms of subsistence,they are more like the Koryak and Itelmen,coastal sea-mammal hunters andfishermen of the Kamchatka Peninsula andnorthern Okhotsk Sea coast. On the

34

other hand, certain features in ancient Nivklispiritual culture reflect cultural connectionswith the people ot the Northwest coast ofNorth America.

According to Nivkh traditional beliefs,Sakhalin Island is actually a giant beast lyingon its belly. Its back is covered by athick "hair" of trees, and people live in thathair, like small insects. The beast's "head"is formed by the island's northernmostextension. Cape Mary, and its feet are twosouthern peninsulas stretching into theLaPerouse Strait. Periodically, the beast rises,as if bothered by the people on its back,like a sleeping dog. When the beast moves,people feel the earth trembling androaring in earthquake.

The Nivkh shared Sakhalin Island witha few other Native nations. Their southernneighbors were Ainu who originallycame from the island ol Hokkaido, pushednorthward by Japanese expansion. Ainuwere inland hunters and fishermen withmany cultural features that show their south-ern origin. Nivkh-Ainu relations weremainly hostile, as Nivkh raided Ainu villagesfor goods, women, and slaves.

The Nivkh's only northern neighbors werea tiny group of Tungus-speaking Orok(now about 600). They once came from thenearest mainland, with their small reindeerherds, and preserved the original Tungussubsistence pattern of hunting and fishingsupplemented by small-scale reindeerbreeding. In the 1800s another group ofTungus-speaking people migrated tothe island—the reindeer-breeding Evenk(presently 200 people altogether), who alsosettled in the island's northern interior.Nivkh were also in contact with the Chinese,at least for the last few centuries, and sincethe 1700s with the Japanese as well.These contacts provided the Nivkh withmetalware, tobacco, silk, manufacturedclothing, beads, and porcelain in exchangefor furs, fish-skin, and eagle feathers.

In contrast to their neighbors, the Nivklidisplayed many cultural and subsistenceadaptations that indicate a subarctic origin—or at least close contacts with arcticpeople. Their traditional winter dwelling wasan earthen house built hah-undcrground,entered by way of a smoke hole in the roofNivkh clothing was made of seal skinsand animal furs. Hunting for seal, sea lion,and beluga whale from large woodenboats occupied a prominent role in Nivkheconomy. Nivkh were renowned dog-breeders and dog-sled drivers. Dog sledding,a characteristic feature of arctic life,was adopted from the Nivkh by all theirneighboring nations, the Ainu, Orok,and Amur River people. The Nivkh sled,their way of harnessing dogs, and theirpractice of driving a sled from a seated posi-tion are close to the Itelmen style andto Chukchi and Koryak reindeer driving.

Traditionally, Nivkh lived in clan-organizedvillage commtmities that changedlocation two or three times a year. In thespring they traveled to the shore torsea-mammal hunting and salmon fishing;there they usually occupied woodenplank houses, often built on piles. Inthe tall they moved inland to winter settle-ments along the river valleys. Morepermanent dwellings were built at the wintersite—semi-imderground houses coveredwith earth and grass, or, later, largeframe houses copied from the Manchuand Chinese.

The most distinctive feature of Nivkhritual life was their tamous "bear festival." Itsclimiix was the sacrifice ot a live bear,usually captured as a cub and raised in thevillage by a certain clan or lineage.Preparation for the festival lasted severalyears, while the captured bear grew tomaturity in a specially built corral. Thebear festival usually took place in winter andincluded—besides the ritual feeding andkilling of the bear—dog races, groupgames, a communal feast, and group dances.The festival was given by a group ofrelatives to honor the death ot a kinsman.Generally, it was an inter-clan ceremonyin which a clan of wife-takers restoredtheir connection with a clan of wife-givers—a connection broken by a kinsman'sdeath. Several neighboring peoples—Ainu,Orok, Amur River nations—alsopracticed this tradition of bear sacrifice.

Nivkh contacts with the Russians began inthe mid-1800s, when Sakhalin Islandand the Amur River valley were incorporatedinto the Russian empire. Soon Russianpeasants were sent to colonize Sakhalin, andin the 1880s the island was made a place ofexile and convict labor. This continuedinto the first decades of the Soviet regime;several local industries, including logging,coal-mining, and oil, were manned primarilyby convicts.

As Saldialin's immigrant population grew, thegovernment forced the Nivkh and otherNative people out ot their traditional landsthrough a series ot resettlements. In 1946all Sakhalin Ainu and halt of all Orok wererelocated to Japan. The Native residentsof Sakhalin were overwhelmed by incomingRussians. At present, the Native peopleconstitute barely 0.4 percent of the totalisland population of 700,000.

The breakdown of the Soviet state systemand Russia's recent economic crisis placed anew threat to the Nivkh and other Nativeresidents. Sakhalin Island is currently Russia'slargest oil-producing area in the Pacific.There are several new plans to expand off-shore oil-drilling and to construct pipelinesacross the island to pump oil to shipterminals or to the mainland. As the dreamof an "oil El Dorado " dominates thepublic mood on the island, the fate ot itsNative residents is given low priority. Ifnew foreign-sponsored oil projects becomereality, the results will be more resettlementot Native peoples, a high risk of seapollution, and further appropriation ofNative fishing and himting lands.

Sakhalin's Native people are responding

to the challenge by organizing their

first political groups at village, district, and

provincial levels. Their agenda focuses

on issues of local self-government, protection

of tribal lands, and state investment in

Native educational, economic, and cultural

programs.

For further reading, see; Black 1973;Ivanov, Levin, and Smolyak 1964b; andWatanabe 1972.

35

36

Ancestral Times

William W. Fitzhugh

Native American Origins

The evidence oi early bone and stone tools suggests thatthe earliest cultures and peoples of the New Worldarrived from Asia at the end of the last Ice Age, about12,000-15,000 years ago. Spreading rapidly in uninhabit-ed territory where animals were plentiful and had little fear ofhumans, these early groups soon populated nearly the entire territoryof the Americas, except for the arctic regions and Greenland,which were settled by a later wave of arctic-adapted Asian peoplesabout 4,000 years ago. By virtue of geography, Alaska and easternSiberia played prominent roles in the history of Asian-Americancontacts and exchanges for more than 10,000 years.

When Europeans began to explore America, it was thought thatNative Americans must have had European ancestry, but when VitusBering discovered Bering Strait in 1741, theories of Asian originsbegan to receive support. Today there are numerous theories aboutthe peopling of the New World, but all of them acknowledge theimportance of Siberia and Alaska in this process. One prominentcurrent theory proposes three migrations of Asian peoples to accountfor patterns in Native American languages, gene pools, and archeo-logical data. This theory holds that most of the peoples and culturesof the Americas originated in the earliest wave of Asian peoples,who arrived in Alaska over the Beringian land bridge, or along itsPacific coast, and spread south when glacial ice began to melt about12,000-14,000 years ago. Archeological traces of these first Amer-icans are seen in what archeologists call the Clovis culture, with itsdistinctive type of fluted point, a variety of which is known alsoin Alaska. To date, no known prototype for American Clovis culturehas been found either in Asia or the Americas.

A second wave of Asian settlers left artifacts in a style called theSiberian-American Paleoarctic tradition. Sites of this tradition, whichcontain microblades, cores, bifaces, burins, and other specializedstone tools, are found on both sides of Bering Strait, at Ushki Lake(Figs. 19, 20), Diuktai, and other Siberian sites, and later, by10,000 years ago, at Alaskan sites of the Denali culture (Fig. 22).Because Denali sites are limited to Alaska and the NorthwestCoast, that culture may be the ancestor of modern Athapaskan andTlingit peoples.

The third and final group of American cultures thought to haveAsian connections are Eskimos and Aleuts. Early Eskimo-Aleut cul-ture is believed to have appeared about 8,000 years ago in theBering Sea and North Pacific region. Its earliest sites are found atAnangula and Ocean Bay, and its distinctive features include afocus on sea-mammal hunting using harpoons, kayaks, oil lamps,and other northern maritime adaptations. Although Eskimo-Aleut culture probably derived from earlier cultures ol the area, theinfluence of Siberian Neolithic cultures was also important.

While this three-part theory accounts reasonably well lor currentknowledge, little is known for certain about the early historyof the Americas, and of Siberia and Alaska in particular. The real pre-history of Beringia will not be known for decades or centuries andno doubt will be illuminated by Native oral history and tradition.

17.

Aleut figurines

Collected by M. Mangus in PortMailer, Alaska, 1981. NationalMuseum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution,M492418 (left), 8.5 cm;A492416 (center), 9.3 cm;A492417 (right), 8.5 cm.

These remarkable ivory figurineswere found at an archeologicalsite in Port Moller, Alaska, butlittle is known of their originallocation, culture, or age. They areabsolutely unique; their bold,

stylized form is unlike any otherprehistoric Eskimo or Aleutfigurines. The central figure wearsa bird or seal crest; the figureat right, a topknot. Facial featuresresemble Aleut and Pacific Yupikceremonial masks. Limb jointsare marked with lines, and collarsor necklaces are shown. Groovedperforations on the backs facilitat-ed mounting. They probablyhad religious significance and maydepict deities or ancestors.

18.

Harpoon hunting magic

Old Bering Sea culture socketpiecefound on St. Lawrence Island,Alaska, by E.D. Jones in 1936,dated ca. 1 B.C. to A.D. 500,National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution,#A378054. 21 cm.

This engraved socketpiece of fos-silized walrus ivory, part of anOld Bering Sea culture harpoon,depicts a predator capturing itsprey. This imagery—together with

other engraved decorations,raised bosses, and drilled holes formounting decorative bristles—illustrates an important aspect ofearly Eskimo hunting magic.By making beautifid weapons,hunters showed respect for animalspirits, which in turn offeredthemselves to the people and werereceived as "honored guests. "

37

Beringia: The Asian-American Land Bridge

Scientists believe that people first moved into the Americasacross the Beringian land bridge, or along its southernshores. This "land bridge" (actually the exposed sea floorof the Bering and Chukchi seas) today lies 50-100 meters(150-300 feet) underwater but existed as dry land at several periodsduring the last million years. In effect it was more like an extensionof Asia than a "bridge," a vast expanse of tundra, almost 1,000 mileswide, connecting Asia and North America. This area was a produc-tive habitat for arctic-adapted plants and animals, including caribou,mammoths, and other large game, and its southern coast was rich inmarine mammals, fish, and seabirds. Once early Asian peoples mas-tered the basic techniques of arctic survival, probably 20,000-40,000years ago, human expansion into Beringia and the later peopling ofthe New World was sure to follow.

The first route into the Americas has been debated for more thana century. These debates have been largely theoretical, becausethe archeological sites of these early migrants are now under water.Beringia probably reached its greatest extent 17,000-25,000 years

ago. As the Ice Age climate warmed, glacial ice melted and the sealevel began rising. Bering Strait appeared about 11,000 years ago,and by 6,000 years ago the modern shorelines of Alaska and Siberiawere established.

Through most of the glacial period, glaciers blocked access to the restot North America. Ice covered the Brooks and Alaska ranges, andglaciers covering the Canadian Rockies merged with the LaurentideIce Cap in eastern Canada to create a solid glacial mass from thePacific to the Atlantic. But by 12,000-14,000 years ago, narrowchannels began to open to the east and south, and ice-free corridorsmay have opened east of the Rockies and along the coast of Alaskaand British Columbia. Through these corridors the first Asianmigrants may have moved south into more temperate regions, dis-covering a vast, pristine, rich, uninhabited land. Within 1,000 yearsthese "first Americans" expanded throughout North and SouthAmerica. Only the Canadian arctic, covered by ice until 5,000 yearsago, and Greenland remained unoccupied until Eskimo peoplesexpanded east from Alaska about 4,000 years ago.

20.

Late Ushki culture

(ca. 9000 B.C.),Kamchatka, SiberiaCollected by Nikolai Dikov.Northeastern InterdisciplinaryResearch Institute, Magadan,Russia. Left to right (top to bot-tom): leaf-shaped bifacial points#Ush-I-IVDG, 9.3 cm; #Ush-80,5 cm; #Ush-88, 3.9 cm; arrow COpoint, 2.5 cm; round skin scraper,2.2 cm; flake knifl #Ush-82, 5.9cm; tivo microblade cores #UI-VI-22-Zh, 4.1 cm and 3 cm; andtwo microblades, #U-VI-315.

3,000 years after the first occupa-tion, people returned to Ushki(Level VI) and built Eskimo-stylehouses with central hearths andsubterranean entrance tunnels.One house contained a dog burialand a ritually scorched bisonshoulder blade. Late Ushki stonetools include leaf-shaped bifacesand projectile points, scrapers,knives, and microblade technology.Similarities to Siberian Diuktaiand American Denali culture sitesindicate that Late Ushki is part ofSiberian-American Paleoarctictradition.

19.

Early Ushki culture

(ca. 12,000 B.C.),Kamchatka, SiberiaCollected by Nikolai Dikov.Northeastern InterdisciplinaryResearch Institute, Magadan,Russia. Left to right (top tobottom): bifacial knife blade#YI-VII-30, 8.7 cm; stemmedpoints, 2.8 c?n, and #Ush-V-75,2.7 cm; drilled stone beads;three microblades, Y-414,Y-I-410, and 409; and stemmedpoint #Y-I-73-Vn, 4.2 cm.

One of the earliest archeologicalsites in the North Pacific region is

at Ushki Lake on the KamchatkaRiver, where people begari settlingto catch salmon. Over time theircamps were buried under volcanicash and silt, creating a deep strat-ified record of successive cultures.The earliest remains, dating to12,000 B.C. (Level VII), includeoutlines of skin tents and fireplaceswith bones of bison, horse, andsahfion. Level VLL alsocontained a himiati gravecovered with red ocher, and morethan 1,000 decorative ground-stone beads.

20

38

21.

Paleoindian tradition

Three points from the NationalMuseum of Natural History,Smithsonian institution. Top left,Clovis-like fluted pointA39]806 from Utokok RivenAlaska, ca. 9000 B.C., 5.5 cm;bottom left Putu pointSIC-200-1, Putu site, northAlaska. ca.8500 B.C.. 2.3 em;right, Healy Lake point,ininumhered, central Alaska, ca.9000 B.C., n.4 cm.

23.

Early maritime culturesin Alaska

Ocean Bay culture, 4000 B.C.,from the KOD-363 site. RiceRidge, Kodiak Island. Koniag,Inc., Kodiak, Alaska. Lef toright: slotted bone shafr withmicroblades, #363-89-6-129-245, 10.8 cm, 363-89-372-2.363-89-3-49-2, and 363-89-6-27-2; ivory throiving-boardpin.3.4 cm; and two harpoon heads#363-881-1-20-129. 9.3 cm,and #363-881-137-210, 9.8 cm.

Coastal sites in the Aleutiansand on the Gulf of Alaska. 8,000-10,000years old, indicate that

The oldest manmade objects inAlaska date to about 10.000 B.C.Their makers are calledPaleoindians, the first inhabitantsof North America. UnlikeDenali culture (Fig. 22), Utokok,Healy Lake, and Putu pointshave no known links to Siberia.

Siberian cultures quickly adaptedto the rich supply of sea mammals,fish, and seabirds along Alaska'sPacific coast. At this time glacialice still blocked sections of thecoast. But even before 4000 B. C.maritime cultures like Ocean BayI were using kayaks, harpoons,and throwing boards (note thetiny bone hook, which held aspear in place on a tltrowingboard) to capture seals, sea lions,and sea otters, and smaller har-poons for fsh and waterfowl. Theuse of slotted bone points withmicroblade insets ties Ocean Bayculture to earlier SiberianPaleolithic and Mesolithic tradi-tions.

22.

Denali culture

(ca. 8700-5200 B.C.)Dry Creek, Alaska. University ofAlaska Museum. Left to right(top to bottom): two bifaces#UA77-44-3884, 12 cm, andUA74-41-199, 5 cm; two burins,UA77-44-370 and UA76-155-5496, 2.6 cm; two microbladecores DCr73-24, 3.2 cm, andDCr79-32, 4 cm; two microb-lades DCr73-47 and 48.

21

Among the earliest archeologicalsites in Alaska are small fishingand hunting camps on river ter-races near Mount Denali. Denalitools include bifaces, stemmedpoints, burins, and microbladesmade from wedge-shaped cores.Denali sites date later thanSiberian members of the Siberian-American Paleoarctic tradition,indicating eastward expansion ofa tradition arising in Asia.

39

The Siberian Neolithic: Origins of Settled Village Life

With the onset of warming at the end of the Ice Ages, larger populations and increased sedentary life by 9,000-10,000

cultures 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 Japans Jomon and Russia's Lower Amur River sites indicate cultural development.

24.

Sakhalin Island LateNeolithic, Siberia

Sakhalin Regional Museum, Russia:four bone hai-poon heads, from theNevelsk II site, collected in 1957 byKozyrev, left to right: #70-215,7.5 cm, 70-219, 8.7an, 70-216,9.3 cm, and 70-214, 11.5 ct7i;three arroivheads, from the ImchinII site, northern Sakhalin, #3753-153, 2.4 cm, #3753-74, 5.2 cm,and3753-189, 3.5 cm; scraper#3753-215, from Imchin II, 6.2cm; microblade core #3760-497,and two microblades #^516-14and 4516-10, frvm hnchin II; twopottery sherds, left #4334-752, fromthe Sadovnik II site, southernSakhalin, and right, #4720-3811,from the Imchin II site, northernSakhalin, 10 cm and 11.5 cm.

By late Neolithic times, ca.3000-1000 B.C., Sakhalin Islandcultures had toggling hatpoons,ceramics, and an array of stonescrapers, knives, points, and micro-blades. By this ti?ne the distinctivefeatures of coastal SiberianNeolithic, seen here in a collectionfrom the Nevelsk II site, are frdlydeveloped. The variety of harpoontypes indicates the evolution of har-poon technology. Hunters seem tohave used decoration as huntingmagic to please the spirits of preyand increase their success. Similarbelief and practices are foundamong ALiskan Eskimo cultures.

25.

"Nefertiti" of the Amur,Siberia (cast)

Original at the Museum of Historyand Culture of the Peoples ofSiberiaand the Far East, Novosibirsk,Russia, #KN-63-48090. 11 cm.Excavations at the Kondon site inthe lower Amur River recovered thisremarkable fired clay figurine froma Neolithic dwelling dating to4000-2000 B. C. An armless bustwith a flat, sivept-back foreheadand carefidly modeled facial fea-tures, the Kondon figurine may haveserved as a sevon (shamans helperor guardiari used to ward off dis-ease) or dzhulin (female householddeity or guardian).

The form resembles Alaskan Eskimo,Aleut, and Indian figurines thatwere used both as children's dollsand as charms and religious icons.

40

26.

Tarinski culture(3000-1000 B.C.), south-ern Kamchatka, Siberia

Kamchatka Regional Museum,Russia, left to right, top row:arrow head #29864-A5l310, 6.2cm, Bol'shoi Kamen site; bonetool #29925-A9/106, 7.8 an;slate labret #G1-30283, 5.8 cm,Jiipanovo site; human figure#G1-30282, 3 cm, Bol'shoi Kamensite; tivo obsidian arrowheads#29864-A5l3l6, 2.2 cm, and#29864-A5l353, 2.8 cm; below,round scraper #29925-A9l89,3 cm; bone pin or creaser #29925-A9I654, 9.4 cm; gray stone scraper29864-A5/573, 6.4 cm; obsidianpoint #29864-A5l372, 4 cm;below, two obsidian scrapers#29925-A9l565, 3.2 cm and#29925-A9l31, 4.9 an, mouth ofthe Riabukhina River; andengraved bone pendant #29925-A9I136, 10 cm.

The Tarinski cidture of Kamchatkaexhibits features common to otherLate Neolithic Siberian cidtures,such tu Taria, Northern Chukotka,Ymyiakhtakh, and Ust-BeLtia.Other elements, such as labrets,indicate contacts with the widerNorth Pacific region. Labrets, T-shaped or plug-like ornaments wornin a hole in the lip, are found inmost North Pacific cultures of thisperiod. Tarinski material alsoinclude chipped stone projectilepoints and asymmetric knives madeof colorfid chert; T-shaped scrapers;bone spatulas, pins, and creasers foraimping boot soles; and stone adzesand gouges for woodworking andboat building. Human figures ofchipped stone probably representedspirit guardians used as huntingma^c and protective devices. Suchfigures are found in many Siberiansites of this and Liter periods and areknown in Alaskan Eskimo andCanadian Dorset culture.

26

27.

Tokarevski culture(1500-1 B.C.), northernOkhotsk Sea, Siberia

Kamchatka Regional Museum,Russia, lefi to right: tivo bone har-poons #cp-88 dz-1530, W.5 cm,and #OL-83 N-35, 7.5 cm; tivostone points #VX-1219-CP-89-d-14-25, 6.5 cm cm, and VX-1218-CP-Vll-84g, 8 cm; below, twobone spear prongs #M-37 OL-87-20, 15.5 c?n, and #OL-83-P-3720 an.

Tokarevski culture is known fromexcavations in the Magadan regionof the Okhotsk Sea. Like the BeringSea, the Okhotsk is seasonally cov-ered with pack ice and is one of the

richest marine habitats of the NorthPacific. Protectedfivm the openocean and fed by nutrients fivm theAmur River, the Okhotsk Seanurtured the development of highlycomplex prehistoric cidtures.Tokarevski culture closely parallelsthe development of Eskimoand Aleut cultures in its economy,dwelling types, village life, andtechnology. The latter included fixedand detachable harpoons, andtrident spears for birds and fish.Many of the haipoon forms showclose stylistic parallels with earlyEskimo harpoons from the BeringSea, but lack the ornamentation ofearly Eskimo and Aleut cultures.

27

28.

Tokarevski stonependants, northernOkhotsk Sea, Siberia(1500-1 B.C.)

Kimchatka Regional Museum,Russia, lefi to right: #VX-1224, 2.7cm, ; #VX-1228, 41 cm; #VX-1227, 3.3 an; #VX-1226, 3.6an;#VX-1225, 6 cm.

An exceptional feature of Tokarevskiculture is its use of ground stonependants for ritual charms and pro-tective devices. Pendant formsinclude human and animal shapesand oval discs incised with skeletalpatterns. Many display notchededges. These pendints probablyserved as personal guardians. Anumber of cultures in the NortliPacific and arctic regions usependant charms that feature skeletalpatterns, animal images, andnotched edges.

41

Development of Northern Maritime Societies

During the past 6,000-8,000 years, peoples living alongthe shores of the North Pacific and Bering Sea learned toadapt their technology and cultures to the rigorousclimate, environment, and animals of this northern mar-itime region. This process, epitomized by the Eskimo-Aleut typeof culture, included development of special technology and skills forhunting marine mammals with skin kayaks, harpoons, throwingboards, and multi-pronged bird and fish spears; warm tailored skingarments; semi-subterranean dwellings heated by blubber- andoil-fueled lamps; and special tools such as boot-creasers, ulus, needlecases, and others. This process is most dramatically noted in thedevelopment of North Alaskan Eskimo culture; more generalized

29.

northern maritime forms appear among peoples of the Okhotsk Sea,the Aleutian Islands, and the Pacific coast of Alaska and theNorthwest Coast. While the roots of this adaptation to northernmaritime settings began in the Siberian Paleolithic and was pioneeredby the earliest Alaskan peoples, it is most notable among later cul-tures where bone, ivory, and other organic materials have beenpreserved. Siberian and Alaskan/Northwest Coast cultures beganto exhibit these tendencies simultaneously about 4000-5000B.C. New inventions and skills spread so quickly through a chain ofmaritime-based societies across thousands of miles, that today itis difficult to tell how and where these developments first occurred.

Denbigh and the ArcticSmall Tool tradition(2500-1500 B.C.),Alaska

University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, left to right (top tobottom): three endblades #IYEB6-8, 3.5 cm; UA64-99-9, 3.4 an;and #CS-66-2700, 7.7 cm; twobone harpoon heads, #UA68-62-322, 10.3 cm, and #UA68-62-260, 9.6 cm, fi-om the Denbighsite; black chert projectile point#CS-354, 6.5 cm, from theCampus site; Denbigh grey chertborer #UA64-99-46, 5.2 cm;Denbigh mitt-shaped grey chertburin #UA64-99-108, 2.5 cm;below left: mitt-shaped broivnchert flake knift #UA6^-99-25.4 cm; black chert side blade#UA6'i-99-67, ^. 7 cm; and greychert end scraper #UA64-99-42,2.7 cm, ftom the Denbigh site;brown chert microblade coreftom the Campus site #CS-3-16,3.6 cm.

In the early 1960s archeologistsworking at Cape Denbigh inNorton Sound discovered a newarctic culture, the Denbigh FlintComplex. Fhis ctdture left behinddelicately flaked flint points,knives, perforators, skin scrapers,microblades struck ftvm wedge-shaped cores, and burins, a specialclass of tool used for groovingbone, antler, ivory, and wood.Fhe burins, microblades, and thedelicate flaking styles of thesetools were nearly identical to thosefound in late Neolithic cultures innorthern Yakutia and Chukotka.Denbigh lacked only the potteryfound in these Siberian sites.Instead of mounting microbladesIII slotted points, the Denbigh cul-ture used crescent-shaped bifacialsideblades, which produced astronger cutting edge.

Denbigh harpoons did not togglebut had detachable points withrestraining lines. Small flxed har-poons were used for birds and flsh.

The early Ocean Bay cultures ofKodiak Island used similarharpoons with bilateral barbs (seeFig 23).

Denbigh people had great appreci-ation for flne flint-working tech-niques. Their tools are beautifullycrafted ftvm multicolored chert,chalcedony, and other glass-likerocks. "Ripple" flaking, a flne artin itself ensured that a hunter'stools would glitter, thus pleasingand attracting animal spirits.

Denbigh culture was succeeded inwestern Alaska by Norton culture(smallpoints at left), whichretained Denbigh's flint-workingtraditions and added stone grind-ing and Siberian-derived ceramicsto its technology, and semi-subter-ranean dwellings to its settlements.The latter indicates increasedsedentary life as a result of a moreproductive arctic maritimeeconomy.

It is thought that Denbigh cultureis part of a larger entity known toarcheologists as the Arctic SmallTool tradition (ASTt), which orig-inated ftom developments withinSiberian Neolithic cultures about3000 B.C. Denbigh brought newchanges and perhaps new peopleinto the Bering Strait region. Areflned version of early arctic inte-rior hunting and flshing cultures,the ASTt quickly became estab-lished in Alaska and spread, with-in a few centuries, south along theBering Sea coast to the AlaskaPeninsula. Moving east, they pio-neered human settlement inthe Canadian Arctic (only recentlyfree of glacial ice), Greenland,and Labrador. In the process ASTtcultures learned to exploit sealand other marine animals, butthey never becameproflcienthunters of large marine mammals,perhaps because they lacked effi-cient toggling harpoons.

42

Harpoons and Northern Sea-Mammal Hunting

Developments in harpoon technology resuked in a majorbreakthrough in the hunting of hirge marine mammalsin the northern oceans, especially in ice-covered seas. Forthousands oi years peoples all over the world—as early as40,000 years ago in the rivers and lakes of East Africa—used barbedharpoons to capture large fish for which hooks were too weak andinefficient. Whether fixed onto shafts, detachable, or equipped withrestraining lines, harpoons were important implements of Paleolithichunters and were used for both land and marine game.

On the northern sea coasts, harpoons were indispensable in captur-ing sea mammals, but they remained relatively inefficient untilthe invention of the toggling harpoon. Upon striking prey, a togglingharpoon detaches from its shaft, turns, and sticks beneath the skinand blubber of the animal. Lines from the harpoon let the huntertire his prey and eventually dispatch it with spear or club. While thistechnique worked well from boats, the toggling harpoon had itsgreatest impact along coasts where pack ice forms in winter, for herehunters could exploit an ecosystem previously unavailable to man.Ultimately this led to an explosion of arctic coastal hunting culturesas Eskimo peoples expanded north from the Bering Sea into north-ern Chukotka, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland.

Archeologists believe the toggling harpoon was invented about 6,000to 7,000 years ago, but its place of origin is still unclear. Togglingharpoons appeared in the North Pacific around 4,000 years ago, inthe later stages of the Arctic Small Tool tradition in Denbigh cultureand its Canadian equivalent, Pre-Dorset culture. However, the earli-est toggling harpoon known in North America was found in early

Maritime Archaic Indian cultures of subarctic Newfoundland andLabrador, 5,000 miles from Bering Strait, dating around 7,000 yearsago. Since the first Denbigh/ ASTt people who entered the CanadianArctic had simple barbed harpoons (similar to those in Fig. 29),toggling harpoons may have been borrowed by Pre-Dorset people incontact with Maritime Archaic Indians in Labrador about 4,000years ago. Shortly after, small Maritime Archaic-type toggling har-poons appeared in ASTt cultures in Canada and Alaska, where theybecame common among the earliest true arctic maritime culture toadapt fully to the arctic coasts and islands of the Chukchi Sea. Thisculture, known as Old Whaling, hunted seals, small whales, walrus,and polar bear, and is found in northwest Alaska and on WrangelIsland, 200 miles north of Chukotka.

It remains to be seen whether early Asian cultures participated inthe development of toggling harpoons. Similar harpoons are knownfrom Jomon culture sites in Japan dating as early as 6,000 years ago.However, it is not clear that these forms led to the complex togglingharpoons of later Jomon or were part of Bering Sea developments.The dating of Late Neolithic harpoons in the Russian Far East, onSakhalin Island (Fig. 24), and elsewhere is still uncertain. Butafter 2000 B.C. virtually all coastal cultures of the North Pacific andBering and Chukchi seas had access to this technology. In the suc-ceeding two millennia, refinements in toggling harpoons, the addi-tion of restraining floats, and the development of open boatswith whaling crews permitted peoples north of the Aleutian Islandsto hunt large whales. This development, which may have had animportant Siberian component, produced a major cultural revolutionamong northern Bering Sea cultures after A.D. 500.

30.

Old Koryakbone harpoons(ca. A.D. 1000) fromnorthern Kamchatka,

collected by A.K. Ponornarenko'steam, Kamchatka RegionalMuseum, Russia, left to right:barbed harpoon #29726-A4l549,11.5 cm; toggling harpoon#29726-A4/542 (headpin),#29726-A4l541 (head), and#29726-A4l540 (blade); and tog-gling harpoon with asymmetricalbarbs #29726A4/550, 6.5 cm.

The ancestor of Koryak cidtureof the northern Okhotsk Sea andKamchatka is known as OldKoryak culture. Like Old Kerek tothe north, Old Koryak has a strongEskimo "flavor" in its bone andivory technology. The seal harpoonsillustrated here include togglingforms with round shaft sockets andbarbed blades (left). At center is acomplete "Eskimo type" togglingharpoon assembly with foreshaft,harpoon head (ivith hole for theretrieving line), and chert endblade.

The sealing harpoon head at rightis particularly interesting; itsbarbs resemble metal arroivpointsfound in Iron Age sites inthe Amur Basin to the south.

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The Rise of Eskimo Cultures

One of the most dramatic developments in the prehistoryof the North Pacific was the development of Eskimocultures. Eskimo culture is thought to have originated inthe Bering Sea region through a process ot local culturaldevelopment and interaction with other cultures of the Pacific Coast,Aleutian Islands, and Siberia, a process that occurred over thou-sands of years. By at least 6,000 years ago, a distinct Eskimo/ Aleutlanguage was in place among peoples of the southern Bering Sea.

Little is known of the first 4,000 years of this development becausemost Bering Sea sites of this period were submerged by rising seas.But by 2,500 years ago, a series of early Eskimo cultures known asOkvik, Old Bering Sea, and Ipiutak appeared in fully developed formin Bering Strait and northwest Alaska while, to the south, Nortonculture exhibited strong Eskimo cultural identity as well. Eskimo-likecultures also appeared in Chukotka and northern Kamchatka atthis time. The features of these early Eskimo cultures include inten-sive use of sea mammals, relatively permanent village settlementswith semi-subterranean dwellings, toggling harpoon technology, skinboats, blubber oil lamps, and distinctive religion, mythology, andart styles combining hunting magic with engraved and sculptural art.Many of these traditions can be traced from these early Eskimocultures into the historic period, a remarkable history of cultural con-tinuity linked to a single ethnic group or closely related series ofgroups.

Okvik, Old Bering Sea, and Ipiutak peoples overlapped in timeand must have known each other. These early cultures each had dis-tinctive artistic designs and styles of harpoons, which must havedeveloped in part to mark hunting territories and social space. Whenelaborately decorated artifacts were buried as grave goods, theseidentities were also conveyed to the aherworld.

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31.

Eskimo culturesof Bering StraitHarpoons from St.Lawrence island, Alaska

Left to right: Ipiutak Eskimo culturebone harpoon with stone sideblades, collected by H.B. Collins in1921, d^tedca. 1 B.C. to AD.500, National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian histitution,#A346914, 10 cm; Early PunukEskimo culture ivory harpooncollected by H.B. Collins in 1929,dated ca. A.D. 500, NationalMuseum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution,#A346907, 10.2 cm; Old BeringSea Eskimo culture ivoyy harpooncollected by H.B. Collins in 1931,dated ca. 500 B. C, NationalMuseum of Natural History,Smithsonian histitution,#A353767, 13 cm; Late PunukEskimo cidture ivory harpoon,dated ca. A.D. 1000, University ofAlaska Musemn, Fairbanks,

#UA85-150-1261, 8.4 cm; andbelow: Thule Eskimo culture boneand stone arrow head collected byChambers in 1933, dated ca. 1200,National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution,#A346907, 17.7 cm.

The early Eskimo cultures of BeringStrait and north Alaska are recog-nized by the distinctive styles, shapes,and decoration of their tools—inthis case a group of harpoon heads.From left: The Ipiutak harpoonhead has midtiple spurs and side-blades. The early Punuk head isdecorated with incised lines anddrilled holes that may once haveheld seal bristles. The feather"-spurred Old Bering Sea head iscarved as a bird of prey. The LatePunuk head illustrates the simplifi-cation of hunting technology amongthe Inupiaq north of Bering Straitafter A. D. 1000. Among Yupik peo-ple to the south, artistic treatmentof harpoon heads was retaineduntil the historical period. A bone-mounted arrowhead is alsoillustrated.

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Contacts, Trade, and War

By about A.I). 500 most of the fine flint-workingtechnology of the Late NeoHthic period in northeasternSiberia and western Alaska had been replaced by metalor groimd slate blades and bone and ivory tools, as thesecultures and early Eskimo cultures of Bering Strait became familiarwith metal through trade with iron-using peoples to the west andsotith.

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

In exchange for metal (and later during the historic period forglass beads, tobacco, and manufactured products supplied acrossBering Strait through Russian-Chukchi-Eskimo trade systems)Alaskan Eskimos supplied furs, jade, finished wood products, andother commodities to their Asian counterparts. These exchangestook 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 developedduring the past 3,000 years across Bering Strait.

In addition to economic exchanges, contacts across Bering Straitand with other regions of Alaska and Canada promoted major socialand political changes. As populations grew and diversified as aresult of increasingly efficient local hunting and fishing economies,Alaskan and Siberian societies began to experience stress andcompetition for resources and access to trade goods. The result isparticularly evident after A.D. 500 when slat armor, sinew-backed bows, and other elements of war technology seem to havebeen introduced into Alaska from Siberia. Raiding and warringacross Bering Strait and along the coasts of Alaska to acquire goods,slaves, and prestige became a common occurrence during thepast 1,000 years, resulting in fortified refuges, the appointment ofwar captains, new social and political hierarchies, and the spreadof new technologies.

These patterns were established long before Europeans entered theregion. Rather than increasing the levels of violence, the appearanceof Europeans—first Russians and later Euroamericans—appearsto have caused its decline. But while inter-cultural warfare may havedeclined when Native peoples found they could acquire tradegoods directly from Europeans, the saving in lives was far offset bydeath from introduced European diseases and other factors.

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Barbed Aleut harpoon(ca. A.D. 1000)

National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution,#A395958, 23.6cm. PrehistoricAleut groups used elaborate barbedharpoons to capture sea lions, seals,and possibly even whales. Whenhunting whales, they anointedharpoons ivith a poison made fromaconite and the dried mummiesof whalers. Aleut harpoons were

very long and madefivm whale rib.This harpoon has a socket fijr astone endblade. The three parallellines below the socket are probablythe hunter's mark, which allowedhim to be credited with the killshould his wounded prey escape andbe captured by another hunter. Thedistinctive pattern of barbs mayhave served the same purpose.

Sakhalin Island's Okhotsk Culture (A.D. 500-1500)

Late prehistoric Okhotsk Sea cuhures flourished inthe southern Okhotsk Sea region, Hving in large settledvillages in deep, well-insulated pithouses. They huntedseals, sea lions, and birds, and collected seaweed andshellfish; land game included bears, pigs, and small animals. Okhotskculture people lived as htmters and gatherers on the fringe ofrice-farming and pig-breeding societies in Japan and China, and

they also had contacts with Kamchatkan hunters and reindeerherders. They knew metal, but it was an expensive and rare tradeitem, and their tools were largely of stone. Pottery was widespread,decorated with stamped impressions of bear tracks, dogs, foxes,geese, and other animals. These images probably honored the spiritsof these useful creatures and served in part as hunting charms.

33.

Okhotsk culture potterysherds (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 theUst'-Timaicha, Ozerk I,Promyslovoe site, on southernSakhalin Island.

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Bear head

PiDnirc hear head, from theUtesiidid I site, soiitl)eni SakhalinIsland, about A. D. 1000.Sakhalin Regional Museum,Russia, #3756-49. 9 em.

Bear rituals must have been anitnportant part of Okhotsk reli-gious life, for carvings of bearshave been fund in these sites.Okhotsk people probably capturedyoung bears, reared them, and rit-ually killed and ate them, just asthe Ainu people of this region havedone in the historical era.

35.

Southern SakhalinIsland

Left to right, top row: two smallbone harpoons #5081-19 and#5081-21, from Solov'evka,ca. A.D. 1000-1500, 5.2 cm and5 cm; two toggling harpoons#5395-1011 and #5395-1553,from the Promyslovoe II site,9 cm and 7 cm: bone harpoon#5082-2, from the Promyslovoe IIsite, and stone point 5081-14from Solov'evka, 5-5 cm and 2.6cm; stone point #5081 -12, fromSolov'evka. 5 cm. Bottom row:two stone arrow heads, 5081-13and 5081-11, from Solov'evka,3.5 cm and 4.1 cm; boneseal figure #5082-1, fivm thePromyslovoe II site, 4 cm;clay figure of a killer whale#3756-50, from the Utesnaia Isite, 4.3 cm; knifi blade #5081-9,from Solov'evka, 7.5 cm.

Okhotsk culture harpoons,made of bone, are often highlycomplex artistic creations,vaguely animal in shape or per-haps representing insects orbeasts with spiritual connotations.Small harpoons for spearingfish did not require decoration, forthe spirits of these animalswere not considered as powerfuland as difficult to capture.

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Crossroads Times

Valerie Chaussonnet

Home

Home is not just a wooden or skinstructure, not just a house orvillage. It is a feeling of familiarity, acombination of smells, tastes, sounds,images, and warmth.

36.

Koryak winter scene.Maritime villageat the turn of thecentury. Koryak hous-es were octagonal,built partially under-ground. A "stormroof like an invert-ed cone kept snowfrom covering thedwelling and served

as a storage areaand workplace ingood weather.W fochelson, Spring1901. JesupExpedition.American Museum ofNatural History neg.#4123.

Home is a way of doing tilings, the looli of a dwelling,the sound of one's mother-tongue—all the things thatmake up the social language of the culture. Homerepresents shelter, not only from the elements, but alsofrom the power of evil spiritual forces. Therefore, charms andhouse guardians are as important to a home as the lamp, the hearth,and the sleeping platform.

In their structure and placement of furniture, Alaskan and Siberian "family houses reflect a culture's notions of status and genderdivisions, of relationships to animals, spirits, and the creation of art.Construction and use of the home follow rules and taboos thatmake the home a strong habitat, a sound shelter from dark forces,and an image of balance and rightness.

From hide-covered summer tents to semi-underground winterdwellings, the wide variety of local styles demonstrates great ingenu-ity in the use of local resources and materials and in adaptationto climate or to the demands of a nomadic life. Some Native types ofdwellings (somewhat modernized) are still in use today, mainlytemporary structures used during summer camps and hunting trips.Others, such as semi-subterranean wooden houses, have beentotally replaced—but often the new houses still contain traditionaldivisions of space. ,

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37.

Village in Chukotka

Detail from walrus tusk carving,collected in 1948. VladivostokMaritime Museum, Russia,#2688. 16 cm.

Village scene at Mechigmen (theartist wrote Mesimin), a formerlyAsian Eskimo then Chukchicommunity in the vicinity ofLorino which was deserted earlythis century, with baidaradrying upside doivn on its rack, a

skin iaranga whose skin cover isheld down with stones andropes, and men smoking and chat-ting in guts kin parkas.The other side of the tusk featureswalruses and the namelantagai, another village in thesame area now called landogai.

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38.

Women's corner

Koiiiag wooden grease bowl, andwooden handle with carvedpiijfins, frotn the KAR-001 site onKodiak Island, Alaska, A.D.1400, both from Kodiak AreaNative Association collections.Bowl unnumbered, 14.2 cm; han-dle #UA83-193-1804, 15.8 cm.

Three miniature stone oillamps, models or girls' toys,from lefi to right:

Ocean Bay I culture sandstone oillamp from the KOD-363 site onKodiak Island, Alaska, 4000 B. C.Kodiak Area Native Association,#363-90-10-84-18. 7.2 cm;

Koniag oil lamp from KodiakIsland, Alaska, A.D. 1400, col-lected in 1932 by Ales Hrdlicka.National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsoniayi Institution,#A365544. 4.3 cm;

Inupiaq steatite oil lamp fromPoint Hope, Alaska, early 1900s.National Museum of theAmerican Indian, #1216807.10.5 cm.

Used to light the home, dry clotheshanging above them on a rack,atid boil food, oil lamps are theproperty of women and the essen-tial piece offrrniture in theEskimo and Aleut house. Theytruly are, as Molly lee puts it, the"cornerstone of life" (?i.d.:10).

The soot from the lamp is used tomake tatoos on women's chins, asa fertility charm, and on thecheeks, hands, arms, and thighs.

The grease saved in the Koniagwooden bowl was used as foodand as fuel for the lamps. Thebowl's elegant shape reminds oneof a canoe.

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39.

Home guardian

Koryak house guardian and fireboard from Kamchatka, Siberia,about 1950, made of woodwith dark pigment and leather.Kamchatka Regional Museum,Russia, #11174. 35 cm.

Fire boards and drills are used tolight fires in the hearth. TheKoryak and Chukchi consider thefire board a powerful guardianspirit of the house. A special cere-mony is held as the first fire ofthe year is lit with the fire board,attended only by men, inside/^d'chum. The scratch marksaround the mouth of this particu-lar board testify that the spirit wasfed grease or meat. The leatherstring was used to hang the boardin the house.

40.

Men's workshop

Small box and men's workingtools. Clockwise, fivm top:

Nivkh wooden drill haft from thevillage of Chir-Unvd, on SakhalinIsland, Siberia, late 1800s orearly 1900s. Sakhalin RegionalMuseiwi, #2730. 31.3 cm.It was used in the fabrication ofwooden objects. Its handle isornate in the typical volute style ofthe Nivkh.

Yupik snuff box from Ukogiimut,Alaska, 1870s, made of ivoryand wood with pigment. NationalMuseum of Natural History,Smith so nian Institutio n,#E36252. 8 ctn. Lid and bottomboth bear the same red marking,possibly the mouth of a seal.

Nivkh knife from Sakhalin Island,Siberia, from the mid-1900s,made of carved wood and steelSakhalin Regional Museum,#3216-3. 23 cm.

Inupiaq flint faker from MeadeRiver (Atqasuk), Alaska, 1960,made of ivory, copper, sea mam-mal hide, a?id wood. University ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks,#UA64-21-479. 22.5 cm.

Bering Sea Eskimo ivory double-face drill handle collected in 1926by Karl Lomen on SewardPeninsula, Alaska, dated fr'om the1800s. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #A332197. 4.5 cm.

Chukchi bird-like drill handlemade of bone, collected in 1927by E.K. Fel'dman in Chukotka,Siberia. Vladivostok MaritimeMuseum, Russia, #647-61. 8 cm.

This drill handle was probablyused to start fires, and the smilingbird is a reminder of the storythat it was Raven who gave fire tomen.

Prehistoric Eskiyjio knife fromPoint Hope, Alaska, madeof antler and jade. University ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks,#1-1940-148. 10.5 cm.

Eskimo jadeite whetstone fromCape Prince of Wales, Alaska, col-lected in the 1800s by Mrs. Jefriry"from the Eskimo Kingegan. "National Museum of theAmerican Indian, #6/7881.13 cm.

Prehistoric Eskimo drill and bitfrotn Point Barrow, Alaska,made of antler and black chert.University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, #UA81-86-299.5.3 ctn.

Athapaskan gouge made byJonas Robert, Venetie, Alaska, ofwood, steel, screws. The point ismade from a steel file. Universityof Alaska Museum, Fairbanks,#70-54-33. 16 cm.

Tlingit dragonfly awl fromSoutheast Alaska, collected in1881 by J.J. McLean, madeof mountain goat horn and metal.National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution,#E060133. 13.1 cm.

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41.

Eskimo boxes: therealistic and theabstract

Realistic box in the shape oftwo seals, from Nortoji Sound,Alaska, collected in the 1870sby Lticien Turner, made of woodwith pigment and glass beads.National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution,#E024346. 19 cm.

Abstract wooden box from anunknown provenience in Alaska,collected by Mrs. Thea Page inthe 1800s. National Museum ofthe American Indian, #4/5203.10.5 cm. Two crosses mark theends of the box and lid where thefaces of two animals, one on theback of the other, would be. Thelid and body of the box are hitjgedtogether with a wooden peg.

Children: Dolls and Toys

The toys of Siberian and Alaskanchildren are often accurate miniatureversions of objects from the adultworld: tools and weapons for playinghunter, dolls to sew clothes for.

0

Doll-making has been practiced in the North Pacific sincevery ancient times. Archeologists have found 5,000-year-old ceramic dolls in the Amur River region—smallhuman figures that were once clothed and probablyserved as amulets. Some ancient Eskimo dolls with movable arms andlegs were probably inspired by Siberian examples. The Alaskandoll-making tradition—using wood, ivory, leather, grass, or paper—has developed from simple toys ior children to modern collectors'items. Whereas Alaskan dolls are naturalistic, dolls from Siberia'sAmur River region are almost abstract.

42.

Collector's doll

Yi{/>ik male doll in gutskiiiparka, made by Louise Toll fromHooper Bay, Alaska, of fabric,fur, gutskin, and beads.University of Alaska Mitseuni,Fairbanks, #UA83-3-13.30.5 cm.

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43.

Dolls to play with

These three dolls were used as toysbefore they were collected.They were made for children, notfor 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. NationalMuseum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution,#£029766. 15.5 cm.

Two Yupik dolls collected in 1927in Tanunak, Nelson Island. Thefeet on the small doll with bonehead are made of caribou furTeet and hands on the taller dollare made oj small rodent pawsand fur held with grass. Note thetatooed lines on the chin of thewooden face, attributes of adultfeminity in harmony with thefemale "frowning" mouth. Anecklace of beads and a smallmetal bell hang from her neckas an amulet; originally, she wasprobably also wearing earrings.University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, #UA1084-1OH (left)and #UA64-21-189 (right).

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nd 14

44.

Asian dolls for boys

Two Ulchi wooden dolls, hunterswith braid, belt, and huntingbag, from the Amur river, Siberia,1927. Khabarovsk RegionalMuseum, Russia, #1082 and#2183. 13.5 cm and 18 cm.

Nanai wooden stick dolls forboys called "buchukem", f-o)n theAmur River region:

back: 4 dolls fivm the early1900s. Vladivostok MaritimeMuseum, Russia, #NV-766.6.5 to 14.8 cm. front: seven dollsmade by A.A. Passar in 1991.Left to right: young man. hiDitcron skis, two dogs, tiger cub,little boy, and bear cub.Khabarovsk Regional Museum,Russia, #9735. 5 to 13.4 cm.

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45.

Toys and games

From the top left:

Udegei wooden toy boat called anafrom the Amur River, Siberia,1914. Khabarovsk RegionalMuseum, Russia, #2785- 12 cm.

Two Yupik story knives, one old,one new, used by little girls todraw in the snow as they tell sto-ries. The larger wooden knifewas made in the 1940s or 1950s.University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, #UA67-98-285. 28cm. The smaller ivory knifewas collected on the Lower Yukonby Edward W Nelson inthe1870s. National Museumof Natural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #E038537.

Nivkh toy wooden chain withbear heads from Sakhalin Island,Siberia, made in1990. SakhalinRegional Museum, Russia, #528.22 cm.

Two Athapaskan games: "Movethe button over" yoke puzzlemade by Isaac Tritt fro?n ArcticVillage, Alaska, in 1961, ofwood, cotton string, plastic but-ton; and ring and pin toymade by Abel Tritt from ArcticVillage, Alaska, in 1970, ofwood, cotton string, tanned cari-bou hide, and caribou tarsalbones. University of AlaskaMuseum, Fairbanks, #UA67-98-100 and #UA70-54-12. 18 cmand 17 cm.

Koniag ivory doll's head andjointed arm from Kodiak Island,Alaska, dated about A. D.1400, collected in 1935 by AlesHrdlicka. National Museumof Natural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #A377654 (head),and # A377653 (arm). 4.5 cmand 6 cm.

Western Eskimo Thule Cultureivory doll from Cape Prince ofWales, Alaska, dated about A.D.1000, collected in 1929 by HenryB. Collins. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #A344639. 6.2 cm.

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46.

Father and son

In up iaq father and childcollector's dolls made by EthelWashington, Alaska, in the1930s The heads are carvedin wood. National Museumof Natural History, SmithsonianInstitution, unnumbered.29 cm and 11 cm.

47.

Elegant paper dolls

Ulchi Khaka dolls made frompaper, yarn, and fabric, byG. Kuisali, Amur River, Siberia,1991. The body with the headis inserted into a slit in the dressat the neck. Khabarovsk RegionalMuseum, Russia, #VX3/14,15, and 16. 12 cm.

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48.

Noisy toys

From the top right to bottom:

Yupik rattling leather ball fromSt. Lawrence Island, Alaska,made of dyed (red) and bleachedsealskin, caribou hair, and rattle.University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, #UA67-98-256.12.5 cm.

Nivkh rattle made offishskin,wood, and rattle, from SakhalinIsland, 1960s. Sakhalin RegionalMuseum, Russia, #101. 12.5 cm.

hiupiaq "wolf scarer" (bull roarer)iwisemaker made by ChesterSeveck from Point Hope, Alaska,in 1966, of baleen with anylon cord. University of AlaskaMuseum, Fairbanks, #UA66-4-2.15 cm.

Nanai wooden cradle rattle forboys, from the Amur River, 1926.Khabarovsk RegionalMuseum, Russia, #1236 F-833.12 cm (sticks).

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49.

Two men chasinga giant goose

Koryak wooden toy from Siberiafrom the late 1800s. NationalMuseum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution,#£175599. 16.2 cm.

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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.

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Fashion

Fashion is a universal human passionthat finds strong expression in NativeAlaskan and northeastern Siberiancultures. This tradition is rich in facepainting and tattooing, elaboratejewelry, beautiful fur garments, andembroidery.

Dyed or processed fur and skins, dentalium shells, and,later, beads have been the object of active and passionatetrade for centuries. Early western explorers commentedon the stunning dress and look of Alaska's original inhab-itants. Clothing, jewelry, and body ornaments identify one's ethnicgroup and social status, and also play the role of protective amulets.

In Siberia and Alaska, sewing is the specialty of women. The TlingitIndians developed a unique tradition of weaving, and the seam-stresses of the Amur became expert at sewing and embroidering fish-skin to look like Chinese cotton and silk patterns. Because muchof the work of piecing together animal skins, embroidery, and orna-mentation has spiritual meaning, sewing is guided by numerousrules, like those governing men's hunting. Pouches made to holdsewing tools, thread, and sinew are often fine examples of the owner'sskill in a variety of materials. Needles (originally made of birdbone), creasers, and other tools allow gifted seamstresses to do thefine stitching and embroidery that is the hallmark of NorthPacific sewing.

51.

Koryak pouch

Koryak bird foot bag fromKamchatka, Siberia, about 1950,made of bird fret, reindeer fur,leather, and beads. KamchatkaRegional Museum, Russia,#11082. 26.5 cm.

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53.

Sewing bags

Orok embroidered bag fromcentral Sakhalin Island, 1900-50, made of buckskin andcotton embroidery floss. SakhalinRegional Museum, Russia,#2338-5. 12.7 cm.

Yupik fur "housewife" made ofcaribou fur, yarn, leather, and anivory fastener, collected in 1886by I. Applegate in Togiakumute,Alaska. Small tools were kept inthe bottom pocket, the body of thebag was rolled around it, and itwas finally secured with the ivoryfastener. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #£127354. 15 cm.

Aleut gutskin pouch made ofseal gut, feathers, yarn, and cottonfloss, and collected in 1931 byMrs. Edward C. Robinson.National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution,#£362860. 14.5 cm.

Small bag and ulus

Ulus are Eskimo w())ncn'sknives. The round blade cuts skinsand meat, for eating or sewing.The same smooth curve is foundin the skirt of women's dresses andparkas, in sewing bags calledhousewives (see Tig. 53), and inwomens oil lamps.

Yupik sealskin pouch fromSt. lawrence Island, Alaska,collected by Tarrar Burn, 1800s.I he white applique designand edges are bleached sealskin.National Museum of theAmerican Indian, SmithsonianInstitution, #1116763. 13 cm.

Trom the top, a modern Yupikulu made by Virginia Johnstonfrom Bethel Alaska, frommoose antler and a steel blade.University of Alaska Museum,Tairbanks, #UA91-9-12 6.5 cm.

Two prehistoric ulus from PointHope, Alaska, made of oldivory and slate, and baleen andslate. University of AlaskaMuseum, Tairbanks, #1-1940-045 and #1-1940-046. 7.4 cmand 9.7 cm.

Toy Inupiaq ulu from PointBarrow, Alaska, made ofyuw ivory (handle), and old ivory(blade), collected by ]. £.Stanley. National Museum of theAmerican Indian, Smithsonianhistitution, #514578. 5 cm.

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54.

Children's fashion

Koryak child's hat fromKamchatka, Siberia, about 1950,made of reindeer fur, otter fur,beads, leather, and plastic. Thehat is zoomorphic, the two beadeddisks on the side of the headimitating eyes and the fur attach-ments representing antler buds.It is made of two layers of fur foradditional ivarr?ith and sofiness.Kamchatka Regional Museum,#23365. 22 cm.

Athapaskan child's bonnet fromVenetie, Alaska, made in 1968of pink felt, flannel, glass beads,and rabbit fur, with cloth ties.University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, #UA70-54-64.19.2 cm.

Nanai child's fishskin mitts madein 1959 by Olga Samar frotn thevillage Nergem, Amur Riverregion. Khabarovsk RegionalMuseum, Russia, #9502. 14 cm.

Nivkh mitt covers from SakhalinIsland made in the 1930s of fab-ric and cotton embroidery floss.Sakhalin Regional Museum,Russia, #1194-4. 22.4 cm.

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55.

Scraping skin

Koryak two-hand hide scraperand scraping board fromKamchatka, Siberia, about 1950,made of wood with a stone blade.The board is held verticallyagainst the body to fr-ee the twohands for scraping downwardswith the scraper KamchatkaRegional Musetm, #11278(scraper), and #14340 (boara51 cm and 42 cm.

Inupiaq hide scraper from PointHope, Alaska, from the late1800s, made of a wooden handlewith baleen lashing around thechert blade. University of AlaskaMuseum, Fairbanks,#UA939/141. 9 cm.

Denbigh Culture black and greychert scraper from Norton Sound,Alaska, dated about 1500 B.C.University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, #IYH1-D. 3.4 cm.

Nanai woman's knife and creasercalled churuen, used for skinsand birch bark, from the villageof Kondon on the Amur River,Siberia, dated from the 1950s,made of engraved wood witha small metal blade. KhabarovskRegional Museum, Russia,#775313. 13.5 cm.

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56.

Koryak embroidery

Koryak cmhroidcn'd band foruse oil clothing, made of leather,dark and white reindeer fiirapplique and slit embroidery, andsilk and cotton threads.Kamchatka Regional Museum,Russia, #15577- 56.5 cm.

Koryak seamstresses are renownedfor their virtuosity in embroider-ing various parts of clothing suchas the opuvans, the lower he?nof their wide coats. Reindeer furcoats do not last more than oneyear, but the opuvan and otherfancy parts of garments can becut and recycled for the nextseason's clothing.

57.

Koryak malakhai

Koryak adult man's hat calledmalakhai, made after 1950of two layers of reindeer fur forthe winter, otter fur, dogfur, beads, leather, and plastic.Kamchatka Regional Museum,Russia, #28270. 28.5 cm.

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63

58.

Sewing tools

Prehistoric Eskimo ivory needlecase from Point Barrow, Alaska. Astrap of leather was used to wrapthe fine bird bone needles in, thenfolded and kept inside the tubedrilled in the needle case. Heldvertically, this case shows two wal-rus snouts and tusks. Universityof Alaska Museum, Fairbanks,#UA-81-86-200. 11 cm.

Okvik culture (Eskimo) ulu han-dle in the shape of a vole-beastmade of old ivory, collected in1931 by Henry B. Collins on St.Lawrence Island, Alaska, datedabout 1 A.D. National Museumof Natural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #A352540. 8 cm.

Koryak bone thimble fromKamchatka, Siberia, about 1950.Kamchatka Regional Museum,Russia, #l4353IE-685. 3.5 cm.

Prehistoric Eskimo ivory thimbleholder fi-om Point Hope, Alaska,and prehistoric Aleut boneneedle or and from AmaknakIsland, Alaska. University of

Alaska Museum, Fairbanks,#1-1940-159 and #UA-68-62-71. 6.2 cm and 5.8 cm.

Thimble holders were attachedivith a leather strap to the end ofthe needle case, and themselvesheld a leather thimble. As withmost Eskimo tools, they were oftenornate and delicately engraved.

59.

Eskimo elegance

Prehistoric Eskimo ivory combfrom St. Lawrence Island, Alaska.University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, #UA85-150-1246.

Yupik ivory earrings collected inKushunuk, Alaska, in 1879 byEdward Nelson. The human faceswear labrets below the mouth.National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution,#E36859 and #E36860. 2 cm.

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60.

60

Ornaments

Thii icni'i is from the collection ofthe National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution.

Old Bering Sea culture (Eskimo)old ivory ornament and ivory diskfrom St. Lawrence Island, Alaska,dated at about A.D. 500, collect-ed by Henry B. Collins in 1929(ornament) and by MoreauChambers 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 in1929, dated at about A.D. 1000.#A342783. 3.7 cm.

Inupiaq blue bead labretcollected by EE Eelloivs in IcyCape, Alaska, from the1800s. #E398256. 2.5 cm.

String of glass beads collected byHenry B. Collins in 1931 inNorton Sound, Alaska, from the1800s. #A357008. 7 cm. Beadstraveled a long distance fomChina or Venice before ending upon Alaskan labrets, amulets,jewelry, pouches, or clothes.

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V

61.

Jet and baleen

Labrets, or lip plugs, are wornon the chin, at the corner of themouth, or sometimes on thecheeks, by men and women amongalmost all Alaska Native cultures.The rules dictating who wearslabrets and of what size and shapevary from group to group. It is anancient practice which seems tohave originated in Asia

(see Eig. 26 p. 41), and whichpurpose is aesthetic as well as mag-ical and an affrmation of status.

Top: Inupiaq large baleen labretf-om Point Hope, Alaska, fromthe 1800s. University of AlaskaMuseum, Eairbauks, #UA1070.Young Inupiaq men wore small

labrets before being allowed towear such a large size. Thesmooth flat part was inserted intothe lip or cheek and restedagainst the gums.

Koniag jet and stone oniamciilsand labrets from Kodiak Island,Alaska, about A.D. 1400, collect-ed by Ales Hrdlicka in 1935 and

1938. National Museumof Natural History,Smithsonian Institution,#A375350 (green labret), 5 cm,#A375703 (thin jet labret), 2.7cm, #A395433 (jet bead), 3 cm,and #A395760 (jet whale tailornament), 3 cm.

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62

62.

Footwear

The variety of materials used forfootwear illustrates the ingenuity,skill, and attention to detail thatcharacterize North Pacific sewingas an art form. All are from theUniversity of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, collection.

From lefi to right:Aleut child's boot from Vnalaska,Alaska, made m 1910-12 ofsea lion throat. #UA77-32-7.13.3 cm.

Athapaskan child's moccasin,made of commercially processedleather, rabbit fir, glass beads,cotton cord, and flannel lining.#UA89-13-6A. 10.4 cm.

Inupiaq doll's boot made inCandle, Seward Peninsula,Alaska, in 1946, of sealskin,caribou hide, and sinew.#UA86-8-9A. 9.7cm.

Athapaskan child's cowhide boot,made of domestic calfskin, otter,felt, and leather ties. #UA88-13-3A. 13 cm. The use of calfskinis unusual.

The seamstress took advantage ofthe black and white natural pat-tern to make these boots striking.

Yupik doll's boot, madebetween 1920 and 1940 offishskin, thread, leather, andcloth. #UA64-70-2C. 7 cm.

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63.

Gutskin parka

Yupik doll's gutskin parka fromTanunak, Nelson Island,Alaska, made in 1926 of seal gutand thread. University ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks,#UA 1084-7. 21.6 cm.

The guts are inflated, dried,then cut lengthwise andsewn with a special stiching soas to remain waterproof.

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64

64.

Ball pincushion

Iniipiaij piiicnihio)i made byGrace Bailey fivm Kotzelme,Alaska, in 1986, of bleachedsealskin, leather, felt, sequins,and beads. University of AlaskaMuseum, Fairbanks,#UA86-13-26. 10 cm.

65.

Ainu elegance

Ainu woman's lieadband andglass beads from southernSakhalin Island, late ISOOs-early1900s. The band is made ofsilk and cotton. Sakhalin RegionalMuseum, Russia, #85 - 5and #58. 30 cm and 70 cm.

67

Spirits

Spirits fill the world, and rocks,trees, and animals all live in human-like societies and behave like people.To understand the unknown, to cureillness, and to please the spirits ofanimals needed for food, spirits needto he honored with elahjMMH^iiualsand ceremonies.

66.

Masks that looklike people

Inupiaq wooden female mask withtattoos from Point Hope, Alaska,from the late 1800s to the early1900s, collected by Pedersen in1929. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #A348825. 22 cm.

Charms and amulets are as fundamental as food and shelterto survival in a spirit-inhabited land. Small animal andhuman-like figures, strangely shaped pendants, carvings,and metal or bead attachments might be worn onclothing or against the skin to guard one's soul. Charms are attachedto kayaks and equipment to insure a successful hunt.

Until recently, masks were used only for ceremonial purposes,such as dances, funerals, and other occasions. Masks might be realis-tic, fantastic, or abstract, but once a mask was put on, it changedthe identity and the state of the wearer. In the same way, hats wornby dancers and shamans have fringes that conceal the wearer'sface, signifying that a transformation is taking place. This rich mask-ing tradition continues to inspire Native artists today.

66

Unlike most Yupik masks, fantasticor abstract (see Fig. 68), Inupiaqmasks usually look realisticallyhuman. The painted hair is neatlycombed, and the chin tattoos are afertility charm.

Tlingit mask from the late 1800s,made of wood, pigment, andhuman hair Natiofial Museum ofNatural History, Smithsonian

Institution, #£073852-1. 20 cm.This mask is unusually small for aTlingit mask. It displays an array offacial painting which a Tlingitman would wear for special occa-

Prehistoric Eskimo stone pendantfrom Point Hope, Alaska. Universityof Alaska Museum, Fairbanks,#1-1940-152. 3.2 cm.

68

67.

Small faces

Tokarevski culture ivory pendantfrom Kamchatka, Siberia, dated2000 to1000 B.C. KamchatkaRegional Museum, Russia,#VX-1223. 3.5 cm.

Prehistoric Eskimo old ivory dollhead from Point Hope, Alaska.University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, #1-1940-033. 2 cm.

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69.

Dancing finger mask

Yupik wooden fjngcr tnaskfrom the Lower Kuskokwim Riverregion, Alaska, collected byEdward W. Nelson in the 1870s.National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution,#E38649. 14 cm.

Dancers wear finger masks inpairs. This one originally had aseries of fathers around it,which would bounce during thedance. It has two baby walrustusks and a [cmale "frowning"mouth, a symbol associated ivithsea mammals. The outer edgeis painted red, showing the tradi-tional Yupik lifeliiw.

68.

Yupik faces

Co)U'entric circle mask fromRasboinsky on the Yukon River,Alaska, and black and whitemask from Pastolik, Alaska, col-lected by Edward W. Nelson inthe 1870s. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #E38862, 20.5 cm,and #E43770, 24 cm.

The concentric mask is one of apair of almost identical masks.It originally had feathers aroundthe top.

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70

72.

72

Snakes, fish, andbeasts

Tlingit killer whale amulet fivriithe late ISOOs-early 1900s. andprehistoric Tlingit stone snake-beast with red pigments. NationalMuseum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution,#£229550 and #£067854.16.5 cm and 4.5 cm.

Nanai Dadgifu, the spirit com-panion of Kalgama (see £ig. 75),collected in 1905 by B.O.Pilsudsky in the village ofTroitskoe on the Amur River,Siberia. Vladivostok MaritimeMuseum, Russia, #2116-39.15.3 cm.

Nanai bracelet with snake spiritmade of fish skin sewn on fabric,from the Amur River, Siberia,collected in 1913 by LA. Lopatin.Vladivostok Maritime Museum,Russia, #917-174. 24.5 cm.

73.

Transformations

Inupiaq ivory drum handle withwalrus-man spirit fivm PointBarroiv, Alaska, collected by PH.Ray in 1881. National Museumof Natural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #£56515. 12 cm.The face looks inside the drum,the drum frame resting onand being lashed to the "neck. "

Nanai bear spirit made of woodand birch bark applique, fivm theKhabarovsk region, Siberia, 1992.National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution,unnumbered. 7 cm.

Ancestor-gods took the formsof bears to visit humans, and assuch they are honored during thebear festival, now being revivedin the Russian Par £ast.

Koniag human-raven transforma-tion figure from Kodiak Island,Alaska, about A. D. 1400, madeof wood. Koniag, Inc., Kodiak,#UA85-143-6888. 10 cm.

Two prehistoric Tskinio ivorybird-caribou amulets from St.Lawrence Island, Alaska.National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Lnstitution,#A346^07. 5.2 cm.

These compound creatures haveears and look like caribou crossingwater, but the long beaks betraytheir transformational and spiri-tual nature.

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71

74.

Magic pendants andskeletons

Objects that have magical proper-ties often carry the outline ofa skeleton, a sign of life anddeath, inside and outside nature,as well as of strength. Skeletonmarks are found on early prehis-toric Eskimo animal representa-tions, such as in the Ipiutak cul-ture. Holes, eyes, and circles, alsoof very ancient origin, are oftenconduits for the soul. Alaskan cul-tures have produced over the cen-turies countless small amulets,pendants, toggles, and objectsbearing those magic signs. All

those shown here, except theKoniag wooden amulet, are ftomthe National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution.From left to right:

Bering Sea Eskimo ivory animalpendant collected by EdwardW. Nelson in Pastolik, Alaska, in1878. #E33372. 7 cm.

Prehistoric ivory caribou hoof(?)pendant, and ivory figure withcrest (?) from Uyak, both collectedon Kodiak Island by Ales Hrdlickain 1935 and 1938. #A377893and#A395188. 6 cm and7.5 cm.

Prehistoric St Lawrence IslandEskimo old ivory fox head pen-dant, collected by Ales Hrdlickain 1937. #A390552. 2 cm.

Punuk (?) Eskimo culture longivory pendant or ear ornamentcollected by Henry B. Collins onSt. Lawrence Island, Alaska in1931, dated at about A.D. 1000.#A356968. 5.4 cm.

Cottonwood bark Koniagmulti-faced amulet from the KAR-001 site on Kodiak Island, Alaska,dated about A.D. 1400. Koniag,Inc., Kodiak, unnumbered.8.4 cm.

Prehistoric Aleut ivory seal toggleft-om Attu Island, and ivorybear-whale amulet from Moknak,both collected by Ales Hrdlickain 1937 and 1938. #A386269and #A395757. 6 cm and 8 cm.

■-'9

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75.

Wooden sevens (spirits)and shaman

Erom left to right:

Nanai healing spirit, collected in1904 by K.D. Loginovskii in thevillage of Troitskoe, on the AmurRiver. Vladivostok MaritimeMuseum, Russia, #2146-2. 23.5cm. This spirit was carved by ashaman to help a person sufferinglung ailment to combat the evilspirits who caused it.

Tlingit shaman with dagger andtypically long shaman's hair style,from the late 1800s. National

Museum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution,E073837. 24 cm.

Nanai guardian of fshing,Kalgama, collected in 1913 byI. A. Lopatin on the Amur River.Vladii'ostok Maritime Museum,Russia, #917-96. 24.5 cm.A Nanai fsherman offers his firstcatch to Kalgama, smearing thefsh 's blood on the figure's mouth. Ashaman will carve Kalgama's com-panion, Dadgifu, in the eventof unsuccessfil fishing (see Fig. 72).

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72

76.

Shaman's drum coverwith helping spirits

Udegei shamans drum cover fromKhor River, Russia, collected byN.A. Zorin in 1907. VladivostokMaritime Museum, Russia,#2180-8a. 74 cm.

This drum cover is made of birchbark, cotton, and leather. Variousanimal spirits are painted onthe bark, including bears, dragon-like creatures, snakes, tigers,and birds, as well as two sunsof en found on the drum itselfand on shamans' coats in manySiberian cultures.

Shamans are healers (chasingaway evil spirits that cause sick-ness), priests (honoring ancestorsand conducting ceremonies), andambassadors (negotiating with theMasters of the Animals and otherspirits). They travel to the landabove and the land below withthe help of their drum, belts, rat-tles, helping spirits, and occasion-ally hallucinogenics. Shamansdivine the future, identify spirits,and insure that the communityfollows rules and taboos.

77,

Home guardian

Chukchi hanging amulet,guardian offimily prosperity,from Anadyr, Chukotka,Russia, collected in 1892 by L.F.Grinevetskii. The dark pigmentis soot from its stay in the house,and it bears traces of food aroundthe mouth, having been fed byits hosts. It was hung by a baleenlink. Vladivostok MaritimeMuseum, Russia, #945-7.16.5 cm.

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78.

Shaman's belt withbells

Udegei shaman's belt used duringshamanistic performance, collect-ed by Yu. M. Degtiarev in the vil-lage of Gvasiugi on the AmurRiver, Siberia. VladivostokMaritime Museum, Russia,#4018-6. 30 cm.

The belt is made of leather, metal,and grass. The bells, in concertwith the drum-beating during thedance, attract the spirits andallow them to meet with theshaman for a dialogue, a fight, ordifficult negotiations.

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79.

Night and day mask

Atthipaskaii (liigalik) black lUidwhite female mask with labretand nose pendant, collected byEdward W. Nelson on theKuskokwim River, Alaska, in1879. National Museum ofNatural History, Smithsonianhistitution, #E06-i2-i2. -i7 cm.

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80.

Gang of spirits

Nanai (?) g'liig of spirits fivm theAmur River region, collected byStanislaw Poniatowski in 1919.National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution,#£303728. 7 to 12 cm.

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80

82

81.

Shaman andhelping spirit

Udegei shaman-ancestor figureriding his helping spirit, collectedin 1959 hy V.G. Lafkin in thevillage of dvasiugi. VladivostokMaritime Museum, Russia,#4511-19. 35.5 cm (beast) and27 cm (shaina>ij.

The wooden shaman is dressed inleather and fur It is a poiuerfulprotector for the practicingshaman, as it represents a shamantraveling to the ivorld of spiritson the back of his helping spirit, atiger-like beast.

82.

Ceremonial garments

Nanai shaman's bib collected in1905 by B.O. Pilsudsky in thevillage ofTroitskoe, and Orochceremonial belt nmmw withpouch sckty colleded in 19-^5 byM.P. Biriustiukova in the villageof Usna-Orochnaia. VladivostokMaritime Museum, Russia, #893-240 (bib), and #1016-6 and-7(belt), cm and 182 cm.

Some of the creatures on the bibare similar to those on theVdcgei drum cover (Fig. 76).1 hey are oriented towards to headof the shaman wearing the bib,in order to help hnii. nilhcr ihiiiipainted for the beneft of theaudience. The sekty pouch con-tains grass (tobacco?) and ismade of various furs.

75

Cuisine: Food for People, Food for Spirits

Food is a community event in bothSiberia and Alaska. Hunting istraditionally reserved for men, whilewomen fish, pick berries, andgather plants.

F

or this work the women weave beautiful baskets; themen help by carving ingenious small combs to preparethe grass for twining and coiling into baskets.

Food also has a spiritual dimension. Both Alaskan and Siberianpeoples traditionally share food with spirits, Ancestors, or Masters,serving it in special dishes.

Artifacts rank from delicate and ornate to massive, simple, and rustic,but always display a keen sense of design. In nomadic cultures wherelittle is carried, dishes, spoons, knives, and cups are pretty to themfortable to the hand, and pleasant to the mouth.

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83.

Basketry for berriesand beauty

From top, right to left:

Athapaskan basket collected by I.Applegate in Interior Alaska inthe 1880s, made of birch bark, redglass beads with white hearts,and leather. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #£277596. 17.8 cm.

Tlingit beny basket with "shamanshat design", from about 1910,made of split spruce root, grass, andfern frond. University of AlaskaMuseum, Fairbanks, #UA840-31.10.5 cm.

Nivkh wooden spoon fivm north-ern Sakhalin Island, late 1800s-early 1900s. Sakhalin RegionalMuseum, Russia, #947-11. 25 cm.Small Aleut basket made byChristine Dushkin fromSandpoint, Alaska, in 1980-81,

with wined grass and threadembroidery. University of AlaskaMuseum, Fairbanks, #UA81-3-182AB. 7 cm.

Yupik grass co?nb from theKuskokwim region, Alaska, madein the early 1900s of bone withhinged bone blade. This ingeniousarid delightfrl small comb was col-lected by G.B. Gordon. NationalMuseum of the American Indian,Smithsonian Institution, #1/6658.7 cm.

Prehistoric Eskitno old ivory grasscomb with engraved circle fromSt. Lawrence Island, Alaska, col-lected by Henry B. Collins in1931. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #A353766. 4.7 cm.

Tsimshian cedar bark basket madeby Violet Booth from Metlakatla,Alaska, in 1980. University ofAlaska Museum, Fairbanks,#UA81-3-44. 10 cm.

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85.

Closed baskets and box

From left to right:

Koryak basket from theGhizhiginsk area, collected byF.K. Gek in 1885. VladivostokMaritime Museum, Russia,#913-94. 19 cm.

Yupik grass basket made byBetsy Altsuk from Nightmute,Alaska, in 1981. University of

Alaska Museum, Fairbanks,#UA8F3-I60AB. 14 cm.

Ulchi box to carry dishes duringreindeer herding trips, fromthe late 1800s-early 1900s, madeof wood and reindeer skin,with glass trade beads. SakhalinRegional Museum, Russia,#990-2. 26.5 cm.

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85

77

86.

Black and white spoonsand baskets

Nanai (round) atid Oroch(square) birch baskets from theKhabarovsk region, Siberia.The round basket was made byNanai artist A.K. Samarin 1991. Khabarovsk RegionalMuseum, Russia, #VX-312and #490. 13.5 cm and 20 c?n.

Koniag bone spoon collected in1935 by Ales Hrdlicka onKodiak Island, Alaska, datedaround A.D. 1400, and Tlingitengraved moimtain goathorn spoon from the late 1800s.National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution,#A377796 and #E176708.14.6 cm and 17-5 cm.

87.

Simple and heartybeauty

Yupik wooden spoons from thelower Kuskokwim region, fi'orn the1920s (wide), and from southwestAlaska, from the 1800s (small)University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks,#UA610-5916 and#UA64-64-10^. 21 cm and15.2 cm.

"Crowbill's Drinking Cup,"inscribed Chukchi container fromPlover Bay, Chukotka, Siberia,made in the latel 80(h-early1900s, of wood and horn.Natiotuil Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution,#E292261. 17 cm.

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88.

Ainu food ritual

Ainu wooden plate and\kupitsuy(ritual libation sticks), fromsouthern Sakhalin Island, lateISOOs-early 1900s. SakhalinRegional 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 longmustaches out of the sake dru)ikin honor of their ancestors,the ikupasuy are considered themediators between humajisand gods, speaking to them in asymbolic language encoded inthe art.

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89

89.

Yupik small bowl

Yupik red and black painted bowlwith fish or shrimp design,collected by Henry B. Collins onNunivak Island, Alaska, in 1927.National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution,#A340180. 12.4 cm

90.Ulu

Alaska Inupiaq ulu from the late1800s to early 1900s, made ofwood, steel, and nails. Universityof Alaska Museum, Fairbanks,#UA91-9-8. 15 cm.

91.

Nivkh bear festival

Nivkh wooden hear festival scoopand spoon with bear figuresfont northern Sakhalin Island,late ISOOs-early 1900s. SakhalinRegional Museum, Russia,#944-2 and #948. 61.8 cm and23.5 cm.

The figure of the bear is central tothe Ainu, Nivkh, and groups fromthe Amur River, as the Ancestorand God who descended to visithumans in a bear shape. During

the bear festival, villagerssacrificed a captured cub raised bya woman fivm the communityas her own child. They dressed itin ceremonial costume andoffered it food at a banquet so thatit would take back to the realmof gods a benevolent message fivmthe village. These two artifiactswere used ritually in this festivaland carry images of the bear.The fiestival, abandoned afier1950, is being revived.

81

People, Animals, and the Land

The peoples of the Alaskan andSiberian interior depend on a closerelationship with land and animalsfor survival Animals provide thehunter and trapper with meat, theseamstress with fur and skins,and the trader with items for tradewith coastal peoples.

H

unting is the chief means of living off the land,and specialized equipment—from snow goggles tosnowshoes—was invented for arctic hunting.

In Northeastern Siberia reindeer herding has roots deep in the past.The distinction between interior and coastal peoples there ismainly between sea mammal hunters and reindeer breeders, ratherthan sea hunters and land hunters. Reindeer herding was nevera traditional Alaskan economic activity.

92.

Udegei huntingpanache

Udegei hunter's hat calledbogdo made by Irina IvanovnaKialuyigzioga, from the vilLof Gvasiugi, Amur River,Siberia, in 1984-86. The materi-als she used are fabric, variousfurs, including squirrel for thetuft, silk, and leather. KhabarovskRegional Museum, Russia,#9123-3 (hat). 27 cm.

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93.

Alaska huntingand trapping

Prehistoric Eskimo child's icecreeper collected on SewardPeninsula. Alaska, by Karl Lonietiin 1926, made of ivory. NationalMuseum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution,#A332255- 4.7 cm. Ice creeperswere secured to the boot withleather thongs to avoid sliding.

Western Eskimo wooden snowgoggles collected in Norton Sound,Alaska, by Lucien Turtur inthe 1870s. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #E 0243-40. 13.2 cm.

Inupiaq snow goggles made byElijah Kikinyah, from AnaktuvukPass, Alaska, in 1969, withwood, caribou leather, andgraphite. University of AlaskaMuseum, Eairbanks, #{JA69-58-17C. 14 cm.

The narroiu slits allow the hunterto see, while protecting the eyesagainst the harsh reflection oj lighton the s)iow and ice.

hiupiaq snares, on the right fromTeller, Alaska, 1950s, tnade ofwood, baleen, and bird bone; o)ithe lefr, made by Simon Paneakfr'om Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska,in 1969, of a willow twig andbraided sinew. University

of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks,#UA593 and #UA69-68-4.20 cm and 46 cm.

Prehistoric ivory Eskimo projectilepoint from Northern Alaska,and grey chert projectile pointfrom the Denbigh culture, Alaska,about 1500 B. C.. University ofAlaska Museum, Eairbanks,WAS1-86-463 and #CS-66-690. 4.6 cm and 4 cm.

94.

Snow shoes

Inupiaq model snow shoes fromAnaktuvuk Pass, Alaska, fivm the1950s, made of wood and sinew.University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, #UA83-25-3AB.26.5 cm.

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95

95.

Kerek dog spirits

Kevek dog ipiriti from NorthernKamchatka, Siberia, collectedin 1855 by RK. Gek. VladivostokMaritime Museum, Russia,#1132-7, -8, and-11. 5 to 7 cm.Very few artifacts from theKerek culture are found iii niuse-um collectiojis. A very small

number of Kerek people (around•tOO) live on the coast betweenthe Chukchi and the Koryak areas.The markings on these dogs,especially the one in the center, toonumerous and complex to be mererepresentations of harness, attest tothe importance of dogs and theirdomestication in this culture, as inthe two neighboring cultures.

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96.Sleds

Athapaska)! sled model with dogsand driver, made by MicahMalcom from Eagle, Alaska, in1988, with birch and pine.University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, #UA88-3-6. 42 cm.Model of an Ulchi sled calledhudra, from the village ofBidavaAmur River, 1990. KhabarovskRegional Museum, Russia#9742-26. 16.5 cm.

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97.

Sleds

Bottom: Eskimo sled model fivtnNorton Sound, Alaska, collectedin 1910 by Henry B. Collins. Therunners are made of ivory, thebody of wood, red pigment, andsinew. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #£260534.

Top: Koryak sled model fromGhizhiga, Siberia, collected in1886 by G.G. Poliakov, made ofwood and leather. VladiiwstokMaritime Museum, Russia, #912-20. 36 cm. A full-sized sled mightmeasure 2 to 2.5 meters in length,and be pulled by 10 to 12 dogs.

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98

^^^^

98.

Reindeer herding

Alaska commercially made steelreindeer bell from the 1900s,collected by Otto Geist. Universityof Alaska Museum, Fairbanks,#UA64-21-160. 9 cm.

Top: Chunk of Chiikcl.u orSiberian Eskimo walrus tuskcollected in 1948 (see also Fig. 37p. 49). Vladivostok MaritimeMuseum, Russia, #2688. 16 cm.

Chukchi walrus tusk with sceneof reindeer herding and sledgesfrom Ghizhiga Bay, Siberia, col-lected in 1922 by V.K. Arsenev.Vladivostok Maritime Museum,Russia, #1211-1. 23.5 cm.

Siberians have herded reindeer formore than 2,000 years: theChukchi and Koryak adopted

large-scale herding in thelate 1600s. Reindeer herding wasintroduced into Alaska in the1890s, but it was never a success;the idea of holding animals"captive" offended the beliefs oftraditional hunting peoples.

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99.

Hunting paraphernalia

Udegei uma (Ijniiter 's belt),konikhi (knife sheath), and ladu(pouch), made by Irina IvanovnaKialungzioga, from the villageof Gvasiugi, Amur River, Siberia,in 1984-86. Fabric, fur, silk,and leather. Khabarovsk RegionalMuseum, Russia #8695-20.42 cm (belt).

Udegei hunter's mitt from the1950s. Khabarovsk RegionalMuseum, Russia #5808. 30 cm.The tinmib has an opening atthe base, protected by the flap, toallow the hunter to operate hisweapon without taking the mittoff. It is as lavishly and brightlydecorated as the rest of thehunter's outflt.

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People, Animals, and the Sea

For peoples of the North Pacificcoasts, the sea is the center of theireconomic and spiritual lives.

The sea is rich with fish and mammals for the fishermanand hunter; it tempers the cHmate; and it offers ameans of transportation, for which many types of boatswere devised. All of these circumstances have madecoastal cultures distinctly different from those of the interior. Thebeauty and sophistication of sea-hunting equipment reflect thesea's central importance.

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100.

Hunting the whale

Whale himtuig involved magicas well as skill; hunters carriedamulets for a successful huntAleut and Eskww hunters worespecial costumes and tnagnificentbentivood visors to honor thespirits of the animals they hunted.The Koryak held elaborateceremonies to greet the capturedwhale as a high-ranking guest.Smaller sea mammals and fishwere also honored with respectfdrituals and with ornate weaponsand lures.

Inupiaq umiak (baidara) modelmade by Victor Swan fromKivalina, Alaska, in 1970, ofwood, scraped caribou hide,and cordage. University of AlaskaMuseum, Fairbanks, #UA70-50-185. 31.7 cm.

Inupiaq kayak model from theBering Strait, Alaska, fromthe early 1960s, made ofgutskin,wood, and ivory. Universityof Alaska Museum, Fairbanks,#UA67-132-6. 24.3 cm.

Inupiaq stone and ivory labret(lip plug) in the shape of awhale tail, collected in thel870sby Edward W. Nelson on KingIsland, Alaska. National Museumof Natural History, Smithsonianhistitution, #E043757. 5.1 cm.

Aleut harpoon model fromthe Commander Islands, Russia,collected in 1899 by N.M.Tilman, made of wood, ivory,thread, and red pigments.Vladivostok Maritime Museum,Russia, #2160-7. 18 cm.

Three Inupiaq whalingcharms from the 1700s, collectedby Henry B. Collins in 1929in Point Hope, Alaska, from thecollections of the NationalMuseum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution, left toright: red chert whale-man charm#A344673, 5 cm; ivory whalecharm pierced at the blow-hole#Ai3477l4, 4 cm; black chertwhale charm #A347715, 5.9 cm.

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101.

Sea hunting visor

Ynpik hunter's wooden visor fromRasboinsky, Yukon River,Alaska, painted black, blue, andgreen, collected in the 1870sby Edward W. Nelson. NationalMuseum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution,#E049068. 16 cm.

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89

102.

Fishing and seahunting gear

From left to right:

Prehistoric Eskimo old ivorysinker from St. Lawrence Island,Alaska, collected by MoreaitChambers in 1955. NationalMuseum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution,#A370755. 10.8 cm.

hiupiaq fish hook made by MarkClevelandfi-om Ambler, Alaska,before 1970, of aluminum, nail,plastic, baleen, steel, copper wire,and thread. University of AlaskaMuseum, Fairbanks, #UA70-50-65. 18 cm.

Inupiaq fishing lure from theDiomede Islands, collected byEdward W. Nelson in the 1870s,made of stone, bone, sineiv, glassbeads, puffin beaks, and an iron

hook. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #E065651. 9 cm.

Prehistoric Aleut ivory floatplug from Amaknak Island,Alaska. University of AlaskaMuseum, Fairbanks,#UA68-62-52. 2.7 cm.

Athapaskan wooden shuttle forweaving nets frvm Rampart,Alaska, 20th century. Universityof Alaska Museum, Fairbanks.#957. 18 cm.

Prehistoric Aleut bone projectilepoint from Amaknak Island,Alaska. University of AlaskaMuseum, Fairbanks, #UA68-62-254. 15 cm.

Prehistoric Eskimo ivory hafpoonhead collected by Henry B. Collinson Punuk Island, Alaska, in

1929. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #A345173. 9 cm.

Prehistoric Aleut ivory fishhook and harpoon head fromAmaknak Island, Alaska.University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, #UA68-62-99 andUA68-62-124. Both 5.5 cm.

Koniag miniature whalingharpoon frvm Kodiak Island,Alaska, A.D. 1400, madeof ivory and slate, collected byAles Hrdlicka in 1937.National Museum of NaturalHistory, SmithsonianInstitution, #A 390553. 5 cm.

Inupiaq ivory net gauge frvmPoint Barrow, Alaska, dated frvmthe late 1800s. Universitjiof Alaska Museum. Fairbanks#UA81-86-189. 11 cm.

Prehistoric wooden stylizedfigure of an Eskimo hunter wear-ing a bentwood hat, from St.Laivrence Island, Alaska, collectedby Moreau Chambers in 1935.National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution,#A569829. 4 cm.

Inupiaq metal seal harpoonfrom Point Hope, Alaska, 20thcentury, collected by HenryB. Collins in 1929. NationalMuseum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution,#71347819 5.4 cm.

Three prehistoric Eskimo ivoryprongs for fish or bird spearfrvm St. Lawrence Island, Alaska.

University of Alaska Museum,

Fairbanks #2-1934-2245,

#2-1934-2266 and

#2-1934-2302. 5 cm.

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103.

Tlingit canoe

Tlingit wooden canoe modelfrom Yakutat, Alaska, from the1800s. National Museum of theAmerican Indian, SmithsonianInstitution, #16/8476. 29.9 cm.

Until airplanes were used, seasand rivers offered the most effec-tive means of transportation; thefirst migrants to Alaska from Asiamight indeed have come by boat(see pp. 37 atid 42-43).

27 cm and 16.5 cm.

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105

105.

Aleut kayak

Aleut model of a two-manbaidarka {or kayak) froynthe Commander Islands, Russia,collected in 1891 by N.M.Tilman. Made of wood, gutskin,bone, fabric, and glass beads.Vladivostok Maritime Museum,Russia, #2305. ■i9 cm.

Floats for an actual kayak aremade of inflated sealskins,and attached to the harpoon inorder to slow down the woundedgame, and allow the hunter tolocate and retrieve it laterwhen the animal sinks. The Aleutare very skilled at maneuveringkayaks, which can also be made asthree-man crafts. Aleut hunterswould not hesitate to hunt a largewhale, armed with magicprotection ft-om ancestor-whalersand with aconite poison smearedon their harpoon.

106.

Floating face

Asian Eskimo float plug flvniBig Diomede Island, Russia,collected in 1885 by F.K. Gek,made of wood and blue glassbeads for the eyes. VladivostokMarititne Museum, Russia,#1132-34. 7 cm.

This delightfully carved plugis used to close the opening of aninflated sealskin float, andcarries the friendly face of a per-son loith a frowning mouth,symbolic of both females and seamammals.

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107.

Whale effigy totake along

Inupiaq wooden whale effigyfrom Little DiomedeIsland, Alaska, from the 1800s,collected by Henry B. Collinsin 1929. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #347918. 20 cm.

Ritually potent quartz crystalswere inserted into the blow-hole and the eyes, and there is aspace under the board in thecenter where a large crystal waskept. The board was lashedon the umiak through the holeson the sides, for good luckwhen hunting.

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Each cultural group in Alaskaand Siberia looked upon all othersas ''strangers."

Strangers: War, Trade, Contact

w

arfare and trade were the main types of contact betweenneighboring native groups—and between continents—and existed for centuries before outsiders arrived frombeyond the North Pacific Rim.

Very ancient Chinese influence can be seen in clothing and artifactsfrom Siberia's Amur River region. Drawn by the fur trade, Russiaexpanded into northeastern Siberia in the 1600s and into Alaska inthe 1700s. American whahng ships arrived in the 1850s. Each hadits influence on the cultures living there.

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108.Trade

Ancient Native trading networksacross Bering Strait expanded bythe late 1700s, when new productsbecame available. Tobacco, beads,and metal were among the mostpopular trade items. Clockwisefrom the top:

Yupik snuff box with a face,collected by Edward W. Nelson inKushunuk, Alaska, in the 1870s.The eyes and labrets are made ofivory. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #£036260. 7.8 an.

Alaska peg calendar collected inthe 1950s by Rhoda Thomas,University of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, #UA67-98-278AB.22.5 cm.Missiormries gave suchcalendars to Native converts tohelp them keep track of weekdaysand remember when to go tochurch.

Athapaskan doll mittens fromRampart, Alaska, madebetween 1908 and 1920, ofsmoked hide, plucked beaver fur,and glass beads. University

of Alaska Aluseuin, Fairbanks,#UA900-79AB. 11 cm.The Ajnerican eagle is beadedon the back of the mitts.

Eskimo pipe from Norton Sound,Alaska, from the 1870s, collectedby Edward W. Nelson. Madeof wood, iron, leather, brass, andbeads. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #E032870. 19 cm.A metal piece for cleaning thepipe bowl is attached to the pipewith beadwork strands.

Ainu bronze pipe bowl fromSouthern Sakhalin Island, late1800s-early 1900s. SakhalinRegional Museum, Russia, #VXB/N. 7.8 cm.

Tlingit wooden pipe bowl fromChatham Strait, Alaska, from the1880s. National Museum of theAmerican Indian, SmithsonianInstitution, #9246. 6 cm. Thebowl opens like the mouth of abird-like creature.

Yupik snuff box in the shapeof a fish, collected by Edward WNelson in Kulwoguwigumut,Kuskokwim Bay, Alaska, in the

1870s. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #E036282. 9 cm.The lid is underneath the belly ofthe fish.

Aleut basket bottle made by MaryHillhouse from Nikolski, Alaska,in 1982, of twined grass andthread embroidery over a glassbottle with metal lid. Universityof Alaska Museum, Fairbanks,#83-3-30-ab. U.2cyn.The fine basket-making traditionof the Aleuts weaves itselfaround a Euro-American bottle.

Trade glass beads collected inSt. Lawrence Island, Alaska, inthe late 1800s-early 1900s.Uiiversity of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, #UA71-34-l. 35 cm.

In the center: Ainu woman's blueglass beads from Sakhalin Island,Russia, from the late 1800s-early1900s. Sakhalin RegionalMuseum, Russia, #58. 70 cm.

109.

Tobacco box and pipe

Koryak snuff box f-oinKamchatka, Siberia, about 1950,made of mountain goat horn,wood, and a metal chain andmetal pipe cleaner. KamchatkaRegional Museum, Russia,#8-E-180. 8 cm.

Tlingit stone pipe bowl fromYakutat, Alaska, with threehuman faces, from the 1880s.National Museum of theAmei'ican Indian, SmithsonianInstitution, #9285. 2.8 cm.

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110,

m,

112,113

110, 111, 112, 113.Scenes of warfare

Asian Eskimo engraved walrustusk with scenes of battles,made by Yukau from Uelen,Chukotka, Russia, in 1947.Vladivostok Maritime Museum,Russia, #1206-1. Tusk: 55 cm.

The event represented is theunsuccessful attempt by RussianMajor Plavlutskii to conquerthe Chukchi in the 18th century,with the help of the Yakut. Oneside represents the Yakut warriorsleaving the wooded areas withreindeer and Yakut sleds, and car-rying a flag with a Russianicon. The other side depicts thebattle itself in a Chukchi villageon the tundra .

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114.

Geared for warfare

Prehistoric Eskimo bone wristguard for bowman from PointHope, Alaska, and two prehistoricEskimo bone plates from anarmor suit fr'om St. LawrenceIsland, Alaska, collected by HenryB. Collins in 1929. NationalMuseum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution,#A347829 and #A355982. 7.8cm and 14 cm.

Prehistoric Eskimo old ivorywar arrow point from WesternAlaska. National Museum ofNatural History, SmithsonianInstitution, #A333291. 16.5 cm.

Chukchi or Asian Eskimo walrusivory warrior figure in armorand shield from Chukotka, Russia,collected in 1885 by F.K. Gek.Vladivostok Maritime Museum,Russia, #1132-18. 3 cm.

115.

Spear point

Nivkh copper spear pointfrom Sakhalin Island, Russia,from the late 1800s-early1900s. Sakhalin RegionalMuseum, Russia, #1668-278.56.2 cm.

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Alaska NativeGraphic Arts

"So Pretty to Me,"1960, byAlvinAmason, Aleut artist,Fairbanks, Alaska(b. 1948, Kodiak).Collection of theartist. 76x56 cm.

beadwork on cloth and skin began todominate Athapaskan graphic arts. In the19th century the Aleut ornamentedwooden hats and visors with polychromepaintings of birds and animals, scenesof domestic life and hunting exploits, andmythical figures, as well as elaborategeometric borders and motifs (Fitzhugh andCrowell 1988:164-65). In interior Alaska,George Thornton Emmons, collectingamong Athapaskans in the early 1900s,obtained simple rectangular bone stretchersengraved with geometric designs madeby the Tahltan for their packstraps; carefullybalanced and textured, they imitateporcupine quillwork, as do incised designson some early birchbark baskets(Emmons 1911, fig. 12).

In the past, simple graphics (e.g. circle anddot designs) might convey complexmeaning, while some of the most complexdesigns (e.g. the swirls and curves thatornament Old Bering Sea implements (Fig.18) may be primarily decorative. Simplegraphic designs were also applied as marks ofownership on personal property or asreferences to totemic animals that protectedtheir owners (Himmelheber 1987 [1938]:24-25). On Kodiak Island and in northwestAlaska, such proprietary designs werealso used in prehistoric times. Among theChukchi, Bogoras noted that the eyesof killed bears and whales were pierced, "andthe viscous fluid from them, mixed withsoot, [was] used for painting the paddles of :the boat in a special manner" to commemo-rate a successful hunt (1904-09 15:408).

Graphic arts, the embellishmentof flat surfaces with decorativeor symbolic designs or pictorial .representation, is a well-developed form of expression among allAlaska Native groups. In the north, Eskimographic traditions are indigenous, datingfrom prehistoric zig-zag incising and simpleborder designs, which evolved into figures,and then into complex pictographic scenes(Ard 1970:51, 55; 1982:275; Giddings1967:194).

In southeast Alaska, a highly complex graph-ics tradition flourished among NorthwestCoast peoples, celebrating myths, history,house groups, and clans through crestdesigns on wood, skin, and textiles. In the1700s or earlier, when Russian fur traders orSiberian Native entrepreneurs introducedglass beads to Alaska Natives, elaborate floral

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Circles, Dots, Spirals, andRaven's Footprints

Circular motifs have been used amongnearly all Native American groups from pre-history to the present. Incised and paintedspirals, dots, dotted circles, ovoids, androsettes represent the eye while addressingcosmic concepts such as physical andtranscendental functions of sight, peripheral-iry, spiritual wholeness, and transforma-tion—what Ann Fienup Riordan has called"the eye of awareness" (1987:43-47;Smith and Spier 1927; Fitzhugh and Kaplan1982:202).

Eye motifs or ovoids, which are used exten-sively in stylized Northwest Coastgraphics, often signify joints or points ofconnection (Holm 1965:37), as do dotsor circles in other groups (Fienup-Riordan1987, Schuster 1951, Bogoras 1904-09).Yupik and Inupiaq Eskimos once decoratedalmost every type of implement withnucleated circles, from women's needle casesand bag handles to the drill bows collectedby Kotzebue during his first contact with theInupiaq of Kotzebue Sound in 1816,and on engravings decorating 2,000-year-old Okvik dolls and weapons (Figs. 18, 31).

In Aleut art, circles and dots areoften incised on carved and painted spirals(volutes), which may simultaneouslyrepresent a birds beak and a phallus, refer-ring, as Lydia Black suggests, to earthlyabundance as well as a universal system of"cosmological reproduction" (Black1991:43). When attached to the sides of a

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hunting hat or painted on its surface, thecircle and volute also resemble wings, linkingthe hunter with such powerful birds asthe thunderbird and eagle, and with magicalflight (Black 1991:38).

The track of Raven is another commonmotif among Alaska Native peoples. Simplywrought. Raven's footprint is composedof three or four straight lines, although thetrack may sometimes be incorporated intomore complex borders and designs (Fitzhughand Crowell 1988:305). These simple linesare a graphic reminder of the beginningsof cultural time, for among most AlaskaNative peoples. Raven is regarded as creator.Other simple linear motifs include skeletalpatterns and "lifelines.' When used toillustrate skeletal patterns, spurred straight-line combinations are often connected toconcentric circles, thus linking the "interior"or biologic features of the animal portrayedwith external physical and cosmic realms(Fitzhugh and Kaplan 1982:198-201).

117.

"Kayak" by SylivsterAyek, Inupiaqartist. Anchorageand Nome, Alaska(b. 1940, KingIsland). AnchorageMuseum of Historyand Art, #73-097-5.

118.

"In Homage, " 1974,by John Kailukiak,Yupik artist,Tooksook Bay, Alaska(b. 1951, TooksookBay). AnchorageMuseum of Historyand Art, #75-040-1.

119.

"Engraving andEtching," 1976,by LawrenceAhvakana, Inupiaqartist, Suquamish,Washington (b.1946, Barrow).Private collection.

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Early Graphics

The earliest known form of graphic art iswork on stone in the form of pictographsand petroglyphs in natural settings: rock out-croppings, caves, and prominent boulders.In the north, these works are rare, usuallyexecuted in remote locations rather than per-manent settlements. They are probablythe work of men—hunters on the move somedistance from home. In southeast Alaska,petroglyphs are often found near ancient vil-lage sites (Emmons/de Lagima 1991:78).Graphics on stone in that region may haverecorded the movements of particularclans and groups into new territories, cele-brated important tribal events, or markedspecific communal interests such as plentifulsalmon streams (ibid.). Detailed incisinghas also been found on pebbles at prehistoricsites in far-flung regions, including Yakutat(de Laguna 1964:169), Point Hope,Cape Krusenstern, late prehistoric sites atKodiak (Fitzhugh and Crowell 1988:134),and other areas (Ard 1970:108-10).

A less durable though highly visible formof graphic art was the tattooing andpainting of the human body. This art is

known primarily through the descriptionsof non-Native explorers, the sketchbooks ofartists who accompanied them, and lateraccounts of mariners, teachers, and anthro-pologists, and from the work of at least oneNative graphic artist, St. Lawrence IslandYupik Florence Nupok (1908-71), who wasvery interested in body decoration and fre-quently illustrated tattoos. Today, among theSiberian Yupik, Alaska Yupik and Inupiaq,some female elders have tattoos on theirhands and faces, and some less visible tattoo-ing may still be done among St. LawrenceIsland Eskimos, both men and women,to indicate affiliation with specific kin groupsand to celebrate certain events. In someregions, young women were tattooed atpuberty. The marks on their chins were saidto be "sewn" on, emphasizing connectionsbetween domestic skills and standardsof female beauty (Chaussonnet 1988:224;Moore and Johnson 1986:108).

In another form of personal adornmentamong Alaska Natives prior toEuropean contact, the body was pierced fornose ornaments and labrets (lip plugs)(Fig. 61). Labrets carved from stone, wood,or ivory were often worn in pairs, belowthe mouth on both sides. Labrets were com-mon among northern Eskimos who worepieced skin parkas that had gores of lighterskins on each side of the chest. The graphicsymmetry of the labrets and the tusk-shaped gores linked the wearer metaphorically with the natural world by emulating animportant animal—the walrus (see Fitzhugland Kaplan 1982:169; Chaussonnet andDriscoll 1994:111).

Today, northern skin-sewers still makefancy squirrel-skin parkas with miniatureblocks of squirrel-skin piecing at the backof the hood, as well as other graphicelements. Though the specific meanings ofthese "fancy" skin graphics are unknown,they have magical implications. Throughsuch designs, the adorned humanbody becomes a graphic text, transmittingmessages about ethnicity, home village,hunting prowess, sewing skills, and othertopics (Schevill 1986:1-5).

120.

"This My MotherMary, and BabyGeorge," 1958, byGeorge Ahgtipuk,Inupiaq artist.Anchorage. Pen andInk on CaribouSkin. Alaska StateMuseum, Juneau,#V-A-725.

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Gender and Graphics Production

Among Native peoples, men generally workwith rigid materials, while women's workmore often involves pliant raw materials suchas skins and grasses. Even today, materialsare divided along male and female lines,although this is changing somewhat as tradi-tional roles are modified and as newmaterials become available. Women have alsohad a somewhat more restricted accessto certain materials, as well as less familiaritywith the tools for working them and,possibly, the type of subject matter usedhistorically in decoration.

Ivory, for example, which is obtained byhunting walrus, and whalebone, whichis found when traveling and beachcombing,are usually collected by men who traveltogether in hunting crews and fraternalgroups. Ivory is processed almost exclusivelyby men and often inscribed with pictorialrepresentations. Mens connection with thesea is underscored throughout the process. Inaddition, hunting and trade exposed mento new people and fresh ideas that womenwere less likely to experience firsthand.

Women also gather materials in groups, butalmost always on land. The symbols used bywomen, sewn into fancy parkas or woveninto baskets, tend to be non-representationaland are usually worked into an objectrather than applied to it (with the exceptionof felt and skin applique, which has beenpopular among north Alaska Eskimo womenfor some time [Ray 1969:38-41]). Gender-based divisions of materials, tools, andsymbols may have some connection to thetransfer of ideas and symbols to paper,for it appears that—unlike Canadian Inuitwomen—few women work in thatmedium in Alaska.

In southeast Alaska, the graphic arts of menwere most often produced on wood aspattern boards, house screens, house posts,and other objects. These works of art wereoften monumental (and grew even largerwhen metal tools became available), requir-ing the felling of large trees, from whichplanks were hewn, then carved or painted.This was not considered women's work,and only now are women beginning to breakinto totemic carving and painting crestdesigns on wood.

produced mainly by men (Hall, Blackman,and Rickard 1981:49-54); the graphicsmade by women from these regions are gen-erally worked into soft goods—baskets,blankets, robes, and other traditional gar-ments. Men intervene in the production ofsome soft goods, such as Chilkat robes,which require a pattern board created bymen, and woven spruce root hats, whichmen paint with crest designs.

Graphic designs in basketry were animportant means of female expression. Somepatterns, like "Mouth I'rack of the Wood-worm" and Tongue of the Thunderbird," arethought to refer to myths recalling clanorigins and history (Paul 1944:47,49), butmost are simple, lyrical, and representational,such as "Leaves of the Fireweed," "HairSeal's Ribs," and "Stick Fish Weir." Emmonsnoted that basketry designs predateEuropean contact but are fundmentallyunlike other types of Tlingit art. He specu-lated that the "geometric character ofthe design" had been borrowed, probablyfrom interior Athapaskan quillwork(Emmons/deLaguna 1991:220-221).

Today, serigraphy (silkscreen printing) is anestablished industry on the NorthwestCoast, particularly in Canada. This art is

121.

Beaded Disk byMadeline Krol,Athapaskan artist,Whittier, Alaska(b. 1946, Galena).Moose hide and glassbeads. Privatecollection. 8 cm.

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From Stone, Wood, andSkin to Paper

Paper was not available until European con-tact. It became even more available withthe advent of formal schooling and emphasison written communication. Alaska Natives,with their eye for innovation, must have seenmany possibilities for applying the newtechniques and materials almost immediate-ly. Edward William Nelson, for example,related the following anecdote:

During one winter at St. Michael, a youngEskimo . . . came from the country ofthe Kaviak Peninsula and remained aboutthe station. While there he took greatpleasure in looking at the numerous illustrat-ed papers we had, and would come dayafter day and borrow them; finally he cameand asked me for a pencil and somepaper, which I supplied him. Some days laterI chanced to go to his tent, and toundhim lying prone upon the ground, with anold magazine before him, engaged in copy-ing one of the pictures on the piece ofpaper. . . . He had done so well that I askedhim if he could draw me some pictures ofEskimo villages and scenes. He agreed to tryto do so and was furnished with a supplyof pencils and paper. (1983 [1899]: 197-98)

Near the turn ot the century, Franz Boasused sketches by Qeqertuqdjuaq, alocal artist, to illustrate folktales recounted inThe Central Fjkimodm. WaldemarBogoras, while among the Chukchi in 1904-09, obtained a number ol drawings fromshamans and others. The attempt to transmita sense of the intimate association ot Nativepeoples with land, sea, and animals also ledearly anthropologists to commissionNative cartography, although Native peoplerarely need maps themselves.

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When formal education became compulsoryfor Alaska Native children, they wereintroduced, almost always unhappily, to longhours indoors and an inexplicable disregardfor weather, seasons, and movements ofanimals (on which their lives had traditional-ly been based). They were also introducedto pencil and paper. Drawing and penman-ship were emphasized in many districts,in part because teaching mainstream Westernsubjects was difficult in poorly equippedschools (Ray 1969:44). In some areas, theimportance of signing one's work was intro-duced, and many teachers collected studentwork, using it to illustrate annual reportsand personal memoirs.

A few teachers realized the importance ofdocumenting Native life from theirstudents' point ot view, and most comment-ed on the artistic abilities ot local people.In Wales in the 1890s, government teachersHarrison Thornton and William T. Lopp,and later Susan Bernardi, all promoted draw-ing and painting. They used student works,including woodcuts, to illustrate the annualschool newspaper, The Eskimo Bulletin.Sheldon Jackson included some of the draw-ings in his reindeer reports as well(Jackson 1895).

The close connection of contemporarygraphic arts on paper with writtencommunication, among Alaska Natives atleast, may contribute to its lack of populari-ty, however. Whenever possible, mostNative artists today still prefer to work withtraditional materials—ivory, skin, andwood. The sophisticated development ofgraphic arts among the Tlingit and otherNorthwest Coast groups and the long historyot two-dimensional works among AlaskanEskimos would suggest that the switchto graphics on paper might be a natural one.Such a transition occurred in the CanadianArctic—but not in Alaska.

Printmaking

A serious attempt to introduce printmakingin Alaska Native art was made duringa nine-month series of multi-media work-shops, the Designer-Craftsman TrainingProject under the Manpower Developmentand Training Act, sponsored nearly thirtyyears ago in Nome by the Indian Arts andCrafts Board (Ard 1982:270). The project,supervised by George Fedoroff, was managedby Inupiaq artist Ronald Senungetuk.Of the thirty students involved in the pro-ject, only one, Florence Nupok Malewotkuk,was a woman. Nupok, who had beenencouraged by Otto Geist to produce ethno-graphic drawings while she was still ateenager, was the only student who had pre-vious experience with graphics on paper(Ray 1969:64).

Later, the Visual Arts Center of Alaskamade printing equipment available to Nativeartists, but most ot the Native participants(all originally men) preferred to work inthree dimensions and returned to large-scalesculpture. Canadian painter Gabriel Gelyresided in Shishmaref during the early 1970sat the behest of the Community EnterpriseDevelopment Corporation (CEDC),where he encouraged many people to drawand to begin carving whalebone alongwith Melvin Olanna. Whalebone is now theprimary material used in producing artin Shishmaret, but there is no correspondingindustry in drawing or printmaking.

102

The reasons why graphics production onpaper has not been sustained amongAlaska Native artists seem fairly clear. First,paper remains a less-than-comtortablematerial tor most, who prefer to work onfamiliar surfaces in three dimensions.Second, the printmaking process requiresmuch space, which is unavailable tomost rural residents, and some processesneed expensive equipment, usuallyinstalled at a university or other institution.Also, Native men traditionally workedand trained in communal settings such asthe kazigi (men's house), usually in kingroups, while carving is often still done byyounger men in a modified communalenvironment such as an abandoned villagehome. Printmaking is a more solitaryendeavor, and perhaps therefore unpopular.

Finally, although the creation of the origi-nal design may be an invigorating moment,the printing process itself is somewhattedious. And although problems of tediimiand repetition could be resolved byworking through an established press orby hiring an artist's representative,few Native artists pursue these options.

The Artists

Native Alaskan graphic artists representextremely diverse training and backgrounds.The style and medium useci by each is clearlyassociated with the artist's time periodand with the impact of European contact inthe respective regions. Most "contemporary"artists, spanning the last two generations,have been formally trained. Other artists aregenerally called "traditional," althoughgraphics production on paper is itself not atradition.

In St. Michael at the turn of the century,Guy Kakarook was drawing and producingwater-colors combined with crayon onpaper, keeping his work in notebooks. Hewas probably influenced directly by SheldonJackson, General Agent of Educationfor the Territory of Alaska during the period1885-1906 and a zealous Presbyterianmissionary, who apparently providedKakarook with government-issue art supplies(Ray 1969:46). Kakarook also engravedon ivory. In Nome during the same period,Angokwazhuk (Happy Jack) was a masterengraver whose work on ivory was renownedup and down the Pacific coast.

Ray has noted that "the early school pro-grams had little direct bearing on [later]successful commercial 'Eskimo art' on paperand animal hides" (1969:44) like thatproduced by Kivetoruk Moses, RobertMayokuk, and George Ahgupuk two genera-tions later. But all of these men wereaware of the important associations of writ-ten communication and graphic arts withformalschooling and with newly introduced

non-Native vocations—reindeer herding,teaching, and business. Kivetoruk Moseskeenly recognized the value the writtenword held for non-Natives; for an extra fivedollars, he would include a written storywith his paintings (Ray 1969:56).

By the late 1930s, Moses, Aligupuk (seeFig. 120), and Mayokuk were all well estab-lished and had become very prolific, sellingprimarily to collectors and to gift shops,which subsequently sold their work totourists. Moses, the most painterly and bestknown of the group, remained in northwestAlaska, settling in Nome, where a marketfor Native art had been established since theGold Rush. His experience is not isolated;many Inupiaq men turned to art productionafter working for many seasons away fromtheir homes, often after a job-related injuryforced their return.

George Ahgupuk and Robert Mayokukmoved on to urban Anchorage, where thesouvenir market still dominates, andproduced there successfully for the rest oftheir lives. Other men, including MelvinOlanna, sought alternative careers as artistsbecause they had been handicapped by ill-ness and feared (or were informed by elders)that they would not become proficienthunters (Fair 1993:16; Senungetuk 1990:5).As Olanna's success grew, he turned fromivory carving and occasional printmaking tolarge sculpture in wood, whalebone, orimported stone, establishing studio-resi-dences in Shishmaref and W;ishington State.

123

123.

"Four Views" byMilo Minock,Inupiaq artist, PilotStation, Alaska.Anchorage Museumof History and Art,#72-102-1.

103

Moses, Ahgupuk, Mayokuk, and otherartists of their era are ohen describedas "self-taught" (presumably through obser-vation), but many were directly influencedby non-Natives—traders, teachers, and shop-keepers—although few records of theseencounters remain. Kivetoruk Moses wasfirst introduced to art supplies by the wife ofa trader in Deering; he turned to artfull-time after an injury sustained in a planecrash ended his varied career as hunter,

reindeer herder, commercial fisherman,andentrepreneur in northwest Alaska. Mosesserved as a mentor to George Ahgupuk,his young brother-in-law, and to HarveyPootoogooluk, now a prominent Shishmarefwhalebone sculptor. He may also haveinfluenced David Oakie and members ofthe Tingook family, also from theShishmaref-Cape Espenberg area, as well as

Wilbur Walluk (see Ray 1969:53-57).Ray has credited George Ahgupuk with insti-gating the shift from engraving on ivory toproduction on paper (1969:53), but theprecedent for graphic art production was, byAghupuk's productive years, already inplace. Ahgupuk, along with Milo Minock ofPilot Station, turned graphics productionback toward tradition by applying his origi-nal pen and ink drawings to smoothlyprocessed skins—moose, caribou, and seal.

124, 125.

^oint

124,125

126.

"The Hunt,"1970s, by SemionNadein, Evenk artistfrom SakhalinIsland (1931-1982).Cut-out X-ray film.Sakhalin RegionalMuseum, Russia,#3345-3. 23x19 cm.

Nadein found hisvocation as an artistwhile at a hospitalas a young man,where he started tocut-out X-ray filmswith hunting scenes,reindeer, and Evenkfolk tales.

126

104

127, 128, 129

127, 128, 129.

"Myte," "Ania,"and "Kutkiniako,"1965, by KirillVasilievich Kilpalin,Koryak artist fromTopoliovka, Siberia(1930-1991).

Paper, pencil, water-color. KamchatkaRegional Museum,Russia. #30013, -14,-17. 21x15 cm each.

130.

"Ukiu Vok Miut II(King IslandVilkge)," 1963, byBernark Katexac,Inupiaq artist, Nome,Alaska (b 1922,King IsLind). Artist'sproof, woodcut.Anchorage Museumof History and Art,#71-179-001.

Bernard Katexac, Peter Seeganna, TeddyPullock, and Sylvester Ayek (see Fig. 117)were all well-established King Island ivorycarvers who trained in printmaking atvarious workshops statewide. Seeganna andAyek also worked in various other mediaat Anchorage's Visual Arts Center. Seeganna,a particularly promising artist, died of acongenital heart condition in his mid-30s.Teddy Pullock settled in Brevig Mission,Alaska, where he is a carver. None of theseartists pursued printmaking for verylong, although Katexac and Seeganna exe-cuted various commissions on paper, asdid Melvin Olanna.

130

105

Other artists have pursued formaleducations and are now established contem-porary artists. Fred Anderson, an Aleutfrom Naknek who trained first as a painter,has produced many masks and notablesculptures and is now working on a massiveseries of drawings (Steinbright 1986:9).

Joseph Senungetuk is one of the bestknown graphic artists in Alaska. An Inupiaqwho trained at the San Francisco ArtInstitute, Senungetuk is the author of Giveor Take a Century (1970). This chronicleof his family's difficult move from Wales toNome is illustrated with many of hisprints and drawings. The younger brother ofartist 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). AnchorageMuseum of Historyand Art, #79-030-2.

131

132.

"A Dream inAnchorage," 1973,by Peter Seeganna,Inupiaq artistfrom King Island.Anchorage Museumof History andArt, #73-097-4.

106

Aleut Alvin Amason (see Fig. 116), aprofessor at the University of AlaskaFairbanks, is another prominent graphicartist. A noted painter who producesoccasional prints, Amason frequently tex-tures, builds up, and "adds on" to mostof his pieces. He often writes on his work,thus combining graphics, sculpture,and oral tradition in an avant-garde blendthat recalls other media and earliertraditions.

John Kailukiak (see Fig. 118), a Yupikartist who also participated in the Nometraining project and graduated fromthe Rhode Island School of Design, is alsoan accomplished painter. Since hisreturn to Toksook Bay several years ago,however, Kailukiak has concentratedon three-dimensional works, primarilymasks. Ironically, maskmaking maybe considered a more daring step on NelsonIsland than works on paper, for maskeddancing was once vigorously prohibited byChristian missionaries. As Kailukiak

points out: "The people in my area don'tknow whether to continue going backinto making masks because ot the shaman-ism [associated with them] . . . but theperformances seem sort of incomplete with-out the masks" (Steinbright 1986:38).Comments by John Kailukiak, in fact, mayclarify why graphics on paper have notbecome a popular medium lor Alaska Nativeartists, why the conscious gesture towardtradition is so powerful and so ultimatelysatisfying:

Everything else [in my masks] is pretty muchfrom home, even the colors we collectfrom the beaches and hills. . . . My designsare similar to those done before, thosecollected by Nelson and Curtis. My designsgo back to that age. I've thought aboutusing exotic wood for my masks but eventhough the product might be nice ... itjust doesn't seem right to work withwood different than driftwood. It's just thatfeeling ....

Hunting and artwork are the two mainthings in my life. It's hard for me to stay inthe city. I've been tempted to go into the cityin 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)

Acknowledgements

My thanks extend to George Ahgupuk,Alvin Amason, Saradell Ard, MichaelBurwell, Steve Henrikson, AJdona Jonaitis,Marilyn Kwock, Dinah Larsen, MaryLarson, Melvin and Karen Olanna, HarveyPootoogooluk, Dorothy Jean Ray,Shelley Reid and Dan Savard (Royal BritishColiunbia Museum), Joseph Senungetuk,Ronald Senungetuk, Theresa Thibault,Walter Van Horn, Bill and Karen Workman,and many Native artists not mentionedhere. Permission to use materials from theTradition, Innovation, Continuity project,Alaska State Council on the Arts, comesfrom Jean Palmer, Acting Director. Most artpieces reproduced here were originallyselected by curator Ronald Senungetuk forthis project.

133.

"The Silent Sea,"1967, by JosephSenungetuk, Inupiaqartist. Anchorage,(h. 1940, Wales).Anchorage Museumof History and Art,#85-069-1.

133

107

Map reproduced courtesy of the Alaska NativeLanguage Center, University of AlaskaFairbanks, from Unungam Ungiikangin...by Bergsland and Moses, 1990.

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

Ahtna

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

Koyukon

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

1

mil; Koryak and Aliutor

9,000

4,600

Wakashan

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)SirenikskiSiberian Yupik

Chapiinski (Russia)

subtotal

13,5002,000900

3,5001

1,300300

Salishan

Bella Coola*

700

150

St. Lawrence Is. (USA)

Note: This map was adapted from Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia 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

<s, on the basis of Michael

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

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1 1 1

ContributorsAleut

Unangan (Aleut) storytellerBarbara Svarny Carlson was

raised in Unalaska and is of theQawalangin Tribe. She has apassion for the preservation ofUnangan culture with an emphasison the oral tradition. Intertwiningthe arts of dance, tattooing, andstorytelling, she captivates youngand old alike with tales from atime "so long ago that things werevery different from the way theyare today."

Tlingit

Nora Marks Dauenhauer

was born in 1927 in Juneau,Alaska, and was raised in Juneauand Hoonah, as well as on thefamily fishing boat and in seasonalsubsistence sites around Icy Strait,Glacier Bay, and Cape Spencer.Her first language is Tlingit; shebegan to learn English whenshe entered school at the age ofeight. She has a B.A. in anthropol-ogy (Alaska Methodist University,1976) and is internationallyrecognized for her fieldwork, tran-scription, translation, and explica-tion of Tlingit oral literature.Her poetry, prose, and drama havebeen widely published and anthol-ogized. She is Principal Researcherin Language and Cultural Studiesat Sealaska Heritage Foundation inJuneau. She has four children andthirteen grandchildren.

Richard Dauenhauer, born (1942)and raised in Syracuse, N.Y.,has lived in vVlaska since 1969.From 1981 to 1988 he served asAlaska's seventh poet laureate.He holds a B.A. degree in Slaviclanguages, an M.A. in German,and a Ph.D. in comparative litera-ture. He has taught at AlaskaMethodist University and AlaskaPacific University in Anchorageand teaches part-time at theUniversity of Alaska-Southeast inJuneau. Three volumes of his poet-ry have been published, and heis widely recognized as an editorand translator. He is Directorof Language and Cultural Studiesat Sealaska Heritage Foundation,Juneau. In 1991 Nora and RichardDauenhauer shared an AmericanBook Award for their Tlingitwork.

Afhapaskan

Bernice Joseph is an Athapaskanfrom Nulato, Alaska, and currentlyresides in Fairbanks. She has aB.B.A. in business administration

(University of Alaska Fairbanks,1989) and is noted for herinvolvement in cultural programswith the Native community inFairbanks. She is the ProgramOfficer ot Education at DoyonFoundation in Fairbanks. Berniceis married and has two children.

Miranda Wright, a graduatestudent ot anthropology at theUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks,serves as vice-president ofKeepers of the Treasures Alaska.A Koyukon Athapaskan bornat the family campsite, Tson Yil,Miranda is involved in culturalpreservation and perpetuationefforts of the peoples of Alaska.She served as the educationcoordinator for the CrossroadsAlaska project.

Melinda Chase, formerly ofTanana Chiefs Conference villagegovernment services, is currentlyemployed by the University ofAlaska Interior Campus as ruraleducation coordinator for theGalena subregion. She is involvedwith the Alaska Native LeadershipProject and the Anvik HistoricalSociety.

Alutiiq

Gordon L. Pullar is directorof the Alaska Native HumanResource Development Program,College of Rural Alaska,University of Alaska Fairbanks,and the President of the nationalboard of Keepers of the Treasures:Cultural Council of AmericanIndians, Alaska Natives, andNative Hawaiians. He is a pastpresident ol the Kodiak AreaNative Association.

Richard Knecht is an archeologistand the director of the AlutiiqMuseum for the Kodiak AreaNative association in Kodiak,Alaska. Originally from northernMichigan, he worked on archeo-logical projects throughoutthe eastern U.S. before coming toAlaska as a student of the lateRichard Jordan in 1983. He hasdirected numerous excavationsthroughout the Kodiak archipel-ago and is currently completinga Ph.D. in anthropology fromBryn Mawr College.

Inupioq

Jana Harcharek is Inupiaqfrom Barrow, Alaska, where shewas raised and taught to appreciatethe value of learning both theInupiaq ways and the ways of thewestern world. She has been

involved in language and culturalpreservation for a number ofyears, recently as liaison officer forthe North Slope BoroughCommission on Inupiat History,Language, and Culture. She isChairperson of the Keepers of theTreasures Alaska, an organizationdevoted to reclaiming, revitalizing,and perpetuating the diverse cul-tures of the peoples of Alaska.

Rachel Craig is InupiatIlitqusiat Coordinator for Alaska'sNorthwest Arctic Borough, han-dling questions and issues relatingto Inupiaq culture. She hascollected oral history amongInupiaq elders, helped to developthe Inupiaq language curriculumfor Northwest Arctic Boroughschools, and is involved in variousprojects to preserve Inupiaq lan-guage, dance, and craft-makingskills. She has also served in theAlaska Humanities Forum and theAlaska Historical Society, and is aboard member of Keepers of theTreasures Alaska.

Yupik

Larry Kairaiuak is also knownby his Yupik name, Apacuar.He was born in Bethel, Alaska,and grew up in the village otChefornak, where Yupik was hisfirst language. He holds a B.A.in history (University of AlaskaFairbanks, 1991) and has workedin the Fairbanks North StarBorough School District for theAlaska Native Education Program.

Darlene Orr is a Siberian Yupiknow residing in Nome, Alaska,where she teaches Russian and herNative language at the local col-lege. She also carries out linguisticfieldwork in Siberian Native lan-guages on the verge of extinctionfor the Alaska Native LanguageCenter, University of AlaskaFairbanks.

Siberian Peoples

Igor Krupnik is a researchanthropologist at the ArcticStudies Center of the SmithsonianInstitution in "Washington, D.C.Born and educated in Russia, hespent almost twenty years studyingthe cultural legacy and traditionaleconomies of Siberian Nativepeople. He has authorednumerous publications both inRussian and English: hisArctic Adaptations: Whalers andReindeer Herders of NorthernEurasia was published in 1993 bythe University Press of NewEngland. At the Smithsonian, Dr.

Krupnik is involved in severalinternational research projects thatfocus on cultural preservation andchange, and the environmentalknowledge of circumpolar people.

Archeology

William W. Fitzhugh is the

project director for CrossroadsAlaska and director of the ArcticStudies Center at the SmithsonianInstitution, where he has servedas chairman of the Department ofAnthropology. A specialist inarcheology and anthropology ofArctic regions, he has conductedfieldwork in Labrador, BaffinIsland, and other northern areas,including, recently, the YamalPeninsula in Siberia. Special inter-ests include prehistory and envi-ronmental archeology, circumpolarmaritime adaptations, and culturecontacts. He has produced severalexhibitions, including Inua andCrossroads of Continents. Recentbooks include Anthropology of theNorth Pacific Rim, co-edited withValerie Chaussonnet, andArcheology of the Frobisher Voyages.

Ethnology

Valerie Chaussonnet, Curatorof Crossroads Alaska, has been asso-ciated with the Arctic StudiesCenter at the SmithsonianInstitution since 1986. A memberot the Crossroads of Continentscuratorial team, she contributeda chapter on clothing to the exhi-bition catalogue and translatedthe Russian chapters into English.She has lectured in the UnitedStates and Canada on Arctic cloth-ing and the peoples of Siberia.Valerie was co-editor ofAnthropology of the North PacificRim with William W. Fitzhugh.She lives in Washington, D.C,with her husband and son.

Alaska NativeGraphic Art

Susan W. Fair is an independentscholar, writer, and folklorist wholives in Eagle River, Alaska. Shehas worked intensively with AlaskaNative artists for twenty years andhas published numerous essayson Native art. The University ofAlaska Press is about to publishher book on tradition, and she ispresently working on an ethnohis-tory of northwest Alaskan Inupiatfor the National Park Service.

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