Prehistory of Alaska
Encyclopedia
Prehistoric Alaska begins with Paleolithic
people moving into northwestern North America
sometime between 60,000 and 50,000 BC across the Bering Land Bridge
in western Alaska
. They found their passage blocked by a huge sheet of ice
until a temporary recession in the Wisconsin glaciation
(the last ice age
) opened up an ice-free corridor through northwestern Canada
, possibly allowing bands to fan out throughout the rest of the continent. Eventually, Alaska became populated by the Inuit
and a variety of Native American
groups. Today, early Alaskans are divided into several main groups: the Southeastern Coastal Indians (the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian
), the Athabascans, the Aleut, and the two groups of Eskimos, Inupiat and Yup'ik .
in western Alaska, although many of them initially settled in interior Canada. The Tlingit were the most numerous of this group, populating most of the coastal Panhandle
by the time of European contact. The southern portion of Prince of Wales Island
was settled by the Haidas emigrating from the Queen Charlotte Islands
in Canada. The Tsimshian
emigrated during the territorial period from a town near Prince Rupert in British Columbia. The Tlingit were known to travel for more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) south to trade with Native peoples in the Pacific Northwest
. There was no standard currency of trade, but slaves, native copper materials, and blankets made of red cedar
bark, and dog and goat-hair were highly valued.
The Coastal Indians believed that fish
and animals gave themselves willingly to humans, and strove to honor the animals' sacrifice. They also believed that the bone
s of a consumed salmon
should be returned to the river in which it had been caught—to allow for reincarnation
—otherwise, the fish would reincarnate with deformities and refuse to return to that river. Coastal Indian society featured a complex system of property ownership with a mix of private and group property. Each household
owned tools, objects, and food that they had produced themselves, while the clan owned names, land, stories, buildings, and most other property.
In the social organization of the Tlingit and Haida, status and prestige were negotiated through wealth. To maintain position, a man of high rank demonstrated wealth by holding a potlatch
ceremony in which he would give away, destroy, or invite guests to consume all of his food and possessions. This was referred to as "paying off" the guests who had performed ritual services or provided support in the past. Those who received goods at one potlatch would typically reciprocate by inviting their former hosts to their own potlatch at a later date; such invitations would confirm their relative levels of prestige and status. Other important features of the potlatch were the recitation of family histories and bloodlines, transfer of ceremonial titles and possessions, and offerings to ancestors.
The mild climate and plentiful resources of the Panhandle allowed the Coastal Indians leisure time to devote to social pastimes, travel and trade. They enjoyed complex art, music, and storytelling, and their traditions kept an accurate account of genealogy and clan history. The painted designs developed by the Coastal tribes featured fish, animals, and mythical creatures in formalized patterns of black, red, and other bold colors. They decorated their craft goods, domestic utensils, clothing, masks, canoes, and ritual objects to signify ownership. The world renowned totem pole
s were carved at great expense to illustrate myths, to honor the deceased, and to imply the enormous wealth of the owners.
s, and bows
and arrow
s. Periods of famine
were common. Because they were seminomadic and hunted on foot, footwear was very important, and the Athabascans designed light and flexible snowshoes made of birch and rawhide. The Athabascans used birch bark from the interior forests to make canoes, containers, sled
s, and cradles. Clothing was made of animal hides, decorated with porcupine
quills colored with natural dyes.
Some Athabascan groups inhabited permanent winter villages and summer fishing camps. Most bands consisted of a few nuclear families
and had limited internal organization. Leadership
was acquired by warrior
s or hunters. Athabascans also gave potlatches
to mark a death and celebrate a child's first successful hunt, as a prelude to marriage. Those who aspired to leadership were expected to host memorable potlatches, at which the would-be leader would give away all his possessions then prove his prowess by providing for himself and his family for an entire year without outside help.
s. Aleut fishing technology included fish spears, weirs, nets, hooks, and lines. Various darts
, nets, and harpoons were used to obtain sea lions and sea otters. Whales were usually killed with a poisoned, stone-bladed lance
. The job of women and children was to gather shellfish
along the beaches at low tide, and berries and other plants in the hills. Aleut women are still today famed for their basketry and sewing
techniques, capable of weaving grasses into watertight baskets and sewing seal gut into watertight raincoats suitable for the open ocean.
Aleut society was divided into three categories: honorables, comprising the respected whalers and elders; common people; and slaves. At death, the body of an honorable was mummified, and slaves were occasionally killed in honor of the deceased.
The one- and two-person skin kayaks used by the Aleuts were called "baidarka
s" or "bidarkas" by the Russians. These were the model for modern fiberglass kayaks in use today, and are the smallest ocean-going craft made by humans, capable of long journeys in some of the most dangerous seas. Three-person baidarkas were developed at the behest of the Russians, who wanted to ride as passengers in the center; these "three-hole" baidarkas were then adapted for Aleut use in long-distance travel and trade.
Eskimos, the Native group most familiar to non-Alaskans, were originally divided into two subgroups: the Inupiat Eskimos settled in Alaska's Arctic
region, and the Yup'ik settled in the west. To combat the cold, seasonal food was stored against future shortage, in particular against the privations of each winter. A hunter always divided a fresh kill evenly amongst the community
, and status within a village was determined by hunting ability. Eskimo village sites were chosen partly on the basis of the availability of food sources. The Arctic coast people depended on seals, walrus
es and whales, while the inland Eskimos lived on a diet of caribou, birds, and other small game animals. These people gathered eggs
, berries
, roots; they ate wild greens fresh, or preserved them in skin containers.
Eskimos used open boats called umiaks, and the smaller kayaks, to hunt large sea mammals. Both vessels were made of a driftwood
frame, covered with tightly sewn seal skins. Sleds and dog teams were used for winter
travel, and during the summer
, dogs were used as pack animals. Women were skilled in basketry and sewing. They stitched and fitted waterproof garments made of animal intestine
and fish skins. The Eskimos' everyday clothing of trousers
, boots, and coats was sewn from skins and fur, sometimes in complex geometric designs. The coats, which were called parkas, featured an attached hood and a ruff of wolf or bear fur.
Eskimos were known for their carvings, especially their small ivory
pieces. In early times, household utensils and weapons were ornamented. Using wood, bone, baleen
, walrus ivory
, and fossil mammoth tusks, Eskimos crafted dishes, knives, oil lamps, small sculptures, game pieces. Snowgoggles
having only small slits to look through to protect their eyes from the glare of snow and ice were carved out of wood or ivory. Replicas of the ulu
(women's knives) can be found in most Alaskan tourist shops today.
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
people moving into northwestern North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
sometime between 60,000 and 50,000 BC across the Bering Land Bridge
Bering land bridge
The Bering land bridge was a land bridge roughly 1,000 miles wide at its greatest extent, which joined present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia at various times during the Pleistocene ice ages. Like most of Siberia and all of Manchuria, Beringia was not glaciated because snowfall was extremely light...
in western Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. They found their passage blocked by a huge sheet of ice
Ice
Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...
until a temporary recession in the Wisconsin glaciation
Wisconsin glaciation
The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago....
(the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
) opened up an ice-free corridor through northwestern Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, possibly allowing bands to fan out throughout the rest of the continent. Eventually, Alaska became populated by the Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
and a variety of Native American
Alaska Natives
Alaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Aleut, Inuit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.-History:In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded...
groups. Today, early Alaskans are divided into several main groups: the Southeastern Coastal Indians (the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian
Tsimshian
The Tsimshian are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River. Their communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000...
), the Athabascans, the Aleut, and the two groups of Eskimos, Inupiat and Yup'ik .
Coastal Indians
The Coastal Indians were probably the first wave of immigrants to cross the Bering Land BridgeBering land bridge
The Bering land bridge was a land bridge roughly 1,000 miles wide at its greatest extent, which joined present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia at various times during the Pleistocene ice ages. Like most of Siberia and all of Manchuria, Beringia was not glaciated because snowfall was extremely light...
in western Alaska, although many of them initially settled in interior Canada. The Tlingit were the most numerous of this group, populating most of the coastal Panhandle
Alaska Panhandle
Southeast Alaska, sometimes referred to as the Alaska Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, which lies west of the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The majority of Southeast Alaska's area is part of the Tongass National Forest, the United...
by the time of European contact. The southern portion of Prince of Wales Island
Prince of Wales Island, Alaska
Prince of Wales Island is one of the islands of the Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle. It is the fourth-largest island in the United States and the 97th-largest island in the world....
was settled by the Haidas emigrating from the Queen Charlotte Islands
Queen Charlotte Islands
Haida Gwaii , formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Haida Gwaii consists of two main islands: Graham Island in the north, and Moresby Island in the south, along with approximately 150 smaller islands with a total landmass of...
in Canada. The Tsimshian
Tsimshian
The Tsimshian are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River. Their communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000...
emigrated during the territorial period from a town near Prince Rupert in British Columbia. The Tlingit were known to travel for more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) south to trade with Native peoples in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
. There was no standard currency of trade, but slaves, native copper materials, and blankets made of red cedar
Thuja plicata
Thuja plicata, commonly called Western or pacific red cedar, giant or western arborvitae, giant cedar, or shinglewood, is a species of Thuja, an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae native to western North America...
bark, and dog and goat-hair were highly valued.
The Coastal Indians believed that fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
and animals gave themselves willingly to humans, and strove to honor the animals' sacrifice. They also believed that the bone
Bone
Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue...
s of a consumed salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
should be returned to the river in which it had been caught—to allow for reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
—otherwise, the fish would reincarnate with deformities and refuse to return to that river. Coastal Indian society featured a complex system of property ownership with a mix of private and group property. Each household
Household
The household is "the basic residential unit in which economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are organized and carried out"; [the household] "may or may not be synonymous with family"....
owned tools, objects, and food that they had produced themselves, while the clan owned names, land, stories, buildings, and most other property.
In the social organization of the Tlingit and Haida, status and prestige were negotiated through wealth. To maintain position, a man of high rank demonstrated wealth by holding a potlatch
Potlatch
A potlatch is a gift-giving festival and primary economic system practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States. This includes Heiltsuk Nation, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures...
ceremony in which he would give away, destroy, or invite guests to consume all of his food and possessions. This was referred to as "paying off" the guests who had performed ritual services or provided support in the past. Those who received goods at one potlatch would typically reciprocate by inviting their former hosts to their own potlatch at a later date; such invitations would confirm their relative levels of prestige and status. Other important features of the potlatch were the recitation of family histories and bloodlines, transfer of ceremonial titles and possessions, and offerings to ancestors.
The mild climate and plentiful resources of the Panhandle allowed the Coastal Indians leisure time to devote to social pastimes, travel and trade. They enjoyed complex art, music, and storytelling, and their traditions kept an accurate account of genealogy and clan history. The painted designs developed by the Coastal tribes featured fish, animals, and mythical creatures in formalized patterns of black, red, and other bold colors. They decorated their craft goods, domestic utensils, clothing, masks, canoes, and ritual objects to signify ownership. The world renowned totem pole
Totem pole
Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees, mostly Western Red Cedar, by cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America...
s were carved at great expense to illustrate myths, to honor the deceased, and to imply the enormous wealth of the owners.
Athabascan Indians
The Athabascan Indians of Alaska's interior were hunters and inland fishermen. Most lived in small nomadic bands along the numerous rivers of the region. Endurance and physical strength were prized, and game was often run down on foot. Athabascans harvested salmon and hunted rabbits, caribou, and bear with the help of snares, clubs, spearSpear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...
s, and bows
Bow (weapon)
The bow and arrow is a projectile weapon system that predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.-Description:A bow is a flexible arc that shoots aerodynamic projectiles by means of elastic energy. Essentially, the bow is a form of spring powered by a string or cord...
and arrow
Arrow
An arrow is a shafted projectile that is shot with a bow. It predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.An arrow usually consists of a shaft with an arrowhead attached to the front end, with fletchings and a nock at the other.- History:...
s. Periods of famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
were common. Because they were seminomadic and hunted on foot, footwear was very important, and the Athabascans designed light and flexible snowshoes made of birch and rawhide. The Athabascans used birch bark from the interior forests to make canoes, containers, sled
Sled
A sled, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle with a smooth underside or possessing a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners that travels by sliding across a surface. Most sleds are used on surfaces with low friction, such as snow or ice. In some cases,...
s, and cradles. Clothing was made of animal hides, decorated with porcupine
Porcupine
Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...
quills colored with natural dyes.
Some Athabascan groups inhabited permanent winter villages and summer fishing camps. Most bands consisted of a few nuclear families
Nuclear family
Nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a father and mother and their children. This is in contrast to the smaller single-parent family, and to the larger extended family. Nuclear families typically center on a married couple, but not always; the nuclear family may have...
and had limited internal organization. Leadership
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
was acquired by warrior
Warrior
A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...
s or hunters. Athabascans also gave potlatches
Athabaskan Potlatch
-History:The traditional Athabaskan potlatch had, “social, religious and economic significance." The traditional potlatch was a gathering that combined aspects of competition, peace keeping and a show of wealth...
to mark a death and celebrate a child's first successful hunt, as a prelude to marriage. Those who aspired to leadership were expected to host memorable potlatches, at which the would-be leader would give away all his possessions then prove his prowess by providing for himself and his family for an entire year without outside help.
Aleuts
The Aleuts settled the islands of the Aleutian chain approximately 10,000 years ago. Although their location allowed them easy access to fishing, they also had to contend with unpredictable violent weather, severe earthquakes, and volcanoVolcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
s. Aleut fishing technology included fish spears, weirs, nets, hooks, and lines. Various darts
Dart (missile)
Darts are missile weapons, designed to fly such that a sharp, often weighted point will strike first. They can be distinguished from javelins by fletching and a shaft that is shorter and/or more flexible, and from arrows by the fact that they are not of the right length to use with a normal...
, nets, and harpoons were used to obtain sea lions and sea otters. Whales were usually killed with a poisoned, stone-bladed lance
Lance
A Lance is a pole weapon or spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior. The lance is longer, stout and heavier than an infantry spear, and unsuited for throwing, or for rapid thrusting. Lances did not have tips designed to intentionally break off or bend, unlike many throwing weapons of the...
. The job of women and children was to gather shellfish
Shellfish
Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...
along the beaches at low tide, and berries and other plants in the hills. Aleut women are still today famed for their basketry and sewing
Sewing
Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...
techniques, capable of weaving grasses into watertight baskets and sewing seal gut into watertight raincoats suitable for the open ocean.
Aleut society was divided into three categories: honorables, comprising the respected whalers and elders; common people; and slaves. At death, the body of an honorable was mummified, and slaves were occasionally killed in honor of the deceased.
The one- and two-person skin kayaks used by the Aleuts were called "baidarka
Baidarka
Baidarka is the Russian name used for Aleutian style sea kayak. The ancient Unangan name is Iqyax. The word has its origins from early Russian settlers in Alaska. Iqya-x builders who kept the tradition of building skin-on-skeleton boats alive in the 20th century include Sergie Sovoroff.A prominent...
s" or "bidarkas" by the Russians. These were the model for modern fiberglass kayaks in use today, and are the smallest ocean-going craft made by humans, capable of long journeys in some of the most dangerous seas. Three-person baidarkas were developed at the behest of the Russians, who wanted to ride as passengers in the center; these "three-hole" baidarkas were then adapted for Aleut use in long-distance travel and trade.
Eskimos
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
region, and the Yup'ik settled in the west. To combat the cold, seasonal food was stored against future shortage, in particular against the privations of each winter. A hunter always divided a fresh kill evenly amongst the community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
, and status within a village was determined by hunting ability. Eskimo village sites were chosen partly on the basis of the availability of food sources. The Arctic coast people depended on seals, walrus
Walrus
The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...
es and whales, while the inland Eskimos lived on a diet of caribou, birds, and other small game animals. These people gathered eggs
Egg (food)
Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...
, berries
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
, roots; they ate wild greens fresh, or preserved them in skin containers.
Eskimos used open boats called umiaks, and the smaller kayaks, to hunt large sea mammals. Both vessels were made of a driftwood
Driftwood
Driftwood is wood that has been washed onto a shore or beach of a sea or river by the action of winds, tides, waves or man. It is a form of marine debris or tidewrack....
frame, covered with tightly sewn seal skins. Sleds and dog teams were used for winter
Winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in temperate climates, between autumn and spring. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice.-Meteorology:...
travel, and during the summer
Summer
Summer is the warmest of the four temperate seasons, between spring and autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, with day-length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice...
, dogs were used as pack animals. Women were skilled in basketry and sewing. They stitched and fitted waterproof garments made of animal intestine
Intestine
In human anatomy, the intestine is the segment of the alimentary canal extending from the pyloric sphincter of the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine...
and fish skins. The Eskimos' everyday clothing of trousers
Trousers
Trousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately...
, boots, and coats was sewn from skins and fur, sometimes in complex geometric designs. The coats, which were called parkas, featured an attached hood and a ruff of wolf or bear fur.
Eskimos were known for their carvings, especially their small ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
pieces. In early times, household utensils and weapons were ornamented. Using wood, bone, baleen
Baleen
Baleen or whalebone is a filter-feeder system inside the mouths of baleen whales. The baleen system works when a whale opens its mouth underwater and then water pours into the whale's mouth. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and remain as food...
, walrus ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
, and fossil mammoth tusks, Eskimos crafted dishes, knives, oil lamps, small sculptures, game pieces. Snowgoggles
Goggles
Goggles or safety glasses are forms of protective eyewear that usually enclose or protect the area surrounding the eye in order to prevent particulates, water or chemicals from striking the eyes. They are used in chemistry laboratories and in woodworking. They are often used in snow sports as well,...
having only small slits to look through to protect their eyes from the glare of snow and ice were carved out of wood or ivory. Replicas of the ulu
Ulu
An ulu is an all-purpose knife traditionally used by Eskimo women, both Yupik and Inuit. It is utilized in applications as diverse as skinning and cleaning animals, cutting a child's hair, cutting food and, if necessary, trimming blocks of snow and ice used to build an igloo...
(women's knives) can be found in most Alaskan tourist shops today.
See also
- Indigenous Amerindian geneticsIndigenous Amerindian geneticsGenetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas primarily focus on Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups and Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroups. Autosomal "atDNA" markers are also used, but differ from mtDNA or Y-DNA in that they overlap significantly...
- Models of migration to the New WorldModels of migration to the New WorldThere have been several models for the human settlement of the Americas proposed by various academic communities. The question of how, when and why humans first entered the Americas is of intense interest to archaeologists and anthropologists, and has been a subject of heated debate for centuries...
- Paleo-Indians