Bering Sea and Arctic Coast Eskimos of Alaska

Unpaginated      |      Vol_VIII-0018                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthropology

(Margaret Lantis)

BERING SEA AND ARCTIC COAST ESKIMOS OF ALASKA

CONTENTS
	Page
Territory and Tribal Divisions	1
Language	3
Ethnological Investigation	5
History	7
Population	8
Influence of Habitat	11
Culture	17
Bibliography	28

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EA-Anthropology

(Margaret Lantis)

       

BERING SEA AND ARCTIC COAST ESKIMOS OF ALASKA

       

Territory and Tribal Divisions

        These Eskimos occupied a broad coastal area extending from Ugashik

on the Alaska Peninsula (lat. 57°5′) to Point Barrow (lat. 72°4′) and

Demarcation Point near the Arctic coast boundary between Alaska and Canada,

a coastline over 2,500 miles long, not including the islands and inlets.

With their relatives, the Aleuts, they encompassed the entire western and

northern extensions of United States territory in the North Pacific and

Arctic oceans. (While the Indians occasionally approached the coast to

trade, they did not have settlements on this coast in any discernible pre–

historic period.) The Eskimos, a coastal people fundamentally, followed

the larger waterways inland, establishing villages approximately 100 miles

inland in the Bristol Bay area, nearly 300 miles up the Kuskokwim River,

200 miles up the Yukon River (only 150 miles overland from Bering Sea to

Paimiut, across the great bend in the lower Yukon), and more than 300 miles

inland in northwest Alaska: the area of the upper Noatak and upper Colville

Rivers. Westward, Eskimos occupied the Diomede Islands, St. Lawrence, Sledge,

King, and Nunivak islands, but not St. Matthew or the Pribilof Islands.

        Their neighbors on the southwest were the Aleuts, on the southeast the

Kaniagmiut of the Pacific Eskimos ( q.v .), while from Cook Inlet to the Koyu–

kuk the Eskimos faced the Tanaina and Tena Indians (cf. "Athabascan Indians").

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Across Bering Strait were the Yuit, a Siberian branch of the Eskimo stock.

East of the Alaskan Eskimos on the Arctic coast were the Mackenzie Eskimos.

        Regarding linguistic or other distinction between Eskimo groups within

the above territory, there is not full agreement, as (1) the Eskimos were

not organized into well-defined tribes with stated use-rights for any local–

ity, (2) in most areas, dialects differed only slightly from one village to

the next, (3) there was some confusion of group designations in the records

of explorers and settlers. The following list gives name and location of the

principal groups as accepted by most writers:

Name	Principal Location
Aglegmiut	Egegik-Naknek area: probably Ugashik to Point Etolin originally
Nushagagmiut	Nushagak River
Togiagamiut	Togiak River, Togiak Lake, and lake country east of it
Kuskokwagmiut (or Kuskwogmiut)	Goodnews Bay, Kuskokwim Bay, lower Kuskokwim River
Kaialigamiut	Coast of mainland from Cape Avinof to Cape Romanzof
Nuniwagamiut (or Nunivagmiut)	Nunivak Island, Nelson Island (only west side?)
Magemint	South mouth of the Yukon and area southward toward Bethel
Ikogmiut	North mouth of the Yukon and both sides of the river to Paimiut
Unaligmiut	Around Norton Sound from Pastolik Bay to Shaktolik (pre-European time)
Ungalardlermiut	Norton Bay and lower Koyuk River (pre-European?)
Kaviagmiut	South side of Seward Peninsula from Golovin Bay to near Port Clarence, including Sledge Island
Kinugumiut	West end of Seward Peninsula from Port Clarence to Shismarof Inlet, including Wales, Diomede Islands, King Island

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Name	Principal Location
Yuit	St. Lawrence Island
Malmiut	Base of Seward Peninsula, coast around Kotzebue Sound and north to point Hope (Tigara)
Noatagmiut	Upper Selawik (Selawigmiut), Kobuk (Kowagmiut), and Noatak rivers
Nunatagmiut	Upper Noatak to upper Colville River
Utkiavigmiut	Coast from Cape Lisburne (Point Lay?) to Point Barrow
Kapagmiut	Inland from Icy Cape and Point Barrow, chiefly upper Meade River
Kugmiut	Coast southeast of Point Barrow
Killirmiut and Kagmallirmiut	Lowee Colville River (teritory uncertain)

        In addition, smaller groups that perhaps were not distinct from any of

the above have been recorded: Chingigmiut, between Togiak and Goodnews Bay;

Sikmiut, on middle Kuskokwim; Quvjasamiut, on the north side of Seward Penin–

sula in the Cape Espenberg-Deering area; Kuvugmiut, interior area south of the

Colville River between the Noatagmiut and Killirmiut; Kangianirmiut and

Oturkagmiut, north of the Colville River, with boundaries between them and

the Kapagmiut not clear.

       

Language

        All who have had experience with the Eskimo language in west Alaska

agree that the dialects in the northwest part of the Territory show remarkably

little variation but that the southwest dialects differ greatly from the former

and also differ among themselves. No two people seem able to agree, however,

regarding the exact boundary between north and south. It was placed at the

Yukon Delta (the Ikogmiut) by Dall, in the Unalakleet-Shaktolik area of Norton

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Sound by Nelson, at approximately the Yukon by Rasmussen, and at Norton Bay

by Barnum.

        Linguistic observations in the great area between the Kuskokwim River

and Kodiak Island being especially meager and not a single modern linguistic

study having been made even of the better known Eskimos on the northwest

coast of Alaska, only a surmise regarding linguistic relationships can be

given at this time (1947), as follows:

        The dialect shifts from one village to the next nearest are small but

across a radius of a hundred miles, or two hundred, the differences are cum–

ulatively noticeable. Somewhat greater differences even between adjacent

villages are apparent in at least three places: (1) on Nelson Island, with the

Nunivak and Nelson Island people speaking a language apparently more like those

to the south around Bristol Bay, while the language of the nearby mainland has

relationships northward. With only small variations, the latter is spoken by

people from the Kuskokwim to the Unaligmiut north of the Yukon. Even so,

Nunivak people one converse with those at Hooper Bay (Kaialigamiut) without

difficulty, with St. Michael people not quite so easily, and finally with

Unalakleet and Shaktolik Eskimos (Unaligmiut). (2) Beyond the last mentioned

people, there is a sharper break, the Kaviagmiut and Malemiut speaking dialects

with clear relationships northward to Point Barrow and beyond that differing

markedly from the Unaligmiut, Ikogmiut, and others south of Norton Sound. (3)

There have been conflicting statements regarding linguistic differences between

St. Lawrence Island and the American mainland. There is evidence that the Yuit

(St. Lawrence) and the Kinugumiut of Bering Strait are more closely related to

the Nuniwagamiut and Kaialigamiut (and possibly others in this area) than are

the intervening Kaviagmiut and Malemiut. A southward shift of people from the

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arctic coast to the north Bering Sea coast may have severed old connections

around Bering Sea. Perhaps the Kaviagmiut were originally in the Bering Sea

group but were overwhelmed and absorbed by Malemiut. (4) Considerable lin–

guistic difference between Alaska Peninsula Eskimos, i.e., the Kaniagmiut

and Aglegmiut, and those farther north, the Nushagagmiut and Togiagamiut,

is probable but is undocumented.

        Despite these differences, the Eskimo language of Alaska was remarkably

uniform, in comparison with the difference between Aleut dialects and parent

Eskimo languages.

       

Ethnological Investigation

        The following people have published ethnological information that they

themselves secured in the course of teaching, missionary work, exploration,

archaeological or other investigation. There have been few studies by trained

anthropologists. For the larger ethnographic and for a few of the more specific

reports, dates of field study are given.

        H.D. Anderson and W.C. Eells - Much of west Alaska north to Kotzebue

area, 1930-31.

        C.L. Andrews - Kivalina, Wainwright, and Seward Peninsula.

        Francis Barnum, S.J. - Nelson Island (linguistics only).

        F.W. Beechey - Principally Kitzebue Sound.

        J.S. Cantwell - Kobuk River.

        H.B. Collins, Jr. - Reconnaissance from Bristol Bay to Point Hope, 1927,

1928, 1929; Archaeology, St. Lawrence Island and Bering Strait,

1928, 1929, 1930, 193 6

        E.S. Curtis - Nunivak and King islands, Bering Strait, Kotzebus-Noatak

area, 1927.

        W.H. Dall - A large part of Alaska, 1865 - 1890.

        Frederica de Laguna - Yukon area, 1935.

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        W.F. Doty - St. Lawrence Island.

        C.M. Garber - Bering Strait.

        Otto M. Geist - Archaeology, St. Lawrence Island, 1926-35.

        Louis Giddings - Point Hope, 1939, 1947.

        G.B. Gordon - Kuskokwim River, chiefly.

        E.W. Hawkes - Norton Sound and Lower Yukon River.

        Hans Himmelheber - Kuskokwim River, Nunivak Island, and coast to

Point Barrow, 1936-37.

        C.L. Hooper - Arctic coast.

        Ales Hrdlicka - Anthropological reconnaissance of Yukon and Kuskokwim

rivers, Ristol Bay area, and coast from Norton Sound to Point

Barrow, 1926, 1929, 1930, 1931.

        Sheldon Jackson - Most of the Eskimo area.

        J.A. Jacobson - North Bering Sea.

        Diamond Jenneas - Bering Strait, 1926.

        Margaret Lantis - Nunivak area, 1939040, 1946.

        Helge Larsen - Point Hope, 1939.

        R.D. Moore - St. Lawrence Island, 1912.

        John Murdoch - Point Barrow (prepared for publication the field material

of Ray, Herendeen, Oldmixon, and himself), 1881-83.

        E.W. Nelson - Territory south from St. Michael to Kuskokwim River; north–

west to Sledge Island; up Yukon River to head of Innoko River; St.

Lawrence Island; Plover Bay to North Cape (Siberia); and Bering

Strait to Point Barrow (writer of most complete report on Alaskan

Eskimos), 1877-81.

        A.E. Nordenskiöld - Seward Peninsula.

        Ivan Petrof - Most of west Alaska.

        Froelich Rainey - Point Hope, 1939-40.

        Khud Rasmussen - Demarcation Point to Seward Peninsula, 1924.

        John Simpson - Point Barrow.

        Ivar Skarland - St. Lawrence Island, 1934; Bristol Bay area, 1947.

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        Vilhjalmur Stefansson - Colville River, 1908-09; Point Barrow, 1912:

H.R. Thornton - Cape Prince of Wales.

        W.B. Van Valin - Wainwright and Point Barrow.

        E.M. Weyer - Alaska Peninsula and Bering Strait.

        F. Whymper - Norton Sound and Yukon River.

        H.D. W oolfe - Northwest Alaska.

        L.A. Zagoskin - Territory east and southeast of Norton Sound, including

lower Yukon River and middle Kuskokwim, 1842-44.

       

History

        The pre-European history of cultural changes and shifts of people is

shown better by archaeology than by meager and differing legends or by com–

parison of current elements of culture.

        After the discovery of Alaska, the history of the Eskimos is the history

of incoming Whites, the "Outsiders." (Regarding internal changes made in

their way of life by the Eskimos as a result of their contact with new people.

see "Acculturation, Eskimo-White and Eskimo-Indian.") The dates of signifi–

cant white influence on the Bering Sea and Arctic Eskimos and the kinds of

influences can be grouped into periods.

        1778-1848 Exploration , chiefly by Russians and English. First settlement,

in fortress-like trading stations. Establishment of fur trade,

principally for land furs. Whaling in Bering Sea. Introduction

of a few standard trade articles: tobacco, beads, tea, knives.

First widespread epidemic: smallpox, 1835-1840.

        1848-1890 Shift from Russian to American domination . Greatest expansion

of Whaling and walrus-hunting in the Arctic, by sailing ships

chiefly from New England and Scandinavia. Conflict between

Eskimos and whalers. Cessation of fighting between Eskimos and

Indians. First missionaries from the United States, American

mission schools beginning to supplant Russian schools. Alaska

Commercial Co. buys out Russian-American Co. Establishment of

regular travel on the Yukon River.

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        1890-1910 Development of government and law enforcement . Establishment

of permanent white towns during and after the Gold Rush. Estab–

lishment of Federal Schools for the Eskimos. Importation of dom–

estic reindeer and training of Eskimo reindeer herders, with

system of apprenticeship. Whaling by steamship, and decline of

whaling. Decline in number of most sea mammals. Measles Epidemic

of 1900-1901.

        1910-1938 Gradual expansion and stabilization . Development of more normal

white communities than those of the Gold Rush. Stabilization of

mail routes and steamship travel, of mining, of the spheres of the

large trading companies. Establishment of commercial fishing in

Bristol Bay. Expansion of Federal services for Eskimos, especially

health services. Gradual increase in number of sea mammals, after

earlier depletion. Decline of close herding of reindeer and con–

troversy over ownership of deer. Decrease in isolation of villages,

with use of radio. Influenza epidemic of 1919.

        1938-1948 Rapid expansion of air travel , with marked decrease in village

isolation. Expansion of industrial employment of Eskimos. Greater

military influences: permanent military establishments, construc–

tion of roads and airfields, system of weather reporting, founding

of Alaska Territorial Guard (a home guard of natives). Purchase

by Government from white owners of reindeer herds and establishment

of new system of reindeer supervision. Development of native com–

mercial enterprises and self-government. Development of freer com–

petition in trade. Problems of Eskimo relations to white society

approached: passage of anti-discrimination law by Legislature,

more Eskimos receiving high school education, greater use of English

language, consideration of policy regarding native use-rights.

Expanded unified Territorial health program.

       

Population

        Early American census figures can not be compared exactly with recent

ones or with each other because of different application of the terms "Innuit"

and "Eskimauan." In 1880, the total of "Innuit" in the Arctic, Yukon, and

Kuskokwim Census Divisions of Alaska was 15,406. In 1890, the total of

"Eskimauan Linguistic Stock" in those Divisions plus a new Nushegak Division

was 11,375. It is unlikely that there was actually so great a decrease in

the 1880-1890 decade.

        Accurate figures of total Eskimo population in Alaska and especially of

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population by groups and villages probably never have been secured. Earlier

census figures have an under-count because inland villages of northwest Alaska

were not enumerated. In more recent enumerations, it has been difficult to

record an accurate distribution of population in permanent (winter) villages,

due to Eskimo mobility from one fishing camp to another, from coast to inland

herds, or to other sites for seasonal occupancy. Despite census-takers' lack

of familiarity with factors of distribution, language barriers, and difficul–

ties of travel, the 1939 Census included many more villages than that in 1929

and is undoubtedly more accurate.

        Total enumerated Eskimo population in 1939 was 15,576 (8,034 males and

7,542 females), almost all of whom were in the Bering Sea and Arctic regions

covered by this article. Very few individuals in the Kodiak, Iliamna, and

Kvichak districts now are counted as Eskimos, most descendants of Eskimos be–

ing considered Indian, Aleut, or part-White. The total of 15,576 presents very

little, if any, actual increase over the total in 1920 and 1919, better enumer–

ation alone easily accounting for the difference between 13,698 (1919) and

the above figure.

        That the Eskimo population has decreased greatly in the past 75 years

is demonstrated from these examples: the death of an estimated 1,000 on St.

Lawrence Island in 1879-1880 (Collins); death of probably as many as 1,000

along the Kuskokwim River in 1900, with abandonment of about 20 villages

(Gordon); death of more than 100, about one-third of the population, at Point

Barrow in 1900-01 (Andrews) and of at least one-fourth of the people in other

villages for which there are re ords (Stefansson).

        The Eskimos are fecund, especially those in the Bering Sea area where

early marriage and abundant and varied food help to produce and maintain large

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families. Since Alaskan Eskimos can produce large families and since the

infant mortality rate is being reduced, an increase in population can be pre–

dicted as a result of the current program of earlier diagnosis and better

treatment of tuberculosis and immunization for smallpox, diphtheria, and

whooping cough.

        Although some villages in the Bristol Bay, Kuskokwim, and Yukon areas

enumerated in 1939 cannot be designated today as either Eskimo or Indian and

although some temporarily occupied seasonal villages were counted while others

were not, census figures still show general characteristics of number and dis–

tribution of villages. There were about 220 indenticiable Eskimo villages,

of which 170 had fewer than 100 inhabitants each. The largest villages were on

the arctic coast: Barrow, Wainwright, Noatak, and Kotzebue, each having over

300 Eskimos. That area, however, has long stretches of uninhabited coast, un–

like the lower Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers where small villages are strung like

beads. Configuration of coast, frequent ice conditions, habits of the sea

mammals, dependence of the Eskimos on trading post and school account for the

concentration of population at a few favorable locations on the arctic coast.

Villages containing 200 to 300 Eskimos (plus a white population varying great–

ly from one village to another) were Cambell, Savoonga, Ukivok (King Island),

Shismaref, Deering, Noorvik, Selawik, Tigara (Point Hope), Unalakleet, Ashinuk

(Hooper Bay), Dillingham, Kwinhagak, Akiak, and Bethel. The remaining 30

villages (approximately) had 100 to 200 inhabitants.

        Most of the villages have been small since the beginning of white contact.

The largest of 21 villages in the Norton Sound-lower Yukon-Kuskokwim area

visited by Zagoskin in 1842-44 had only 130 inhabitants and the average village

population was 63. Of 175 villages in a much larger area enumerated by

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Petrof in 1880, 123 had fewer than 100 inhabitants. The range in village

population was 6 to 314.

        While this population is small in so vast a territory, it has greater

density per square mile than the Canadian and Greenland Eskimos (Weyer). As

the area from which food, furs, wood, and other necessities can be effective–

ly obtained does not coincide with total land area, figures on density of

population do not tell much about the inhabitants' level of living and the

population pressure against resources. Also, the high mortality rate since

the beginning of white contact prevents one from seeing what population the

area may have supported at any one time or could support at present.

       

Influence of Habitat

        The Eskimos of Alaska, like those of Greenland, have a way of life

thoroughly integrated for sea-mammal hunting and for use of sea products,

one of the best examples in the world of a culture effectively adapted to a

particular habitat and functionally oriented to it even in ceremonial and

other nonmaterial aspects of life. Although the Eskimos of the upper Col–

ville and Noatak rivers and of the middle Kuskokwim River may never kill

walrus or whale or even small hair seals, they still depend upon the oil and

skins of these animals, obtaining them by trade with coast Eskimos. The skin–

covered boats, blubber lamps, seal-hide boots and other clothing, and special–

ized methods for sea-mammal hunting are generally known. (See below.)

        The sea mammals on which the Eskimos depend are distributed as follows:

        Sea-lion: a few as far north as Nunivak Island and (rarely) beyond.

        Small gray hair seal or ringed seal: Goodnews Bay (at least) to beyond

Barrow, abundant and important for food.

        Spotted or harbor seal: North Pacific to Bering Strait, also around Point

Barrow.

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Bearded seal: all parts of area although not so abundant as preceding two,

important especially for its hide.

        Ribbon seal: principally just south of Bering Strait, occasionally in Arctic.

        Walrus: everywhere except southeast of Barrow, rare south of Kuskokwim Bay,

important for ivory as well as hide and food.

        Right whale and bowhead: south and west Bering Sea to Arctic Sea.

        Humpbacked whale: Arctic Sea beyond Point Hope (?)

        Beluga (white whale): everywhere, except possibly Barrow.

        Polar bear: everywhere south to northern Bering Sea, rarely south of Yukon

Delta.

        The relations of Eskimo culture to habitat not so well known are the

following.

        Land products utilized : The sea-mammal diet is supplemented by fish

everywhere. Since the arctic region does not have the salmon, herring, cod–

fish, and halibut of Bering Sea, the people depend more upon river fish, of

which large quantities are secured, especially in the Selawik area. The most

nearly universal fish is the tomcod, obtained usually be appearing through the

ice of river or inlet in winter. Bering Sea people, especially those of Bristol

Bay, Nunivak, and the Unalakleet area, dry large quantities of salmon and

other fish, although they store some fresh in pits (to become "stink-fish")

or freeze the fish, depending upon the season. Smoke-drying was not an abor–

iginal technique of the Eskimos but in some localities has been learned from

Russians and Indians. In the Arctic, most fish is eaten frozen or boiled.

        Unaligmiut, Ikogmiut, Kuskwogmiut, Nuniwagamiut, and perhaps others in

their area formerly wore waterproof fishskin mittens and carried fishskin bags

for tools or trinkets, even made fishskin parkas.

        The islands of Bering Sea and Strait, notably Nunivak, Diomede, and King

islands, have cliff rookeries on which thousands of sea birds nest: murre,

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puffin, auklet, and pigeon guillemot. Geese, ducks, plovers, and other

birds nest on the tundra of the far Arctic. Considerable quantities of eggs

are eaten, and in some places are stored in seal pokes. Almost all other

Eskimos also can obtain these birds for food on their great migration to and

from the Arctic. On Nunivak, for example, 20 to 25 varieties of game fowl are

eaten every year although not all these nest on the island. The skins of birds

are sewed together to make very warm parkas by the people of Nunivak, King,

St. Lawrence, and Diomede islands (although now a disappearing custom).

        Berries and greens are obtained in sufficient quantities for storage as

well as for current use in most localities from Bristol Bay to Sewaed Penin–

sula, but only the berries are thus available in the far

        While some caribou are found in most parts of the Eskimos habitat, the

animals' migrations bring them into certain localities in greater numbers:

middle Yukon toward Norton Sound and the Koyuk; from central Alaska toward

the coast in northeast Alaska and in mainland Canada; and from the interior

toward the coast within northwest Alaska. Caribou lean and fat, is a vital

food; its sinews the threads of the Eskimo women. On some of the rivers of

northwest Alaska the people formerly killed many hundreds in communal drives

of the deer over cliffs, or into lakes and rivers where men in kayaks paddled

after them and speared them.

        Moose, brown bear, and mountain sheep were hunted in the Brooks Range

as well as in southern Alaska, contrary to general concepts of the Arctic.

Other land animals have been important to the Eskimo in providing fur clothing

and, since the coming of whites, as trade articles, the most important sources

of money. Land animals are especially abundant in the Nushagak-Togiak area,

with its mountains and trees in the interior: beaver, land otter, moose, muskrat,

and others that become scarcer as one proceeds northward. Ground squirrels and

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rabbits are found almost everywhere on the mainland. Otter, wolverine, and

wolf are traded by inland Eskimos to coastal people around Bering Sea (from

the Kuskokwim northward) or to commercial traders; marmot is much sought in

the Kobuk area; some variety of fox is obtained locally everywhere, but Eskimos

used to trade it to obtain desired colors of fur. Similarly domestic reindeer

skins from the Chukchis in Siberia were traded up the arctic coast and far in–

land despite the local presence of caribou. Finally, marton, lynx, and other

valuable furs were traded from interior to coast in northwest Alaska.

        Conditions for hunting : Under aboriginal conditions when the game supply

is not decreased by such activities as commercial whaling, by far the most im–

portant natural factor to a sea-hunting people is wind: prevailing direction

of wind, sudden shift of wind, duration and force of storms. Whether it is

floating ice and occasional walrus for the Nunivak and Nelson islanders, the

whole walrus herd ging through Bering Strait for the King and Diomede islanders,

or the right whale coming north in the ice leads for the people at Icy Cape

and Wainwright, the wind sets the conditions for scarcity, adequacy, or abund–

ance of food. If the wind drives the ice onto the arctic shore in early summer

when hunting in open leads near shore is counted on, one source of food may be

eliminated. Even land hunting is affected: a prolonged warm wind may bring a

spring flood and a shift of caribou migration route.

        There is less precipitation on the coast in any season of the year the

farther north one goes. Bristol Bay, like the south coast of Alaska, has

considerable rain; the Nunivak area has a period of autumn rains when fish–

drying and other activities are affected, but the Arctic has little. Summer

fog on Bering Sea occasionally is hazardous. However, neither fog, rain, nor

snow has affected Eskimo life basically like winds and temperature - until the

coming of the airplane. As the villages become more dependent on air contacts

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with the outside world, fog and snowstorm will affect shipment of furs, re–

ceipt of medical care, and other necessities of their new life.

        One important factor is sea depth. From Kuskokwim Bay to the Nome area

there is no regular whale hunting because large true whales do not come into

the very shallow water along the coast. Only the beluga, a dolphin, is

secured regularly in places like Hooper, Scammon, and Pastolik bays and at

Unalakleet. Without whale hunting, there was less use for the umiak, the

baleen and whale bones were not available for implements or house construction

as in the Arctic. In contrast, deep water around King and St. Lawrence islands

has made them especially favorable locations for whale hunting.

        Conditions of travel are important conditions of hunting, particularly

on land. In late winter when pack ice may move toward shore, forcing up high

pressure ridges, in spring when the snow gets soft — "has no bottom" — and

the broken ice mills in river, lagoon, and bay, in summer when the tundra is

mushy wet, covered with hundreds of ponds and infested with mosquitoes, and

in the fall when new ice is sharp-edged for a kayak and too thin to hold a sled,

hunting and fishing must shift location or stop altogether no matter how many

animals are in the area. A rugged land also makes hard travel. Although

mountains and bluffs yield a few minerals (stone for tools and ornaments) and

may be the habitat of some desirable land animals, the mainland Eskimos gen–

erally prefer low rolling country near the coast. They also like a broken

shore line providing bays and lagoons on which shellfish, water fowl, and

fish may be secured with protection from the sea and on which both sled and

kayak travel are easier and safer, for mobility is one of the fundamental re–

quirements of Eskimo life.

        Probably villages formerly were on higher ground than at present in most

localities because of the necessity of defense. In any case, they were placed

016      |      Vol_VIII-0034                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthrop. Lantis: Bering Sea Eskimos

without reference to available wood and running water. The Eskimo could

manage with pond ice or old sea for drinking water and with a little

driftwood, but he could not live without food. Today, with new needs for

sanitation, he feels greater need for a good water supply.

        Moonlight and sunlight are factors of travel and hunting not appreciated

by outsiders. Beyond the Arctic Circle where the sun shines almost all night

in May, when some of the land and most of the sea still are covered with snow

or ice, the glare on the ice from a sun approaching the summer solstice is

dangerous. Wooden eyeshades, goggles, and large hats projecting in front

(the latter among Bering Sea Eskimos only) were the Eskimos' protection against

snow blindness. Lack of sunlight in winter was not felt so strongly by the

Eskimos as by outsiders, as they had learned to live by the moonlight that

shines half of every month in winter. Games, travel, fishing by moonlight,

which may be very bright on the snow, were enjoyable; and sleeping and eating

schedules - never strictly observed - were disregarded, to fit the light and

the dominant activity of the season.

        Factors of Isolation : Their habitat has been a protection for the Eskimos

from encroachment by other peoples. Except for the early fur trade and recent

commercial fishing in Bristol Bay, some mining between it and the Kuskokwim,

whaling in the Arctic, gold mining on the Seward Peninsula, and Gold Rush

travel on the Yukon — all periodic and localized — outsiders have not sought

to dominate the sources of Eskimo lifelihood. Lack of salmon in the Arctic,

scarcity of fur animals on the islands and along mainland coast, the ice pack,

storm and fog, the shallowness of east Bering Sea, and the bogginess of the

tundra became a boon for the Eskimos after white settlement. The only thing

in modern culture that can effectively overcome tundra, ice pack, or a two–

fathom sea is the airplane, bound to do both harm and good, like any great in–

vention.

017      |      Vol_VIII-0035                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthrop. Lantis: Bering Sea Eskimos

       

Culture

        Basically the culture of all Alaskan Eskimos wes almost uniform despite

the great extent of its territory. Implements, beliefs, and habits char–

acteristic of both Bering Sea and Arctic Sea may be summarized as follows.

        Dwellings . Winter house, a log structure (occasionally with whale

bones as supplementary building material and anciently a stone foundation),

semisubterranean and earth-covered, or built on top of ground, of sods and

split logs, with gut window in the roof, small center fireplace, and storage

passageway. The window is made by sewing together strips of opened and cleaned

intestine. Variable summer dwellings, different from type of winter dwelling

construction, except in south Bering Sea. Size, form, and materials of tents

and other summer dwellings showed response to local conditions. No dome-shaped

snow houses. Most Alaskan Eskimos built no snowhouses. A few built a hap–

hazard angular shelter. A ceremonial house ( kashim , karrigi , kadgigi ) every–

where except St. Lawrence Island; used also as a men's workroom and lounging

place except at Wainwright, Point Barrow, and adjacent interior region. Al–

though like the winter house in form and materials, it was larger, had narrower

benches for sitting and sleeping — sometimes in tiers to accommodate many

people — and usually had a large fireplace to provide heat for the men's

sweat bath. Storehouse or open cache on high piling. In many places there

were also windowless subterranean storehouses.

        Tools . Stone-bladed men's knives with small end of side blade, women's

rocker-type knives with large blade, chisels and drill points, small thick

adzes, and many others. Ivory-pointed meat hooks, ice grapples, ice chisels,

and adzes, except in Bristol Bay where walrus were scarce and ice conditions

very different from the Arctic. Bow drill, for fire-making and drilling holes.

018      |      Vol_VIII-0036                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthrop. Lantis: Bering Sea Eskimos

        Hunting and Fishing Implements . Harpoons with the basic elements of shaft,

socket piece, foreshaft, head, blade, and rawhide lines holding foreshaft and

head to shaft. To the harpoon sometimes was attached a float, made of a small

whole sealskin or, on lighter harpoons, a bladder. Blunt-headed bird arrow.

Throwing board or atlatl . Both simple and sinew-backed bows. Heavy caribou

arrows. Multipronged fish spears and bird spears. Both simple and composite

fishhooks of the same construction. Nets for catching seals under the ice,

made of rawhide or, anciently, baleen. Fish seines (gill nets) made of sinew

cord. Conical fish traps, usually made of wood. In the absence of specific

information about the Bristol Bay Eskimos, assumptions that they were similar

to Eskimos immediately north of them must be made.

        Transportation . Kayak, umiak or whaleboat, uniform throughout area in

frame construction, differing only in proportions. Double-blade paddle for

the kayak, single-blade paddle for the umiak. Recently the single-blade,

crutch-handled paddle has been used almost exclusively, also oars and oarlocks.

Snowshoes, which varied greatly in shape and netting, however. Sleds: (1) small,

flat, usually hand-drawn sled for transporting boats or meat, chiefly on the ice;

(2) travel sled, with upcurved front, rails, and handle bar, drawn by dogs.

The farther south one goes, the less evidence of the dog sled is found. There

is good evidence that the dog sled complex as known today is not old in Eskimo

history.

        Household Utensils and Techniques . Carved and joined wooden dishes and

boxes. Crude pottery (Bristol Bay ?) today although anciently pottery of dif–

ferent style was made. Basketry made by twining technique except in Barrow

region where basketry was made by technique of coiling and stitching the strands.

Cooking was done over a driftwood fire indoors or outdoors, or, from Bering Strait

northward, sometimes over a lamp. Cooking in the open air as much as possible.

019      |      Vol_VIII-0037                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthrop. Lantis: Bering Sea Eskimos

Urine, a good detergent because of ammonia content, used in washing and tanning

of skins. Sometimes ashes or sand rubbed on skin to facilitate scarping off

of the hair.

        Clothing and Ornament . Fur boots and fur parkas with ruffed hood, re–

markably uniform in out throughout area, e.g., men's parkas were straight

around the bottom, the women's curved up the sides. Boot-trousers for children

and women. Waterproof boots for both sexes. Wooden eyeshades. Tattooing by

stitching rather than pricking. Labrets.

        Hunting Techniques . Those especially adapted to Arctic Sea hunting are

described elsewhere in this volume. Except whale hunting and the caribou

drives, nearly all hunting on land and sea was individualistic.

        In the nonmaterial aspects of their life, the following are the most

noticeable or best documented similarities — but not the only ones — of both

Bering Sea and Arctic Alaskans.

        Games . String figures (cat's cradles), skin-tossing, finger-pulling,

ball games, stick-quoits, carved and dressed dolls, simple mechanical toys,

racing and athletic contests. Skill and personal competition, rather than

gambling, were dominant in most games and sports.

        Family Characteristics . A house normally was shared by more than one

family of parents and children, with women and young children occupying it

while the men and older boys spent most of their time in the ceremonial house,

the kashim , even sleeping in it in the central Bering Sea area. Families shar–

ing the women's house almost always were closely related and shared cooking

and other duties intimately and amicably. (If they could not get along, house–

hold members moved elsewhere in an attempt to get better adjustment.) As vil–

lages were small and household s and kashims large, there were few households,

and all villagers were closely related by both kinship and daily experience.

020      |      Vol_VIII-0038                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthrop. Lantis: Bering Sea Eskimos

Thus adoption of children was common, exchange of wives by recognized partners

was permissible, and children were reared as much by grandparents, cousins,

and neighbors as by their own parents. Marital separation was frequent, in–

itiated by o ther husband or wife.

        None of these practices was promiscuous, however. Regulating social and

economic relations were: (1) patrilineal kinship, with totemic relationships

and tabus designating the lineages, (2) partnerships probably originally

based on cross-cousin kinship, (3) tabus on direct speech and other behavior

between in-laws, (4) matrilocal residence and some service by the bridegroom

for the bride's family immediately preceding marriage or in the early years

of marriage. Both polygamy and polyandry were permissible but neither was

common. Almost always co-wives or co-husbands were related. Kin relation–

ships were designated and regulated not only by the weakly organized totemism

but also by a strong sense of the power and significance of names. Teknonymy

(the naming of parents by their relationship to their children), substitution

of nicknames for "real" names, and other devices were used, to avoid use of

the real name so intimately connected with the individual.

        Government and Law . Strict or elaborate government is not necessary,

in fact scarcely possible, for people in such a sparsely settled country,

their activities contained by urgent necessity and difficulty of food getting,

who are much of the time not in permanent villages but traveling in small

groups and scattered to temporary camps. When large numbers of people came

together to "cut in" a whale, the whaleboat owner who was credited with the

kill took charge. At a large ceremonial, wealthy hunters, older heads of

families, or shamans became masters of ceremonies, dependent on the nature of

the occasion. Reindeer drives or roundups were conducted by agreement of the

men with recognized ability as hunters. Personal relationships were regulated

021      |      Vol_VIII-0039                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthrop. Lantis: Bering Sea Eskimos

by the religiously and socially sanctioned tabu system, family revenge, and

a more or less formalized system of ridicule.

        Around the lower part of Bristol Bay where life was physically more

abundant and secure than in the Arctic and where influences from the Aleuts

and the Indians of the south and southeast Alaska were felt, there was more

formality, permanence, and social segmentation in community organization.

There were clearer distinctions between rich and poor, and probably less shar–

ing of goods. In the north Bering Sea and Arctic regions, class distinctions

could not easily be maintained in a society with generally coordinate families

and family law, absence of land-site or water-site ownership, a day-by-day

giving and lending of food, tools, dogs, children, and occasionally wives,

and a periodic redistribution of goods through large gift distribution in the

festivals. Before white settlement, the shamans (medicine men) apparently had

strong leadership and control, because of their supernatural power, often

superior ability and knowledge, and wealth accumulated by "professional"

practice.

        Warfare . The Eskimos were, as a people, nonmilitaristic although the

Kinugumiut of Bering Strait and Malemiut at the base of Seward Peninsula are

said to have been aggressive. The Ikogmiut on the Yukon, Sikhmiut on the

Kuskokwim, and the people of the Kvichak area of Bristol Bay were of necessity

frequently at war because of their proximity to the Indians. In Eskimo warfare,

raids might be organized by any wronged individual seeking revenge. Villages

were taken by surprise, if possible, by attackers shooting into the houses

through the skylight. Sometimes the houses were fired. Some women and chil–

dren might be taken prisoner, but not the men. Bow and arrow, slat-armor,

knives and other weapons for hand-to-hand fighting were used. Parts of the

bodies of enemy warriors (not the scalp) were taken as trophies.

022      |      Vol_VIII-0040                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthrop. Lantis: Bering Sea Eskimos

        Religion . Today almost all these Eskimos are Christians. In their old

religion, encounters with dwarfs, animal spirits, and other supernatural beings

were not limited to a very few people with unusually strong spiritual powers.

Every large village had several shamans, considered to have varying effective–

ness in controlling the supernatural beings, and most laymen at some time had

experiences with the Supernatural, in strange lights, sounds, sensations, and

occasionally true visions. Most spirits were visualized clearly by all and

were not always avoided, as they were considered the givers of beneficial

powers, especially hunting powers, represented by and contained in songs,

stories, masks, amulets, designs on kayak cover, drum, and other articles.

Amulets in the form of small carved figures, the most numerous and important

bearers of supernatural power, were fastened to hunting gear and worn on body

and clothing. Abnormal states in both shaman and audience were induced by

drumming, chanting, dancing and contortion, concentration on the situation

(driving out of illness, a contest with another shaman, a journey to the moon

or under the sea to secure the deities' promise of good hunting, or the quiet–

ing of a storm), and some trickery by the shaman: ventriloquism, sleight-of–

hand, etc. Curing was attempted by sucking out the disease, blood-letting,

or driving out of the disease by spiritual means.

        These practices and the tabu system, relating chiefly to treatment of

the food animals, were based on belief in (1) a great world deity, a spirit of

the air, quite remote from most human affairs, (2) keepers and protectors of

the animals, (3) spirits of mountains, winds, the moon, and other natural

phenomena, (4) races of dwarfs, giants, and beings half-human and half-animal,

(5) men-worms, dragon-like creatures, and other monsters, and (6) spirits of

the dead. Because animal spirits were thought to be interchangeably human and

animal souls, the clarity and detail of this belief varied from locality to

locality.

023      |      Vol_VIII-0041                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthrop. Lantis: Bering Sea Eskimos

        Although laymen regularly carved masks and amulets and composed songs

referring to spirits, they seldom practiced witchcraft or divination, these

being the special arts of shamans.

        Ceremonial demonstrates the helpful emotional value of many of the Alaskan

Eskimo beliefs. Although little ritual accompanied marriage, birth, and even

death, all important food-getting activities were initiated and terminated with

supplication and small offerings to the spirits, by songs, purification, symbol–

ic distribution of food and sometimes many other gifts, imitative white magic,

and other acts that reassured the people of their power as strong skilled hunters,

to whom the animals and natural forces would submit. The shamans sometime, by

engenering fear, used their prestige and supposed power to dominate others and

produced anxiety in the people, but the ceremonial on the whole was positive:

strengthening the hunter and the community in preparation and rewarding him

after any major hunting activity. The occasions for such recognition were the

child's first killing of small birds and animals (by boys) or gathering of

berries, eggs, etc. (by girls), the young man's first killing of each of the

major game animals such as polar bear and bearded seal, the beginning and end

of the whale hunt or any other definite hunting season, and a winter festival

season when all game animals were honored. But fishing, despite its economic

importance, was not ritualized.

        Occasions for major festivals combining religious, economic, and other

elements were (1) honoring of deceased relatives (only Norton Sound-lower Yukon–

Kuskokwim area, so far as known), (2) honor of whales and celebration of whaling

(St. Lawrence Island, Bering Strait, and to lesser extent, Arctic coast), (3)

exchange of gifts between men and women, with temporary exchange of spouses

permitted (most of area), (4) trading between villages (especially Seward Pen–

insula), (5) ceremony to return animals' souls to their natural habitat, to be

024      |      Vol_VIII-0042                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthrop. Lantis: Bering Sea Eskimos

reincarnated (Seward Peninsula to Nunivak Island and possibly farther south),

(6) system of exchange of festivals between the outstanding hunters of different

villages, a general hunting festival (entire area). Despite differences of

avowed purpose of ceremony, the ritual acts and paraphernalia were similar

throughout the area.

        Mythology . The most common themes are (1) creation and the nature of the

universe, including the coming of people to a par[?] t icular locality, and the in–

stitution of the first festivals; (2) a cycle of experiences of bird or other

benefactor that kills evil people and supernatural beings; (3) unnatural chil–

dren that can either kill or help; (4) beings that steal people and are outwitted

by a strong or clever person; (5) experiences of acquiring good supernatural

powers; (6) marriage of human beings to spirits. There are several humorous

stories of animal trickery and contests, usually centering around Raven. Of

human experience, there are a few war stories, tales of starvation and of ghosts,

of a marriageable young person who spurns suitors, of the poor boy who becomes

wealthy, and other human situations usually resolved by magic means. As in north

European mythology, a few morbid motifs - besides the monster beings - appear,

although rarely: cannibalism, physical abnormalities of people, vengeful ghosts

(sometimes pictured as helpful), the flaying of animals alive and flaying of

human corpses.

        Mythology, which is a means of projecting the teller's fears and other

emotions into the characters of the stories, as well as of stating belief re–

garding the world, educating and entertaining the young, shows several personal

qualities and social values characteristic of Alaskan Eskimos: (1) the prestige

of success in hunting, of having much fine food, (2) family affection, (3) great

desire for children (stories of finding children, of magically created children),

025      |      Vol_VIII-0043                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthrop. Lantis: Bering Sea Eskimos

(4) the difficulties of living alone, of living in darkness, (5) value of

happiness and joy, pleasure of giving, feasting, dancing, (6) power of thought:

belief that thinking will bring a thing to pass, (7) individual power and not

much communal action, (8) frequent marriage and separation, (9) disobedience

of tabus, usually but not always followed by misfortune, (10) mobility: inland

to coast, out onto ice, up into mountains, and stories of just wandering.

        Art . As a people, Alaskan Eskimos, like most other Eskimos, show great

skill in several arts. Attitudes and standards of high craftsmanship were

taught, and every individual was expected to practice adequatly the crafts of

his sex although, as elsewhere, only a few individuals were, in addition, artists.

Men's arts were the carving of ivory in full round, in deep and low relief, in–

cising (etching) of ivory, some carving of wood, horn, and bone, and in the

Bering Sea area much carving and painting of wood. There was no painting or

beading of leather. Of stone, usually only plain practical objects like lamps

and knife blades were made although occasionally one finds stone sculpture,

usually of small animal figures. Women's arts were stitchery, basketry, and

ceramics, all with simple geometric decoration in pre-European time but with

occasional naturalistic designs on basketry and other variations in their arts

since white settlement.

        Psycho-social Characteristics . H. D. Anderson and W. C. Eells have summar–

ized observations by those who saw the Eskimos before their aboriginal life had

been much influenced by newcomers to Alaska. Common traits of the Eskimos (as

listed by Anderson and Eells, with additions from other sources):

        Hospitality; generosity and kindheartedness

        Honesty: keeping a promise, not stealing except from those considered

enemies, and hoeesty of observation and report

        Joyousness and affection

026      |      Vol_VIII-0044                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthrop. Lantis: Bering Sea Eskimos

Politeness and good manners (self-restraint and consideration for others)

        Lack of quarrelsome behavior

        Mischievousness ("teasing, prankish")

        Strong curiosity about new things, little fear of new things unless

Supernatural is involved

        Good mimicry

        Intelligence: attentive, observant, analytical, quick-witted, learn readily

        Use of joking ridicule as a device of control

        Stolid acceptance of what they think is inevitable

        Great patience in most situations

        Occasional depression, principally associated with semi-starvation

        Rare raging angers and loss of self-control

        Self-assurance amounting to overbearing behavior when they have assurance

of large numbers of other superiority

        Deceit, grasping and begging behavior in trading (possibly trading tricks

learned from whites)

        Lack of fear of natural dangers but fear of Indians, certain individuals

in their own group, and spirits

        Willingness to forgive, usually, but in a few matters revengeful

        Aggression in hunting, to point of extravagance (will kill an animal even

though cannot use all its food)

        Carelessness of tools, especially guns

        Sex morality not rigorous (practically unmoral rather than immoral)

        Social morality: the good of the community, especially the food sources

and supply of the community, was the criterion of morality

        In summary, they are outgoing or extrovert, alert, observant, adaptive

people, self-possessed, somewhat opportunistic, "brave in daily encounter with

the various factors of their precarious life but fearful of the unknown," with

of course the individual differences in degree and combination of traits found

027      |      Vol_VIII-0045                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthrop. Lantis: Bering Sea Eskimos

in any group. Unfortunately, sometimes the expectations, organization, and

belief of the White man lie in that unknown of which the Eskimo may be fearful

and feel the need to protect himself.

        Sub-areas of Culture . As with language, the remainder of the culture

shows no clear break between Bering Sea and the Arctic coast or interior.

The principal differences are stylistic: difference of physical proportions,

frequency, or amount rather than absolute lack or fundamentally different

techniques and forms. Some differences are due to difference in habitat,

e.g., in east Bering Sea , no true whaling; little ice hunting with the special

techniques of the Arctic anywhere in Bering Sea; relatively greater reliance

on fish and eating of more dried food dipped in seal oil; seal hunted chiefly

in fall and spring, not winter and summer; cairn burial or coffin burial;

sweat-bathing (more wood available); much greater use of matting, grass socks,

baskets; greater variety and use of wooden objects, especially dishes. In the

Arctic on the other hand, there is whaling in the open leads of ice; hunting

of seal through ice in winter, in open water in summer; formerly disposal of

dead by simply placing corpse out on tundra; a shallower, trickier kayak, and

probably not so well constructed umiak as that of King Islanders, St. Lawrence

Islanders, and other unusually good open-sea travelers and hunters; better

snowshoes (probably); use of caribou corral; more hunting of wolf and polar

bear; less storage of large supplies of meat for winter although as much oil

as possible is stored, i.e., greater dependence upon hunting day by day.

        Some elements indicate whole culture complexes with different history of

cultural development in the two regions. Some of these diagnostic elements

and a few important religious complexes are given as examples in the following

comparison:

028      |      Vol_VIII-0046                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthrop. Lantis: Bering Sea Eskimos

Arctic Coastal Region, including Bering Strait and north side of Seward Peninsula	Bering Sea Region
Sleeping bench across back of house	Benches on sides of house
Gabled roof supported by wall timbers	Domed or cribbed roof supported by four uprights
Half-moon stone lamps	Round pottery lamps
Boot soles crimped into shape by chewing	Soles crimped by knife
Gut rain-parka sewed in vertical stips	Same stitched in nea rly horizontal spiral
Open needlecase with cord run through it	Stoppered needlecase
No Bladder Festival	Bladder Festival
No Feast of the Dead	Feast of the Dead (only Norton Sound to Kuskokwim?)
No ritual intimidation of women and children	Spirit impersonation intimidating women and children
Belief in Sedna, woman keeper of animals under the sea	Only small part of this belief

        Modern Culture . Regarding the changes that have occurred in western

Eskimo life in the past two generations, see "Alaskan Eskimo Acculturation."

---

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Birket-Smith, Kaj " The Eskimos ," London, 1936

Curtis, E.S. " The North American Indian," Vol. 20, 1930

Dall, W.H. " Alaska and Its Resources ," Boston, 1897

029      |      Vol_VIII-0047                                                                                                                  
EA-Anthrop. Lantis: Bering Sea Eskimos

Hawkes, E.W. "The 'Inviting-in' Feast of the Alaskan Eskimo,"

Can. Geol. Surv. Mem. 45 , Anthro. Ser. No. 3; 1913.

---- "Dance Festivals of the Alaskan Eskimo," U. of Penn.

Mus. Anthro. Publ ., 1914

Himmelheber, Hans " Eskimokünstler ," Stuttgart, 1938

Hrdlicka, Ales "Anthropological Survey in Alaska," Bur. of Amer. Ethnol .,

46th Ann. Rept., Washington, 1930.

Lantis, Margaret " Alaskan Eskimo Ceremonialism ," Amer. Ethnol. Soc. Pub.

No. 11, 1947

Murdoch, John "Ethnological Results of the Point Barrow Expedition,"

Bur. of Amer. Ethnol., 9th Ann. Rept ., Washington, 1892.

Nelson, E.W. "The Eskimo about Bering Strait," Bur. of Amer. Ethnol.,

18th Ann. Rept ., Pt. 1, 1899

Petrof, Ivan "Population and Resources of Alaska, 1880." reprinted

in Compilation of Narratives of Explorations in Alaska ,

Washington, 1900

Porter, R.P. "Report on Population and Resources of Alaska," 11th

Census, 1890, Vol. 8 , Washington, 1893

Rasmussen, Knud " Across Arctic America ," New York, 1927

Stefansson, Vilhjalmur " My Life with the Eskimo ," New York, 1913

---- "The Stefansson-Anderson Arctic Expedition of the American

Museum: Preliminary Ethnological Report," Amer. Mus. of

Nat. Hist., Anthro. Papers , No. 14, Pt. 1, 1914

Weyer, E.M. "The Eskimos," New Haven, 1932

       

Margaret Lantis