U "\'E !T Cr
ILL. '..riRARY
AT URu iNy -CHAMPAIGN
BOOKSTACKS
NOTICE: Return or renew all Library Materials! The Minimum F— for
each Lost Book Is $50.00.
The person charging this material is responsible for
its return to the library from which it was withdrawn
on or before the Latest Date stamped below.
Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for discipli-
nary action and may result in dismissal from the University.
To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
m 3 \ ««
OCT i e f9j9
100
L161— O-1096
<
FT
Anthropology
NEW SERIES, NO. 12
Nunivak Island Eskimo (Yuit) Technology
and Material Culture
W. VanStone
March 31, 1989
Publication 1398
PUBLISHED BY FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Information for Contributors to Fieldiana
Gen
>urnal carries a pag<
ontributions from stair, research associates, and invited auth
tut the full charge is mandatoi
ibmitted ior, Fieldiana, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, lllii
(including title page and abstract) and of the illustrations shou
!S which may be machine copies). No manuscripts will
bmittedl before all materials are complete and in the hands of tl
Text: Manu , pewritten double-spaced on standard-weight, 81/:- by 1 1 -inch paper with wide
>nger than 100 manuscript pages, authors are requested to submit a "Table of Conu
' lustrations, " ar.< I of Tables." In most cases, the text should be preceded by an "Abstrai
th "Acknowledgments" (if any) and "Literature Cited." All measurements should be in the met
The format and style of headings should follow those of recent issues of Fieldiana. For more detailed si
'filiation, sec Th '.). published by The I'niversity of (
In "Literature Cited." authors are encouraged to give journal and book titles in full. Where abbreviations
g., in citation oi tnies), authors consistently should follow Botanico-Peiiodicwn-Hunlianv
by F. A. Stafleu & R. S. Cowan (1976 et seq.) (botanical papers) oi
83) published by the BioSciences Information Service.
Rt. should be typed in the following form:
•oat, T. B. 1978. Flora of Barro Colorado Island. Stanford University Press, Stanford, Calif, 943 pp.
Grubb. P. J., J. R. Lloyd, and T. D. Pennington. 1963. A comparison of montane and lowland rain foi
in Ecuador. I. The forest structure, physiognomy, and floristics. Journal of Ecology, 51: 567-601.
Lanodon, E. J. M. 1979. Yage among the Siona: Cultural patterns in visions, pp. 63-80. In Browman, D.
and R. A. Schwarz, eds., Spirits, Shamans, and Stars. Mouton Publishers, The Hague, Netherlands.
rra, J. 1946. The historic tribes of Ecuador, pp. 785-821. In Steward, J. H., ed.. Handbook of So;
American Indians. Vol. 2, The Andean Civilizations. Bulletin 143, Bureau of American Ethnology. Smitl
Institution, Washington. D.C
Stolze, R. G. 1981. Ferns and fern allies of Guatemala. Part II. Polypodiaceae. Fieldiana: Botany, n.s., 6: 1-
C ~> ")
Illustrations: Illustrations are referred to in the text as "figures" (not as "plates"). Figures must
jmpanied by some indication of scale, normally a reference bar. Statements in figure captions alon
sud 0.8," are not acceptable. Captions should be typed double-spaced and consecutive!
•nt issues of Fieldiana for details of style.
Figures as submitted should, whenever practicable, be 8V2 by 1 1 inches (22 x 28 cm) and may not
iches (30 x 42 cm). Illustrations should be mounted on boards in the arrangement
1 wish to obtain in the printed work. This original set should be suitable for transmission to tl
pn follows: Pen and ink drawings may be originals (preferred) or photostats; shaded drawin
should be originals, but within the size limitation; and photostats should be high-quality, glossy, blai
! white prints. All illustrations should be marked on the reverse with author's name, figure numl
i "top." Original illustrations will be returned to the author upon publication unless otherwise specified,
h to publish figures that require costly special paper or color reproduction must ma>
rrangements with the Scientific Editor.
Page Proofs: / 3 a two-stej n. Each author will normalb
lanuscript on which deletions, additions, and changes can be made and quen
. roofs will be sent. All desired corrections of type must be made on tl
s in page pi s opposed to corrections) are very expensive. Auth<
in pag^ the author agrees in advance to pay for them.
HIS PUBLICATION IS PRINTED ON ACID-FREE PAPER.
■tr
ILLINOIS LIBRARY
AX .URSANACHAMHAIQN
STACKS
Nunivak Island Eskimo ( Yuit) Technology
and Material Culture
Fig. 1. Map of Nunivak Island and the adjacent mainland.
F1ELDIANA
Anthropology
NEW SERIES. NO. 12
Nunivak Island Eskimo ( Yuii) Technology
and Material Culture
James W. VanStone
Curator, North American Archaeology and Ethnology
Department of Anthropology
Field Museum of Natural History
Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496
Accepted August 3, 1988
Published March 31, 1989
Publication 1398
PUBLISHED BY FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
© 1989 Field Museum of Natural History
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 88-84028
ISSN 0071-4739
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
In Memory of My Friend
Edward S. Rogers
(1923-1988)
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Abstract 1
I. Introduction 1
II. Sea Hunting 7
III. Land Hunting 10
IV. Fishing 12
V. Transportation 15
Kayaks 15
Umiaks 17
Sleds 20
Snowshoes 21
Breast yoke and pack cord 21
VI. Shelter, Housekeeping, and Storage
21
Settlements 21
House construction 21
The qasgiq 22
Housekeeping 23
Caches 23
Temporary shelters 24
VII. Tools 24
VIII. Household Equipment 26
IX. Food and Its Preparation 29
Meals and eating habits 29
Land and sea mammal meat 30
Fowl 30
Fish and shellfish 30
Vegetable food 31
X. Skin Preparation and Sewing 31
Skin preparation 31
Sewing and sewing equipment 33
XL Clothing and Personal Adornment
34
Skin parkas 34
Feather parkas 35
Gut and fish skin parkas 36
Pants 36
Caps 37
Armbands 37
Mittens 37
Boots 37
Children's clothing 38
Personal adornment 38
XII. Conclusions 39
Acknowledgments 42
Literature Cited 43
Illustrations (figs. 2-107) 45-108
1. Map of Nunivak Island and the adja-
cent mainland Frontispiece
2. The village of Mekoryuk in 1937 ... 45
3. The village of Mekoryuk in winter ... 45
4. The village of Nash Harbor 46
5. A seasonal settlement on Cape Etolin
46
6. Sealing harpoon heads 47
7. Sealing harpoon head and chisel 48
8. Sealing harpoon socket piece 49
9. Bone marrow extractor and harpoon
dart head 50
10. Harpoon dart 51
1 1 . Model harpoon dart 52
12. Throwing boards 53
1 3. Line attacher 53
14. Two kayaks lashed together 54
15. Snow goggles 55
16. Bird spear prongs 56
1 7. Antler arrowhead 57
18. Socketed arrowhead 57
19. Ice scoop 58
20. Ice scoop 59
21. Woman fishing for tomcod 60
22. Tomcod spear 60
23. Boy fishing for tomcod 61
24. Three-piece cod hook 62
25. Spools of sinew cord 63
26. Dip net 63
27. Net shuttles 64
28. A pair of slat fish traps 65
29. Constructing a dam 65
30. Setting fish traps 66
3 1 . A fish trap in place 66
32. Rocks placed on fish traps 67
33. Flounder and tomcod on a drying rack
67
34. Salmon drying on racks 68
35. Grass mats covering drying fish 68
36. Nunivak kayak with load of driftwood
69
37. Kayak bow and stern designs 70
38. A sealskin stretched and dried 71
39. Sealskins being stretched and bleached
71
40. Kayak harpoon line holder 71
4 1 . Snow beater-scrapers 71
42. Kayak frames on racks 72
43. Newly covered kayaks 73
44. Man applying patch to kayak cover . . 73
45. Kayak seat 74
vn
46. Small umiak 75
47. Umiak showing part of framing 75
48. Umiak frame parts (boat 1) 76
49. Umiak frame parts (boat 1) 77
50. Frame of umiak bow (boat 3) 78
5 1 . Frame of umiak stern (boat 3) 79
52. Traditional Nunivak sled 80
53. Traditional Nunivak sled with har-
nessed dogs 81
54. Modern Nunivak sled 81
55. Old-style sled dog 82
56. Sled dog introduced from mainland . . 82
57. Kayak sled on rack with kayak 83
58. Snowshoes 84
59. Interior of semi-subterranean house .. 85
60. House excavation 85
6 1 . House excavation 85
62. Partially constructed house roof 86
63. Gut window of house 86
64. House with roofed underground en-
trance passage 86
65. Corner of qasgiq showing cribbed roof
87
66. Qasgiq entrance 87
67. Frame for pottery lamp 88
68. Entrance to old style cache 89
69. Log cache 89
70. Line attachers and float mouthpiece . . 90
7 1 . Bird arrow point 90
72. Bone socket piece 90
73. Adze head with blade 90
74. Funnel 91
75. Harpoon head 91
76. Mesh gauge 91
77. Thumb and finger guard 92
78. Ulu and needle case 93
79. Ulus 94
80. Strap fire drill 95
8 1 . Bucket of bentwood 96
82. Bundles of dry rye grass 96
83. Baskets containing frozen tomcod on
cache roof 96
84. Storage basket 97
85. Coiled baskets 97
86. Coiled basket 97
87. Wooden form for scraping sealskins . . 98
88. Inflated sealskins drying on cache roof
98
89. Sealskin lines and inflated sealskin fro-
zen and drying 98
90. Inflated seal throats drying and bleach-
ing 99
9 1 . Inflated walrus stomach drying 99
92. End scraper 100
93. Fox skins drying 100
94. Woman's sewing equipment 101
95. Needle case 101
96. Boy's sealskin parka 102
97. Woman's squirrel skin parka 102
98. Women's parkas 102
99. Woman's parka 103
100.*Boys in head-pulling contest 104
101. Walrus intestine drying 105
102. Elderly man wearing wooden eyeshade
105
103. Elderlv man wearing squirrel skin parka
106
104. Boy wearing old style cap 107
105. Girl wearing dance headdress 107
106. Grass socks 108
107. Puppy skins drying 108
List of Tables
1 . Measurements of Mekoryuk umiaks,
1939-1940 18
VI 11
Nunivak Island Eskimo ( Yuit) Technology
and Material Culture
Abstract
During 1939-1940 Margaret Lantis lived for a
year on Nunivak Island off the coast of west-cen-
tral Alaska. Although the major purpose of her
research was to record social organization, reli-
gion, and folklore, she also took extensive notes
on technology and material culture. Lantis has
published extensively on various aspects of Nu-
nivaarmiut social culture but a projected study of
material culture was never completed. The present
account is based primarily on Lantis's field notes
on Nunivaarmiut technology and material culture.
I. Introduction
In the late summer of 1819 as the Russian ex-
plorer Petr Korsakovskiy approached Kuskokwim
Bay, he learned of the existence of a large island
approximately 25 mi offshore from the vast, low-
lying delta between the mouths of the Kuskokwim
and Yukon rivers (fig. 1; Fedorova, 1973a, p. 8;
1 973b, pp. 68-69). This was Nunivak Island, tree-
less and of volcanic origin, which averages some
650 ft above sea level. Its highest point, near the
center of the island, is 1675 ft above sea level.
The island extends east and west 56 mi, with a
distance of 40 mi between the most northerly and
southerly points. Despite having a rugged western
shoreline, there are no terrain features that modify
the island's subarctic, maritime climate. The sur-
rounding Bering Sea moderates diurnal tempera-
ture variations, particularly when compared with
the adjacent mainland, but the surrounding open
sea results in heavy winter storms which sweep
over the island and bring high windchill factors.
Nunivak Island is the home of the Nunivak Es-
kimo (Nunivaarmiut) and the only major offshore
Bering Sea island inhabited by a Central Yupik-
speaking people. Of the four main dialects spoken
by the Yupik of western Alaska, that spoken on
Nunivak is the most divergent (Woodbury, 1984;
Jacobson, 1984; VanStone, ed., 1973, pp. 72-75;
Hammerich, 1953). Nunivak Central Yupik is
sometimes known as cux, from its cognate yuk,
the word for person in Central Alaskan Yupik.
Despite phonological differences, it is mutually in-
telligible with the mainland dialects (Woodbury,
1984, p. 52).
The historic Nunivaarmiut are believed to have
been a displaced population of the Aglurmiut who,
in the late 18th or early 19th century, were dis-
persed from their homeland on the mainland and
settled in Bristol Bay and on Nunivak (Wrangell,
1970, p. 17; Zagoskin, 1967, p. 210; Russian-
American Company Records, Communications
Sent, vol. 3, no. 164, 4 May 1823; vol. 9, no. 460,
31 October 1832). These refugees, however, were
not the original inhabitants of the island. Rela-
tively restricted archaeological investigations in
the 1960s indicate that what may have been the
initial occupation was a Norton tradition mani-
festation, which Nowak (1982) has designated as
the Duchikmiut phase, with early and late sub-
phases dating respectively from 1 50 b.c. to a.d.
300 and a.d. 300 to 600. The Norton tradition
materials, which have a strong maritime orien-
tation but also include artifacts associated with
caribou hunting, are closely related to cultural de-
velopments during a similar period on the coast
of mainland western Alaska. Where differences oc-
cur, they may be the result of geographic isolation
or simply reflect the limited amount of data. Re-
covered faunal material indicates that no major
changes in the subsistence base occurred on the
island from Norton times until European contact.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
Whether Nunivak was occupied before the arrival
of Norton peoples is not known. No evidence has
been recovered, but archaeological excavations
have been limited and some areas of the island
have never been surveyed.
The Norton tradition was followed by a devel-
oped aspect of the Thule tradition (Mekoryuk Riv-
er phase, a.d. 900-1375), with its extensive tech-
nology for sea and land mammal hunting, and a
later Thule manifestation (Nash Harbor phase, a.d.
1500-1700), identified primarily on the basis of
distinctive pottery forms (Nowak, 1986). It was
presumably these people who inhabited Nunivak
at the time of the Aglurmiut migration. Archae-
ological materials recovered from sites of the early
historic period (VanStone, 1954, 1957) resemble
ethnographic objects from the adjacent mainland
described by E. W. Nelson (1899), suggesting an
artifact assemblage similar to that described in this
stud\ .
Since its European discovery by Russian naval
expeditions in the early 19th century, Nunivak
Island has remained one of the most isolated areas
in Alaska. The shallow water of Etolin Strait which
separates the island from the mainland prevents
the approach of larger vessels, and the constantly
moving winter ice cannot be crossed on foot or by
dog team in winter. Editions of the United States
Coast Pilot as late as 1954 warn that the area
should be approached with extreme caution (U.S.
Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1955, pp. 526-529).
Isolated from sustained European and American
contact until relatively recent times, the Nuni-
vaarmiut retained a larger part of their traditional
culture longer than virtually any other group of
Alaskan Eskimo. Nowhere else in Alaska, with the
possible exception of adjacent Nelson Island, did
the traditional or modified-traditional culture, both
material and nonmaterial. survive into the period
of modern ethnographic fieldwork.
In many ways. Nunivak Island was a place well
suited for traditional Eskimo life: villages could
be located on raised, well-drained land, there was
an abundant supply of driftwood, and the climate
was not extreme. Sea mammals, especially hair
seals, and aquatic birds were plentiful, although
land animals were scarce; a variety offish species
were exploited at most times of the year.
The European discovery of Nunivak took place
in 1821 when two Russian naval expeditions vis-
ited the island. M. N. Vasilev, aboard the ship
Otkrytie (Discovery), sighted the island on 1 1 July
(OS). On going ashore, probably at some point
along the north coast, he was told by the Eskimos
he met that they had not previously been in direct
contact with Europeans. Vasilev named the island
for his ship but made no attempt to survey it. A
second expedition, consisting of the brig Golovnin
under the command of V. S. Khromchcnko and
the cutter Baranov commanded by A. K. Etolin,
sighted the island just a few days later, Etolin on
28 July and Khromchcnko in early August. The
following summer Khromchcnko and Etolin, now
both aboard the Golovnin, visited the island for a
second time, and a more thorough exploration was
undertaken (VanStone. ed., 1973).
On 18 June 1822 the Golovnin approached the
southern tip of Nunivak in the vicinity of Cape
Mendenhall. Almost immediately a flotilla of 25
kayaks, some containing two people, approached
the ship. Among the visitors was Ayagakak, iden-
tified as a "chief." to whom Etolin had given a
silver medal the year before. Khromchcnko de-
scribed the Nunivaarmiut as having pierced noses
and ears and wearing labrets decorated with beads
acquired through trade with Kuskokwim Eskimos.
The visitors were wearing fox and muskrat parkas
sewn with the fur side out, over which they wore
waterproof coats of sea mammal intestine. They
offered the Russians white fox. red fox, caribou,
and muskrat skins in exchange for hoop iron,
"Aleut" hatchets, bangles, and beads.
Late in the afternoon of the same day, the Go-
lovnin approached the settlement of "Chungalik"
on the east coast of Cape Mendenhall, probably a
summer camp at the tip of the cape (see Lantis,
1946, map 1, pp. 162-163). More Nunivaarmiut
came out to the ship, including a man named
Tammlokh who had received a bronze medal from
Vasilev the preceding year. Khromchcnko noted
that the Eskimos from this village possessed some
European artifacts, and traded a few fox skins of
poor quality as well as bows and arrows for nails,
hoop iron, and beads. The next morning ( 1 9 June)
the trading, led by "Chief Ayagakak," continued,
with bows, arrows, wooden vessels, and various
ivory artifacts being exchanged for hoop iron and
"wretched rusty nails. "
In the afternoon the Golovnin dropped anchor
near the village of "Chinik" at the tip of Cape
Corwin, a summer settlement for the winter village
of Paimiut, at one time the largest community on
the east side of the island (Lantis, 1946, map 1,
p. 1 62). Khromchenko and Etolin went ashore and
immediately the Eskimos began trading in the same
manner as when they visited the ship. While this
trading was in progress, Khromchenko walked
some distance from the settlement toward the in-
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
tenor of the island and noted a fresh grave on
which lay various weapons of war and a kayak
frame. Later he visited several houses in Chinik
which he noted were exactly like those of the
"Aglegmiut" (Aglurmiut) in Bristol Bay. In one of
these dwellings he found an iron adze with a
"brand" on it but was unable to determine its
origin from the marking; the owner said he had
obtained it from the Kuskokwim Eskimos.
Khromchenko also observed several cloth objects
of Russian make, "hastily and poorly done." which
were said to have come from the same source. The
explorer surmised that the Kuskokwim Eskimos
had obtained these items from Aleksandrovskiy
Redoubt, the Russian-American Company's trad-
ing post, established in 1819. at the mouth of the
Nushagak River.
In summing up his impressions of the Nuni-
vaarmiut. Khromchenko noted that they were
"completely like" the Aglurmiut, which is not sur-
prising since they were, in part at least, a segment
of that population group. Among the Nunivaar-
miut, members of the expedition saw four men
and four women who had recently come from the
adjacent mainland, and Khromchenko encoun-
tered an old man who drew him a map of the
mainland coast in the sand.
Near midday on 2 1 June the Golovnin once more
got under sail, and that evening cast anchor off the
mouth of a river just north of Chinik to fill the
empty water barrels. On the morning of the 22nd
the Golovnin left the coast of Nunivak Island, and
by mid-afternoon had reached Cape Vancouver.
Thus the first exploration of the island had lasted
only four days and was confined to the southeast
coast (VanStone. ed.. 1973. pp. 58-65). Although
Khromchenko's description of the Nunivaarmiut
is brief, it does contain information concerning
their interest in trade at this early date and their
contacts with the mainland.
Apparently drawing on the journals of Vasilev,
Khromchenko, and Etolin for 1821 and 1822, the
Russian historian P. A. Tikhmenev wrote as fol-
lows concerning the inhabitants of Nunivak:
On Nunivok [sic] live up to four hundred
inhabitants of both sexes in sixteen known
villages. . . . The natives on Nunivok Island
do not do much hunting and trapping of fur-
bearing animals although there are many
foxes on this island. Their main occupation
is hunting large hair seals, or makliaki
[bearded seals], walrus, and caribou, and
catching fish offshore. These islanders lead
a sedentary1 life, coming to the mainland in
the summer to barter sealskin blubber, and
a few foxes for tobacco from the local na-
tives. They know very little about cloth and
do not use it for clothing (Tikhmenev, 1978.
p. 437).
Subsequent to the explorations of Khromchen-
ko and Etolin. Nunivak Island was infrequently
visited by Europeans until the summer of 1874,
when William H. Dall surveyed its northeastern
extremity and made preliminary observations
concerning the geology of the region. Dall's com-
ments on the native inhabitants were limited, but
he did note that they were excellent ivory carvers
(Dall, 1877a, p. 18; 1896. p. 814). Ivan Petroff
estimated the island's population as 400 in 1880
(Petroff, 1884, p. 16), a figure apparently obtained
from Tikhmenev (1978, p. 437), since there is no
record that he visited Nunivak when taking the
Alaska federal census during the summer of that
year.
On 11 June 1880 the U.S. Revenue-Steamer
Corwin, under Captain C. L. Hooper, anchored in
a "good harbor" on the northwest side of the island
because of heavy ice conditions. The crew camped
near an Eskimo settlement, presumably in the Nash
Harbor region, and greatly frightened the inhab-
itants who apparently had seen few if any white
men before. The next day they succeeded in cap-
turing a man, three women, and three children
who feared they were to be killed. A present of
some tobacco seemed to reassure them and the
man was persuaded to come on board the Corwin
where he was impressed by a looking glass and
expressed distaste when offered brandy. Hooper
noted that the settlement consisted of 10 sod-cov-
ered houses, all connected by a subterranean pas-
sage. "They were arranged in a circle, with a com-
mon entrance to the covered way in the centre.
From the main passage short ones branched off to
each house. These afford the only means of en-
tering the houses." The Corwin left Nunivak on
the morning of 13 June (Hooper. 1881. p. 5).
It was not until 1891 that detailed observations
were made on Nunivak Island and its inhabitants.
In August of that year the Corwin landed Petroff,
the enumerator for the 1 1th federal census, in the
Cape Mendenhall area for the purpose of deter-
mining the number of villages on the island and
enumerating their inhabitants. Petroff told of pur-
chasing a dilapidated kayak at one of the small
villages on Cape Mendenhall and starting out on
his trip around the island. He noted "a number of
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
villages" between (ape Mendenhull and the
northeast corner of the island, but was particularly
impressed with the village of Koot, located across
the bay from the present village of Mekoryuk.
"Koot is the point of communication with the
mainland and the commercial center of the island.
Its trade, with its ramifications over the island, is
in the hands of a single man, who buys up all the
maklak [bearded >eal] skins and lines, and oil se-
cured by the people in excess of their immediate
wants, giving in return the cargo of a single skin
boat brought over once a year by the Eskimo trader
from Dununuk [Tanunuk on Nelson Island]." Pe-
troff was at Koot when the boat arrived and he
mentioned that
The cargo consisted of 10 bales of leaf to-
bacco of 50 pounds each, 8 sacks of flour of
50 pounds each, 3 pieces of faded calico print
(of about 48 yards each), 100 half-pound
cans of powder, 200 pounds of bar lead, 1
tin of matches, and 1 small box containing
a few cheap knives, needles, thread, thim-
bles, and fine-toothed combs.
When the boat left the island it contained "280
tanned maklak hides, a dozen fox and land otter
skins. 39 pairs of walrus tusks (from 5 to 7 pounds
to each tusk), about 100 gallons of oil in bladders,
and several thousand fathoms of seal and walrus
line" (Porter. 1893. pp. 1 14-1 15).
The reference to land otter in this account is
surprising as there have been none on the island
in the 20th century, and no other evidence that
the\ were present in the late 19th century. Petroff
was particularly impressed by the meager prices
paid to the Nunivaarmiut in exchange for local
products. He mentioned one young man from the
south end of the island who left a pair of very large
walrus tusks with the trader in March and in Au-
gust received in payment two squares of matches
(100 in each square), one pound of leaf tobacco
worth 30c. and two needles (Porter, 1 893, p. 1 1 5).
Petroff seems to have covered most of the island;
he listed nine villages and a few small settlements
with a total population of 559, of which consid-
erably more than half were concentrated along the
north coast. He noted that at the time of his visit
most of the people were away at fish camps at the
mouths of streams and up small lagoons (Porter.
1 893, pp. 6. 112. 11 4). It is probable that the win-
ter population was concentrated in fewer villages.
Edward Curtis, who visited the island in 1927.
noted that the people of Cape Etolin. who wintered
at Mekoryuk. occupied five camps during spring
seal hunting and summer fishing (Curtis, 1930, p.
6).
In 1939-1940 Margaret Lantis. with the aid of
informants, obtained the names and locations of
13 winter villages and 17 seasonal camps. At the
time of her fieldwork only seven winter settle-
ments were occupied, the most important of which
were Mekoryuk (figs. 2-3), on the northeast side
of the island on a point of land west of Cape Etolin
(Fit/hugh & Kaplan. 1982. pp. 2-3), and Nash
Harbor, some 35 mi farther west along the north
coast (fig. 4; Fit/hugh & Kaplan. 1982, pp. 4-5).
The seasonal camps, which were often small, were
returned to year after year. Like the winter villages,
they had semi-subterranean houses, storehouses,
and qasgiqs or ceremonial houses. The Nunivaar-
miut did not use tents, so the term "camp" is
somewhat misleading (Lantis, 1946, map 1, p. 162).
A seasonal settlement at or near the village of Koot
mentioned by Petroff and occupied at the time of
spring seal hunting is shown in Figure 5. In 1970
Mekoryuk was the only permanent, year-round
settlement.
The first reliable census figure for the island,
obtained in 1940, was 218, less than half the total
enumerated by Petroff in 1891. Although Nunivak
was protected to some extent from the epidemics
that ravaged southwest Alaska in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries, this decline seems to have
been due primarily to inadequate medical services
(Lantis, 1946. pp. 156. 162; 1984. pp. 112-113).
The subsistence cycle of the Nunivaarmiut in
1939-1940 has been described in considerable de-
tail by Lantis (1946. pp. 171-181), and is briefly
summarized here. It should be kept in mind, how-
ever, that the cycle was never the same each year,
as weather conditions varied considerably. Kayak
hunting, for example, could be greatly affected by
the amount and thickness of the sea ice in the
spring and fall.
Seal hunting was the most important subsis-
tence activity and was highly ritualized. Except for
occasional animals taken in midwinter or during
the summer, all seals were caught in spring by
hunters in kayaks or in the fall with nets set under
the ice before it became too thick. Walrus were
also hunted from kayaks and a few beluga were
taken, cither with harpoons or in nets set for seals.
The principal summer fishing technique in-
volved the construction of stone weirs in small
rivers. At the opening of the weir a large rectan-
gular trap was set (see fig. 28). Large salmon were
harpooned and in winter fish were speared through
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
holes in the ice on a river or bay. Dried and frozen
seal meat and fish were stored in large quantities,
and seal oil was preserved in "pokes" (oil bags)
made of whole sealskins. More plant food was
utilized than might be expected. Berries and greens
were collected for current use and frozen for later
consumption.
Birds were a valuable resource for the Nuni-
vaarmiut; Stettenheim (1954) obtained the native
names for 47 species. Although birds were taken
for food, the skins of some species were more im-
portant since warm parkas could be constructed
from them. Birds were taken with nets on the cliff
rookeries or with multipronged bird spears on open
water. Early in the 20th century the only species
of land animals were arctic foxes and ermines; the
caribou mentioned in the previously quoted pas-
sage from Tikhmenev had been exterminated in
the 1 870s or 1 880s, as were the few wolves. Petroff
(Porter, 1893, p. 114) believed that the Nuni-
vaarmiut had exterminated the caribou soon after
the introduction of firearms.
Regarding outside influences on local technol-
ogy, shipwrecks on the island in the latter part of
the 19th and early 20th centuries brought scarce
hardware and examples of ship construction (Lan-
tis, 1960, p. 13). Beached whales may have held
whaling harpoons and, by local account, made their
finders prosperous through the distribution of food.
Around 1900 a small store was established by a
Euro-American, but after killing three people in
separate incidents, he and his partner left. No oth-
er outside trader lived on the island until 1920. A
local Nash Harbor man, who later became "chief"
of the island, conducted trade with the Northern
Commercial Company store at St. Michael even
after the new trader arrived. The latter, of Russian-
Eskimo ancestry from the Shaktoolik area, brought
his wife and 100 reindeer. The deer and store were
owned by a non-native trader and reindeer-breed-
ing family at Nome. The increasing herds provided
a good new resource, but the Nunivaarmiut had
to buy the animals with labor, local products, or
money.
Although considerably isolated by their island
environment, the Nunivaarmiut maintained con-
tacts with the adjacent mainland that can be doc-
umented from the earliest historic times. It will
be recalled that Khromchenko believed the trade
goods he observed had been acquired through trade
with Kuskokwim Eskimos. He also met Eskimos
who had recently come from the mainland. Pe-
trofTs comments concerning mainland contacts and
trade are also explicit. In 1946 Lantis interviewed
"Daniel,'" described as the oldest man on the is-
land, whose memory extended back into the 1 870s
and possibly the 1860s. He recalled a calm day
during his childhood when many kayaks came to
the island from the mainland beyond Nelson Is-
land. Daniel's father told him that some of the
visitors were his relatives. The old man also re-
membered many people coming from the mouth
of the Kuskokwim to villages on the south side of
the island, and messengers being sent to Nelson
Island to invite participants to a Messenger Feast
(Lantis, 1960, pp. 5, 16-17).
In a recent article Fienup-Riordan (1984) has
pointed out that the traditional Yupik Eskimos
were divided residentially into "a number of po-
litically and economically self-sufficient village
groups" (p. 70). For the purpose of fulfilling other
cultural necessities these groups were united into
"regional confederations" through extensive so-
cial and ceremonial exchanges. The Nunivaarmiut
were one such confederation, consisting of the var-
ious settlements on the island. Relations between
regional confederations could be both negative and
positive. Negative relations involved interregional
hostilities, which are well documented for the Yu-
pik Eskimo in the late prehistoric and early his-
toric periods. At the same time, positive interre-
gional relations in the form of trading partnerships
and exchange marriages also existed, and consti-
tuted forms of alliance between members of dif-
ferent regional confederations.
Oral history recounts the origin of the Nuni-
vaarmiut from the offspring of a Nelson Island
woman and her dog husband (Lantis, 1 946, p. 267;
Fienup-Riordan, 1983, pp. 236-238). Kinship was
recognized with both the Qaluyaarmiut (Nelson
Island) and Askinakmiut (Hooper Bay). Hunters
and traders from these two areas who came to
Nunivak Island in the mid- and late 19th century,
usually to hunt in times of shortage, were greeted
with mixed feelings. Certain obligations were rec-
ognized as being due to kinsmen, but there was
also resentment. Relations between the Nuni-
vaarmiut and both the Kusquqvaqmiut and the
Kuigpagmiut (lower Yukon) seem to have been
characterized primarily by hostility (Fienup-Rior-
dan, 1984, p. 92). Under differing circumstances
through time, it is clear that the Nunivaarmiut
consistently maintained relations with people from
the adjacent mainland that involved ceremonial
exchange and trade.
In 1934 the U.S. Biological Survey brought 34
muskoxen from Greenland to Nunivak in an effort
to reestablish the species in Alaska. Because the
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
animals were federally protected, and since the
Nunivaarmiut were afraid of them, they added
nothing to the local economy until 40 years later.
when Nunivak women learned to make fine items
of clothing from the underwool of the muskox
(Lantis. 1984. p. 212). Also in the 1930s biologists
brought 10 caribou to improve the reindeer.
In 1924 a Euro-American teacher and his wife
were established at Nash Harbor by the U.S. Bu-
reau of Education, followed a few years later by
Eskimo teachers from the Bering Strait area. In
1936-1937 an Eskimo missionary, like the trader
aK.> from Norton Sound, brought his family to
Mekoryuk, where he established an Evangelical
Covenant Church. In 1939 the reindeer and store
were purchased by the federal government and a
new school was built at Mekoryuk by the Bureau
o\ Indian Affairs, thus concentrating the island's
only store, church, and school in one place. Each
brought new ways of making and using material
things as well as new attitudes and values. (For
the remarkable changes between 1940 and 1980.
sec Lantis. 1984. pp. 210-212.)
Because of its insular position and the resulting
special nature of its flora and fauna. Nunivak Is-
land attracted the attention of scientists in several
fields of natural history. Beginning with the visit
o\~ William H. Dall in 1874, a number of field-
workers carried out research on the island. Be-
tween 1927 and 1938. several botanists made plant
collections, but their visits were short, frequently
lasting no more than a single day. The first orni-
thologist to visit the island was Cyril Guy Harold,
who collected birds for the California Academy of
Sciences between 30 June and 6 November 1927
(Swarth, 1934). Considerable research relating to
the reindeer and muskox herds was undertaken in
the 1930s, particularly by L. J. Palmer, a biologist
in charge of the Reindeer Experiment Station then
located in Fairbanks.
Anthropological interest in Nunivak Island dates
from the work of Dall. although his observations
were brief and his ethnographic collection, now in
the National Museum of Natural History . \ cry
small ( Dall. 1 877b). In the summer of 1905 George
Byron Gordon of the University Museum in Phila-
delphia (then called the Free Museum of Science
and Art) visited the island, apparently for about
two weeks, during a journey along the Bering Sea
coast, but his published account contains virtually
no information on the inhabitants (Gordon. 1906,
p. 72. pis. XIII-XIV).
It was not until 1927. however, that anthropol-
ogists came for an extended period. On 21 June
of that year. Henry B. Collins. Jr. of the Bureau
of American Ethnology and T. Dale Stewart of the
U.S. National Museum landed at Nash Harbor.
They took measurements and made physiological
observations on the Eskimos in that settlement
and then explored the western end of the island
on foot, collecting bones and ethnographic mate-
rial from several deserted villages and at Nash
Harbor. They then moved to Cape Etolin where
they continued their work, leaving the island in
August (Collins, 1 928). Their measurements of 1 80
living Eskimos and 178 skulls were published by
Ales Hrdlicka (1930. pp. 238-253: 1943. pp. 201-
217); their ethnographic collection is in the Na-
tional Museum of Natural History. Collins made
a brief film on various aspects of Nunivaarmiut
life, entitled Eskimo Children, for the Encyclo-
paedia Britannica. As previously noted, Edward
S. Curtis also visited the island in 1 927 and wrote
the first ethnographic account of the Nunivaar-
miut (Curtis, 1930). Ten years later, in 1936-1937,
the German ethnographer Hans Himmelheber
collected myths, tales, and other ethnographic data
on Nunivak and also made a psychological and
ethnographic study of contemporary' art and artists
(Himmelheber, 1938. 1951. 1980).
Margaret Lantis lived on Nunivak Island for a
year (1939-1940) after having spent a year (1933-
1934) on Atka Island in the Aleutians, fieldwork
for which she believed she was ill-prepared. As a
graduate student at the University of California.
Berkeley, she read extensively in the available lit-
erature on Eskimos, wishing to visit Alaska again,
better prepared. In 1939 Henry B. Collins. Jr. rec-
ommended Nunivak Island as the most promising
location for an ethnographic study. The island was
relatively isolated at that time and the inhabit-
ants still possessed what might be called a func-
tioning East Bering Sea culture. In her publications
she has expressed her appreciation to Collins and
to the Nunivaarmiut for a productive and very
pleasant, interesting, and satisfying year on the
island.
Lantis recalled that for five months during the
winter of 1939-1940 there was no mail delivered
to the island, but the well-established trader Paul
Ivanof and his family, who had assisted previous
researchers, the missionary' Jacob Kenick and
family, and the new teachers Dale and Mary Stew-
art, as well as the Nunivaarmiut. provided good
company. Donald Baker, with only local school-
ing, proved to be an intelligent and helpful inter-
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
preter. Formal interviewing was conducted in the
homes of Mekoryuk residents, except for a short
visit to Nash Harbor.
The initial purpose of Lantis's research was to
record social organization, religion, and folklore.
Although lacking training in technology, the con-
siderable amount of meticulous craftsmanship
which she observed daily led her to begin describ-
ing, measuring, and drawing objects of material
culture. The initial year of fieldwork on Nunivak
was financed by the Penrose Fund of the American
Philosophical Society and by the University of
California, Berkeley. Lantis returned to the island
for special studies at Mekoryuk in 1946, 1955, and
1961, emphasizing in particular the individual de-
velopment of children. Her monograph on social
culture (1946) has long been regarded as a major
contribution to our knowledge of the Eskimos of
southwest Alaska. A long article (1953) and a
monograph (1960) devoted to the psychodynam-
ics of Nunivak society and a report on community
politics (1972) have been published, but a pro-
jected study of material culture was never com-
pleted. The present account is based primarily on
Lantis's field notes on Nunivaarmiut material cul-
ture.
II. Sea Hunting
Seal hunting was the most important subsis-
tence activity of the Nunivaarmiut. Spotted seals,
bearded seals, harbor seals, and, rarely, sea lions
were taken throughout much of the year. Hunting
at seal breathing holes in midwinter was, by the
1920s, no longer practiced. By other methods, as
many as 600 seals might be caught by the hunters,
even in a poor year (Lantis, 1946, p. 173). It is
safe to note that nowhere else in western Alaska
was sea hunting technology as highly developed
as on Nunivak Island.
The most elaborate form of seal hunting was
that carried out from a kayak. A man could hunt
alone in his kayak, but usually two or three men
hunted together. The kayak could be used at all
times of the year; in winter it was carried out to
the edge of the ice whenever an open lead was
sighted. This did not occur frequently, however.
Also few seals were harvested when the water was
ice-free in summer.
Spring seal hunting was the most important and
was highly ritualized (Curtis, 1930, pp. 15-16;
Lantis, 1946, pp. 193-195). In preparation for the
hunt all equipment was cleaned and made as near-
ly white as possible. Kayaks were covered with
bleached sealskins; later, when canvas replaced
skins, the boats were painted white. Hunting hats
were painted white and the hunters wore white
parka covers. This color served to disguise the
hunter among ice floes and also pleased the seals,
which were believed to like cleanliness (Lantis,
1946, pp. 172, 184, 194, 205).
Small seals were hunted with light sealing har-
poons and harpoon darts, each thrown with the
aid of a throwing board. Harpoon heads were like-
ly to have closed or partly closed sockets with
single, bifurcated, or trifurcated spurs (figs. 6-7,
75) and slate or metal blades. Flattened, conical
wooden covers protected the points when not in
use (Curtis, 1930, p. 24). The shaft was light and
thin, but the socket piece was heavy and often
carved at the distal end to represent an animal (fig.
8; Nelson, 1899, p. 137, pi. LIV, 7). Nelson (1899,
pp. 323-324, fig. Ill) described and illustrated an
ivory socket piece from Nunivak carved to rep-
resent a land otter. The muzzle is rounded with
circular perforations for the eyes. The mouth and
nostrils are outlined by incised lines, and there are
incised lines and circle dots on the sides.
A harpoon dart had an ivory socket piece with
a wedge-shaped tang. It was somewhat lighter than
a sealing harpoon and the end of the shaft was
sometimes feathered. Harpoon dart heads of ivory
or antler were usually symmetrically barbed, with
centrally located round or oval line holes, sharp
shoulders, and conical tangs (fig. 9, right; Dall,
1 877b, opp. p. 77). An asymmetrically barbed dart
head was recovered from a late prehistoric site on
the island (VanStone, 1957, p. 110, pi. 3-4).
Both the sealing harpoon and the harpoon dart
had a small bladder float with an antler or ivory
mouthpiece (fig. 70, bottom; VanStone, 1957, pi.
1, 5) attached to the shaft (figs. 10-11; Nelson,
1899, p. 137, pi. LIV, 1). A strong hunter could
throw a light harpoon dart more than 200 ft with
the aid of a throwing board (fig. 12; Nelson, 1899,
p. 1 55, fig. 43, 8; Kaplan & Barsness, 1 986, p. 1 25,
no. 86). For the most efficient throw, the arm was
brought directly forward in a high arc and straight
down, the harpoon being released when the back
of the hand came uppermost.
If several kayakers were hunting in the spring
ice and a seal was sighted, the oldest hunter pur-
sued the animal, since it was easier to approach
the quarry with a single boat. If there was no ice
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
it was more difficult to kill a seal, and a free-for-
all dash after the animal by all hunters ensued.
The hunters struck the water with their paddles
frequently to make the seal dive so that it would
soon be out of breath and exhausted. If two men
harpooned the same small seal, the older man could
claim ownership. A bearded seal, however, was
divided equally.
When a hunter returned home, he carefully
wound his harpoon line around the outside of a
hollow log to dry. being certain that there were no
twists that would crack as the line dried. It could
then be slipped off the log onto the kayak line
holder without rewinding. A harpoon line was usu-
ally in sections joined by line attachers (figs. 13,
70. top: Nelson, 1899. p. 143. pi. LVIb. 8; Fitz-
hugh & Kaplan. 1982, p. 76. no. 53) so that it
could be taken apart.
Since Nunivak kayaks were large and roomy,
small seals were placed inside the vessel after they
were killed and. therefore, no buttons or toggles
were necessary to fasten a line through the animal's
mouth for towing. Sometimes a small hook through
the upper lip was used for towing if the kayak was
already loaded, a technique said to have been bor-
rowed in recent times from the mainland Eskimos.
Bearded seals were too large to be placed in the
kayak and had to be towed with a sealskin line.
An important part of hunting gear was the char-
acteristic hat worn by Nunivak hunters in their
kayaks. The hat was worn only after a seal was
sighted. In making a hunting hat. a large root at
the base of a driftwood spruce log was used. It was
split lengthwise into thin boards and one of these
was carved with an adze to an approximate semi-
lunar shape, as thin as possible. Then holes were
bored along the straight edge before the board was
bent. Roots were put through the holes and the
board placed in hot, damp moss. It was then worked
with the teeth and hands while hot, and bent until
the two halves of the straight edge met. Two antler
strips, often decorated with geometric designs, were
placed across the back to reinforce the joint. Holes
were bored alongside the antler sections, which
were tied onto the hat with roots. The two edges
just met and did not overlap, and were stitched
up the back with root. Two sealskin straps were
attached to the hat in such a manner that one was
fastened under the chin and the other across the
chin under the lower lip.
The decorations on wooden hats, images of an-
imal spirits regarded as amulets, were handed down
from father to son and represented family spirits;
they usually were carved from ivory, were tlat rath-
er than fully rounded, and were fastened on the
sides with the animal's head down and the tail
pointing toward the peak of the hat. Hats were
painted with white clay; several blue lines were
painted over the white, like contour lines, around
the front and peak.
Although seals were usually hunted from kay-
aks, they occasionally were hunted in open water
in spring from the edge of the ice or as they basked
in the sun on the ice. For this type of hunting, a
large harpoon was used without a throwing board.
These were weapons with heavy shafts and socket
pieces (fig. 72). and with ice picks at the proximal
end providing additional weight: they could only
be thrown when the hunter was near the seal. Since
there was very little hunting at breathing holes,
the specialized equipment used for this widespread
method of hunting seals in winter is absent from
the Nunivak technological inventory.
Seals were caught frequently in nets in the spring
and especially in the late fall, when as many as
300 animals might be taken by this method in a
single season (Lantis. 1946. p. 173). Such nets.
made of seal- or walrus skin thongs cut around a
skin in one continuous spiral, were uniformly 6
fathoms long and 1 7 meshes wide. The mesh width
extended from the end of the middle finger to the
wrist and the length was the same. Ivory, bone, or
hardwood mesh gauges were cut to these mea-
surements. Seal nets had large curved or round
wooden floats and large flat rocks as sinkers. Some-
times the floats were carved in the likeness of a
seal's head.
In the fall, before the coming of ice, seal nets
were set with two kayaks 25-100 yd from shore
(fig. 14). The shore end was set first and then the
net was stretched out into the water. Four large
stone anchors were fastened to the net with walrus
hide line, and sometimes another large anchor stone
was attached at the center of the net. The sinkers,
approximately 3 yd apart, hung 4-7 ft above the
bottom of the sea, far below the lower edge of the
net. The upper edge of the net was about 1 ft
beneath the surface of the water. Seals swim par-
allel to the shore and were usually caught at night.
If they failed to drown in the net, they were dis-
patched with a club.
In winter the nets were set through three holes
chopped in the ice, approximately 1 6 ft apart. The
entire net was pushed through the center hole;
then, with the aid of long poles, sections of the net
were pulled to the other holes and fastened. Seals
died under the ice because they could not reach
the surface to breathe. They were pulled up through
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
the center hole. Sometimes as many as 20 seals
were caught this way in the course of a winter. As
in the early fall, the animals were taken mainly at
night. Sea lions and belugas were occasionally
caught in seal nets; the latter usually had to be
speared or harpooned before they could be re-
moved.
On Nunivak, seal nets were set in four locations.
One of these, used only in the spring, was on the
south side of the island. During the winter nets
were set halfway between Mekoryuk and Nash
Harbor. Curtis (1930, pp. 27-29) discussed seal
nets and their placement in some detail.
Amulets made of ivory or wood, usually figures
of animals, were frequently fastened to the nets.
A hunter had a particular amulet because his father
had given it to him or had instructed him to make
it when he was a boy.
While hunting in spring, snow goggles of wood
were worn to protect the eyes of the wearer from
the glare of the sun on the snow and ice. The best
ones had a slit for each eye (fig. 15). People who
could not make good ones made a single long slit
that extended across both eyes. A well-made cen-
tral notch which fitted over the nose was consid-
ered important since a good fit was essential if the
goggles were to be effective. Eyeshades consisting
of a short wooden visor, not bent but carved to
shape, and a sealskin strap that fitted around the
head, were worn at all times of the year (fig. 102).
Eye protectors were usually painted white so that
the hunter— specifically his black hair— would be
less visible.
Walrus were plentiful in spring and were taken
with a large, heavy harpoon by hunters traveling
in kayaks. This weapon had an unfeathered shaft,
a collared socket piece, finger rest (Nelson, 1899,
p. 151, pi. LVIIb, 32), and long ice pick made
from a split length of walrus tusk; it was used with
a float and long line (Fitzhugh & Kaplan, 1982, p.
80, no. 60). The float was partly inflated before
the hunter started out and then blown up fully
when game was sighted. This type of harpoon was
also used for bearded seals and beluga.
Walrus were most easily hunted as they slept on
large ice floes far from shore. Hunters tried to kill
the animals on the ice since they were difficult to
retrieve if they managed to roll into the water.
After a walrus was harpooned and the wounded
animal was exhausted from dragging the float, the
hunters paddled alongside and struck it with a
lance having a detachable head (fig. 6, left; Nelson,
1899, pp. 146-147, pi. LVb, 1-2; Curtis, 1930, p.
24; Fitzhugh & Kaplan, 1982. p. 73, no. 49). This
head remained in the animal while the hunter
quickly fitted another one to the shaft and repeated
the blow until the animal was dead. Both lance
and harpoon heads were frequently marked to des-
ignate ownership by individuals or lineages (Lan-
tis, 1946. p. 242; Fitzhugh & Kaplan, 1982, pp.
85-86). An even heavier thrusting spear was used
when a large seal or walrus was dead or dying.
This heavy spear was thrust into the animal to pull
it toward the kayak. Wound plugs were not used.
The dead walrus was suspended between four kay-
aks with rawhide lines and taken to shore for
butchering (Curtis, 1930, p. 31).
Hunters seldom hunted alone, as a walrus is
capable of surfacing under a kayak and upsetting
it. Walrus were occasionally encountered on the
shore in summer or on solid shore ice in the fall
and were killed with a club or a thrusting spear.
If a dead animal was found by a hunter on the
beach, he summoned someone to help him cut it
up and they divided the meat and ivory equally.
Sea lions, most common on the south side of
the island, were sometimes harpooned in summer
in open water. Belugas were seldom seen on the
north and east sides of Nunivak because the water
there is too shallow. These areas, however, have
been the locations of villages in the 20th century.
The three-pronged bird spear was used from a
kayak for seabirds such as murres, migrating eider
ducks, and cormorants, especially when they were
moulting and could not rise from the water. These
unfeathered spears had a long ivory point sym-
metrically barbed on both sides. Set in the shaft
below the point were three ivory or antler prongs
lashed in position with their barbed points ex-
tending outward to form a triangle, the barbs fac-
ing inward (fig. 1 6; Nelson, 1 899, p. 1 5 1 , pi. LIX,
4). The wooden shaft kept the spear afloat. Al-
though the center prong might impale the bird, the
purpose of the spear was to catch the head or body
between the prongs where it was held by the barbs
(Curtis, 1930, p. 20).
Another type of bird spear had a much longer
barbed point, and the three prongs were located
on the shaft near the midpoint of the weapon. Such
a spear from Nunivak described and illustrated by
Nelson ( 1 899, p. 1 52, pi. LIX, 8) has a bone point
triangular in cross section and 22 inches long. The
points on the shaft arc barbed along their inner
edges. The proximal end of the shaft is not feath-
ered. These spears were thrown with the aid of a
throwing board somewhat longer than those used
with a sealing harpoon.
The bow and blunt arrows, generally associated
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
with hunting birds on land, were occasionally used
from a kayak, in which case no float or line was
attached to the arrow.
III. Land Hunting
Traditionally, caribou were the most important
land animal hunted by the Nunivaarmiut. Once
plentiful on the island, these animals died out about
100 years ago. In the 1930s large piles of caribou
skulls and antlers could still be seen on the moun-
tainsides in the interior of the island (Curtis, 1930.
p. 32). Although, as previously noted, Petrofl'( Por-
ter. 1893. p. 114) attributed extermination of the
herds to slaughter by local people newly equipped
with firearms, the Nunivaarmiut believed that
mainland Eskimos from the Yukon-Kuskokwim
Delta were responsible for depiction of the herds.
They came to the island to hunt and often took
only the skins, leaving the meat to rot.
Caribou were hunted following the spring seal
hunt and also in winter. In summer the hunter
crawled along the ground in order to get close
enough to a sleeping herd for a shot with a bow
and arrow. He tried to hit the animal just behind
the shoulder. He had to be especially quiet because
it was believed that a species of small bird often
chirped and awakened the herd. A hunter never
disguised himself with a caribou head or antlers.
Curtis (1930, p. 32) described a summer hunt in-
volving a number of hunters. The best marksmen
stalked to windward and concealed themselves
while the others, working leeward of the herd,
stampeded the animals past the hidden hunters
who rose up and often were able to kill a large
number. The front quarters of the kill were divided
by the marksmen and the stampeders shared the
hind quarters.
In winter the hunter approached the herd on a
kayak sled pulled by a woman. When they were
close to the herd and it began to stampede, he
would shoot with his bow and arrow from the sled.
According to Curtis (1930. p. 32), hunters first
located a herd and attempted to approach as close
as possible. Then, wrapped in their parkas, they
dug themselves into the snow. When the herd was
close, the hunters rose up and loosed their arrows.
Although caribou were never driven into sur-
rounds as reindeer were in more recent times, Cur-
tis (1930, pp. 32-33) described a brush enclosure
into which one or more animals were driven to be
caught in snares of thick sea lion hide which se-
cured the animals around the antlers or neck. Pits
were also dug in the snow into which an animal
might stumble without being driven by a hunter.
Women never hunted caribou, but in spring,
after the arrival of sandpipers, they went out to
pick up fawns that had died during the winter.
Bows and arrows were the only weapons used
in hunting caribou. There were two types of bows:
composite sinew-backed and plain sinew-backed.
Both types were 5-6 ft in length, made of spruce,
and used in the same manner. Bows of both types
were constructed by first heating the wood in moist
moss surrounded by hot stones and then placing
it in a wooden frame lashed down with roots until
it acquired the desired shape (Curtis, 1930. p. 27).
The plain sinew-backed bow consisted of a sin-
gle curved piece of wood with two flattened cables
of braided caribou sinew along the back, some-
times held in place by multiple cross lashings (Nel-
son, 1899, p. 156, pi. LX, 4). The composite type
was double-curved, the curves being fitted with
triangular blocks of ivory as reinforcement. These
ivory blocks were lashed to the shaft with sinew,
some strands of which also served as cross-lashing
to hold the backing in place. In the center of the
bow on the outer surface was an ivory strip flat-
tened on the inner surface and grooved on the
outer to receive the cable: it was intended to
strengthen the weapon (Nelson. 1899. p. 156, pi.
LX, 7). The single curve bow with very little sinew
backing was considered suitable for war, while the
heavier, composite bow was used for caribou hunt-
ing. Nunivak bows did not have as much curvature
as those used on Seward Peninsula. Bow strings
were of sealskin, the hair being sweated off rather
than scraped. Ivory sinew twisters like those il-
lustrated by Nelson (1899. fig. 30) were unknown,
a narrow wooden stick serving the purpose in-
stead.
The typical arrow for caribou hunting was ap-
proximately 30 inches in length with three split
feathers fastened to the proximal end. The veins
of the feathers lay against the shaft and were fas-
tened at both ends with sinew. Feathers helped to
rotate the arrow during flight. There were many
kinds of arrowheads, but a common form used for
hunting caribou was made of antler and had a
blade slit, a single barb, and a sharp or sloping
shoulder with a plain conical tang (fig. 1 7; Nelson.
1899. p. 158. pi. LXIa. 10: Fit/hugh & Kaplan.
1982, p. 106, no. 100). Bladeless arrowheads usu-
ally had multiple barbs along one side (Dall, 1 877b,
10
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
opp. p. 76; Nelson, 1899, p. 158, pi. LXIa, 8;
Nowak, 1970, fig. 3t). The tang of an arrowhead
fitted into a hole in the distal end of the shaft and
was held in place with resin and sinew wrapping.
Slate blades were triangular in shape, often with a
concave base, and were centrally grooved to aid
in hafting (VanStone. 1957. p. 102, pi. 1, 6).
A short, stubby arrowhead, used for caribou
hunting and in warfare, was barbed along one side
and had a tang like a harpoon head with a closed
socket (fig. 18). For this type of point, the arrow
shaft tapered at the distal end and fitted directly
into the socket of the head which was attached to
the shaft with a section of braided grass. When the
animal or person was hit, the string broke and the
point pulled loose, gradually working further and
further into the wound.
Birds on inland lakes and marshes were also
hunted with bows and arrows. Bird arrows either
had blunt points (VanStone, 1957, p. 107, pi. 3.
7), three barbed side prongs, and a barbed center
prong of antler or ivory, or a single multibarbed
prong. A bird arrow point from Nunivak described
and illustrated by Nelson ( 1 899. p. 1 6 1 , pi. LXIb,
1) has a conical point of wood with two iron cross-
pieces inserted at right angles through the head so
that it will lodge in the bird's flesh and not pass
through. This point is also illustrated by Fitzhugh
and Kaplan ( 1 982. p. 1 1 0. no. 1 09). Another point
from Nunivak illustrated by Nelson ( 1 899, p. 161,
pi. LXIb, 16) is drilled for capping a shaft and has
a crenelated tip. A different form, presumably of
antler, flares toward the distal end and has a
notched tang which tapers to one side (fig. 71); it
was collected by Collins in 1927.
The Mediterranean arrow release was used, and
whether the hunter put one, two, or three fingers
on the bowstring below the arrow depended on
the strength of the man and the size and strength
of the bow. Crude wrist guards of seal intestine
were occasionally used. Finger guards of sealskin
were worn on the first two fingers.
Quivers were made of caribou or sealskin, usu-
ally with the fur scraped off. They were rectangular
in shape, made of two pieces, and generally carried
in the hand. If provided with a strap, a quiver was
slung under the left arm with the cord over the
right shoulder so that arrows, placed in the quiver
with the points down, could be pulled out quickly
with the right hand while hunting or fighting.
Quivers were made by men, for if a woman did
the sewing it was believed that the hunter would
be unsuccessful.
Generally arrowheads and points were kept in
the quiver rather than in special boxes or bags,
although Nelson (1899. p. 162, pi. LXII, 5) de-
scribed and illustrated a box for arrow or spear
points from Nunivak. It is approximately 10 inches
long with a narrow cover which fits onto a recessed
ledge and has a projecting handle at one end. Out-
lines of the mouth, nostrils, and eyes of an un-
identified animal are incised at the other.
Puffins nesting in spring on the cliffs along the
west side of the island were taken with rectangular-
shaped nets at the end of a long pole. These nets
were approximately 6 ft in length, 40 meshes wide
at the distal end. and attached to a wooden frame.
The mesh, made of caribou sinew, was the width
of two fingers. To capture the birds, a stake was
driven in the ground near the edge of a cliff and a
walrus hide rope was fastened around it so that
the hunter could lower himself over the cliff. One
man could handle the net. Birds caught were re-
moved by hand, strangled, and fastened around
the neck to a line that hung at the waist of the
hunter. When many birds had been caught they
were hauled to the top of the cliff by another hunt-
er. Auklets were also taken in these nets in spring
and eggs collected at the same time.
For capturing murres in the spring, a triangular
net 21 ft wide at the bottom and 24 ft from top
to bottom was used. The lower edge of the net was
fastened to a thick pole and lowered over the edge
of a cliff on two walrus skin lines to a hunter below.
Using the pole, which was at right angles to him,
the hunter rolled the net upward, trapping any
murres nesting in the area covered. If a large num-
ber of birds was trapped, it was difficult to raise
the net to the top of the cliff. These two types of
nets were the only ones used for taking birds nest-
ing on cliffs. A similar net is described by Curtis
(1930, p. 29).
Snares were set on the cliffs for puffins. A seal-
skin cord was laid around the hole or recessed area
which contained a puffin's nest. The snare-cord
was fastened to a small stick set in a crack between
rocks near the hole. A puffin feather with the quill
end set in the mud around the hole held the snare
in place. When a bird went in or out of the hole
the feather would fall and the noose tighten. Sim-
ilar snares but without the feather were set for
nesting birds on the tundra. The end of the cord
was fastened to a willow bush or other low-growing
vegetation instead of to a stick. This type of simple
snare was used exclusively. There were no spring
snares of any kind.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
11
With the exception of the arctic fox, furbearers
were never plentiful on Nunivak Island in the past
and in more recent times were almost nonexistent.
For trapping foxes, a frame structure approxi-
mately 1 2 b\ 9 ft was constructed in the shape of
a human habitation, with a side entrance or pas-
sageway and a skylight. Decaying meat or fish was
placed in the structure as bait and the skylight was
CO\ ered so that the animals could enter freely only
through the side entrance. When the trapper dis-
covered the footprints of many foxes entering and
leaving the "house,'* he closed the side entrance
and opened the skylight. The animals then had to
jump down into the structure to get the bait and
were unable to jump out again. The hunter jumped
down into the "house" when he found foxes in it
and killed them with a club. This kind of fox trap
could also be made of snow in winter.
Another form of winter fox trap involved a hole
approximately three ft in diameter dug into solid
ice to form a bowl as large as an oil drum or larger.
Bait was placed in the bottom and a sealskin cord
was attached at one end to the bait and at the other
to a heavy log that rested on the outer edge of the
hole. When the fox took the bait and attempted
to jump out, he pulled the log down upon himself
and was either killed or severely injured.
Foxes could also be taken with a slip-noose snare
of sealskin to which a long line was attached. The
snare was placed around the opening of an ani-
mal's burrow. A hidden hunter held the end of the
line and tightened the noose when a fox entered
the burrow.
There were wolves on Nunivak when there were
caribou, but these animals were rarely hunted even
though their fur was useful for parka trim. The
only method described for taking wolves involved
the excavation of a deep hole in summer, along
the sides of which water was poured in winter to
provide a slippery, frozen surface. Bait was placed
in the bottom of the hole, and when a wolf jumped
in he was unable to gain a foothold on the slippery
sides. Wolves were also occasionally shot with bow
and arrow in winter if food was scarce.
Mink were said to have been trapped in the
remote past, but informants were unable to recall
the method. Curtis (1930, p. 33) described a meth-
od for taking mink in the water. A triangular
brushwork fence was built across a stream and at
the apex of the triangle a submerged wicker fish
trap was set. The animal, in attempting to break
through the fence, entered the trap and was
drowned.
IV. Fishing
Fishing was an important subsistence activity
for the Nunivaarmiut throughout the year. In win-
ter tomcod were taken through holes in the ice,
while spring brought the first herring and stickle-
back, then codfish and salmon trout. Fishing for
dog and humpback salmon was the most impor-
tant summer subsistence activity, but herring,
sculpin, codfish, halibut, stickleback, salmon trout
(Arctic charr or Dolly Varden), and flounder were
also abundant during the summer months. In the
fall silver salmon were running in early September;
flounders were plentiful later in the month. In Oc-
tober there were tomcod and smelt, and by the
first week in November the river at Mekoryuk was
frozen hard enough for tomcod fishing through the
ice(Lantis. 1946, pp. 174, 178-180).
Equipment required for tomcod fishing through
the ice included a long handled ice pick, an ivory
toothed saw, an ice scoop of wood or of antler with
mesh made of baleen or split willow root (figs. 19-
20; see Nelson, 1899, pi. LXVII, 8; VanStone,
1957, pp. 105, 107, pi. 2, 6). a wooden ladle, tom-
cod spear, basket, and a mat to lie on. Although
men occasionally fished for tomcod through the
ice, it was principally women's work. Stools were
not used, the fisherwoman lying on the mat in-
stead.
Good locations for tomcod fishing were situated
within a mile of Mekoryuk and the use of a dog
team was not required. A small windbreak of ice
blocks was constructed, usually consisting of two
large blocks not over 1 8 inches high set on edge
and chinked with snow. The windbreak was also
necessary to provide shade so that the fisherwom-
an could see into the dark water. The hole was
made with an ivory or antler ice pick fastened to
a long wooden shaft. The fisherwoman lay prone
on her left side with the face right over the water
(fig. 21; Lantis, 1946. p. 176, fig. 17).
The multipronged spear, usually with three or
four prongs held in place by an ivory ring or ferule
(fig. 22), resembles those from Nunivak described
and illustrated by Nelson (1899. pp. 194-195. pi.
LXVII, 1-2; VanStone, 1957, p. 109, pi. 3. 5, 8;
Fitzhugh & Kaplan, 1982. p. 92. no. 80). It was
twirled in the hole with the right hand, about 1 5
inches of the spear's total length projecting above
the surface of the water. When a fish was observed,
the spear was plunged downward by the fisher-
woman, who often let go of the shaft. The spear
12
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
disappeared below the surface of the water but
bobbed up immediately. This type of spear was
described by Curtis (1930, pp. 25-26), who noted
that it was also used in summer in shallow streams.
Normally only one tomcod was speared at a
time, the fisherwoman pulling it out, flipping it in
the general direction of her feet, and tossing it on
the ice. It was not necessary for her to free the fish
with her hands, so the spear was ready to use again
almost immediately. Slush ice formed rapidly in
the hole so she had to blow frequently into the
hole to be sure of seeing the fish. Occasionally the
ladle or scoop was used to remove slush ice.
Tomcod spears also were used in winter for scul-
pins on the south side of the island. To attract
these fish a walrus bone lure was used, 3 inches
long with tufts of red-dyed dog hairs fastened to
its sides.
In winter flounder were speared with an imple-
ment similar to that used for tomcod, but with
longer prongs. The shaft of this spear was approx-
imately 7 ft in length and the prongs 11-12 inches.
Although spearing was the traditional means of
taking tomcod on Nunivak, in recent times hook
and line have been used (fig. 23). Multi-barbed
tomcod hooks such as are illustrated by Nelson
(1899, p. 177, pi. LXIX) and described as being
used from the Yukon mouth to the Kuskokwim
were not, however, the characteristic form on Nu-
nivak. Instead, a small rectangular piece of ivory,
approximately 2 inches long with a shallow groove
at the distal end forming a barb, was employed
for tomcod and other small fish; a bent bird rib
might also serve as a barb. According to infor-
mants, fish-shaped lures, so common in other areas
of Alaska, were never used on Nunivak for any
kind of fishing, although Nelson (1899, pi. LXIX,
18) described and illustrated such a sinker-lure
which is identified as from the island. Sealskin
fishline was used for all types of hook and line
fishing, and small wooden floats were occasionally
attached to a line when fishing for salmon trout.
For taking codfish and halibut from a kayak, a
hook with a large shank made of walrus rib or
ivory— with an ivory, later iron, barb— was used
with sealskin line and a flat stone sinker. The heavy
shank served as a handle which the fisherman could
grasp to pull the hook out. A cod hook from Nu-
nivak described and illustrated by Fitzhugh and
Kaplan (1982, p. 96, no. 85) has a shank of fossil
ivory and a thick baleen leader loop lashed with
sinew. Eyes and a mouth have been added to the
shank to make it resemble a minnow. Hooks for
codfish were also employed in pairs separated by
a curved antler spreader. A round stone sinker
hung in the center between the two hooks (fig. 24).
Nelson (1899, p. 178, pi. LXVIII, 13) described
and illustrated a special smelt hook from Nunivak.
It has a straight ivory shank which broadens at the
distal end where a recurved copper hook is set and
held in place with a wooden peg.
Tomcod and smelt are abundant in the Mekor-
yuk lagoon in autumn and were taken in gill nets.
Since tomcod will not go into a net in daytime,
fishing always took place at night. Nets made of
sinew and sometimes as long as 15 fathoms were
stretched between buoys in the lagoon on the in-
coming tide. A large grass basket could be filled
in about two hours. Smelt were caught in dip nets
with short handles similar to the one from Ikog-
miut on the Yukon illustrated by Nelson (1899,
pi. LXX, 16), except that on a Nunivak net the
handle did not extend across its full diameter. The
loop at the top was round and there was no stone
sinker at the bottom.
Seines were employed to take tomcod and floun-
der in fall and herring in spring. The netting was
made of two strands of sinew twisted rather than
braided (fig. 25). Sinkers of antler or walrus rib
similar to those illustrated by Nelson (1899, figs.
52-53, pp. 188-189) were used, along with wood-
en floats resembling those recovered from a late
prehistoric site on the island (VanStone, 1957, p.
106, pi. 2, 9). However, Nunivak seines did not
have spreaders as does the one in Nelson's illus-
tration (1899, fig. 53, p. 189). The mesh measure
for a herring seine was the width of the thumb;
for a large salmon net it was the width of the first
three fingers laid together.
In operating a seine, a woman remained on shore
holding one end of the net while a man paddled
from shore in his kayak and held the other end.
He fastened his end to a wooden float anchored
by a large stone on a line, and from his kayak was
able to keep the net in position until it filled with
fish. He then paddled slowly toward shore so that
the fish were gradually brought into shallow water
and then up onto the beach.
Informants reported that small hand nets for
stickleback were sometimes made with needle and
thread. In the manufacture of these nets no mesh
gauge was used. The thread was pulled around the
first finger to measure the mesh, thus making the
mesh size equal to the circumference of the first
finger.
A dip net with a triangular frame was used in
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
13
shallow water on the south side of the island for
trout and other fish. Sections of bentwood, spliced
and lashed with sealskin lashing, formed the frame.
At the narrow end a short crosspiece was set in
grooves in the frame. There was a narrow groove
m the center of the crosspiece into which a handle
approximately 6 ft in length was set. One frame
observed was 4 ft 8 inches in length and 2 ft 10
inches wide with a net 4.5-5 ft deep. Formerly
sinew netting was employed, but in more recent
times the netting was made of nylon cord. Sealskin
line was used to lash the netting to the frame. It
was threaded through the edge of the net and tied
over the frame (fig. 26).
The characteristic Eskimo forms of shuttles and
mesh gauges (figs. 27. 76; Nelson, 1899. p. 191,
pi. LXX1I. 11: p. 192. pi. LXXIII, 19, 21) were
used traditionally on Nunivak in the manufacture
of netting. Reels of antler were similar to speci-
mens illustrated bv Nelson (1899. pi. LXXII. 22.
24).
Marlin spikes, used for tying and slipping mesh-
es while making nets and for slipping meshes to
enlarge or reduce their size, were usually made of
ivory. One specimen seen was made from an old
bird dart prong. It was approximately 4 inches in
length and flattened at the proximal end. Nelson
(1899, p. 193. fig. 56) described and illustrated a
marlin spike from Nunivak used for slipping knots
in large nets. It is round and the handle terminates
in the figure of a murrc's head.
Fish traps were of various sizes, but all were of
the basket type and somewhat resembled speci-
mens illustrated by Nelson (1899. pi. LXX. 13-
14). The horizontal, half-round slats forming the
sides were lashed to a spliced spiral frame with
willow roots or tied to rectangular frames (fig. 28).
The funnel-shaped section set in the frame at the
open end was similarly lashed, although on some
traps there was no spiral frame in this area, the
slats being lashed under and over and then pulled
tight together. Occasionally the funnel had a cir-
cular frame at the small end. Frequently there was
a wicker door in the center of the trap on the top
fastened to it with sinew. Fish could be removed
through this door while the trap remained in place.
In preparing to set a trap, the fisherman put on
a gut parka, belted and tied at the wrists so that
water would not go up the sleeves, and also water-
proof mukluks tied around the knees. A dam was
constructed at low tide in a shallow area near the
mouth of the Mekor\uk River. Gravel and loose
stones were used in constructing the dam and an
opening was left for the traps (fig. 29). Gravel was
scooped from the bottom of the river so that a
trap would sit low and be mostly under water even
at low tide. Two traps were usually set in a single
opening (fig. 30). Retainer logs were placed across
the opening in the dam at the top and bottom.
The fronts of the traps rested against these logs
(fig. 3 1 ). Flat, heavy rocks were placed on top of
the traps to prevent them from floating away (fig.
32). To lessen the opportunity for fish to escape,
willow branches, with the leaves intact, were thrust
into open spaces between the traps and the rock
dam.
Salmon traps were inspected every two or three
days. If they did not have doors, the traps had to
be taken up and the funnel detached before the
fish could be removed. A large salmon trap would
measure approximately 6 ft in length and be as
much as 2 ft square at the opening. A trap of this
size could have as many as 40 slats. Traps for silver
salmon were usually set in mid-August.
In addition to the fishing methods described
above, the Nunivaarmiut occasionally employed
a light harpoon with a multi-barbed point for tak-
ing salmon. When throwing this harpoon the fish-
erman was in a kneeling position holding the coiled
line in his left hand. The point was inserted directly
into the wooden shaft rather than into a socket
piece.
Fish arrows were occasionally used, particularly
by children. Two Nunivak arrows described and
illustrated by Nelson (1899, p. 160, fig. 44, nos.
4-5; Fitzhugh & Kaplan, 1982, p. 93. no. 81) have
a barbed center prong flanked by a lateral spur
with two feathers at the proximal end of the shaft.
A third arrow (Nelson. 1899. fig. 44. no. 7) has a
pair of bone points barbed along their outer sur-
faces and is fletched with three feather vanes. With
arrows it was usually necessary to shoot a fish twice
before it was killed.
Smaller fish like tomcod and small flounders
were twined together with two-strand bundles of
grass, the fish being the warp and the bundles of
dry grass the weft. Entrails of larger fish were pulled
out through the gills or through a slit near the gills.
Then a single strand of woven grass was pushed
through the gills dorsoventrally and a second strand
pulled around the outside of the fish at the neck
and twisted over the first strand. This procedure
was repeated for the next fish. When fish were
strung in this manner, the string could be hung
over a pole to dry without the individual fish slid-
ing down against each other, thus impeding the
drying process (fig. 33; Curtis. 1930, opp. p. 64).
All salmon and other fish caught through mid-
14
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
summer were split, cleaned, scored, and hung on
racks to dry (fig. 34). Coarsely woven grass mats
covered the drying fish to protect them from rain
and blowflies (fig. 35; Curtis, 1930, opp. p. 34).
Silver salmon and salmon trout, which run in the
late summer and early fall, were frequently buried
for the winter. No pits were dug, but a stone box
was constructed for the fish. Stones were set on
edge, filled in with gravel and cemented with clay
to form the walls, and fiat rocks laid across the
top for a cover (Lantis, 1960, p. 6). Sometimes
these rather crude, heaped-up caches were as much
as 5 ft in height. Fish caches were not lined with
leaves and grass, and greens and berries were never
placed with the fish.
V. Transportation
Kayaks
The style of kayak used on Nunivak Island, with
a hole or slit in the bow and projecting stern piece,
was generally characteristic of southwest Alaska
(figs. 36-37; Nelson, 1899, p. 219, pi. LXXIX, 1-
2; Adney & Chapelle, 1964, p. 191, fig. 174, p.
193, fig. 175, p. 199, fig. 183; Fitzhugh & Kaplan,
1982, pp. 60-61, no. 27). Adney and Chapelle
( 1 964, p. 1 98, fig. 1 80) provide a diagram showing
the component construction features of a kayak
collected on Nunivak in 1889, and they also il-
lustrate a vessel with the cover partly removed
obtained on the island by Petroffin 1894 (1964,
p. 199, fig. 184).
A special feature of Nunivak kayaks was their
size. They were the largest in southwest Alaska,
usually measuring between 1 5 and 1 6 ft in length,
and in recent times, when the umiak had virtually
ceased to be used, kayaks were made bigger and
heavier to carry more passengers and freight. Two
people, when traveling in a kayak, sat back-to-
back (Dumond, 1977, pp. 156-1 57); children were
placed inside. Smaller kayaks were made for boys
who usually received their first vessel when about
13 or 14 years of age. Girls and women did not
own kayaks, but used them when they went to
gather berries or dried grass. As late as 1 946 there
were still 34 kayaks in use on the island (Lantis,
1972, p. 44).
When a man was thinking about building a new
kayak, he observed with care all the driftwood he
gathered during the summer and set aside those
pieces suitable for use in constructing the vessel.
A kayak was never made all of one kind of wood,
different parts requiring wood with different qual-
ities. Having laid suitable wood aside, various
frame pieces were carved during the winter and
put away until early spring. To assemble the frame
required nearly a month of steady work (Lantis,
1946, p. 175, fig. 14). Often the hatch, ribs, and
other pieces could be salvaged from an old kayak
frame, thus reducing the amount of time necessary
to construct the new vessel. New kayaks were fre-
quently made and old ones repaired in February
in order to have them ready for spring sealing that,
in a good year, began in early March. The Nuni-
vaarmiut were such skilled makers of kayaks that
their boats could easily be sold or traded to main-
land Eskimos.
Construction of the kayak frame was much the
same as described by Zimmerly ( 1 979) for Hooper
Bay, and the terminology for the various parts was
virtually identical in both areas (Zimmerly, 1979,
p. xvii). Distinctive features on Nunivak Island
were the bow and stern pieces, which often took
different shapes, either characteristic of the own-
er's paternal family or personal designs (fig. 37;
Nelson, 1899, pi. LXXIX, 1-2).
The foundation of a kayak frame was a keel with
two-piece bow and stern pieces. The curved ribs
were lashed to the keel, to side stringers extending
from bow to stern, and then mortised into the
gunwales. The ends of the deck beams, or cross-
pieces, were mortised and lashed to the gunwales.
Deck ridge strips ran from the bow to the hatch
and from the stern to the hatch. The hatch coaming
was formed by an inner and outer hoop and sup-
ported on either side by hatch stanchions (Curtis,
1930, p. 13; see diagram in Zimmerly, 1979, p.
xvii). The skin cover over the keel was protected
at the bow and stern with split antler guards fas-
tened to the frame with bone or antler pegs.
A kayak frame was assembled in the qasgiq (fig.
65), frequently under the supervision of some old
man skilled in boat making (Curtis, 1930, pp. 12-
13), and when completed was removed through
the skylight. Handled with care and with new parts
as needed, a kayak frame could last 16-18 years
(Stettenheim, 1954).
Sealskins, bearded seal skins, or walrus skins
were used for a kayak cover. Three bearded seal
skins were usually suitable for the bottom, with
two small sealskins on top— depending, of course,
on the size of the skins. A walrus skin could be
stored dry until needed, then moistened with urine
three times a day for about a week and soaked in
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
15
fresh water for a few hours. The skin was then split
into two layers, the outside layer being used for
boot soles as well as kayak covers and the inner
layer for lines. One walrus skin was generally large
enough to cover an entire kayak.
In preparing sealskins for use as a kayak cover,
the blubber was first removed with a two-handed
scraper made from a caribou leg bone split length-
wise. The skin was frequently laid over a wooden
form to be scraped (fig. 87). It was then wrapped
in grass and put in a warm place until the hair had
rotted to the point where it could be pulled off by
hand. The skin was wrung out by tying one end
to a post set in the ground and the other to a piece
of wood held at right angles to the post. The skin
was then twisted by rotating the piece of wood;
when the skin was wrung as tightly as possible, the
piece of wood was also driven into the ground.
The twisted skin was left for a day or more so that
all the juices were squeezed out. and was then
stretched and dried on a framework of notched
wood crosspieces (fig. 38). With a stone tied to its
neck, the skin was suspended neck down (fig. 39).
Care was taken to store it in a sheltered place
during wet weather.
When the skin was thoroughly dry, it was re-
moved from the frame and stored in a cache. When
ready to be used as part of a kayak cover, the skin
was soaked in urine for about three days and then
soaked in fresh water overnight. Again the skin
was twisted to remove excess moisture. Never-
theless, it was still quite wet and pliable when
sewed on the kayak.
The skins for the cover, prepared by women,
were first stretched over the kayak frame before
being sewed. They were then trimmed and ad-
justed to fit, their edges being temporarily joined
at approximately 10-inch intervals. The sewing
was done by women in the qasgiq or a house but,
of course, the final seam was sewn after the cover
was put on the kayak. During the sewing, the seam
was pulled very tight so that the stitches did not
show on the outside; the rough edges were turned
inside. When a seam was finished, the cover was
turned inside out and the seam overcast on the
inside to cover the rough edges. On the outside
the sewer usually sewed from top to bottom — that
is, toward herself— whereas on the inside she sewed
upward from bottom to top. One woman alone.
if she was a fast sewer, could put on a cover in
two days. However, even when more than one
woman worked on it, a cover was never put on in
a single day. When covered, the kayak was put out
in cold weather to freeze, which whitened the skin.
Some people prepared a new kayak cover every
year, but others simply removed and cleaned the
old one when fall fishing ended and stored it until
the following spring.
The construction of a kayak was more than sim-
ply a technological accomplishment. The task was
accompanied by fasting for men and special dress
requirements for women as well as behavior pat-
terns designed to bring success to the hunter who
would use the new vessel (Curtis, 1930, pp. 13,
15-16; Lantis, 1946. p. 193).
Both the crutch-handled and the double-bladed
paddle were used traditionally by the Nunivaar-
miut. with the double-bladed variety being used
more often. In former times, the crutch-handled
paddle was smaller, and this fact, together with
the greater former use of the double-bladed pad-
dle, suggests that kayaks were narrower and lighter
than in the 1930s. There were no special paddles
for umiaks.
In making a paddle, after the wood was worked
to a rough shape with an adze, the finishing was
done with a mussel shell, open side up, the wood
being shaved toward the worker. The lengths and
shapes of kayak paddles varied considerably. Sin-
gle-bladed paddles were keeled but the double-
bladed variety was not.
Formerly designs were painted on paddles in
blue and white over a base color of light blue or
light orange. For base painting, fine, clean wood
shavings were made and then chewed up with a
small piece of red or blue pigment. When the shav-
ings were thoroughly coated with color and saliva,
they were rubbed on the paddle very fast to pre-
vent drying and to make the color smooth. Then
the paddle was rubbed vigorously with clean, dry
shavings to make the color more even, remove
excess paint, and hasten drying. Designs were
painted on paddles in summer with different ones
applied for spring seal hunting. Each man owned
his own designs, which were passed from father
to son and were always geometric.
Traditionally, a new kayak mat was made each
spring even though with normal wear such a mat
would last longer than a year. Kayak mats were
long and narrow, being approximately 2 ft wide
and over 5 ft long. Construction of these mats
varied, but a woman always made a kayak mat in
the same way. using a design belonging to her hus-
band's family. A man. his brothers, his sons, and
his son's sons thus all had mats with the same
design. Variations included braided warp, crossed
warps, and a variation in the distance between
wefts.
16
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
An important piece of kayak equipment was the
harpoon line holder, which was placed directly in
front of the hatch and had two projecting pieces
inserted under the line that crossed the top of the
kayak at this point (fig. 40). The harpoon line was
coiled in the oval frame and the harpoon rested
across a notched ivory piece in the left corner.
For anchoring a kayak when fishing, a heavy
stone or walrus bone attached to a sealskin line
was used. The line, fastened to one side of the
hatch, was run through the hole in the bow and
then across to the opposite side of the hatch and
down the side of the kayak. This provided stability
by anchoring the vessel more or less in the center.
Two kayaks were sometimes lashed together to
provide stability when the paddlers were exam-
ining a seal net (fig. 14) or carrying heavy loads
such as kegs of water from a spring.
Special snow scrapers were used to remove ice
from a kayak after it was taken out of the water.
These scrapers, never used on clothing, either had
a wooden handle to which a blade of a split section
of antler was lashed with roots or consisted simply
of a split antler section (fig. 41).
During rough weather, when heading into the
wind, sealskin floats were placed on the bow of a
kayak to keep it raised. The paddler's gut parka
was tied around the hatch and also at the wearer's
wrists and around his face.
Kayaks were kept on high racks so that dogs
could not get at them to chew the covers. These
simple racks consisted of a pair of crossed sup-
ports, usually with a pole running between. The
kayak rested on the supports upside down (figs.
42-43; Curtis, 1930, opp. p. 44).
Small holes in kayak covers could be tempo-
rarily repaired with moss saturated with heavy seal
oil. Large holes, however, were patched with a
piece of skin sewn on with sinew (fig. 44).
When outfitting a kayak for a hunting trip, a
combination boat hook and ice hook was placed
on the forward deck of the kayak and harpoon
lines were wound within the line holder. The float
rested behind the hatch with its line leading to the
line holder. Harpoons and throwing board rested
on the line holder alongside the hatch. Two single-
bladed paddles were carried, the one not in use
being placed along the decking in front of the hatch,
resting against a spear and paddle guard. Nelson
(1899, p. 227, pi. LXXVIII, 14) illustrated a seal-
shaped guard from Nunivak intended to lie di-
agonally along the deck near the edge with the head
pointing upward. A point was fixed to the harpoon
foreshaft, the wooden point guard remaining in
place until the harpoon was ready to be thrown.
A kayak sled was tied behind the hatch, and this
completed the equipment secured to the deck of
the vessel (Curtis, 1930, opp. pp. 52, 54).
Inside the kayak the hunter placed a rectangular
seat of wooden slats lashed together with sealskin
line to keep him dry (fig. 45). Food in a carrying
basket, seal oil in a seal stomach, fresh water in a
walrus bladder, and extra grass mats for camping
and to use as a windbreak were also taken. The
hunter might sleep in his kayak if no other suitable
shelter was available. Two wooden bowls, or kan-
tags, were also taken along, one to eat out of and
the other to urinate in in case there was no con-
venient place to land.
Umiaks
Since Nunivak hunters did not hunt great whales,
there was little use for the umiak, a large, open
skin boat. Formerly useful for trading trips and
moving families to seasonal camps rather than for
hunting, this type of vessel had largely disappeared
by 1940 (figs. 46-47).
On mainland Alaska umiaks varied consider-
ably in size due to locally available materials but
were similar in form (Adney & Chapelle, 1964,
pp. 182-183). On Nunivak the size varied ac-
cording to the builder's prosperity and ownership
of materials, the size of his family, the distance he
usually traveled, and his willingness and ability to
undertake carving the many construction parts. At
the time of Curtis's visit to the island in 1927, i;
number of umiaks were still in use. A vessel he
observed was 28 ft long, 4 ft deep from keelson to
gunwale, and with a beam of 6 ft (Curtis, 1930, p.
20). In 1940 three umiaks were examined by Lan-
ds, two of them without cover, the third recently
given a new cover. The drawings of separate parts
of the frame (figs. 48-49) are of umiak 1, drawings
of bow and stern of boat 3 (figs. 50-51). Umiak 2
was the smallest and newest although built in the
old style, except for the addition of a pair of oar-
locks; in size it was comparable to umiak 3 (see
measurements, table 1 ). These three vessels show
the range in size of Mekoryuk umiaks.
Umiak Parts— The term "keelson" ordinarily
designates the member above the keel. Here, how-
ever, the keelson provided as much of a keel as
existed in the umiak. It was the one longitudinal
centerpiece in the bottom (see fig. 48a). Adney and
Chapelle ( 1 964, p. 1 84), illustrating an umiak from
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
17
I \hii I Measurements of Mckoiy uk umiaks. 1434-1940.
I miak no.
Dimensions
Length of bottom (keelson and Hat part of
bow and stern posts)
Length of bow stem (along curve)
Overall length (top of prow to top of stern)
Length of gunwale (along curve)
Cireatest width of bottom
Beam at center (greatest width to outside
edge of gunwales)
Height at center (including gunwale)
23 ft 3 inches
5 ft 1 1 inches
26 ft 6 inches
28 ft 0 inch
3 ft 1 inch*
5 ft 7 inches
3 ft 0 inches
1 3 ft 8 inches
16 ft 6 inches
2 ft 2 inchest
4 ft 5 inches^
1 ft 9 inches
14 ft 10 inches
17 ft 9 inches
ca. 5 ft
1 ft 1 1 inches
Note: Although umiak 3 was longer than umiak 2, its height was not much greater because the sides flared, its
beam being greater relative to length than that in the other two vessels.
* Measured at center, t Measured 3 inches fore. $ Measured 18 inches fore.
the Bristol Bay or Alaska Peninsula area, also show
onl\ a keelson and no separate keel. The two long,
curved chines, one on each side, outlined the bot-
tom. Because these members established the ves-
sel's length and bottom width, they were the prin-
cipal forms setting its "lines" and were measured
first; the other parts were measured relative to the
chines (see fig. 48c). Between the keelson and chine
on each side was a plank (fig. 48b), shorter than
the keelson and chines, at bow and stern, curving
inward and attached to the keelson. These three
basic forms of the bottom were wider on the inside
(top) and fitted snugly at bow and stern but, being
narrower on the underside (outside), there were
small gaps between them. The distance between
them increased greatly toward the beam (point of
greatest width). Figure 5 1 shows construction of
the stern of umiak 3, including a short curved piece
across the three center members and fitted into
the chines. There was a similar board at the bow
(fig. 48e). On the large vessel (1) there were 12
straight, flat boards, crosspieces serving as floor or
deck boards, that were set into the chines.
Bow and stern structures were also basic, as both
bottom and side pieces were attached to them (see
figs. 50-51, showing the bow and stern of umiak
3, and fig. 48d, showing the bow stem of umiak
1: the stern of umiak 1 was not traditional and is
discussed separately). The bow stem fitted into a
narrow slot on the under, slightly rounded side of
the headboard. The latter was the wide, curved
board set atop the stem at a right angle. The keel-
son fitted into the lower notch of the bow stem
and curve of the stern. As can be seen in the draw-
ing of the traditional stern of umiak 3, the stern
seat was a longer board than the bow headboard
seat.
The stern stem of umiak 1 (fig. 49d) was modern
in having a straight, vertical outer surface, al-
though the inner surface was curved. The vertical
part was made of three planks, each 2.5 inches
thick. The straight, flat surface facilitated attach-
ment of a rudder or an outboard motor. For that,
three short heavy pieces, one above the other, were
nailed across the stern, the lowest nearly triangular
in shape. On each side of the stern there was a
strut, a piece about 3 inches wide, equivalent to
risers (ribs) elsewhere, from the gunwale (rail) to
the lower part of the stem, set edge to the stem at
its front. The inside edge of the gunwale was cut
out to receive the strut. A traditional stern was
more like the bow, and the gunwales were laid
across the stern seat, as at the bow, projecting
beyond it 4—6 inches depending on the overall size
of the umiak.
The risers were set into the chines (figs. 47, 49c,
50-5 1 ) and, when the gunwales were in place, each
riser was lashed to the one on its side. The number
of risers varied according to the length of the ves-
sel. Umiak 1, the largest, had 14 on each side. As
Figure 49c shows, these pieces were not as strongly
curved as might be expected. On all the umiaks,
there were two stringers on each side, each stringer
attached to the bow and stern stems (see figs. 48d,
49f-g). The lower stringer was outside the risers,
the upper one inside because of the outward slant
of the risers. The only exception was seen in the
umiak with the modern form of stern in which the
lower stringer was inside the stern's strut form of
riser and the upper stringer outside. Stringers and
18
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
risers were pegged, not lashed. In umiak 1 there
were five seats, lashed to the upper stringers, in
addition to the bow and stern seats. In smaller
vessels there might be fewer, but the 1 5-foot umiak
3 also had five seats and was considered large
enough for 10 persons. Its beam was not much
less than that of umiak 1. The larger vessel could,
however, carry more freight.
Because sails were not used on these umiaks, it
was not learned exactly how and where a mast was
set. An elderly man stated emphatically that only
one sail was used, not two as Lantis mentioned to
him from Nelson's report ( 1 899, p. 2 1 7) regarding
occasional regional practice on the mainland. As
with all other boat parts, there were local Yupik
names for sail and mast, the sail originally having
been a grass kayak mat and later made of canvas.
When oarlocks were added, the lock was a sealskin
arch fastened to each gunwale. There were differ-
ent names for traditional and modern umiaks.
In the large Mekoryuk umiak (1), there were 65
pieces excluding cover, sail, mast, and oars. The
amount of work needed to split, measure, adze,
carve or bend, drill, and smooth so many parts is
impressive— and pegs and lashings also had to be
made. Many of the members were grooved length-
wise on the inside surface as shown, for example,
in Figures 48a-b, 49a-b; no explanation for these
grooves was obtained. Because longitudinal mem-
bers, except the gunwales, were grooved and the
floor boards were not, the grooves may have pro-
vided greater flexibility. The gunwales, nearly
round in cross section, were 9 inches in circum-
ference on the largest vessel. Bending such long
pieces of driftwood, the longest in an umiak, must
have required careful effort (Curtis, 1930, pp. 20-
21, opp. p. 182).
Fastenings— Much was done by mortise and
tenon, although the tenons apparently were not
shaped differently from the main form; for ex-
ample, not round in cross section on a rectangular
piece. As well as could be seen without taking the
frame apart, a piece was beveled and slimmed to
fit the mortise. On umiak 3 each gunwale fitted
loosely into a notch on the upper outside edge of
both bow and stern headboards, but on another
vessel they were simply laid on top before being
tied. Where wood pegs were used, holes had to be
drilled, with holes and pegs carefully fitted since
the latter could not be driven through the boards.
The upper stringers and risers were fastened to-
gether with pegs, while the seat boards were fas-
tened to these stringers differently. There were holes
near the ends of the seats for the lines that tied
the board on top of or underneath the upper string-
ers, depending on the seat's location in the boat;
most of them were on top. The higher headboards
that could also serve as seats and the gunwales
were lashed together. The lower stringers and ris-
ers of umiak 3 were lashed together. Two small
holes were bored in both and a line run through
and tied, resembling one long stitch on the inside.
Cover— For one of the smaller umiaks, four
pieces of walrus hide, representing two whole skins,
were used. On larger vessels six or eight halves
were required. The urine in which the skins were
soaked was scraped off, but the skins were not
scraped or wrung out entirely dry. Women sewed
the cover, and men stretched it over the frame and
lashed it. A woman sat with outstretched legs on
a mat with the skin on the mat in front of her to
absorb moisture and keep her clean. The part of
the skin being seamed was fastened to her foot by
a short cord to help her pull the skin and seam
tight as she stitched. She thus had to lean far for-
ward to work. The seamstress may have used a
blind stitch as illustrated by Adney and Chapelle
(1964, p. 186), but this could not be confirmed.
All three seams, fitting the four pieces together,
ran across the frame.
Each end of the cover was folded in half and the
two halves stitched, closing the end. Thus the cov-
er could be fitted over bow and stern, one seam
running up the full height of the stern and the one
at the other end going one-third the distance up
the higher bow. Presumably the heaviest sinews,
such as those from reindeer legs or beluga flanks,
were used for the stitching.
Men punched holes in the moist skin at regular
intervals and pulled the cover over the gunwales
so that these and the tops of the risers were cov-
ered. A walrus hide line was run through the cover,
pulling the cover tight, a continuous line with no
extra wrapping or knotting at each place. At bow
and stern the cover was pulled over the headboard
for about one inch. It was not tied or stitched to
the frame itself, but a line was drawn through the
closely-spaced holes in the cover, over and under
its edge, and then tied to the gunwale lashing on
each side, not to the gunwales themselves. When
necessary, the walrus hide lines could be tightened
to take up slack in the cover. Formerly, as on the
kayak, the family totemic bird or mammal was
painted on the cover of an umiak.
If the vessel was kept in the water or used fre-
quently, it was necessary to oil the cover every two
or three days to prevent waterlogging. A tight and
well-oiled surface was necessary if an umiak was
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
19
to remain seaworthy (Curtis. 1930. p. 20). It took
considerably more than a month to construct and
cover an umiak.
Curtis ( 1 930. p. 20) described the use of the umi-
ak on trips of several days' duration. The vessel,
containing one or two families with dogs and
household goods, was paddled or rowed during
the daylight hours, frequently towing kayaks be-
longing to the families. At nightfall the boat was
dragged up on the beach where camp was made.
The \essel was unloaded, tipped on one side, and
the upper gunwales supported by notched poles
(fig. 47; Curtis. 1930, opp. p. 186). If the weather
was bad. or the travelers were without a tent, they
could sleep under the upturned umiak.
Sleds
The traditional Nunivak sled had runners which
curved up only slightly in front. Bone shoes pegged
to the runners provided good traction over frozen
and wet snow (VanStone. 1957, pp. 102, 105, pi.
1.1). Longitudinal strips about 3 inches above the
runners extended the full length of the sled and
were lashed to three crosspieces placed at regular
intervals along the runners. These crosspieces rest-
ed on short wooden blocks which were lashed to
the runners, creating the space between the lon-
gitudinal strips and the crosspieces. the latter
forming the bed of the sled.
The railings, which were straight, extended from
a height of about 3 ft at the rear to the point where
they joined the upturned runners at the front. These
railings were supported by four stanchions on each
side, placed between the crosspieces. The railings
were lashed to the stanchions with walrus hide
line; the lower ends of the stanchions were mor-
tised into the runners and also lashed to the lon-
gitudinal strips above the runners. The two rear
stanchions were slightly curved and their upper
ends passed through slots in the railings and han-
dlebar. Further support and strength was provided
by diagonal braces projecting through slots in the
stanchions. Across the top of the rear stanchions
was a handlebar, the ends of which extended 1 ft
on each side (fig. 52: Curtis, 1930. p. 22, opp. p.
58).
Until the 1920s and even in the 1930s, dogs
were tied at the sides of the sled rather than har-
nessed in pairs along a towline in front. Each dog
was tied separately, not to the stanchions but to
the supporting blocks between the stanchions. Since
the sled was short, there usually was room for only
two dogs on each side. There was no leader and
ik) commands for right and left (fig. 53; Lantis,
1946. pp. 167, 189, fig. 25; 1980. p. 11).
Since the sled runners did not extend beyond
the bed in back, the driver could not stand on the
runners, but pushed and guided by means of the
long handlebar. Sometimes two people pushed, or
a driver might bend over and rest his forearms on
the handlebar if force was not needed. If the trail
was difficult, the driver pulled his sled from di-
rectly in front while the dogs pulled from the sides.
It was not easy to guide the dogs and the driver
had to turn the sled manually.
The simple dog harness was made of three-
strand, braided grass reinforced with pieces of
scraped sealskin. A loop was formed to go over
the animal's head and the harness extended across
the back and under the stomach. At the proximal
end was another reinforced loop so that the har-
ness could be attached to a short line leading to
the sled. There were no swivels, toggles, or other
harness parts.
Larger sleds with beds of horizontal planks and
runners that extended out in back for riding (fig.
54) were introduced by traders along with the tow-
line, to which dogs were hitched in pairs. In 1939
this method of hitching was so recent that even
middle-aged people could make the old-style
braided grass harness and hitch dogs to the side
of the sled in the traditional manner.
The old-style sled dog was a large, heavy animal
with a short, stubby face, long white hair, and
floppy or short standing ears (fig. 55). By 1939 a
more lightly built dog with a longer face and short-
er hair had been introduced from the mainland
(fig. 56). The Nunivaarmiut did not tie up their
dogs until reindeer were brought to the island and,
up to 1940 rarely cooked food for them, although
trader and missionary families might do so. For-
merly dogs were allowed to lie in the entrance
passage of the house and were fed whatever hap-
pened to be available. Traditionally the people
owned few dogs.
The kayak sled carried on the kayak behind the
hatch (Curtis. 1930, opp. p. 52) was 5-6 ft long
and consisted of runners with bone shoes, and
traditionally three, or by 1940 usually four, cross-
pieces lashed to short support blocks mortised into
the runners. On each side a fiat, longitudinal strip
was lashed to the crosspieces and pegged to the
upturned front of the runner (fig. 57). These sleds
were relatively wide in order to accommodate the
kavak.
20
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Snowshoes
Snowshoes, occasionally used in the past, were
rather crudely made with pointed toes and widely
spaced lashing that did not require the use of a
netting needle; there was no netting at the toe or
heel. Sealskin line was used for most webbing, but
the harnesses were made of softened, bleached
sealskin (fig. 58).
Breast Yoke and Pack Cord
Perhaps because dog traction was rather ineffi-
cient, a wooden breast yoke was used by men, and
possibly women, to assist them when carrying loads
on their backs. Nelson (1899, p. 21 1, pi. LXXVI,
14; Fitzhugh & Kaplan, 1982, p. 99, no. 90) de-
scribed a yoke from Nunivak collected by Dall. It
is a crescent-shaped, flattened board to whieff a
cord was permanently tied at one end. This cord
was passed over the load and the looped end tied
to a ridge at the other end of the board. Carved
in relief on the front of this yoke is the tattooed
face of a woman, probably a protective being. On
either side of this face is a broad groove that tapers
toward each end. The edges of this groove are inset
with caribou teeth. The face, grooves, and ends of
this yoke are painted red and the remainder of the
upper front and border is black.
When a yoke was not used, a pack rope of braid-
ed grass was particularly useful for packing drift-
wood. The wood rested directly on the back with
the rope looped over the head, around the shoul-
ders, over the load, under each arm, and then tied
in front on both sides (Lantis, 1946, pp. 167-168).
VI. Shelter, Housekeeping,
and Storage
Settlements
According to late 1 9th century observers, a tra-
ditional winter village of the Nunivaarmiut con-
sisted of several houses and a qasgiq connected by
passages, while the spring and summer camps were
made up of single, unconnected houses. If there
were two or three qasgiqs in a winter village, there
would be a corresponding number of house clus-
ters.
It will be recalled that, in a brief description of
the winter village at Nash Harbor, Hooper (1881,
p. 5) noted that the houses numbered 10, all of
which were connected by a subterranean passage.
They were arranged in a circle "with a common
entrance to the covered way in the center." Petroff
(Porter, 1893, pp. 111-112) confirmed this de-
scription.
The Nuniwagmiuts occupy large subterrane-
an communal dwellings, consisting of a num-
ber of square or circular cavities opening upon
a common hall or corridor but with a single
entrance from the surface of the ground. Each
family compartment has its separate smoke
hole, but these are rarely used, as the object
of this crowding together is warmth through
exclusion of all outside air, and nearly all
cooking is done in the entrance or in sheds
erected for the purpose.
Apparently a similar residential arrangement
existed at Mekoryuk when Curtis (1930, pp. 6-9)
visited that village in 1927, but by the time of the
fieldwork of Himmelheber and Lantis in the late
1930s, this traditional settlement pattern had been
replaced to a large extent by single houses for in-
dividual nuclear or extended families. Himmel-
heber (1980, p. 6) published a plan of Mekoryuk
as it appeared in 1936 which shows two qasgiqs,
one large and one small, 13 residences including
three attached by tunnels to the larger qasgiq,
seven underground storehouses, 1 1 aboveground
storehouses, and only two houses of modern frame
or log construction.
House Construction
Collins (1937, pp. 258-260) has described and
illustrated a house from an unspecified location
on Nunivak which he believed to be a "typical
unmodified example" of the Eskimo dwelling in
southwest Alaska. His careful drawing in cross sec-
tion is more detailed than any other in the Alaskan
Eskimo literature. Lantis, however, doubts wheth-
er this type of house was typical on Nunivak. The
following pages are devoted to noting deviations
from this basic form and adding certain details not
specifically referred to by Collins.
Although four-post-center construction was
characteristic of all Nunivak houses, the sleeping
benches within the house varied. Indeed, many of
the poorer houses had no platform benches at all
but simply logs placed on the floor behind which
dried grass was spread and then covered with mats
and skins for sleeping. All other houses had sleep-
ing platforms on the sides, varying in height from
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
21
house to house. Across the back was a platform
used for storage. People slept with their heads at
the front edge of the platform and their feet to the
wall. Most sleeping platforms were approximately
15 inches above the floor (fig. 59).
In constructing platform benches, an earth shelf
was left on two or three sides and split driftwood
was placed over the earth and then covered with
matting and skins. Coarse matting was also hung
around the walls to cover the earth between the
bench surface and the sloping roof logs. Although
Collins's drawing seems to indicate that the four
center posts rested on the benches, in fact they
usualh extended to floor level. Occasionally there
was a smooth, flat board along the front edge of
the bench extending somewhat higher. On it were
placed cutting boards, knives, and other utensils
used habitually in preparing food.
The fireplace, against the rear bench as shown
in the Collins drawing or in the center under the
skylight, was constructed of flat volcanic rocks set
up on edge. It had an earthen base slightly higher
than the house floor. A fire was started with rein-
deer moss soaked in seal oil. Lampstands might
be set up at the two front corners of the fireplace.
These were carved from a single piece of wood
approximately 3 ft long and pointed at one end so
the\ could be driven into the dirt floor. They were
wide and flat at the top to hold a pottery lamp.
Stands like those illustrated in Nelson (1899, fig.
19) were unknown. A framework from which to
hang pots was set up at the back of the fireplace
and was not movable.
Collins's drawing shows low house walls and
relatively long rafters. Some houses, however, were
built with higher walls allowing more headroom
toward the back of the benches, which required a
deeper excavation (figs. 60-61).
The walls of the underground entrance passage-
wax, usually in a short side of the house and not
a long side as shown by Collins, were sometimes
higher than indicated in his drawing and faced
with vertical split logs. The frame of the house
roof was cribbed: on the two posts on each side,
a long log was fitted, lying front to back (stringers);
then smaller logs were placed across the stringers
at front and rear (tie-beams or crossbeams); then
stringers; and finally crossbeams, all shorter at each
higher level, that is, each successive layer closer
to the center. For the roof, on all four sides split
logs were laid, flat side down, from the four logs
forming the top of the earth wall to the lower crib
logs. Then a second, higher, also sloping course of
split logs was needed all around and a third flat
course to complete the roof around the rectangular
hole for the skylight (fig. 62).
The skylight cover, placed outside over a square
wood frame, was made of strips of seal intestine
sewn together with a border of salmon skin. This
translucent gut window was held in place with
heavy rocks (fig. 63). This is why the tougher salm-
on skin was used as a border. A thin, bent stick
was arched between opposite sides of the frame
on the inside to keep the gut window from sagging.
It could be pushed back and forth to knock water
and snow from the skylight.
The dimensions of the wall and roof depended
largely on the size of driftwood available to the
builder. More recent houses had a steep-roofed
entryway of commercial lumber modeled after a
ship's companionway (fig. 64). At the point where
the tunnel entered the living area, a grass mat was
hung, or occasionally there would be a low plank
door. Formerly a whale's shoulder blade might be
used at the outside entrance as a doorway.
In finishing the roof, a layer of green grass was
laid over the logs, and then earth was spread on
the grass and packed down. Over this were placed
fresh sod blocks cut with a mattock. The roof was
not entirely rounded after the sods were in place,
the rectangular slanting sides and flat top being
maintained to a certain degree.
These semi-subterranean houses, occupied
summer and winter, were abandoned only for short
periods of time when people went to fish camps.
If a structure became wet in spring, a drain might
be dug through the wall so that water could run
off.
The Qasgiq
Qasgiqs, or ceremonial houses. \ aried greatly in
si/e. Small ones for the use of one or two families
in small settlements might be no more than 12 ft
square, while the structure in a large village like
Mekoryuk was nearly 20 ft square. The method
of construction was essentially the same regardless
of size. The roof was supported by eight posts, two
for each corner, set against the walls rather than
away from them, as in a house. The walls were
generally formed of split logs placed vertically;
diagonal beams across the corners supported a
cribbed roof (fig. 65), a form of roofing reported
for historic qasgiqs elsewhere in southwestern
Alaska (VanStone, 1968. pp. 252-258; 1970, pp.
33-38).
The number of benches in a qasgiq varied; at
22
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Mekoryuk the large one had platform benches on
three sides while others might have only one or
two. Unlike houses, qasgiqs had plank flooring,
some of which covered the excavated central fire-
place and could be lifted when the fireplace was
in use. For a large qasgiq, the fireplace might be
as much as 4 ft in depth and nearly 3 ft square. It
was lined with flat volcanic rocks.
Tunnel walls were lined with split logs placed
vertically. The step-up into the main part of the
structure was just in front of the fireplace. The
tunnel entrance opened directly to the outside (fig.
66). Formerly, as previously noted, a number of
family houses might be linked to a ceremonial
house by connecting passageways with a single
outside entrance. A woman taking food to the men
of her family could go through the tunnel to enter
the qasgiq, and a man could go home without being
out in the cold. It should be noted that sometimes
two related nuclear families occupied one house,
the women and children of one family on one side
and the other family or perhaps an elderly relative
on the opposite side, but they shared food.
In respects other than those mentioned, a qasgiq
was constructed in much the same way as a house,
except that people could sit under the higher and
narrower benches. Boys customarily sat on the
benches while men sat underneath on the grass or
shavings-covered floor. Lampstands similar to
those in houses were used in a qasgiq, although a
suspended lamp frame, shaped like a globe and
decorated with feathers and carved figures, was
hung in each corner during the Messenger Feast.
An example of this style of lamp frame, made in
recent years by Kay Hendrickson, formerly of Me-
koryuk, is in the Yugtarvik Regional Museum,
Bethel, Alaska (fig. 67).
Curtis (1930, pp. 8-10, opp. p. 12) described
and illustrated a qasgiq on Nunivak, presumably
at Mekoryuk, as did Himmelheber (1980, p. 7) in
1936. The latter's drawing does not show sup-
porting posts and indicates a shallow fireplace.
Housekeeping
In some houses the caribou or reindeer skins
that people slept on were rolled up and pushed
back during the day, but in most houses, partic-
ularly those with children, there was considerable
litter on the benches during the day. Each older
person in a family had a wooden dish (kantag), a
basin with a nest of grass in it into which he or
she spat and threw small refuse. There was also a
rectangular wooden vessel, deeper than most food
dishes, for urine. People normally did not put their
feet on the benches while wearing boots but rested
them on the log or plank at the outer edge of the
bench.
Urine was spread on the dirt floor of the house
to keep down the dust and sand; damp reindeer
moss (lichen) was spread on the floor before
sweeping. Some people were particular about the
dirt floors in their houses and scolded young per-
sons when they accidentally dug up the floor with
their heels. Planking, of course, kept a floor mod-
erately dry and free of sand. Some houses had
wooden planks just inside the tunnel entrance and
dry, coarse sand was spread on them so that people
could wipe their feet.
Each person, even young children, had his or
her own wooden dish for eating. There were also
trays and larger food dishes from which all could
eat. These and a teakettle and formerly the clay
pots for cooking were kept on the low bench be-
hind the fireplace. When later a small iron stove
was set on the fireplace, it had little room for more
than a teakettle and skillet (fig. 59). Even later, in
the 1940s, in larger houses with plank flooring, a
larger stove could be acquired and boxes and
shelves used to store many household items.
Homes remained crowded, however, as often there
were more children; the men spent more time in
the family houses when, under church and school
influences, the qasgiq was used less or disappeared.
Caches
Formerly storehouses, or caches, were built like
houses, except that they were not excavated as
deeply; they had no entryway and there was usu-
ally no skylight. Entrance was by means of a rect-
angular doorway through one side of the roof (fig.
68). Sometimes instead of a plank door there was
a mat held in place with drift logs and rocks. More
recently, aboveground caches with four corner posts
and end posts supporting a single ridgepole have
been characteristic. Split logs for the roof interlock
over the ridge pole forming a gabled roof covered
with earth and sods, and there is a door in one
end (figs. 39, 69). Elevated caches on piles, with
flat roofs covered with sods similar to those on the
mainland (Nelson, 1899, p. 244, fig. 75), are also
said to have been used on Nunivak in the remote
past; they were entered by means of a notched log
ladder.
Food, skins, hunting implements and other large
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
23
equipment, lines, and heavy skin clothing were
kept in caches. In the larger caches, there might
be a raised section across the back as well as racks
for harpoons, guns, and other large valuable items.
Only small implements such as tools for working
wood and ivorj along with small containers and
light clothing were kept in the house. Dried fish
and meat stored in a cache were laid on dry grass
or moss to prevent them from becoming moldy.
Temporary Shelters
In winter when traveling, people sometimes
constructed shelters by simply digging a hole in
the snow and roofing it with snow blocks cut with
a wooden shovel and leaned together; there was
no domed roof. Tents of walrus or other skins were
not used in summer, but for camping in the rain
a makeshift tent might be contrived with rain par-
kas or strips of gut sewn together.
MI. Tools
When a man intended to undertake a sizeable
amount of woodworking, such as making kayak
paddles or a number of arrow shafts, he would
take a basket of mussel shells into the qasgiq and
work all day without going out or eating. Since the
number of primary tools was limited, woodwork-
ers used a great many mussel shells, especially for
scraping and polishing. A woman never carved
wood or ivory, so all her tools and dishes were
made for her.
Smaller tools, such as small adzes, awls, chisels,
drills, and punches, as well as a variety of mate-
rials, were usually kept in a wooden box at the
owner's place in the qasgiq (Curtis, 1930, pp. 7.
40). In 1927 Collins obtained such a toolbox at a
village on the west side of Nunivak Island outside
the house of its owner, who had died the preceding
year. Its contents were as follows:
8 pieces of worked bone
20 pieces of worked ivory
4 walrus teeth
2 ivory points (to form hooks for seal gaffs)
2 line attachers (hg. 70, top)
1 ivory float mouthpiece (fig. 70, bottom)
1 unidentified ivory object
2 small fish-shaped ivory knife handles
3 bird arrow points (fig. 71)
31 pieces of metal — door hinges, saw blades,
copper, etc.
2 slate ulu blades
1 fragment of a hard rubber comb
2 whetstones
2 heavy bone socket pieces (fig. 72)
1 adze head (fig. 73)
1 funnel (for seal poke?) (fig. 74)
2 fragmentary slate knife blades
1 slate harpoon blade
2 pieces of unidentified stone
1 piece of pumice
1 piece of cork
5 pieces of wood, mostly handles
4 drills with wood handles(?) and iron points
1 awl with wood handle and iron point
3 saws, bone and wood handles, metal blades
2 knives, bone handles, small steel blades
1 bone scraper
1 antler harpoon head (fig. 75)
2 brushes, wooden handles, human hair at
each end
1 mesh gauge (fig. 76)
1 metacarpal bone of reindeer
2 small ivory tubes (snuff tubes?)
1 bundle of tobacco(?)
1 roll of seal intestine casing
The contents of this workbox may be considered
typical of what was needed by a craftsman for his
work. There are a variety of raw materials includ-
ing wood, bone, stone, antler, ivory, and a variety
of trade materials. The box also included useful
small tools such as awls, drills, knives, saws, and
a scraper as well as a number of completed or
nearly completed artifacts.
An important tool for working antler, bone, and
ivory, usually too large to be included in a work-
box, was the adze which had a flat blade, fre-
quently fashioned from a steel axe blade, a piece
of saw steel, or hoop iron hafted at right angles to
a wooden handle. According to Curtis (1930, p.
40), a woodworking adze might have a blade as
wide as 4 inches. In 1 926 Collins collected an adze
with a socketed antler head flattened along a sec-
tion of one side and drilled with three holes for
attachment of the handle, which is missing. A metal
blade is set into the socket at the distal end (fig.
73).
The rough work of blocking out was done with
the adze, but for the finishing process the typical
Eskimo crooked knife with a bone or antler handle
and a curved metal blade was used. Nelson ( 1 899,
p. 85. pi. XXXVIII. 3 1 ) described and illustrated
24
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
a crude knife of this type from Nunivak which has
a short, thick piece of iron wedged into a slot in
a wooden handle, the inner end of the blade being
held in place by sinew lashing.
While using a crooked knife the craftsman wore
a thumb and first finger guard of scraped sealskin,
an example of which was collected by Lantis. The
finger guard consists of a single piece sewn in a
triangular shape with sinew. The thumb guard is
constructed of three pieces: an outer piece of
scraped sealskin, an under piece of bleached seal-
skin crimped at the edge, and a thin strip of
bleached sealskin serving as a tie around the wrist.
The outer surface of the thumb guard is decorated
with two-strand black and white thread in crossed
straight lines and around the edge (fig. 77).
Lantis collected a chisel with a jade point set
into a curved antler handle (fig. 7, right), the jade
presumably obtained from north Alaska by trade.
This implement was used to incise grooves in wood
preparatory to splitting and for cutting out mor-
tises in wood items such as sled runners and snow-
shoe frames. It was not usually a carving tool.
The end-bladed man's knife, a primary cutting
tool, had a slate blade or, early in this century, a
metal blade and a wooden handle if the knife was
large, antler if it was small. Slate could be obtained
in abundance at several locations on Nunivak, es-
pecially from cliffs on the east side of the bay at
Nash Harbor. The slate was never split. Small,
thin pieces were used for arrowpoints and larger
pieces for knife and scraper blades. A piece of
sandstone was used for shaping the blade and fine
pumice for the final polishing. Blades made of slate
could never be long, even for knives used to cut
walrus and bearded seal, because they would break
easily. For attaching the blade to the handle, resin
from driftwood was mixed with soot. The resin
did not need to be softened by heating; it was
simply rubbed into the hafting slot. Women as well
as men used the man's knife for cutting up seals.
The traditional woman's knife or ulu always had
the slate blade inserted directly into the handle,
which was usually made of wood or antler; small
knives might have ivory handles. Sometimes the
handle curved upward at one end, and the knife
was always held with that end pointing forward.
Lantis collected such an ulu that has narrow bone
reinforcement pieces at both ends pegged to the
handle with wooden pegs (fig. 78, top). Handles
were frequently carved into figures of animals but
these were purely decorative and did not have any
particular significance. Modern ulus have blades
made from old saw blades, and there may be up-
right pieces, usually of metal, between the blade
and the handle (fig. 79).
Composite knife or engraving tool handles of
antler and ivory were recovered archaeologically
from late prehistoric or historic sites on Nunivak.
The two identical halves of these handles were held
together with pegs. At the distal ends are narrow
slits, presumably for metal blades; one handle has
a blade slit broad and deep enough to have con-
tained an animal tooth (VanStone, 1957, pp. 103,
107, pi. 1, 10, pi. 3, 18, 20).
Knives of all kinds, including those with metal
blades, were sharpened on whetstones made of
fine-grained sandstone or schist which were some-
times carefully shaped. They have been recovered
archaeologically on the island (VanStone, 1957,
pp. 101, 103, 106, pi. 1, 3).
Although the bow drill apparently was known
on Nunivak, the strap drill was more common; its
use is described by Curtis (1930, p. 41). Lantis
collected a four-piece strap fire drill consisting of
a wooden shaft and cap, a drill base or hearth, and
strap. The shaft is beveled at each end and the
strap is a strip of walrus skin secured at each end
to a small walrus tusk through a hole in the center
of each tusk. Crescent-shaped grooves extend from
the line holes to form an eye-fish pattern. The
hearth or drill base is a block of wood with a step
cut in one side and five holes with grooves ex-
tending from each. The cap is seal-shaped with a
round piece of fine-grained stone set into the under
surface. This stone has a round depression to re-
ceive the proximal end of the shaft (fig. 80).
Strap drills were used to make fires and to pierce
holes in bone, antler, ivory, and wood. The cap
was fitted over the proximal end of the shaft and
held in place with the chin or teeth, leaving the
hands free to manipulate the strap. Thus one per-
son could operate the drill, although sometimes
two worked together. For kindling a fire, powdered
charcoal was sometimes dusted into the slots in
the drill base. A tinder of oil-soaked moss was
placed on the step below the slots and the burning
moss was then transferred to a place where a fire
could be made by adding wood (Nelson, 1899, p.
81; Curtis, 1930, p. 41). A bow might be substi-
tuted for the strap.
Nelson ( 1 899, p. 83. pi. XXXVII, 25) described
and illustrated a drill cap from Nunivak collected
by W. H. Dall and made from an oval piece of
white quart/, with a conical depression in the lower
surface. A groove extends around the side in which
is fastened a rawhide cord with a loop at one end,
possibly for fastening the drill strap. For drilling
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
25
rather than tire making, the drill shafts were tipped
with bits made of jade or some other fine-grained
stone. Fox teeth were said to have been used when
drilling holes for sewing a kayak cover.
Wedges of bone, antler, or ivory were used for
splitting wood, and bone and antler specimens have
been recovered archaeologically on Nunivak
(VanStone. 1957. pp. 103, 105-107). They were
dn\cn with heavy wooden mauls. Antler wedges
were most common and usually made from the
base of an antler tine. The distal end was often
split or filed, exposing the core, to produce a sharp-
er cutting edge. Nunivak wedges referred to in the
literature, however, are far from typical. Nelson
(1899, p. 88, pi. XXXIX, 2) described and illus-
trated an antler wedge obtained by Dall that in-
cludes the base of the antler and a projecting, cutoff
tine in the center of which is fastened a tuft of
caribou hair inserted in a hole and held in place
with a peg. The specimen is decorated with incised
lines and shows no signs of use.
Even more unusual is a bone wedge which, ac-
cording to Fit/hugh and Kaplan ( 1 982, p. 1 80, no.
2 1 9), was used for making wood splints and split-
ting feather quills. Nelson ( 1 899, p. 87, fig. 24, 1 )
identified this object as a wood chisel. It has a
convex upper surface that is covered with etchings
representing a sea beast, showing anatomical de-
tails and containing within the outline of its body
many other etched figures. This "wedge" is of
greater interest as a work of art and for its possible
relation to mythology than as a tool.
Root picks, employed for cutting sod, had ivory
or bone blades attached to wooden handles. A pick
collected by Dall on Nunivak and illustrated by
Nelson (1899, p. 75. pi. XXXIIIb. 1) is described
as having a rounded wooden handle with a knob
at the distal end containing two lashing holes. This
knob is flattened to receive the pick, which is lashed
mi with rawhide. The pick itself is half a walrus
tusk with the flattened side lashed against the han-
dle.
Rakes of antler tines were used mostly indoors
to rake up grass and wood shavings. Stones, some-
times with grooved hand grips, were employed for
cracking open the skulls of animals to extract the
brains. Hammers for breaking bones could also be
made of antler or walrus leg bones.
Meat hooks served to hold the carcass of a
bearded seal or walrus close to the kayak during
the butchering process, to poke pieces of meat un-
der the bow and stern decking, and to retrieve
them (Curtis, 1930, p. 17). Dall collected a meat
hook on Nunivak which is described and illus-
trated by Nelson (1899, p. 73, pi. XXXIIIa, 8). It
has a short wooden handle with a curved grip to
which is lashed an ivory hook, also held in place
at its base with a small ivory pin.
Snow shovels were made of wood, and earth
shovels, used primarily for digging cists for "stink-
fish," had wooden handles and blades made from
a caribou or walrus scapula. Shovel blades of wal-
rus scapula drilled near the articular surface for
attachment to a handle have been recovered from
late prehistoric or historic sites on the island
(VanStone. 1957, pp. 105. 107, pi. 2. 4).
VIII. Household Equipment
Wooden buckets for carrying water were used
on Nunivak Island by both men and women. These
resembled buckets that have been described for
other areas of Eskimo Alaska in that the sides were
of one piece bent to shape and stitched with willow
root. The bending was achieved by means of hot,
moist moss. The bottom piece was mortised in
place. Some buckets had bone or wood handles.
Men's buckets were three-sided with rounded cor-
ners, while those used by women were square (fig.
8 1 ). According to Curtis ( 1 930, pp. 36-37), wood-
en buckets were made by men in the qasgiq as part
of the preparations for the Bladder Feast.
Frequently there were proprietary designs paint-
ed on the sides or bottoms of buckets, each family
having its own design. A man received his bucket
or dish design from his father or grandfather.
Buckets like these were never used for cooking,
this always being done in pottery vessels until metal
pots and pans were obtained. A man carried a
bucket with him when hunting or traveling. Buck-
ets made of sealskin tightly sewn with sinew and
grass to prevent leakage were used only in winter,
presumably because then the skin would be hard
and stiff. One piece of hide was curved around and
stitched to form the side while a flat, round piece
formed the bottom. These buckets were higher and
narrower than those of wood.
Dippers of sealskin with a plain wooden handle
attached with roots were made from a single piece
of skin sewn in a circle to form a cone. They were
used to dip water either from ponds when the
water was low or through a hole in the ice.
Clothing bags were made from the skins of spot-
26
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
ted and ribbon seals, with the nose and eye ap-
ertures sewn shut and the hair removed. An open-
ing extended for about 18 inches parallel to the
length of the animal. Small loops were slit in the
skin at each end of the opening for a carrying strap
which, when the bag was carried, extended over
the shoulder and across the chest. Similar bags
with the hair intact and the slit extending crosswise
between the front flippers are described from Kot-
zebue Sound (VanStone, 1980, p. 48, fig. 11) and
Sledge Island (Nelson, 1 899, p. 44, fig. 8). Clothing
bags made of salmon and blackfish skins resem-
bled those described and illustrated by Nelson
(1899, pp. 43^44, fig. 7). They were closed with a
drawstring. Lantis observed a bag for odds and
ends of clothing made from a halibut stomach.
The opening at the smaller end was simply tied
shut, the clothes being inserted at the large end
which was then wrapped with a cord to hold it
shut. One elderly woman said that she made a fish
skin bag to hold her reindeer skin parka.
A small workbag was made from the skin of an
unborn seal. The hair was scraped off and the
opening was a 6-inch slit in the ventral side parallel
to the length of the animal. The two ends were
sewn flat and decorated with strips of calico and
wolverine fur. The flippers were pulled in so as to
gather slightly and decorated in the same manner.
Rectangular designs were made of sealskin utiliz-
ing different shades of coloring in geometric pat-
terns. On another bag, made of the whole skin of
a young or small adult seal with the hair on, the
slit was also lengthwise and not laced. In place of
the removed front and hind flippers, narrow strips
of sealskin colored red on the inner side were sewn
on to form fancy tufts. A band of bleached sealskin
overlaid with fancy stitching was sewn around the
opening.
Older men carried small snuff bags with which
ivory tubes were used. Collins collected several
snuff tubes on the island in 1927. The bags were
of varying size, made of different skins, with much
decoration. Wolf, wolverine, squirrel, beaver, and
muskrat skins were acquired by direct trade with
mainlanders or through native or non-native trad-
ers.
In 1905 Gordon obtained an elaborately deco-
rated "pouch" which is probably a snuff bag. It is
made of strips of fur from several different animals
with a decorated cloth top edged with beads, and
strands of beads ending in wool tassels. There is
a fancy tassel of beads and fur at the end of the
drawstring (Kaplan & Barsness, 1986, p. 147, fig.
128). In 1939-1940 Lantis saw a similar snuff bag,
although not quite so elaborately decorated; it was
about 12 inches deep, excluding a bottom tuft of
fur, and had a band of beading around the top and
bottom of the neck section made of dehaired seal-
skin. The lower, fuller pouch section was made of
two squirrel skins and decorated with short strands
of seed beads ending in tassels of wolverine fur
strips. This bag was owned by a crippled, poor,
and elderly shaman.
Nelson described and illustrated a number of
objects from Nunivak associated with the use of
tobacco, including two snuffboxes. The first, made
of ivory, has separate top and bottom pieces at-
tached with pegs. The top is inlaid with pieces of
brass and there is a small, square wooden lid with
a loop of skin for a handle (Nelson, 1899, pi.
LXXXVI, 3). The second box is of wood inlaid
with brass. The lid, similarly inlaid, is a square
cap which fits into an opening with beveled edges
in the center of the top (Nelson, 1 899, pi. LXXXVI,
4). A tubular box of antler with a wooden top and
bottom held fungus ash which was mixed with
chewing tobacco. In low relief on the sides the fore
and hind flippers of a seal are represented, and
the box is also decorated with circle-dot patterns
(Nelson, 1899, LXXXVII, 3). Nelson (1899, pi.
LXXXVI, 16) also described and illustrated a small
quid box of wood obtained on the island by Dall.
It is shaped in the form of a murre's head, the
mandible forming a thumb piece for raising the
lid. The eyes are outlined by incised circles and a
sinew cord for attachment to the belt or for hang-
ing around the neck passes through drilled nostril
holes.
One of the most characteristic aspects of Nu-
nivak material culture was the use of dried grass
for a variety of manufactures, many related to
household activities. In addition to mats, grass was
used for making baskets, certain items of clothing
such as mitten and boot liners (the latter not woven
but made of folded grass), and socks, and for many
purposes which required the use of braided string
or rope, including dog harnesses. In fact, the im-
portance of grass as a clean insulating material as
well as the raw material for the construction of
many objects of daily use cannot be overempha-
sized (for an excellent statement on the uses of
grass in the east Bering Sea-Yukon region, see Fitz-
hugh & Kaplan, 1982, pp. 124-129).
With specific reference to matting, grass was used
to make mats for the floors of kayaks, to cover
walls and sleeping benches and for a door in a
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
27
house with an underground entrance, to lie on
when spearing fish through the ice or to sit or kneel
on when jigging for fish, to cover meat and fish
while drying (figs. 35. 82: Curtis, 1930, opp. p. 34),
and in the distant past as sails for umiaks. In ad-
dition, grass matting was used for floor coverings
and curtains during ceremonies. Old mats were
often placed on house roofs, and coarse matlike
baskets served for storing fish in winter (fig. 83).
The same species of grass (Elymus mollis) was
used for all types of mats and baskets. It was gath-
ered in the spring or fall, but never gathered green.
Dyed grasses were not used for either baskets or
matting before colored raffia was obtained, or
women learned to dye grass with wet colored pa-
pers for basket decoration, and there were no de-
signs except those made by the weaving itself. The
two-strand twining technique was used for both
baskets and mats, the fibers kept moist while being
worked to avoid breakage.
The mats made to cover sleeping platforms were
exceptionally fine, with the weft rows as close as
0.5 inch, although wefts about 1 inch apart were
about the usual fineness. Mats for covering dry
fish and for kayak floors were much coarser, with
the weft strands being separated by 1 ft or more;
the edges were not finished. Finer mats were also
made to cover house walls. Coarse mats served as
door coverings in front of plank doors to keep out
a draft. Also, if the fire gave off smoke, the plank
door could be left open to provide more draft.
Small, finely woven, coiled baskets with handles
were used for gathering eggs and berries, for storing
trinkets, and as sewing workbaskets. These baskets
did not have lids. Clothes and larger valuables
were stored in large close weave baskets (fig. 84;
Lantis. 1946. p. 232. fig. 81), while large, open
weave baskets served for carrying fish, firewood,
clothing, and household items. These baskets or-
dinarily were nicely finished at the top with braid-
ed strands much like a closer-woven example from
Norton Sound illustrated by Fitzhugh and Kaplan
(1982. p. 125. no. 133).
Skillfully made, color-decorated coiled baskets
with lids, some with geometric designs, others with
natural forms (figs. 85-86; Curtis. 1930, opp. p.
78: Lantis, 1950, p. 68), were traded to the store
to be sold on the mainland. There is some question
as to when coiled basketry first appeared in the
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and on Nunivak. Ac-
cording to Fitzhugh and Kaplan (1982, p. 129). it
apparently was still new and developing on the
mainland in 1 880 (see also Ray. 1981. pp. 50-5 1 ).
and was probably first made even later on Nunivak
Island. In 1905 Gordon obtained a small coiled
and lidded trinket basket on the island (Kaplan &
Barsness, 1986, p. 148. no. 131). If the apparently
black material seen in every third row of the coils
is blackfish skin that was often sewn on garment
borders and otherwise used as decoration, then the
basket may be distinctively Nunivak. The trader
at Mekoryuk for 20 years (1920-1940) instructed
and encouraged women to make larger, finer, more
colorful basketry.
Although no pottery has been manufactured on
Nunivak Island for many years, some of the older
women remember the process as practiced by their
grandmothers. The clay, which was obtained from
a deposit about 3 mi from the village of Mekoryuk,
was first rubbed to make it soft; then pebbles and
grass were mixed with it. The pot bottom was
constructed first from a single piece of clay, and
then a coil was placed around the edge of the bot-
tom, pressed to it. and smoothed with the hands.
Next, another coil was placed on top of the pre-
vious one and pressed out to the proper thickness
and smoothness. These were not continuous spiral
coils, but rather each row was a separate piece of
clay.
After the initial building up of the pot had been
accomplished, more clay was put on the inside
and patted with the hands. No paddle or smoother
was used during this stage of the operation. This
clay slip was of the same consistency as the coils.
Before vessels were fired, they were sometimes
painted with a solution of burned fish eggs. For
firing, a large fire was built and allowed to burn
until coals were formed. Then the pots were placed
on the fire and covered with green willow branch-
es. Pots were said to have been set to burn when
the tide was out and fired all the time while the
tide came in and went out again. As the vessels
began to cool, they were covered with seal oil,
which turned them black.
Most of the Nunivak cooking vessels were either
situla-shaped. that is. they had sides that flared
evenly, constricted at the neck, and flared again at
the mouth, or were flat bottomed with straight or
slightly flaring sides. They were frequently deco-
rated below the rim with dots or lines or a com-
bination of the two. Flat-bottomed vessels re-
covered archaeologically from late sites are
approximately 8 inches high with a diameter of
6.5 inches at the rim (VanStone. 1954). Earlier
pottery, recovered from several sites on the island,
is tempered with a variety of materials including
28
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
sand, small quartz grains, feathers, hair, grass, and
gravel. The surfaces are decorated with square to
rectangular checks or concentric circles, probably
impressed with a paddle against the sides of the
unfired pot (Nowak, 1970, p. 23, fig. 3u,y; 1982,
p. 82; 1986).
Saucer-shaped clay lamps were used until a much
later date than pottery cooking vessels. Nunivak
saucer-shaped lamps, like those from other parts
of southwest Alaska, were frequently characterized
by concentric circle decoration (Oswalt, 1953). In
historic times, the Nunivaarmiut could make
nearly perfect circles by tying together two sharp-
ened sticks, using one as the fulcrum point and
the other as the pointed turning arm. One of Lan-
tis's informants had seen a stone lamp, possibly
traded from Kodiak Island.
Any kind of blubber could be burned in an oil
lamp. The blubber was cut up and placed in a
sealskin poke which was then closed and placed
in a spring or some other place where the water
was not flowing fast. The poke was usually put in
the water in May and allowed to remain there until
September. Under these conditions the blubber
breaks down to oil with soft pieces of blubber in
it. This was sufficient for burning in lamps. If clear
oil was desired, it had to be boiled. One adult
bearded seal produced a whole sealskin (harbor
seal) poke of oil.
A probable marrow extractor collected by Lantis
is made of bone. It is spatulate-shaped at the distal
end and flares at the proximal end where there is
a suspension hole. Just below this hole are paired,
parallel projections (fig. 9, left).
Snow beaters, used for removing snow from
boots and parkas, were always made of wood. Ob-
jects similar to the decorated ivory story knives,
with which little girls on the mainland drew pic-
tures in the sand (Oswalt, 1 964), were undecorated
on Nunivak, made of antler, and used for scraping
or paring ice from a kayak cover and similar ap-
plications (fig. 41).
IX. Food and Its Preparation
Meals and Eating Habits
The Nunivaarmiut ate frequently in the course
of a 24-hour period. They went to bed at sundown
or early evening in the spring and fall, and well
before sundown in summer, but arose early, often
at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. and regularly at 5:00 or 5:30.
The time of rising depended on the sea tide and
the time when tomcod or other fish would be
running. The first meal of the day was eaten at this
time and another about 1 1:00 a.m., with snacks
once or twice in between depending on the work
schedule and the availability of food. The evening
meal was usually at 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. with addi-
tional snacks between the main meals. In winter
the entire meal schedule was likely to be moved
forward, with the first meal of the day being eaten
at 10:00 or 10:30 a.m. The most common food
was dried or frozen fish dipped in seal oil. The
evening or late afternoon meal, the hot meal of
the day, frequently consisted of boiled fish or other
boiled food and tea.
From spring to early fall, fresh foods, either raw
or cooked, were most likely to be consumed, while
dried or otherwise processed foods were saved for
winter. When away from the village for hunting,
fishing, or trapping, however, dried fish and seal
oil were the staple foods at all times of the year.
Women and children or entire families out berry
picking would carry pilot bread or a length of in-
testine fat to chew on. Both men and women al-
ways carried a teakettle and food with them when
they left the village. Tea, sugar, and pan-fried bread
were included in the larder if possible, but some-
times the supply ship was late or money was scarce.
The bread consisted of flour with a little salt and
baking powder kneaded into it to make a stiff dough
which was then fried in seal oil in a skillet. Girls
walking along a trail while gathering greens might
eat dried fish.
After eating, people licked oil from their fingers
and wiped out the wooden eating dishes carefully
and thoroughly with the forefinger. When eating
a small fish, it was first dipped in oil and then held
by the tail above the eater's mouth and dropped
down into the mouth to bite offa piece. This meth-
od prevented oil from running down the hand.
Nothing but the bones offish or fowl were thrown
away and then not until they had been picked
clean. Long strips of dried meat or pieces of dried
fish were ripped off the bones with the teeth, dipped
in oil, and a piece bitten off the strip. Meat was
picked from the bones of a fowl with the fingernails
in places where the teeth could not reach. The
Nunivaarmiut did not object to chewing hard,
tough, or half-cooked meat and, in fact, preferred
it that way. Fish eggs were also cooked until they
became hard and tough.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
29
Land and Sea Mammal Meat
As was the case with most Eskimos, virtually
all parts of a seal were either eaten or used in some
other wa\ b\ the Nunivaarmiut. The throat
(esophagus), however, was not eaten, nor was the
pancreas. During spring hunting the entire seal's
head was cooked and the brains extracted after the
skull was cracked with a stone. There was no spe-
cial mallet for breaking the skull of any animal.
The blubber from one seal filled a poke made from
the skin of an animal of nearly the same size.
All hough most seal meat was dried, some was put
fresh in pokes into storage pits. These caches were
shallow pits dug into clay down to the frozen
ground, usually a depth of 3 to 4 ft. The pokes,
tied tightly at the opening, were placed in the cach-
es in layers separated by moss and stones (Curtis,
1930, p. 34). These caches were never lined with
cla\. as were the cists used for storing fish. In
permafrost areas temperature in the caches was
near freezing even during the summer months so
that meat would keep reasonably well for several
years.
People considered walrus meat, except that of
an old bull, to be a much more satisfactory food
than seal meat, perhaps because it was less abun-
dant and thus considered a treat. The skin and
blubber of a walrus was cut into chunks and boiled
until fairly well cooked. Then finally minced sour-
dock {Rumex arcticas) leaves were added, and when
the water boiled again fish eggs were put in and
the whole allowed to cook until the eggs were done
(Curtis, 1 930, pp. 34-35). The flippers, considered
the tastiest part of the animal, were split lengthwise
into two halves and boiled, flesh, fat, and skin
together. The contents of a walrus stomach, con-
sisting of mussels and fish, were eaten just as they
came from the animal. The blubber from half a
walrus filled a poke made from the skin of a beard-
ed seal.
Caribou have been absent from Nunivak Island
for at least 100 years, but many of the procedures
for preparing the flesh of this animal also apply to
the domestic reindeer. In earlier times, however,
caribou livers were placed in the animal's stomach
to ferment; this is no longer done. The lining of a
reindeer stomach was cut up and eaten with dried
fish or by itself. Lungs and kidneys were given to
the dogs, but the heart was eaten. Neither caribou
meat nor fish were ever pounded as a method of
preservation.
The Nunivaarmiut practiced few restrictions
with reference to food, but the flesh of the red fox
was avoided since it was believed to cause a person
to sleep during the da\ and be restless at night.
This restriction did not apply to the flesh of the
white fox.
Fowl
The flesh of virtually all waterfowl in the en-
vironment was eaten, either fresh or dried, usually
with oil or a sourdock leaf soup (Curtis, 1930, p.
36). Even cormorants were considered edible and
the meat of these fishy-tasting birds was dried or
boiled when freshly killed. The eggs of waterfowl
were sometimes sucked raw, but were usually
boiled. Unlike Eskimos of the adjacent mainland,
the Nunivaarmiut did not boil eggs hard and pack
them in pokes for use during the winter. Instead,
if there were more eggs than could be consumed
at the time of collecting, they were hard-boiled
and, still in their shells, placed in wooden dishes
of seal oil to be kept for a short while.
Fish and Shellfish
Prior to being dried, salmon were split down the
back rather than along the belly, the usual Norton
Sound way. The skin of a halibut was completely
removed along with a thin slice of meat, the re-
mainder being cut into strips and dried. Split heads
and eggs were buried in pits lined with grass and
covered with sod (Curtis, 1930, p. 35). Cod were
cut along the back in the same manner as salmon.
Fresh boiled salmon and trout, cooked in half salt
and half fresh water, were eaten throughout the
summer and early fall.
Often fresh fish were boiled in large pots over
open fires outdoors. A pit 2 or 2.5 ft across was
dug into the side of a bank so that one side was
higher than the other. Flat rocks were occasionally
used to build up the low side to hold fuel, a pot-
hook, and the pot, but they did not really consti-
tute a stone hearth. Iron pots were used and earth-
en pots in the prehistoric and early contact periods.
Pot fragments recovered from archaeological sites
on the island have suspension holes suggesting that
earthen vessels were suspended by a wood pot-
hook as were the iron vessels (VanStone, 1954,
p. 182, pi. 1. 1; 2. 1). The cooked fish was ladled
into wooden dishes and eaten without seal oil,
outside or in the house. Pieces offish were picked
out with the fingers and the soup was then drunk.
Nunivak informants had never heard of stone-
30
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
boiling. Pots were always suspended above or set
around a fire until the contents boiled. As noted
previously, fish were also placed in storage cists
to make a slightly rotten product known as "stink-
fish." When taken from these cists, the fish were
allowed to thaw before being eaten raw; but they
would be given frozen to the dogs.
When preparing tomcod or flounder caught in
the fall, a sharpened stick was sometimes used to
cut the belly to remove the entrails. With larger
fish, the head was removed by running an ulu
under the left gill slit and then around the body
so that the entrails were left intact with the head.
Usable parts of the entrails were then cooked with
the heads, although livers were often cooked sep-
arately to extract the oil. If the fish were particu-
larly small, the usable parts of the entrails were
simply left inside.
After cleaning, tomcod were allowed to stand
for a while and then packed into straight-sided,
rough baskets which were stored on the roof of a
storehouse or otherwise out of the dogs' reach (fig.
83). There they quickly froze and remained all
winter or until they were consumed.
In preparing cod the heads, with the eyes re-
moved, were split open and the bodies cleaned.
Both were spread on the rocks to dry and then
strung on lines and stored (Curtis, 1930, p. 35).
Dried cod were sometimes soaked in a fresh tun-
dra pool to soften them before they were eaten raw
with oil. Stickleback and small flounder were also
eaten raw after having been frozen. While still fro-
zen they were cut into strips half an inch wide with
an ulu and then dipped in seal oil; bones, fins, and
entrails were eaten.
Fish eggs were hung from the rafters of the house
above the fireplace to dry and then were usually
eaten plain. As previously noted, people liked to
chew on hard, tough fish eggs, so when cooked
they were boiled hard. Salmon eggs could also be
mixed with sourdock leaves and seal oil. In late
August when salmonberries were ripe they were
mixed with beaten seal oil and partly rotted fish
eggs, a very popular dish ("Eskimo ice cream") at
this time of the year and throughout the fall. Mus-
sels, shellfish obtained near Mekoryuk, were eaten
raw with enjoyment.
Vegetable Food
It would be a mistake to conclude that the diet
of the Nunivaarmiut consisted almost entirely of
protein and fat. People who were at all provident
could obtain plant food, from which they derived
important vitamins and minerals, for as much as
nine months of the year. Lantis (1959, pp. 59-62)
collected 25 edible plants on the island, three of
them boiled for tea, the remainder used for food.
The regular utilization of only a fraction of this
number would have provided a good variety in
the diet.
Sourdock leaves were perhaps the most popular
vegetable food for the Nunivaarmiut, being fre-
quently mixed, as previously noted, with seal oil
and dried fish, as were other greens. The leaves
were gathered in August and parboiled, being re-
moved from the boiling water as soon as they
changed color. A pit about 3 ft deep was dug in
sandy, dry soil, lined with dry grass, and covered
with sod. The leaves alone and not the juice were
placed in the pits to be removed in winter after
they had been pressed dry by the sod cover and
frozen. The leaves could also be stored in cists
similar to those used for "stinkfish." After the
leaves were removed from the pits or cists, but
before being cooked, they were ground up with an
ivory pestle, usually the butt end of a walrus tusk,
in a deep, square "woman's dish."
Leafy seaweed was eaten by individuals fishing
or hunting along the shore. Usually they just picked
it up and ate it on the spot. "Sea squirts" (stalked
solitary tunicates) were abundant in the fall and
were eaten raw, first having been dipped in seal
oil, or cooked in a mixture of fresh and salt water.
A variety of berries, including low bush cran-
berries, crowberries, and salmonberries, were
gathered when semiripe by women and girls who
collected them in wooden buckets. Some were eat-
en immediately and others stored in dry pits lined
with leaves and grass, to absorb moisture, and
covered with sod. Curtis (1930, p. 36) described
another form of berry cache which consisted of a
square or rectangular structure of flat stones lined
with grass and made air- and watertight by a cov-
ering of sod.
X. Skin Preparation and Sewing
Skin Preparation
Fresh seal and bearded seal skins were scraped
lightly to remove excess blubber, but enough was
left on so that the skin remained soft until ready
for use. If the hair was to be removed, slightly
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
31
moist sand was put on the hair side and the skin
was scraped with a two-handed scraper made from
a caribou leg bone. Before scraping, the skin, at
least of small seals, was pulled over a wooden form
(fig. 87). With the head end of the skin facing
toward the worker, the scraping motion was away
from the worker and thus in the same direction as
the lie of the hair.
Prior to bleaching a scraped sealskin in former
limes, the trout flippers were cut off, the holes sewn
up. and the skin inflated. The neck was stretched
and plugged with a flat, spool-like piece of wood
covered with a strip of seal stomach to provide a
tight fit. The skin was then set out in cold weather
to freeze (fig. 88). More recently, the skin was split
and cut off evenly around the edges. Then, as pre-
viously noted, it was stretched on a frame con-
sisting of a single vertical piece of wood and seven
or eight flat crosspieces cut to conform to the shape
of the prepared skin before being set out to freeze
(figs. 38-39).
A whole sealskin to be used for lines was placed
in a very warm place, usually in the qasgiq. It was
rolled up tight, covered with damp grass, and left
for two or three days if the qasgiq was being heated
for a sweat bath. The hair loosens from the heat;
when it is loose it can be pulled out with the hands
or scraped off with a mussel shell. After this the
skin was cut into strips with an end-bladed knife.
The line was cut in a continuous spiral around the
whole skin. According to Petroff (Porter, 1893, p.
1 1 3). a single sealskin, carefully cut. provided from
300 to 400 ft of quarter-inch line.
The newly prepared lines were then stretched
between posts outdoors and left until thoroughly
dry (fig. 89; Curtis, 1930, opp. p. 62). If the lines
were to be used for harpoons or otherwise be in
contact with salt water, they were soaked in cold
fresh water for about three days and then for about
a day in salt water before being stretched and dried.
Lines to be used for net floats were cut the proper
length before being dried and then hung in a bun-
dle. Although most skin preparation was women's
work, men did all the work in preparing sealskin
and walrus skin lines, which were an important
item of trade with the mainland (Porter, 1893, p.
113).
Seal esophagi were first soaked in urine until all
the blood was removed, then wrung out as dry as
possible and soaked in salt water for about a week,
and finally soaked in fresh water. One end was
sewn shut and the esophagus inflated. The other
end was closed with two-strand grass string. Each
esophagus was tied separately by this string to a
grass braid and hung out to dry in very cold weath-
er to freeze (fig. 90).
When a walrus was skinned, the hide could be
allowed to dry without being prepared in any way.
When ready for use the dry skin was moistened
with urine three times a day for about a week, then
soaked in fresh water for a few hours. Soaking was
usually accomplished by anchoring the skin in a
small stream with rocks. The skin was then ready
for use.
As noted previously, a walrus hide was split into
two layers, the outside layer being used for boot
soles and kayak covers. Skins to be used for boat
covers were prepared in the same way as a small
seal or bearded seal skin. A single walrus skin
would cover a kayak, but bearded seal skins were
also used, preferably not both on the same boat.
From the inside layer of a walrus skin, heavy lines
were made; the skin was not scraped or washed
but simply cut and hung outside between posts to
stretch and dry. A walrus stomach, used as a con-
tainer for water or oil, was washed, inflated, and
hung outside to dry and bleach (fig. 91).
Like walrus skins, fresh caribou skins were sim-
ply dried and stored. When ready for use in making
a parka, a skin was moistened with urine, scraped
on the inside with an end scraper which had a slate
blade lashed with root to a flat wooden handle (fig.
92). The skin was then moistened again; while
drying it was rubbed with a special bone or wooden
tool and kneaded with the hands until dry. This
was done to soften the skin, which was then ready
to be made into a parka.
The only small mammals on Nunivak Island
that could be utilized for clothing were mink and
arctic fox. In former times fox skins were scraped
on the inside when fresh, a process that did not
remove all the oil. Nelson (1899. p. 115, pi. L, 5)
described and illustrated an antler scraper from
Nunivak used for cleaning the skins of birds and
small mammals. It is slightly spoon-shaped at one
end for scraping, and flattened at the other end for
a handle which has incised parallel lines across the
upper side. Frames were not used and a skin was
rubbed and kneaded between the hands to soften
it until dry. In more recent times a fox skin was
turned inside out and put over a wooden pole. The
small end of the pole was inserted into the nose
and the skin stretched taut. Then it was scraped
forward toward the head with an end-bladed knife,
removing every particle of flesh. The processed
skins were hung on a line to dry (fig. 93). White
foxes had to be prepared carefully as the skin is
very thin.
32
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Wolverine skins purchased on the mainland were
already scraped, tanned, and ready for use. How-
ever, the Nunivaarmiut preferred to dye them on
the underside. A skin was moistened with water
and then red pigment rubbed over it. Squirrel skins,
also obtained from the mainland, were not tanned.
Women chewed these skins to clean and soften
them. Then a little seal oil was put on them and
they were allowed to dry. Mink skins were dried
without being scraped and then treated the same
as sealskins.
Parkas made with bird skins are closely asso-
ciated with Nunivak Island, where many varieties
of seabirds nest in spring. When a bird was skinned,
the skin came off whole with the feathers on the
inside and was dried this way. In removing the
skin whole in this manner, it was first cut loose
around the bill and legs and the wings were broken.
Then a wooden rod was thrust in at one wing
socket, through a hole in the breast bone without
breaking the skin of the breast, and out of the other
wing socket. The worker, a woman, then put her
feet at the ends of the rod and pulled the skin off
whole. The skin was pulled toward the worker over
the rear end of the bird so that the body was re-
moved through the mouth opening. This proce-
dure was possible for all birds whose skins were
used for parkas— usually murres and puffins— ex-
cept eider ducks, whose bodies are too large to go
out through the mouth opening. The skins were
sucked to remove fat and then allowed to dry be-
fore sewing. Most bird skin parkas were reversible,
the feathers being worn outside in extremely cold
weather and inside at other times, under a cloth
cover.
Sewing and Sewing Equipment
Sewing bags, or "housewives," similar to those
described by Nelson (1899, p. 105), were usually
made of sealskin or, in later times, of printed cot-
ton cloth. The basic form was a strip of cloth or
other material about 8 inches wide and 18 inches
long, to which pieces of material were stitched on
one side crosswise at intervals to form pockets.
Since such holders were common in the United
States in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the
form and name were presumably introduced.
On Nunivak Island strips of bleached seal
esophagus were sewn across pockets and around
edges, often alternating with fish skin to make the
bag more attractive. Then puffin beaks and beads
or other decorations were sewn along two sides.
An ivory fastener, usually in the form of a fish or
seal, on the cord fastened at one end completed
the bag. When not in use, it was rolled up and
wrapped with the cord, with the fastener inserted
under the cord to hold everything in place.
A "housewife" from Nunivak collected by Dall
in 1 874 and illustrated by Nelson (1899, pi. XLV,
31) is made of caribou ear skin "bordered by a
fringe of small strips of the same material." The
border is white caribou skin, the upper part edged
with a narrow strip of bleached sealskin and mink
fur. Evidently instead of pockets the inside is "di-
vided into quadrate spaces by parallel seams of
black and white and rows of small beads." There
is also a beaded tie-string. The "tags of red wor-
sted" around the edge and the beads indicate that
before the 1880s new materials were being inte-
grated with old ones (Nelson, 1899, p. 105). Nel-
son (1899, p. 105, pi. XLV, 29; Fitzhugh & Kap-
lan. 1982, p. 86. no. 70) also illustrated an ivory
"housewife" fastener from Nunivak in the shape
of a salmon. Such pieces were often made by men
as gifts for their wives or girl friends.
Women also kept sewing equipment in small
wooden boxes. Nelson (1899, p. 102, pi. XLIII,
4) illustrated an antler handle from Nunivak for
such a box. It is decorated on its upper surface
with incised lines and a series of concentric circles
with holes through the center. Two small bags or
pouches collected by Gordon may have served as
containers for sewing equipment. One is made from
unidentified bird skin with a fur fringe across the
bottom and a strip of fur around the opening. The
other is made of duck feet (Kaplan & Barsness,
1986, p. 133, no. 106; p. 164, no. 164).
Formerly a woman might use the membrane
covering of a walrus kidney in its natural kidney
shape to hold her small sewing tools and supplies.
There was no type of fastening.
In a sewing bag or box a woman would keep
needles in a needle case, sinew thread, skin thim-
bles, bodkins, and sinew shredders (fig. 94). Needles
were always made of bone, usually a swan's wing
bone. Typical Nunivak needle cases were not of
the kind that is open at both ends so that a cord
can be pulled through, but were closed at the bot-
tom with a stopper fitted into the top, although
the other type was known. Curtis (1930, p. 42)
described a hollow wing bone needle case plugged
at each end with an ivory stopper carved to rep-
resent the head and tail of a bird, fish, or animal.
Ivory needle cases in animal form were common.
Lantis collected two seal-shaped cases, on each of
which the head detaches. On one the etched details
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
33
of the face and flippers are filled with black and
red color (fig. 78, bottom). The second case, now
in the Washington Stale Museum, has ears which
are separate pieces o( ivorj and eyes and nostrils
inset with baleen. A geometric design of dashes
and spurred lines is incised on the back and tilled
with brown color (fig. 95; Ray. 1981, p. 158. no.
121).
Bodkins resembled those illustrated by Nelson
(1899, pi. XLVI. 2-3) and were used for making
holes in kayak and umiak covers before sewing.
Thimbles were flat pieces of walrus hide, com-
monly cut from old kayak covers or stiff, bleached
sealskin, cut straight across the bottom and curved
at the top in the shape of the end of the finger but
a little wider and longer than the finger joint. There
was a transverse slit through which the sewer put
her finger so that the thimble covered the front,
not the end of the finger. Thimbles were carried
on hook-shaped holders, frequently attached to a
cord fastened to the "housewife" or workbox. Nel-
son ( 1 899, p. 1 1 0, pi. XLI V, 7) illustrated an ivory
holder from Nunivak in the form of a salmon.
Boot sole creasers, used for crimping the heels
and toes of boot soles, are described by Curtis
(1930, p. 42). Nelson (1899, p. 108.pl. XLIV, 43,
47) described and illustrated two creasers of un-
identified material from Nunivak. One, collected
by Dall, is pointed, sharp-edged, and plain while
the other is in the form of a walrus with the head
and tusks carved and the flippers and other ana-
tomical details etched on the back of the imple-
ment.
Sinew for sewing was shredded from fibers ob-
tained from the legs and back of caribou or rein-
deer. Curtis (1930, p. 42) described sinew shred-
ders with ivory handles and metal points used to
separate the sinew fibers. Implements that Nelson
( 1 899, p. 111. fig. 30) referred to as "sinew twist-
ers," used for twisting sinew strands, on Nunivak
served to keep strands of sinew untangled when
making sinew braid. Most threads and cords were
made of two strands, except those used in sewing
kayak covers which were three-strand and the four-
strand braid used for fastening a socketpiece to the
shaft of a harpoon. Women made all types of sinew
braids and thread including those used on bows,
harpoons, and other hunting equipment.
Nelson (1899, p. Ill, pi. XLVIIIb, 4-6) de-
scribed and illustrated reels of unidentified ma-
terial, probably antler, on which thread was wound.
Two of them are carved to represent mythological
beings, half woman and half seal, with the hands
held against the sides of the faces. These reels were
sometimes used as shuttles in making small meshed
nets.
XL Clothing
and Personal Adornment
Skin Parkas
Traditionally, virtually all parkas worn by the
Nunivaarmiut were made from the skins of seals,
caribou, or birds; the skins of reindeer have been
used in more recent times. Mink and fox skins
were also utilized in the past, the latter occasion-
ally for the ruff since it was too thin to be durable
enough for men's parkas. Mainland furs that have
been used in recent times but not in the past in-
clude ground squirrels received from the people
of Nelson Island who, in turn, obtained them from
the Kuskokwim River, and wolverine used pri-
marily for trim.
Curtis (1930, pp. 9-10, 71) was particularly im-
pressed with the number and variety of parkas
possessed by each individual. Every family tried
to have good, new clothing for the annual Bladder
Feast, and a complete new outfit of clothing was
given to the principal guest from another village
at the Messenger Feast. Also a young man gave
good furs for a parka to his bride's mother for the
bride or a fine parka made by his mother to show
that he was a good provider. This repetitious con-
struction of fine clothing fostered quality as well
as variety.
Sealskin parkas were the most common type in
former times, being worn by people of all ages and
both sexes. A sealskin parka for a woman or man
required five skins: a whole skin in the upper mid-
dle front and another one for the back, a third cut
to form the yoke and sleeves, a half for each side,
the fourth split lengthwise, a half being used under
each arm, the fifth cut crosswise with one half used
for the lower front and the other for the lower back.
The rough edges of all scams were on the fur side
of the garment. Women's parkas were curved up
the sides and rounded at the bottom, somewhat
longer in back, while men's garments were not slit
and had straight bottoms. There was not always a
border around the lower edge of parkas for either
sex; instead it was cut into narrow strips to form
a fringe (fig. 96). If there was a border, it was either
a plain strip of white fur or two strips, one brown
and the other white, rather than the small pieces
of fur of different colors assembled in geometric
34
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
designs characteristic of the mainland farther north.
Also strips of sealskin were often sewn into the
seams at the yoke's edge, front and back.
Parkas made from ground squirrel skins were
especially light and warm. Normally the skins of
45 squirrels were necessary to make a man's parka
and 35 for a woman's. The hind part of each skin,
including the back legs, was cut off and not used.
Squirrel skin parkas often had elaborate trimming
of white and brown reindeer skin with wolverine
fur dyed on the inner side. Squirrel tails formed
an additional border around the bottom (fig. 97).
There might be a fringe of long strips of fur around
the upper part of the garment, appearing like a
yoke, or only at both sides of the front and back
and at the top of the sleeves (Curtis, 1930. opp.
p. 20). On Nunivak such elaborate trimming is
modern.
Mink skin parkas, and also mink pants for small
boys, formerly were made. In recent times such
parkas were elaborately decorated with various
colors of reindeer skin, dyed wolverine skins, tails,
and beadwork. There were commonly two panels,
either rectangular or triangular, of white reindeer
fur or solid beading on the upper front of the parka.
This is still seen on both island and mainland
parkas.
Sealskins and caribou skins were always kept
separate and not combined in the same garment
except for occasional decorative strips. In the more
recent past, when reindeer skins have been used
for parkas, the front was usually taken from the
ventral side of the deer, the back from the dorsal
area, and leg strips were used for the sleeves (fig.
98).
A characteristic feature of Eskimo parkas from
southwest Alaska, including Nunivak Island, was
elaboration of the ruff on the hood framing the
face, on the cuffs, and, in recent times, the border
around the bottom of the garment (Curtis, 1930,
opp. p. 28). The most common materials used for
this decoration were the following: (1) strips of
bleached sealskin laid on pieces of dark sealskin
and stitched over to form an applique— a narrow
strip of blackfish skin may be sewn down the cen-
ter of each strip of bleached sealskin (fig. 99); (2)
white caribou hair with soot-blackened sinew
thread stitched over it; (3) dark beluga sinew oc-
casionally used for decorative stitching; (4) sinew
thread colored with red and blue pigments for fan-
cy stitching. Both red-colored and blue-colored
threads were used on men's clothing, but only red-
colored on women's.
The ruff on a fancy parka was constructed of
not merely one or two layers of fur but of three or
four of different tints and thicknesses. Trimming
on the sleeves and cuffs was made separately and
then sewed on the parka. The ruff was also made
as a separate unit and attached last.
Traditionally skin clothing was washed in urine,
but by 1939 only one family was doing this reg-
ularly. The dirty parts of a parka were immersed
in a wooden urine dish and the fur kneaded down
into the urine with a movement like kneading bread
dough. Then the garment was shaken out and hung
up to dry. Sometimes it was rinsed in clear water.
Feather Parkas
The bird skins most commonly used for clothing
were those of the cormorant, eider (Steller's, Pa-
cific, and king), the California murre, tufted puffin,
and common puffin (fig. 100; Curtis, 1930, opp.
pp. 30, 33, 60). Cormorant and eider were con-
sidered more valuable and gave more prestige to
the owner. Bird skin parkas are light and com-
fortable to wear but tear easily. Such parkas were
usually reversible, worn with the feathers next to
the body in winter with a cloth garment over the
parka to cover the rough, yet fragile, skin side. At
night the parka was turned and slept in or used as
a blanket with the feathers on the outside.
Tufted puffin skins were counted and sold in
"knots" or bundles of six. Thirty-four skins were
necessary for a man's parka and 28 for a woman's.
The common puffin is smaller, so six knots and
four extra skins were required for a man's parka,
five knots and four extra for a woman's. Bird skin
parkas were shaped like those made of animal skin,
but because of the great thickness of the feathers
and the general bulk, they did not have fur strips,
beading, and other decoration. Cuffs and bottom
borders tended to be plain except on murre parkas.
Seams, with rough edges on the feather side, were
sewn with a single running stitch, one stitch at a
time because of the thickness of the skins. Puffins
are found only along the cliffs near Nash Harbor,
and residents of Mekoryuk had to trade for them
with those living in the settlement there. Sufficient
puffins for a parka could be obtained in exchange
for one bearded seal skin.
Parkas made of cormorant skins were worn only
by women. The skins of these birds are larger than
those of murres and puffins. A skin consists of the
head, neck, breast, and sides, the skin being split
down the back. On one such parka there was a
single skin on each side of the hood extending
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
35
down over the shoulder almost to the elbow.
Another skin, consisting of the breast and sides,
formed the middle of the front, and the Deck and
breast of a single bird formed the center back of
the hood and extended down between the wearer's
shoulders. One breast and back was cut in two,
and a half sewn on each side. This pattern, a whole
skm and two half skins, formed the two lower
rows, front and back, of the garment. Two skins
formed each underarm area and each sleeve was
formed of a single skin. Around its legs, the adult
cormorant has white feathers: these white patches
show at the lower corners of each skin. All seams
had the smooth edge on the skin side of the gar-
ment and rough edges on the feather side.
When murre skins were prepared for parka use,
the) were roughly square in shape and included
the breast and the sides. Two narrow black backs
were sewn together to form the crown of the hood,
the remainder of this area being formed of head
and neck skins which are black with white mark-
ings. The thick white breasts edged in black con-
stitute the body and sleeves of the garment. Backs,
placed vertically, made a wide black band around
the bottom. There was usually a simple ruff, per-
haps wolf or dog fur.
Gut and Fish Skin Parkas
Walrus or bearded seal intestines were consid-
ered better materials for rain parkas than the in-
testines of small seals. First the intestine contents
were pressed out and the outside of the casing
scraped clean. The gut, still whole and not slit, was
then soaked in fresh water for several days before
being soaked in salt water two or three days. After
being emptied of water, it was inflated and stretched
on the ground to dry (fig. 101). The amount of a
woman's effort required to inflate the large intes-
tine of a walrus approximately 75 ft long (the
small intestine even longer) using only her own
lung power was remarkable.
The back of the hood of a rain parka was con-
structed first, and then the front. Tufts of dog hair
dyed red might be sewn into the seams at the back
of the head and along the three horizontal seams
just below it. The tufts of hair were cut from live
dogs and, in former times, the hair was boiled in
berry juice to produce the coloring. A piece of
bleached sealskin might be stitched at the face edge
with the edges sewn to form a slip for the draw-
string.
The main body of the rain parka consisted of
horizontally sewn rectangular strips of intestine;
there were no side seams. A continuous strip start-
ed at the front. The seams were sewn with sinew
thread overcasting dried grass. There were no
drawstrings at the wrists or around the bottom,
which was not hemmed. Sometimes narrow pieces
of bleached sealskin were fastened to the wrists
with a running stitch (fig. 102; Curtis. 1930, opp.
P- 24).
Fish skin parkas in the past were worn by both
men and women when hunting and traveling. In
winter they were worn over a fur parka just as
cloth covers have been in more recent times. In
summer they were used as rain parkas and were
as waterproof as garments made of intestine. Men
wore parkas made of silver salmon skin, while
those of women were made of salmon trout (charr)
skin and often had a white fox ruff on the hood.
The Nunivaarmiut did not prepare their own fish
skins for parkas, but bought them, already pre-
pared, from people on the Yukon and Kuskokwim
rivers. These imported skins had been stretched,
smoke-dried, and scaled.
Individual fish skins were sewn together verti-
cally and then these sections were stitched hori-
zontally in rows. Many of these parkas, particu-
larly those worn by women, had elaborately
decorated borders of bleached sealskin and col-
ored cloth. The outer side of the skins always faced
outside.
In former times, rather crudely made shirts
without hoods were made of local salmon or trout
skins. The skins for these shirts were not carefully
prepared, but simply had the flesh scraped off and
then were dried. These shirts were worn under the
fur parkas by both men and women.
Pants
Women wore trouser-boots, each one made from
a single small harbor seal skin with the seam run-
ning down the front of the leg. Each boot, longer
on the outer (hip) side, was tied to the belt. Very
short trousers made from a single small sealskin
were also worn. A man's sealskin pants required
two skins, and was not hemmed at the bottom (fig.
103). At the top the skin was turned under and
stitched. Braided sinew was run through the hem
to serve as a belt. Narrow strips of sealskin were
sewn on a man's pants at the waist in front and
in the seam of a woman's trouser-boots as fringe
or tassel decoration.
Belts were held in place with a fastener. Nelson
36
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
( 1 899, pp. 60-6 1 , pi. XXVII. 8,15,17) described
and illustrated three fasteners from Nunivak. The
first is made of ivory, carved to represent a walrus,
and pierced vertically for the cord. The second is
smaller, carved to represent two animal heads,
neck to neck, with a loop underneath for the belt.
The third is constructed from a rounded piece of
ivory hollowed out at the back and with human
features represented on the front. The mouth and
eyes are pierced and there are lines representing
snow goggles across the eyes; a knob on the back
is for attaching the belt cord. Although apparently
different, all three operate on the principle of a
toggle or line fastener. One end of a cord is tied
to the fastener, while the other end is tied on itself
in a loop. The loop is simply placed over the toggle,
which is at right angles to the cord. This is not a
true buckle as there is no clasp to hold the free
end (loop) in place. To adjust belt length, one end
or the other must be retied.
Women had dance cornets instead of caps. The
one illustrated had a band of bleached seal esoph-
agus with a narrow strip of blackfish skin over it
and a border of red cloth. At the top was a trim
of unplucked beaver fur from under which ex-
tended strands of long, coarse white hair from un-
der the neck of a reindeer (fig. 105). A string of
small beads hung from each side.
Armbands
Men wore fancy armbands around the upper
arm when dancing without a parka. These were
made of seal or caribou skin with the fur on the
inside and tufts of dog fur or other fancy fur sewn
on for decoration. The bands were approximately
three inches wide and were not continuous, but
rather a strip with skin ties at each end.
Caps
Men wore caps with many strips of fur hanging
from the bottom edge over the neck and shoulders,
like the one illustrated by Nelson (1899, p. 32, fig.
2). The main body of these caps, worn at dances,
was usually made of squirrel skins with a crown
and borders of white reindeer fawn skin. Some-
times a wolverine tail was fastened on the back,
and the long bottom fringe might be of reindeer
skin strips. Men also wore caps with an entire red
or white fox skin hanging down the back similar
to the one described and illustrated by Nelson
(1899, p. 33, fig. 3). Wolfs head caps, which con-
sisted of an entire head skin including ears and
nose, were also worn at ceremonies. Curtis (1930,
p. 70) mentions animal-head caps worn during the
Messenger Feast.
In recent times men and boys, especially the
latter, wore caps of squirrel skin similar to the one
illustrated by Nelson (1899, p. 33, fig. 4). They
were made by sewing coils of the fur round and
round until the right size was attained. These caps
had a narrow fur ruffand at each side of the crown
a squirrel tail or other fur "ear" (fig. 104).
While taking a sweat bath, men protected their
heads with a crude cap of puffin, eider duck, or
murre skins. The top of the cap was made from
one whole skin split down the middle of the breast.
The wings, with bones removed, were left on and
stuck out at the sides. Half skins were sewn around
each side.
Mittens
Formerly wrist-length mittens were commonly
made of seal or caribou skin with the fur and the
rough edge of the seam on the outside. Sealskin
mittens were frequently made from leftover pieces
of skin after boots were cut from them. The back
and palm were separate pieces and the thumb one
piece; gloves were unknown. Women wore fur mit-
tens reaching nearly to the elbow with wolverine
trim along the upper edge (Curtis, 1930, p. 11).
Mittens of silver salmon skins which reached to
the elbow were worn by men when hunting in a
kayak in spring. The fish were cut down the back
and the belly skins used for mittens. These some-
times were lined with grass or had grass mittens,
woven all in one piece, inside; often they had a
border of bleached sealskin. The combination of
fish skin mittens with grass padding was less bulky
for paddling than fur mittens. According to Curtis
(1930, p. 11), mittens of dehaired sealskin that
reached barely to the wrist were also worn by men
in the spring.
Boots
In former times the skin from caribou legs was
used for winter boot tops, dark hair for the front
and back pieces while the two sides were of white
hair. The small piece over the instep was frequent-
ly taken from the lower part of the leg just above
the hoof. In preparing a piece of caribou leg skin
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
37
for boots, it was first scraped on the inside with a
bone scraper, then placed in the qusgiq during a
sweat bath and scraped again with pumice.
Boot soles were occasionally cut from old kayak
CO\ ers that had been made from bearded seal skins,
(rimping of toe and heel with an ivory crimper
was done before un\ sewing; Nunivak women nev-
er used their teeth. The sole was sewed to the upper
with a simple overcast stitch, the needle being in-
serted into the ridge of every crimp. For tying
boots there were two skin loops on each side of
the sole. A strip of sealskin was run through them,
across the instep and heel, and then tied around
the ankle. Painted skin sometimes formed a fancy
border around the boot tops.
Both men's and women's water boots were made
of sealskin with the hair on the inside. Although
fresh sealskins were sometimes used, a skin that
had been used for an oil poke for a year or two
was more likely to be completely waterproof. In
summer and indoors, men sometimes wore a short
ankle boot (Curtis, 1 930, p. 11). For tending their
seal nets, hip-length water boots were worn.
In former times, men wore grass socks and fold-
ed grass insoles inside their water boots; in cold
weather sealskin socks were worn. Lantis collected
a pair of open weave sedge and grass socks con-
structed of a two-strand warp and, at intervals,
two-strand weft. The tops are edged with lavender
cotton flannel. There are several rows of close
weave all around the socks above the open weave
soles (fig. 106). In making the socks, a smooth
stone was used as a boot last when the sole was
nearly complete; the stone was placed inside and
work continued over it. This last was used not so
much for shaping the sock as to provide a basis
for the weaving so that the openwork twined grass
could be pulled even and firm. The sedge was used
principally because its pink color was more at-
tractive than grass.
Comparison with a pair of grass socks obtained
by Gordon on the Kuskokwim River (Kaplan &
Barsness, 1986. p. 147, no. 129) is interesting. Two
colors were also employed in this pair, but ap-
parently only in the close weave portion which
extends up over the instep. The two colors form
stripes of weft, whereas the Nunivak socks have
warp and weft of different colors. The earlier Kus-
kokwim pair are not bound at the top.
Coarse grass, gathered in October, was used for
insoles. Grass for one boot was divided into two
bundles, folded and laid together so that each was
turned over the rough ends of the other at toe and
heel. The two together were grasped in the middle
in as compact a bunch as possible and thrust into
the toe of the boot first; then grass for the heel was
pushed into place. After the insole was in place in
both areas, it was patted out to the correct width.
The insoles, which had to be replaced every two
or three days, provided a cushion and absorbed
moisture.
Children's Clothing
Reindeer fawn and puppy skin parkas, with the
fur inside, were made for babies and small chil-
dren. Puppies one and two months old were killed
for the purpose. Fawn and puppy skins were turned
inside out, scraped, hung out to dry, and then put
away (fig. 107). When needed the skins were taken
from storage, rubbed between the hands with a
rotary motion, and chewed as necessary to soften
and loosen tissue that had not previously been
removed.
For a sealskin parka, one skin was required for
a three year old, two for a five or six year old, and
three for a child of 10 or 12 years. A small child's
sealskin parka was often decorated with tassels of
the same material stitched to the upper center of
the back. A baby's boots were always made with
the fur inside but otherwise were similar in con-
struction to adult boots. In former times, babies
wore long boots and no pants. When a child was
toilet trained, pants separate from boots were put
on a boy, while girls were given trouser-boots like
those worn by women.
Although usually no diaper was put on a baby,
since the mother or infant caretaker was trained
to recognize the infant's needs and to hold him or
her over a receptacle or the ground, there was
another provision. A naturally curved section of
a seal stomach was cut out in a bowl shape with
one side extended higher like a rectangular flap;
dry moss was put in the bottom. With the top edge
of the flap hemmed and a drawstring run through
the hem. the infant was placed in the bowl in a
sitting position with the flap up between the legs
and the string tied around the waist. The moss
served as a disposable diaper and the strong, hair-
less membrane, kept pliant by body heat and mois-
ture, was functionally like rubber pants.
Personal Adornment
The only form of facial adornment used by men
were labrets worn by only a few individuals at the
38
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
time of Curtis's fieldwork in 1927. Nevertheless,
he noted that they were worn on Nunivak to a far
greater extent than on the mainland (Curtis, 1 930,
pp. 11-12). The holes for labrets worn by men
were made just below the ends of the lower lip at
about the age of puberty. Small ivory plugs were
inserted to keep the holes open. After the skin
healed, larger plugs could be inserted to enlarge
the holes. Curtis (1930, opp. p. 56) illustrated a
man wearing simple ivory plugs.
Nelson (1899, pp. 46-47, pi. XXII, 10-12) de-
scribed and illustrated three men's labrets from
Nunivak collected by Dall. Unlike most mainland
labrets. the hat-shaped sections that pierce the lip
are separate pieces of ivory. On one a wooden pin
extends through the base and has a large white
bead at its outer end. Beyond this bead is a piece
of serpentine cut to represent a whale's tail. On
the second six short strings of beads held in po-
sition by ivory spacers form the outer part. The
third labret, much simpler, has a lead tip in the
form of a truncated cone extending from the base.
The whale tail form was not worn in 1939-1940
but a few men still owned them. In the past, wide
lateral labrets were also worn.
According to Curtis (1930, p. 12), women wore
labrets only as part of the ceremonial and dance
costume, but Lantis observed them worn at other
times. The ordinary form of the woman's labret
was a simple sickle-shaped piece of ivory. An elab-
orate example from Nunivak described and illus-
trated by Nelson (1899, p. 46, pi. XXII, 1) has
two such pieces joined by an external bar. On the
inner side of the sickle-shaped pieces are small
perforated discs of ivory. Attached to the outer
borders are three short, double strings of beads
which hang down over the chin. Curtis ( 1 930, opp.
pp. 20, 42, 66, 68, 72) illustrated women wearing
similar labrets.
For ceremonial and dance wear, women wore
earrings which varied from simple ornaments of
decorated ivory to elaborate beaded pendants
(Curtis, 1 930. p. 1 2). Nelson ( 1 899, p. 54, pi. XXIV,
2) described and illustrated a circular ivory earring
engraved with concentric circles and having a cen-
tral hole filled with a small ivory plug. There are
small ivory spurs on each corner and below, ex-
tending downward, two oblong ivory projections
the ends of which are pierced by small, round
holes. These projections are decorated with en-
graved lines and concentric circles. A pair of ear-
rings from Nunivak collected by Nelson are illus-
trated by Fitzhugh and Kaplan (1982, p. 144, no.
165). They are engraved with seal faces which are
believed to represent the inua, or spirit, of that
animal. Curtis (1930, p. 12, opp. pp. 66, 68) de-
scribed and illustrated extremely elaborate ear-
rings in which the strings of beads formed a long
loop extending from one earring to the other and
passing under the chin or around the back of the
neck. In 1905 Gordon collected a pair which have
ivory ear pieces carved to represent human faces,
from which hang long strands of beads terminating
in what appear to be circular pieces of metal with
central holes (Kaplan & Barsness, 1986, p. 149,
no. 133).
A girl's nasal septum was pierced to add deco-
ration, usually a short string of beads hanging over
the upper lip (Curtis, 1930, opp. pp. 66, 68). Per-
haps before beads were obtained there was an ivo-
ry or bone pin through the nose, although inform-
ants did not mention this.
Nelson ( 1 899, p. 50) observed that tattooing was
universally practiced among women of the Bering
Sea region, but that the Eskimos of the Yukon-
Kuskokwim Delta had adopted the practice in
relatively recent times from the Nunivaarmiut.
According to Curtis (1930, p. 12), tattooing on
Nunivak consisted of a single line extending from
each corner of the mouth down the chin. Lantis
(1946, p. 225) reported that there might be two
lines at each corner and a row of dots from the
outer corner of each eye across the temple. Parallel
lines were also tattooed around the wrist. The pro-
cess of tattooing involved dipping a sinew thread
into a mixture of charcoal dust and seal's blood.
With a sharp ivory needle fine stitches were made
in the skin and the thread drawn through leaving
the coloring under the skin (see Lantis, 1946, pp.
224-225, regarding occasions for piercing and tat-
tooing).
Combs for the hair were made by cutting slits
in curved pieces of antler, bone, or ivory. Nelson
(1899, p. 58, fig. 16, 2) described and illustrated
an ivory comb from Nunivak provided with large
teeth at one end and small ones at the other.
XII. Conclusions
As noted in the Introduction, the Nunivaarmiut
had direct contact only with those Yupik speakers
on nearby Nelson Island and the adjacent main-
land. Subsistence similarities between the two is-
lands were particularly noteworthy. Relatively late
contact and geographic isolation, combined with
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
39
a lack of commercially exploitable resources but
an abundance of subsistence resources, was char-
acteristic of both areas. By the early 1930s use of
firearms, the most significant innovation, was well
established on both islands, but the subsistence
cycle was not seriously affected. Similarly, the ex-
pansion of commercial fox trapping and the growth
of introduced reindeer herding in the 1920s were
not major disruptions since they did not conflict
with either spring seal hunting or summer fishing.
Peoples of southwest Alaska adjacent to Nelson
and Nunivak islands, from Norton Bay to Nusha-
gak Bay, were, like the islanders, never sea mam-
mal hunters to the extent that the people of the
Bering Strait region were, for example. Their em-
phasis on fishing, however, was combined with an
inland orientation lacking among their island
neighbors.
The initial period of direct contact on Nelson
and Nunivak islands was characterized by exten-
sive depopulation following the introduction of
European diseases. In their pursuit of game the
Eskimos were accustomed to movement, re-
sources being harvested as they became available.
Mobility was traditionally important for obtaining
the highest yield per unit of labor.
With population decline, the traditionally dis-
persed and seasonally mobile populations became
more stable. Since fish and game resources were
never seriously depleted even after firearms came
to be widely used, the population that remained,
though concentrated in fewer villages, was better
equipped to pursue available resources (Oswalt,
1967, pp. 128-129: VanStone, 1967. pp. 129-130;
Fienup-Riordan. 1983, pp. 8. 29-30, 36-37).
The similarities just discussed make it clear why
the Nunivaarmiut shared many material culture
traits with the inhabitants of the lower Kusko-
kwim- Yukon area of mainland southwest Alaska
despite certain differences in details of technology
and in subsistence emphasis. This shared material
culture inventory is apparent in the following trait
list. It consists of Nunivak material culture ele-
ments derived from Lantis's field notes together
with those described by Nelson ( 1 899) and Curtis
(1930). Also included are a few items collected by
Gordon in 1905 (Kaplan & Barsness. 1986) and
Collins in 1927, and excavated from historic sites
on the island by VanStone (1957).
Sea Hunting
sealing harpoon with toggle head
harpoon dart
throwing board
harpoon head cover
harpoon for bearded seal, walrus.
beluga
lance with detachable head
harpoon float
cord attachers
hunting hat
iee hunting harpoon
seal gaff
seal net
net amulets
snow goggles
eyeshade
thrusting spear
three-pronged bird spear
bird spears with barbs at midpoint
on shaft
Land Hunting
caribou enclosure
caribou snare
caribou pit trap
composite sinew-backed bow
plain sinew-backed bow
arrow with three split feathers
blunt arrow for birds
Mediterranean arrow release
wrist guard
linger guard
quiver
box for arrow or spear points
bird nets for puffins
bird net for murres
bird snare
excavated fox trap (two types)
fox snare
excavated wolf trap
mink trap
Fishing
ice pick
ice scoop
ice saw
multipronged tomcod spear
tomcod hook
lure
lure hook
sinker-lure
smelt hook
gill net
dip net
seine
net shuttle
mesh gauge
marlin spike
fish trap
fishing harpoon
fish arrow
aboveground fish storage cache
Transportation
kayak
kavak line holder
40
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
crutch-handled kayak paddle
double-bladed kayak paddle
stone or walrus bone anchor
snow scraper
kayak rack
boathook
spear and paddle guard
umiak
umiak mat sail
umiak oars
dogsled (two types)
braided grass harness
kayak sled
snowshoes
breast yoke
pack cord
Shelter and Storage
semi-subterranean house with four-
post center construction
qasgiq with cribbed roof
excavated cache
elevated cache(?)
temporary snow block shelter
lined food storage pits
Tools
toolbox
adze
saw
crooked knife
thumb and finger guard of sealskin
end-bladed knife
ulu
awl
composite knife
whetstone
bow drill
strap drill
wedge
maul
root pick
rake
hammer
meat hook
snow shovel
Household Equipment
wood bucket
wood dish
wood platter
ladle
dipper
sealskin bucket
skin clothing bag
skin workbag
snuff bag and tube
snuffbox
quid box
grass mat
coiled grass basket
situla-shaped clay cooking pot
saucer-shaped clay lamp
sealskin poke
marrow extractor
snow beater
pothook
Skin Preparation and Sewing
wood form to hold sealskin
two-handed scraper
end scraper
sewing bag ("housewife")
sewing box
bird skin bag
bird foot bag
walrus kidney bag
needle case
thimble
thimble holder
bodkin
sinew shredder
needle
boot sole creaser
sinew twister
thread reel
Clothing and Personal Adornment
fur parka
feather parka
gut parka
fish skin parka
fish skin shirt
sealskin trouser-boots
belt
fur cap
feather sweat bath cap
dance cap
dance cornet
armband
sealskin mittens
fish skin mittens
grass mittens
caribou skin winter boots
sealskin water boots
grass socks
grass insoles
labret
earrings
tattooing
comb
Those elements listed which appear to be unique
for Nunivaarmiut, since they are not described by
Nelson, include the caribou pit trap, light fishing
harpoon, ice saw, aboveground stone fish storage
cache, traditional sled with dogs hitched at the
sides, braided grass dog harness without buckles
or other harness parts, pack cord, and excavated
animal traps. Particularly distinctive on Nunivak
were kayaks much larger and heavier than those
used by mainland peoples and the extensive use
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
41
of grass for a variety of purposes associated with
many indoor and outdoor activities. Nunivak art
styles were also distinctive, and the variety of ar-
tistic expression inherent in Nunivak material cul-
ture will be treated in detail by Lantis in a separate
publication.
A significant aspect of Nunivak Eskimo life re-
vealed by a stud\ of material culture, and noted
previous!} b} lantis (1946, p. 260), was the de-
cided individualism that characterized economic
activities including art and craftsmanship. Coop-
erative activities were limited, confined almost ex-
clusively to some aspects of kayak hunting, to seal
netting and bird netting, the taking offish in traps
or nets, and house or qasgiq construction. Even
when cooperative, these tasks were usually per-
formed by two partners or relatives.
Another significant feature of Nunivak culture
stressed in the preceding pages was the importance
of gathering, an activity which on neighboring Nel-
son Island provided nearly half the diet (Fienup-
Riordan, 1983, p. 36). Gathering, which was prin-
cipalis women's and children's work, serves to
point up two aspects of Nunivak material life that
deserve emphasis: first, the remarkable indus-
triousness and clearly defined sexual division of
labor previously noted by Lantis (1946, p. 256);
and second, the handling and working of a great
variety of raw materials, including grass, drift-
wood, plant food, a variety of marine products,
clay and other minerals, ivory, antler, and bird
skins. It seems safe to say that nowhere else in
Eskimo Alaska, with the possible exception of Ko-
diak Island, was the natural environment as fully
utilized by the native peoples.
There appeared to be more differences from
mainland practice in women's work than in men's
work. Women cut fish differently, used a different
kind of needle case, made boots somewhat differ-
ently (less well), and used grass in a greater variety
of ways than, for example, the women of the lower
Yukon-St. Michael area. This may be explained
by greater isolation which encouraged a separate
development, or by conservatism of the women,
who maintained old techniques, designs, and hab-
its when their men could travel for trade and ab-
sorb new ideas. In the 19th century even the iso-
lated coastal villages of the Yukon-Kuskokwim
Delta were affected either by Inupiat from the north
or Russians and later Americans from the south.
Once the latter were established in the region, they
could visit mainland communities summer and
winter, whereas Nunivak was accessible only in
summer. Hence Nunivak in some ways could di-
verge and in other ways conserve what had once
been a widespread culture. This is shown more
clearly in religious practice than in technology.
Although the Bering Strait islands were similarly
isolated, they were visited by commercial whalers
at frequent intervals and also had access to Asiatic
diffusion of new ideas.
Until World War II, Nunivak was about 50 years
behind the Seward Peninsula-Norton Sound area
in acculturation. After 1945. with the operation
of its modern meat (reindeer) processing plant, the
only one in Alaska, cultural change was astonish-
ingly rapid. (Regarding these changes, see Lantis,
1972, particularly pp. 43-45.) As of 1985, the is-
land had one very small, modern community, Me-
koryuk, while most other Nunivaarmiut lived in
Bethel or Anchorage, doing administrative work,
driving taxis, or performing a range of other jobs
like their native and non-native neighbors.
Acknowledgments
Figure 1 was drawn by Mrs. Linnea Lahlum and
some photographs reproduced from copy nega-
tives made by Field Museum's Division of Pho-
tography. Unless otherwise indicated in the cap-
tions, all photographs were taken by Margaret
Lantis on Nunivak Island in 1939-1940. The au-
thor would like to thank Dr. Hans Himmelheber
for permission to publish the photographs in Fig-
ures 2, 14.23, 100, and 103 and Peter Stettenheim
for the use of his unpublished field notes. Figure
37 is reproduced through the courtesy of the Uni-
versity of Washington Press. George R. Milner,
former director and curator of the Museum of An-
thropology, University of Kentucky, kindly as-
sisted the author in his study of ethnographic ma-
terials from Nunivak Island collected by Lantis
and now in that institution. An early draft of the
manuscript was read by Wendell H. Oswalt and
the author is grateful for his perceptive and useful
comments. Several drafts of the manuscript were
typed with accuracy and dispatch by Mrs. Loran
H. Recchia.
Most of all. the author is grateful to Margaret
Lantis. This study was undertaken at her sugges-
tion and she assisted in virtually every stage of its
preparation. Even under ideal circumstances,
working with another person's field notes is not
easy and without her continuous encouragement,
advice, and criticism the project would never have
been completed.
42
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Funding for this publication was provided in
part by the Harry W. Getz Fund and an anony-
mous fund of the Department of Anthropology.
Literature Cited
Adney, E. T., and H. I. Chapelle. 1964. The bark
canoes and skin boats of North America. U.S. Na-
tional Museum, Smithsonian Institution, bull. 230.
Collins, H. B., Jr. 1 928. The Eskimo of western Alas-
ka, pp. 149-156. In Explorations and Field- Work of
the Smithsonian Institution in 1927. Smithsonian In-
stitution, Washington, D.C.
. 1937. Archeology of St. Lawrence Island, Alas-
ka. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 96(1).
Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C.
Curtis, E. S. 1930. The North American Indian, vol.
20. Privately printed. (1970 reprint, Johnson Reprint
Corporation, New York.)
Dall, W. H. 1877a. On the distribution and nomen-
clature of the native tribes of Alaska and the adjacent
territory, with a map, pp. 7-40. In Contributions to
North American Ethnology, 1. U.S. Government
Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
. 1877b. On succession in the shell-heaps of the
Aleutian Islands, pp. 41-92. In Contributions to North
American Ethnology, 1. U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington, D.C.
. 1896. Report on coal and lignite of Alaska.
U.S. Geological Survey, Annual Report for 1895-1896,
17(1): 763-908.
Dumond, D. E. 1 977. The Eskimos and Aleuts. Thames
and Hudson, Ltd., London, 180 pp.
Fedorova, S. G. 1973a. New data on Russian geo-
graphic and ethnographic investigations in Alaska (first
half of the 19th century). Paper presented at the IXth
International Congress of Anthropological and Eth-
nological Sciences. Chicago, 1973.
. 1973b. The Russian Population in Alaska and
California: Late 1 8th Century— 1 867. In Pierce, R. A.,
and A. S. Donnelly, eds. and trans., Materials for the
study of Alaskan History, 4. Kingston, Ontario.
Fienup-Riordan, A. 1 983. The Nelson Island Eskimo:
Social Structure and Ritual Distribution. Alaska Pa-
cific University Press, Anchorage.
. 1984. Regional groups on the Yukon-Kusko-
kwim Delta. Etudes/Inuit/Studies, 8(supplementary
issue): 63-93.
Fitzhugh, W. W., and S. A. Kaplan. 1982. Inua:
Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo. Smithsonian
Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
Gordon, G. B. 1906. Notes on the western Eskimo,
pp. 69-101. In University of Pennsylvania Transac-
tions of the Department of Archaeology, Free Museum
of Science and Art. Vol. II, Part 1 . University of Penn-
sylvania, Philadelphia.
Hammerich, L. L. 1953. The dialect of Nunivak, pp.
1 10-1 13. In Proceedings of the Thirtieth International
Congress of Americanists, Cambridge, England, 1952.
Royal Anthropological Institute, London.
Himmelheber, H. 1938. Eskimokiinstler. Teilergeb-
nisse einer ethnographischen Expedition in Alaska von
Juni 1 936 bis April 1 937. Stecker and Schroder, Stutt-
gart.
. 1951. Der gefrorene Pfad: Mythen, Marchen
und Legenden der Eskimo. 3rd ed. Erich Roth, Eise-
nach, W. Germany.
1980. Ethnographische Notizen von den Nu-
nivak-Eskimo. Abhandlungen und Berichte des Staat-
lichen Museums fur Volkerkunde Dresden, 38: 5-45.
Hooper, C. L. 1881. Report of the Cruise of the U.S.
Revenue-Steamer Corwin in the Arctic Ocean. Wash-
ington, D.C.
Hrdlicka, A. 1 930. Anthropological survey in Alaska,
pp. 19-374. In Forty-Sixth Annual Report, Bureau of
American Ethnology. Washington. D.C.
. 1943. Catalog of human crania in the United
States National Museum collections: Eskimo in gen-
eral. Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, 91:
169-429.
Jacobson, S. A. 1984. Yup'ik Eskimo Dictionary.
Alaska Native Language Center, Fairbanks, Alaska.
Kaplan, S. A., and K. J. Barsness. 1986. Raven's
Journey: The World of Alaska's Native People. The
University Museum, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia.
Lantis, M. 1946. The social culture of the Nunivak
Eskimo. Transactions of the American Philosophical
Society, n.s., 35(3): 153-323.
. 1950. Mme. Eskimo proves herself an artist.
Natural History, 59(2): 68-71.
1953. Nunivak Eskimo personality as revealed
in the mythology. Anthropological Papers of the Uni-
versity of Alaska, 2(1): 109-174.
. 1 959. Folk medicine and hygiene: Lower Kus-
kokwim and Nunivak-Nelson Island areas. Anthro-
pological Papers of the University of Alaska, 8(1): 1-
75.
. 1960. Eskimo Childhood and Interpersonal
Relationships: Nunivak Biographies and Genealogies.
Monographs of the American Ethnological Society,
33. University of Washington Press, Seattle.
1972. Factionalism and leadership: A case study
of Nunivak Island. Arctic Anthropology, 9( 1): 43-65.
1980. Changes in the Alaskan Eskimo relation
of man to dog and their effect on two human diseases.
Arctic Anthropology, 17(1): 1-25.
1984. Nunivak Eskimo, pp. 209-223. In Da-
mas, D., ed., Handbook of North American Indians.
Vol. 5, Arctic. Smithsonian Institution. Washington,
D.C.
Nelson, E. W. 1 899. The Eskimo About Bering Strait,
pp. 19-518. //; Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bu-
reau of American Ethnology, Part 1 . Washington, D.C.
Nowak, M. 1970. A preliminary report on the ar-
cheology of Nunivak Island, Alaska. Anthropological
Papers of the University of Alaska, 15(1): 18-32.
. 1982. The Norton period of Nunivak Island:
Internal change and external influence. Arctic An-
thropology. 19(2): 75-91.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
43
. 1986. Post Norton Nunivak: A study in coastal
adaptation, pp. 245-270. In Shaw, R. D., R. K. Har-
ritt, and D. E. Dumond, eds.. Late Prehistoric De-
velopment of Alaska's Native People. Alaska Histor-
ical Commission, Studies in History, no. 190.
Anchorage.
Oswalt, W. H. 1953. The saucer-shaped Eskimo lamp.
Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska,
1(2): 15-23.
— . 1964. Traditional story knife tales of Yuk girls.
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,
108(4): 310-336.
— . 1967. Alaskan Eskimos. Chandler Publishing
Co., San Francisco, 297 pp.
Petroff. I. 1884. Report on the Population, Industries,
and Resources of Alaska. Washington, D.C.
Porter, R. P. 1893. Report on the Population and
Resources of Alaska at the 1 1th Census: 1890. Wash-
ington, D.C.
Ray. D. J. 1981. Aleut and Eskimo Art: Tradition and
Innovation in South Alaska. University of Washing-
ton Press, Seattle, 251 pp.
Russian-American Company. 1818-1865. Records:
Communications Sent. Manuscripts in the National
Archives (Record Group 1 1), Washington, D.C.
Stettenheim, P. 1954. Field Notes (manuscript in the
possession of Margaret Lantis).
Swarth. H. S. 1934. Birds of Nunivak Island, Alaska.
Cooper Ornithological Club, Pacific Coast Avifauna,
no. 22. The Club, Los Angeles, 64 pp.
Tikhmenev, P. A. 1978. A History of the Russian-
American Company (Istoricheskoe obozrenie obra-
zoovaniya Rossiysko-Amerikanskoy Kompanii . . .
1 86 1-1 863). Trans, and ed. by R. A. Pierce and A. S.
Donnelly. University of Washington Press, Seattle.
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. 1955.
United States Coast Pilot 9, Alaska, Cape Spencer to
Arctic Ocean, 6th (1954) ed. Washington, D.C.
VanStone, J. W. 1954. Pottery from Nunivak Island,
Alaska. Anthropological Papers of the University of
Alaska, 2(2): 181-193.
. 1957. An archaeological reconnaissance of Nu-
nivak Island, Alaska. Anthropological Papers of the
University of Alaska, 5(2): 97-1 17.
. 1967. Eskimos of the Nushagak River: An Eth-
nographic History. University of Washington Press,
Seattle.
. 1968. Tikchik Village: A nineteenth century
riverine community in southwestern Alaska. Field-
iana: Anthropology, 56(3): 215-368.
— . 1970. Akulivikchuk: A nineteenth century Es-
kimo village on the Nushagak River, Alaska. Field-
iana: Anthropology, 60: 3-123.
. 1980. The Bruce Collection of Eskimo material
culture from Kotzebue Sound, Alaska. Fieldiana: An-
thropology, n.s., 1: 1-144.
VanStone, J. W., ed. 1973. V. S. Khromchenko's
coastal explorations in Southwestern Alaska, 1822.
Introduction by J. W. VanStone, trans, by D. H. Kraus.
Fieldiana: Anthropology, 64: 1-95.
Woodbury, A. C. 1984. Eskimo and Aleut languages,
pp. 49-63. In Damas, D., ed.. Handbook of North
American Indians. Vol. 5, Arctic. Smithsonian Insti-
tution, Washington, D.C.
Wrangell, F. P. von. 1970. The inhabitants of the
northwest coast of America. Trans, and ed. by J. W.
VanStone. Arctic Anthropology. 6(2): 5-20.
Zagoskin, L. A. 1967. Lieutenant Zagoskin's Travels
in Russian America, 1842-1844. Edited by H. N. Mi-
chael. Arctic Institute of North America, Anthropol-
ogy of the North. Translations from Russian Sources,
no. 7. University of Toronto Press. Toronto.
Zimmerly, D. W. 1 979. Hooper Bay Kayak Construc-
tion. National Museum of Man. Mercury Series, Ca-
nadian Ethnology Service, paper 53. National Mu-
seums of Canada, Ottawa, 1 18 pp.
44
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
»•: •■•!•¥•
Fig. 2. The village of Mekoryuk in 1937. Photograph by Hans Himmelheber.
**** * "T^--
J^r
Fig. 3. The village of Mekoryuk in winter.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
45
Fig. 4. A part of the village at Nash Harbor showing semi-subterranean houses and log caches.
Fig. 5. A seasonal settlement on Cape Etolin occupied principally for spring seal hunting.
46
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
:f/
t
Fig. 6. Sealing harpoon heads. Note that the specimen on the right has a trifurcate spur and the blades on the
left and right are parallel with the line hole, while that in the middle is at right angles to the line hole. Drawing
courtesy of the Lowie Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
47
Fig. 7. Left. Sealing harpoon head (76-10-29); right, chisel (76-10-43). Museum of Anthropology, University of
Kentucky. Photograph by George R. Milner.
48
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
7
Fig. 8. Sealing harpoon socket piece of ivory with incised and blackened design. Line would be fastened to the
rawhide loop with a toggle.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
49
Left, bone marrow extractor (76-10-47); right, harpoon dart head made of old ivory (76-10-48). Museum
of Anthropology University of Kentucky. Photograph by George R. Milner.
50
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 10. Harpoon dart.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
51
.11. Model harpoon dart (76-10-28). Museum of Anthropology, University of Kentucky. Photograph by
George R. Milner.
52
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
(
\
A
l°l
A
Fig. 12. Throwing boards. Drawing courtesy of the Lowie Museum of Anthropology, University of California,
Berkeley.
Fig. 13. Line attacher.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
53
Fig. 14. Two kayaks lashed together to provide stability while fishermen are examining a seal net (1937). Pho-
tograph by Hans Himmelheber.
54
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
G
o
00
C
o
O
X*
o.
u
00
o
>>
J*
u
3
C
o
-_
O
>
'c
>^
00
_o
o
a
o
c
<
o
E
3
■
00
i
o
vO
oo
oo
0
00
O
c
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
55
Fig. 16. Bird spear prongs (76-10-32-33). Museum of Anthropology. University of Kentucky. Photograph by
George R. Milner.
56
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 17. Antler arrowhead.
Fig. 18. Socketed arrowhead.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
57
o
o
o
a
a
o
o
o
O
[I
58
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
o.
o
o
o
tA
u
o
c
<D
o
O
O
6
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
59
> .
Fig. 21. Woman fishing for tomcod with a multiprongcd spear. Note ice scoop,
mitten, and carrying basket.
Fig. 22. Tomcod spear.
60
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 23. Boy fishing (jigging) for tomcod with hook and line (1937). Photograph by Hans Himmelheber.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
61
Fig. 24. Three-piece cod hook (76-10-71a-c). Museum of Anthropology. University of Kentucky. Photograph by
George R. Milner.
62
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 25. Spools of sinew cord for a fish net.
Fig. 26. Dip net for trout and other fish.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
63
c
u
00
u
o
a
a
n
i_
00
O
o
j=
cu
>^.
o
3
C
<1J
o
4J
>
c
D
00
_o
o
a
o
c
<
3
<D
3
2
r-
3
o
c
SJ
C
O
X!
•a
c
■o
0
o
0
tZ
64
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 28. A pair of slat fish traps.
Fig. 29. Constructing a dam with an opening left for fish traps.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
65
Fig. 30. Setting fish traps in the dam opening.
Fig. 31. A fish trap in place in the dam opening.
66
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 32. Rocks are placed on fish traps to prevent them from floating away.
Fig. 33. Flounder and tomcod strung and hanging on a drying rack.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
67
C
o
I—
c
00
c
c
'C
>
o
o
E
OO
O
5
o
U
in
m
O .
_ E
C3
O
ca
e
o
00
c
c
3
C
o
E
«
on
0
68
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
00
C
oj
c
<D
■a
E
cd
.3
u.
03
D.
C
'c3
oj
c
03
s
<L>
H
•o
o
o
■c
•o
o
•o
03
_o
03
03
OS
M
■O
c
03
>
'5
3
z
o
'a
a
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
69
Fig. 37. Examples of personal variations of bow and stern design, drawn from kayaks in use at Mekoryuk and
Nash Harbor. 1939-1940 (from Lantis. 1960. p. 85) (Courtesy University of Washington Press).
70
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 38. A sealskin stretched and dried
on a framework of wood crosspieces.
Fig. 40. A kayak harpoon line holder. The projecting
pieces are inserted under a line across the deck of the
kayak.
Fig. 39. Sealskins being stretched and sun bleached. Boots, seal pokes, a storage basket, and other items are also
drying on the cache roof and pole.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
71
1
Fig. 4 1 . Snow beater-scrapers to remove ice from a kayak.
72
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 42. Kayak frames on racks in winter.
Fig. 43. Newly covered kayaks in spring.
Fig. 44. Man applying patch to an old kayak cover.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
73
e
c
43
■a
JS
v>
J2
1/5
c
o
o
■a
o
>
o
o
C3
O
G/!
2
u-1
0
74
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
o
L-
o
o
T3
C
W
u
>
O
c
<u
o
J3
c
c
C3
E
C/5
0
00
c
,s
o
C
C3
a
00
c
$
o
J=
SO
e
CO
e
3
E
03
GO
O
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
75
£
P
Fig. 48. Umiak frame parts (boat 1): a, cross section of keelson; approx. 'A actual size; b, cross section of side
plank, curved to moot keelson, approx. ' j actual size; c, cross section of starboard chine; approx. 'A actual size; d,
bow stem seen from side; outside length 5 ft. 1 1 inches; lower notch where keelson fits, higher notch for two chines,
stringers fastened to side of stem; e, bow and stern thwarts in cross section; approx. 'A actual size.
76
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 49. Umiak frame parts (boat 1): a, lower stringer in cross section, outside surface on left; this stringer is
outside the risers; approx. 'A actual size; b, upper stringer in cross section, outside surface on left; this stringer is
inside the risers; approx. 'A actual size; c, riser (rib); upper stringer fits in notch, hole at top for lashing gunwale to
riser; d, stern stem seen from starboard side; made in two sections.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
77
gunwale
stemhead
stringers
riser
Crib)
headboard
BOW
Fig. 50. Frame of umiak bow (boat 3).
groove
stringers
chine
keelson
seat
78
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
headboard
groove
stemhead
Csternpost
lower
stringer
chine
grooved
seat
riser Crib)
keelson
gunwale
Grail)
upper
stringer
STERN
Fig. 51. Frame of umiak stern (boat 3).
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
79
T3
>
c
3
Z
n
c
o
-o
C3
in
O
80
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
l*s»
>
■c
03
JC
■*-»
o
</>
c
u
x
5
c
3
T3
c
o
u. ca
o t>
« c
c r
° s
. T3
O C
•* ed
o <u
— M
•O l-
0) ,0
"i« —
5 v
C <d
Z o
E*
43 B
I"
C
o
in C
. W
O 5
ft C
W
O
*» V
1/5
00
o
•a
oo
c
'I
o
fl> TO
■a §
CO C
> JZ
c -g
/-i -O
O +J
u. 3
(-, -o
^>
IT) C
0*2
u
c
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
81
Fig. 56. Sled dog introduced from the
mainland. Some dogs combined traits of both
old and new breeds.
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 57. Kayak sled on rack with kayak.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
83
i
o
0
0
0
J
Fig. 58. Snowshoes.
84
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 59. Interior of an unoccupied semi-sub-
terranean house. At the left is a sleeping platform
and across the rear a narrow bench for cooking
utensils, water buckets, and other storage. One of
the four supporting posts can be seen at the left rear
and, at the right, one of the front posts. A stove has
been placed on the old stone fireplace. The interior
of this old house has been darkened by smoke, oil,
and dirt.
Fig. 60. House excavation.
Fig. 6 1 . House excavation, showing low height
of doorway at left. House owner stops to take snuif
while child watches.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
85
Fig. 62. Partially constructed house roof. There are four support posts, one of which is visible, on which rests a
four-layer cribbing of horizontal logs. Walls are of vertical split logs and roof two courses of slanting split logs (one
unfinished course shown).
Fig. 63. Gut window of house resting on
wooden framework and held in place by large.
Hat stones.
Fig. 64. House with roofed underground entrance passage
through which one moved in a stooping posture and with the
outer door modeled after a ship's companionway. House entrance
at right is of older type.
86
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
■=mk
/ *
\ >
Fig. 65. Comer of a qasgiq showing cribbed roof on two of the eight supporting posts. Men sat on floor and
children on high benches above them. There is a wooden urine tub on the bench.
Fig. 66. Qasgiq entrance with steep steps to deep tunnel.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
87
Fig. 67. Suspended frame for a pottery lamp, made by Kay Hendrickson. Yugtarvik Regional Museum, Bethel,
Alaska. Photograph by James H. Barker.
88
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 68. Entrance to old style cache.
Fig. 69. Abovcground log cache with flowering sod-covered roof.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
89
Fig. 70. Top, center, line attachers (center, length 2'/s
inches); bottom, float mouthpiece (l3/s inches) (340305.
339482). U.S. National Museum.
Fig. 71. Bird arrow point (length Vh inches) (no
number). U.S. National Museum.
f
Fig. 72. Heavy bone socket piece (6V2 inches)
(339475). U.S. National Museum.
Fig. 73. Adze head with blade (7V4 inches) (339638).
U.S. National Museum.
90
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 74. Funnel (for seal poke?) (2 inches) (339536).
U.S. National Museum.
Fig. 75. Harpoon head (4 inches) (340294). U.S. Na-
tional Museum.
Fig. 76. Mesh gauge (339380). U.S. National Mu-
seum.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
91
c
u
03
C
X!
X>
00
c
43
o
C/3
O
o
Xs
B
o
en
a
o
00
o o
D. .
E*
c
u
OJ
£?
.2 o
"HO
O0
E §•
3 '
>>
J3
9l
^2
o -*
o >*
nO —
i'l
oo >;
u 00
O O
c ■£
* c
p<
C '—
3 O
5 E
.§ |
tfl 3
03
^' «J
r— i-
r- x:
2 s
92
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
C
<L>
ao
O
<u
a
>•
a
C3
u
00
O
*-•
o
J=
Cu
>>
o
3
*-»
C
o
<u
_>
'5
00
_o
"o
a
o
c
<
3
3
2
C3
r-
T3
c
fN
r-
3
D
d
o
H
00
r-
0
S
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
93
Fig. 79. Ulus. each with blade cut from a steel saw.
94
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 80. Strap fire drill (76-10-44a-d). Museum of Anthropology, University of Kentucky. Photograph by George
R. Milner.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
95
Fig. 81. A square woman's bucket of
bentwood painted red with bent antler han-
dle.
Fig. 82. Bundles of dry rye grass (Elymus mollis) for many
uses.
Fig. 83. Carrying basket and coarse matting baskets containing frozen tomcod on cache roof.
96
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 84. Large close weave storage bas-
ket with scraped skin handles.
Fig. 85. Coiled baskets with lids traded to the Mekoryuk village
store to be sold on the mainland. Both geometric and naturalistic designs
were used, sometimes separately, sometimes together.
Fig. 86. Coiled basket with lid showing naturalistic designs.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
97
Fig. 87. Wooden form over which a
sealskin is scraped with a two-handed
bone scraper. A woman, kneeling at the
left, would scrape forward and downward
over the curve of the form.
Fig. 88. Inflated sealskins drying on
a cache roof prior to being bleached;
without bleaching, they might be used as
"pokes" (oil bags).
Fig. 89. Rawhide sealskin lines and
an inflated whole sealskin frozen and
drying. In the background a competition
between the old and young men in throw-
ing a feathered spear with a spear-throw-
er is in progress.
98
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 90. Inflated seal throats drying and
bleaching in clear, windy, cold weather under
an old umiak.
^HM
Fig. 91. An inflated walrus stomach drying.
In the background codfish are drying on a rack.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
99
5c-
V
.
i i a
1W
Fie. 92. Stone end scraper with wood handle.
Fig. 93. Processed arctic fox skins hanging on a line
to dr\\
100
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
- '. -, ' . ■ ■ . ■ :.
Fig. 94. A woman's sewing equipment, including four needle cases of both closed and open types, bone needles,
ivory bodkin with animal head link at proximal end, and sinew thread on a shuttle. Photograph courtesy of the Lowie
Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.
Fig. 95. Ivory needle case (5'/2 inches). Drawing courtesy of the Lowie Museum of Anthropology, University of
California, Berkeley.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
101
Fig. 96. Boy's sealskin parka, old and frayed. Instead
of a border around the lower edge, there is a fringe of
slit sealskin.
Fig. 97. Young woman's squirrel skin parka cut up
the sides in the old style, with wide layered ruff, many
furstrip tassels encircling the parka, and both border and
fringe around the bottom.
Fig. 98. Women's parkas cut in the old style but
made of spotted domestic reindeer skin. The woman on
the right apparently wears the full length sealskin boots,
while the woman on the left is wearing short fancy boots.
102
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 99. Woman's parka showing narrow strips of blackfish skin sewn down the center of strips of bleached
sealskin sewn onto a denim parka.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
103
Fig. 100. Boys in head-pulling contest wearing murrc skin parkas (1937). Note the wide bottom border of black
murre backs. Photograph by Hans Himmelheber.
104
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 101. Walrus intestine cleaned,
inflated, and stretched on the ground to
dry.
i
Fig. 102. Elderly man wearing wood-
en eyeshade, a gut parka with insets of
bleached seal throat at the shoulders, and
waterproof sealskin boots.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
105
Fig. 103. Elderly man wearing squirrel skin parka and sealskin pants (1937). Pieces of brown and white fur and
squirrel tails decorate the upper sleeve. Nunivak boots were generally soft and loose, not holding their shape well.
Photograph by Hans Himmelheber.
106
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 104. Boy in center wears an old
style cap of the type formerly worn by all
Nunivak men and boys. The cap has a
narrow border of short and long fur, not
a stand-up ruff. The man was the car-
penter building the first school at Me-
koryuk in 1939.
Fig. 105. Girl wearing dance head-
dress. The long white hairs across the top
are from under the neck of a reindeer.
Hanging at each side are long strands of
beads.
VANSTONE: NUNIVAK ISLAND ESKIMOS
107
Fig. 106. Grass socks formerly worn inside sealskin boots. A strip of flannel forms the border.
Fig. 107. Puppy skins turned inside out to dry, to be used in making infant's parka.
108
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Other Fieldiana: Anthropology Titles Available
The Bruce Collection of E Torn Kotzebuc Souru ka. By W.
iStone. Fieldiai 0. 144 pages, 49 p 'us.
Publication 1305, $14.50
An Analysis of Santa Maria Urn Painting and Its Cultuni Ronald L. Weber. Fi,
illus.
Publication 1326, $3.75
lalogue of Chinese Rubbings from Field Mi i and M r, with
Ali chneider and Herta Newton. Edited by Hartmut Walravens. Fieldiana: Am- n.s.
1981. 806 pages, 1 color illus., 88 illus.
Publication 1327, $67.50 softcovcr, $75.00 hardcover
Athapaskan Clothing and Related Objects in the Collections of Field Museum of Natural History.
By James W. VanStone. Fieldiana: An- ogy, n.s. 4. 1981. 86 pages, 56 illus.
Publication 1328, $7.00
The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage. Quebec.
By James W. VanStone. Fieldiana: 3 pages, 35 illus.
Publication 1337, $7.00
The Simms Collection of Plains Cree Material Culture from Southeastern Saskatchewan. By James
W. VanStone. Fieldiana: Anthropology, n.s. 6, 1983. 57 pages, 33 illus.
Publication 1342, $8.50
Material Culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi: The William Duncan Strong Col-
lection. By James W. VanStone. Fieldiana: Anthropology, n.s. 7, 1985. 136 pages, 107 illus.
Publication 1358, $15.75
An Ethnographic Collection from Northern Sakhalin Island. By James W. VanStone. .na:
hropology, n.s. 8, 1985. 67 pages, 50 illus.
Publication 1361, $9.75
Emmons's Notes on Field Museum's Collection of Northwest Coast Basketry: Edited with an Eth-
noarchaeological Analysis. By Ronald L. Weber. Fieldia 1986. 102 pages,
30 plates, 5 scales, 3 illus.
Publication 1366, $14.00
"And He Was Beautiful": Contemporary Athapaskan Material Culture in the Collections of Field
Museum of Natural History. By William E. Simeone and James W. VanStom
. n.s. 10, 1986. 108 pages, 72 illus.
Publication 1371, $15.00
The Simms Collection of Southwestern Chippewa Material Culture. By James W. VanSto Id-
?i. 64 p
Publication 1387, $10.00
Order by publication number and for a fn of our \\\ orders must be prepaid.
Illinois residents add current tax. All foreign are payable in U.S. dollar-checks drawn on any
bank or the U.S. subsidiary of any foreign bank. Prices subject to change without notice. Address
all requests to:
FIELD Ml »RY
Library— Publications Division
Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Dri <
licago, Illinois 60605-2498, U.S.A.
Field Museum of Natural History
Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive
ago. Illinois 60605-2496
'ephoir 9410
JNIVER9ITY OF ILLINOIS-URBAN*
12 046461023
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11