The Athabascan Indians of Alaska's harsh interior were hunters and inland fishermen. Most lived in small nomadic bands along the region's rivers. Endurance and physical strength were prized.
Athabascans hunted salmon, rabbits, caribou and bear with the help of snares, clubs, and bows and arrows.
Some Athabascan groups inhabited permanent winter villages and summer fishing camps. Most bands consisted of a few nuclear families, and had limited internal organiztion. Leadership was acquired by great warriors or hunters.
The Athabascans used birch from the vast interior forests to make snowshoes, canoes, containers, sleds and even cradles. Clothing was of animal hides, decorated with porcupine quills.
The Aleuts
This group settled the wind-swept islands of the Aleutian chain some 10,000 years ago. Although their location allowed them to harvest the sea's bounty they also had to contend with unpredictable weather and earthquakes as well.
Aleut fishing technology included fish spears, weirs, nets, hooks and lines. Various darts and nets were used to catch sea lions and sea otters. Whales were killed wit a poisned stone bladed lance. Women and children gathered shellfish along the beaches at low tide.
In winter Aleuts wore hoodless, knee length parkas; in colder weather they added knee length skin boots.
Because of a ready suppply of grass in the summmer months, Aleut women became skillful at basketry. Mats and some kinds of clothing were made in this way.
The Eskimo
Eskimos, the Native group most familier to non-Alaskans, were originally divided into two sub-groups. The Inupiat Eskimos settled in Alaska's Arctic region, while the Yup'ik lived in the west. For both groups, but for the Inupiat on the harsh Arctic coast especially, life was a constant struggle against humger and the cold. Seasonal food was stored against future shortage and for the long dark winter; and even though his own family might be wanting, a hunter always divided a fresh kill evenly throughout the community. Status within a village was determined by hunting ability.
The Eskimo used boats called umiaks to hunt larger sea animals. They also used smaller, one-man craft, called kayaks. Both were made of a frame of wood covered with skins or hides. Sleds and dog teams were used for winter travel, and during the summer dogs were used as pack animals.
Women were skilllful in basketry and sewing. They stitched and fitted waterproof garments made of animal intestine and fish skins. The Eskimos everyday clothing of trousers, boots and coats were sewn from skins and fur, sometimes in complete geometric designs. The coats, which were called parkas, featured an attached hood and ruff.
Eskimos are renowed for their fine carving, especially their small ivory peices. In early times household utensils and weapons were beautifully ornamented. Using wood, bone, baleen Ibony plates that line the mouth of baleen whales), walrus ivory and fossil mamoth tuskes, Eskimos crafted dishes and knives, oil lamps, small sculptures and game pieces, and goggles to protect their eyes from the glare of snow and ice.
The ulu, or woman's knife, can be found in tourist shops today and is appreciated by contemporary cooks both for its beauty and its utility.
These Alaska groups had inhabited their respective homelands for hundreds of generations. Their lives were harsh and often difficult, but they had refined methods for hunting, for clothing themselves and for living in harmony with the animals and the enviornment that supported them.
