Pukuk – Salvage Allrani suu’ut caqainek pukugtaartut. – Sometimes people salvage some stuff. Pukuk is an Alutiiq word that has made its way into English conversation in the Kodiak area, like the Yiddish word schlep or the French word café. There is no exact English translation. Generally speaking, this Alutiiq verb means to salvage, although […]
Agyaruaq – Starfish / Star-shaped Agyaruat irurtuut. – Starfish have many legs. Sea stars, commonly known as starfish, are abundant, colorful residents of Kodiak’s waters. There are numerous species, which can be found in almost any environment–from rocky shores to mudflats, and from tidal pools to deep marine waters. Sea stars are echinoderms–spiny skinned creatures […]
Cailnguq – Tundra Kal’ut awatiini cailnguq. – Around Karluk is tundra. Across the northern hemisphere, tundra environments occur above treeline and below year-round snowpack. Although tundra is commonly associated with mountain slopes, it also occurs all the way to sea level. For example, extensive, low-lying areas of the southern Kodiak Archipelago contain moist tundra, a […]
All’itaq; Alitaq – Alitak All’itami et’ukut. – We are at Alitak. In the early nineteenth century, Russian traders established a community at the entrance to Olga Creek in southern Olga Bay, known as Alitak. Built on a terrace above the creek’s lagoon, the settlement was a fish processing station, where Alutiiqs worked to preserve salmon […]