Iron — Cawik Cawik tamaani uyaqsami patam Kal’uni amlertaartut. – There is a lot of iron around at Larsen Bay and Karluk. Although metals were a rare material in Alutiiq communities before the historic era, they were not unknown. Kodiak Alutiiq people traded with the Chugach Alutiiq people of Prince William Sound for copper from […]
KALLA’UN/KALLA’UTAQ – RATTLE KALLA’ALEGET AGNGUAQAMENG KALLA’UTAT ATURTAAKAIT. – SHAMANS USE THE RATTLES WHEN THEY DANCE. The puffin beak rattle is one of two types of Alutiiq rattles. This instrument is made from a set of two to five nested, wooden hoops. Pictures of ancestral rattles show that artists lashed or pegged these hoops to a […]
AMIQ – SKIN/HIDE ARHANEK AMIIRTAALLRIIT, TAUMI-LLU ATKULILUTENG. – THEY USED TO SKIN SEA OTTERS AND THEN MAKE COATS OUT OF THEM. Across the Alutiiq world, animal hides were once essential material for clothing, bedding, and boats. Alutiiq people stitched cormorant and caribou skins into parkas, wrapped their families in plush bear hides for sleeping, and […]
KICAQ – ANCHOR KICAQ AGTUNARTUQ. – THE ANCHOR IS HEAVY. Before the availability of metal tools, Alutiiq people fashioned anchors from large cobbles. Craftsmen selected a relatively flat, rectangular rock and shaped it by chipping. A stone anchor found in Karluk is 10 inches long and weighs about six pounds. The edges of the stone […]