Archaic Pacific Rim and Arctic

The Eskimo people of the Arctic

1. Ceremonial mask carved from driftwood, 15th c. A.D. Created by Eskimos villagers from Alaska's Arctic coast. These people hunted the whales that migrated when the spring thaw broke up the icepack, and this fed them the rest of the year and provided enough surplus to exchange whale oil for animal products with interior hunters. Semi-subterreanean houses were constructed of sod and driftwood. The old religious and ceremonial life, now largely forgotton. has to be archaeologically reconstructed. This mask was excavated from a ceremonial whalebone structure called a karigi in the village of Utqiagvik.

2. The tradition of ivory carving goes back two millenia in the Arctic. Here is a carving on a tusk, Seward Peninsula, 1892, that shows a record of a hunting expedition. Coloration is unusual. Designs were originally incised with jade and then rubbed with charcoal and grease.

Inuit people of the eastern Arctic

	1. Inuit wooden figurine showing a 10th century Norse Viking, from a Thule Inuit house at Okivilialuk,
	2. Inuit shown building an igloo in ca. 1915. These temporary houses were used from October to May and were not easy to build, although done in a few hours. Once finished, women prepared the interior. A clear ice window was placed above the door, and an air hole was cut near it the roof. Ignoos might house six people, and there might be smaller attached storage igloos as well. More typical of Arctic architecture was the karmak and tupik.
	3. Igloo interior. The children are sitting on a raised platform called a ikliq. The warmth inside melted the inner surface of the snow blocks that the interior became smooth ice. Sticks, mats and tanned caribou skins were spread out for sitting and sleeping.