Shelby Ball

12/4/14
Cultural Anthropology
James Dykman

Aleuts: The Indigenous People of Alaska

The early people of Alaska are known as Aleuts, or Eskimos, and permeated the
Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands for many years. In 1741, Russian explorers and
hunters discovered the Alaskan Peninsula along with the Aleut people. Population Census
taken from the explorers was later discovered that the Aleuts were one of the most
densely populated aboriginal people of North America.(George Quimby, 1944)
The geography of the Aleutian people consists of roughly 200 small island chains
that lie between Alaska and Siberia.(Corbett, Lefevre, Siegel-Causey, 1997) The islands
are very mountainous, under near constant rain, and earthquakes and tsunamis are very
common. The islands were very small, compacted, and rugged, which meant that there
were little resources to support life. However, the Aleuts were able to survive by
exploiting the marine life and became expert hunters. Because of the location of the
islands, the mixing of two different oceans allowed life in the surrounding ocean to
flourish, allowing there to be an abundance of fish, whales, seals, sea lions, walruses,
otters, shellfish, and island reefs.

The Aleut people earned their livelihood and survived by hunting. They used
Kayaks, which were skin-covered boats used to hunt at sea. They hunted nearly all of the
marine life found in the surrounding ocean, however they used different methods in doing
so. For example, for a seal otter hunt, a group of men would sit in their Kayaks around an
otter. The hunters then used spear throwers to shoot short bone-pointed darts at the otter.
Each of the darts had a line which was attached to a buoy. A whale hunt was much
different. During a whale hunt, one man in a kayak would go out to the bay and approach
a surfaced whale. He would then cast his lance which had a detachable poisonous barb at
the end which would penetrate the whales blubber. The whale would jerk away from the
barb, removing it and swim away. The hunter would then go home and wait for the whale
to wash up onshore, usually the next day.(Heizer, 1943) This method of hunting whale
was most likely adapted from Asia. Being part of the Whale hunt was very prestigious
and considered a privilege. Along with hunting, the Aleuts also gathered their food. They
gathered edible roots, grasses, berries, and shellfish such as snails, sea urchins, and
clams. Most of the Aleuts food was eaten raw.
Aleut weapons consisted of the bow and arrow, spear thrower, spear, bladder dart,
harpoon, lance and the bird spear. Most of the weapons were made of wood, however the
spear ends and the darts were made of either bone or ivory. Many times the ends of the
darts or spears would be covered in aconite poison, which helped subdue the animal that
they were hunting.
Extensive knowledge of human anatomy was present in the Aleut culture, along
with their high standards for medicine. (Marsh, Loughlin,1956) They were very

concerned about medicine, acupuncture, and the prognosis of individual cases of illness.
They believed that acupuncture released bad air which would cure certain diseases and
disorders. The Aleuts used their knowledge of the human anatomy to effectively massage
someone, releasing the tension from the muscles. They also experimented with their diet
and physical training to heal, build up muscular/mental strength and endurance, as well as
survival techniques. Their knowledge of the human body also allowed them to mummify
their dead.
The Aleutian language origin has not yet been actually discovered. Ongoing
studies are still trying to track down and determine the origin of the Aluet language. The
language neither matches up with that of Russia/Asia or that of the European continents.
Although there are some structural similarities between the surrounding geographical
region, this is most likely due to the proximity of the groups and the combining of the
language over time. (Berge, 2010)
The villages of the Aleuts were often positioned by the sea, on an isthmus or shore
of a bay, allowing the people to keep an eye on game in the ocean or possible enemies.
The houses were built underground, with dome like ceilings and were made from either
driftwood or whalebone. You would enter the house through a hole in the roof with an
attached ladder going down into the house. They used grass to cover the floor. Their
houses contained urine troughs, a place to tan skins, and oil burning lamps which
provided light and heat. A lot of times the houses would be communal houses, with
separate rooms for each of the families.

The social classes of the Aleuts were elder, chief, commoner, and slave. It is
unknown as to how they achieved the higher statuses. However, the slaves were prisoners
captured from wars with the other fellow islands. The villages were set up in a very
communal way, and included a house primarily for the men where meetings, workshop,
and ceremonies would occur.
The makeup of families in the Aleut society was very complicated compared to the
family makeups seen today. The men were allowed to take several wives, either by
capture or purchase. It was acceptable to marry a wifes younger sisters as well, and have
the mens brothers live with him and his wives. Due to the complexity of the marital
situation, it was very common for the households of the Aleuts to be very large. The
wifes sons were raised by one of the mothers brothers. In their society, a wifes sister
was equal to the wife and a mans brother was equal to the man. With this complicated
rules for family, it is very common for there to be cross cousin marriage as well.
The children of the Aleut grew up watching their elders, learning as much as they
can from them. The adults would allow them to participate in as much as they could, or at
least have them observe so that the children would learn morals, ethics, religion, history,
how to obtain food and water, securing a shelter, and in general how to live as an Aleut.
They passed their time playing games, sometimes with the adults, such as cats cradle,
blanket-tossing, ring and pin, and several juggling games.
Dancing and the use of the drum was very common among the Aleut ceremonies.
The music was made primarily by drums but also incorporated rattles and vocal chants.
The dancing that took place was primarily used for religious and social special occasions.

One of the more important Aleut ceremonies was that of the winter festival. The purpose
of the festival was to insure good hunting for the coming spring. It was celebrated by
dancing, however the dancers wore intricate wooden masks which were also painted
many colors. The masks represented animals, spirits, or supernatural beings that lived in
the environment around them. At the end of the festival, the masks would be destroyed.
The Aleuts went to war for several reasons including stealing of a bride, disputes
over territory, and raiding of villages for obtaining slaves. Another less rational reason for
war was that the men wanted to achieve honor and gain power as warriors. The head of a
slain enemy was often mounted on a post and placed in the front of the killers house, as a
show of power and pride. Most often it was the blood feuds and revenge that encouraged
the start of a war. The different villages would go back and forth after one had stolen the
others bride.
The Aleuts were strong believers of the supernatural, and the power of spirits was
present everywhere around them. There were rulers of the sea, sky, and land. They
believed that the spirits would assist them in anyway that they needed, as long as they
helped themselves. They believed that evil spirits were to blame for illness and death.
However, they did not fear the spirits of the dead and often thought that the spirits of
animals were that of humans.
Overall, the Aleut people were very self efficient and were able to survive
conditions most people would think impossible. They were marvelous hunters and had
leaned how to overcome very large marine animals. Although there is still information
needed to be learned about them, so far they have done nothing but surprise us.

Bibliography
1. George I. Quimby, Aleutian Islanders, in Anthropology Leaflet, No. 35, pp. 1-48,
Pub. Field Museum of Natural History, 1944.
2. Debra G. Corbett, Christine Lefevre and Douglas Siegel-Causey, The Western
Aleutians: Cultural Isolation and Environmental Change, Human Ecology, Vol. 25, No.
3, Pub. Springer, 1997.
3. Robert F. Heizer, A Pacific Eskimo Invention in Whale Hunting in Historic Times,
American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 45, No. 1, Pub. Wiley on behalf of the
American Anthropological Association, 1943.
4. Gordon H. Marsh and William S. Loughlin, Human Anatomical Knowledge among
the Aleutian Islanders, Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 12, No 1, Pub.
University of New Mexico, 1956.
5. Anna Berge, Origins of Linguistic Diveristy in the Aleutian Islands, Human Biology, Vol.
82, No. 5/6, Pub. Wayne State University Press, 2010.