Eyak

expand_more Description

The Athabaskan-speaking Eyak of the coastal Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska (principally between Cordova and Controller Bay) traditionally subsisted on fishing and gathering, supplemented by hunting. The family household was the fundamental social unit, organized into moieties likely modelled after those of the Tlingit, and there were three distinct social strata: chiefs and their families, commoners, and slaves (mostly war captives). Settlements were comprised of family dwellings belonging to their respective moieties, each with its own chief whose relative power depended on the number of villagers in their moiety. Major settlements had and a palisade or fort for collective defense in times of war, and a potlatch house for each moiety where meetings and communal ceremonies were held.

Identifier

Region

• North America

Subregion

• Arctic and Subarctic

Subsistence Type

• hunter-gatherers

Samples

• EA
• SCCS

Countries

• United States