Book
The Chugach Eskimo
Nationalmuseets publikationsfond • 6 • Published In 1953 • Pages: ix, 261
By: Birket-Smith, Kaj.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This source is the result of the First Danish-American Expedition of 1933 in which the author represented the National Museum of Denmark; he was accompanied by Dr. Frederica de Laguna who represented the University of Pennsylvania University Museum. By making use of native informants, museum collections, excavations, the accounts of early explorers, and other written sources of information, the author has attempted to reconstruct the culture of the Chugach Eskimo. Included is information on: the discovery of Prince William Sound in 1778; the Russian, British, and Spanish expeditions; geographical features; climate; flora; fauna; territory occupied; economic life; the eight tribes of the Chugach; the holdings of museums (Berlin, Copenhagen); boats; housing; tool making; decorative art; men's and women's occupations; family and kinship; property system; games and sports; festivals and feasts; musical instruments; dancing; intertribal relations; death; crime; time division; ideas about the weather; disease theory and cures; taboo and magic; concepts of the universe; shamans; and religion and folklore. The author also shows the distribution of cultural elements, traces the origins of Chugach cultural elements, and provides an outline of culture history. As a result of this investigation, the author concludes that the culture of the Chugach is Eskimo, and is based on Paleo- and Neo-Eskimo foundations with some archaic and local traits which have been modified by foreign (Asian, Alaskan interior, American Northwest Coast) influences.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Flora
- Comparative evidence
- Prehistory
- Traditional history
- Historical reconstruction
- Grammar
- Phonology
- Normal garb
- Ornament
- Dwellings
- Tools and appliances
- Division of labor by gender
- Decorative art
- Literary texts
- Mythology
- Spirits and gods
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Alutiiq
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2005
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Arctic and Subarctic
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Heather Fellows ; Martin Malone ; 1976
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1933
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- July 20, 1741 to August 1933
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Chugach Eskimos, Prince William Sound, southeastern Alaska, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- Kaj Birket-Smith
- Includes bibliographical references (p. [252]-261)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 55001720
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Chugach Eskimos