Weekly language lesson provided by the Alutiiq Museum & Archaelogical Repository. http://alutiiqmuseum.org Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:46:22 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://alutiiqmuseum.org/images/M_images/rss.png http://alutiiqmuseum.org Weekly language lesson provided by the Alutiiq Museum & Archaelogical Repository. http://alutiiqmuseum.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=757&Itemid=91 Ciquq : Cottonwood Ciqumek aturtaartut palkaali'akameng. : They use cottonwood to smoke salmon. Cottonwood trees on the shore of Karluk Lake. The balsam cottonwood, or balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera), is a common deciduous tree in coastal Alaska. It thrives at lower elevations in moist soil and typically occurs in large stands on flood plains, riverbanks, and disturbed ground. Cottonwood trees have oval leaves, thick, deeply furrowed gray bark, and a soft wood. The term cottonwood refers to the many small cottony seeds released by the trees’ flowers each summer. These fluffy seeds float through the air like snow. Cottonwood has many uses. Alutiiq people favor cottonwood for smoking fish, as it burns slowly and at low temperatures. Smokers prefer to use dead wood and bark for this task, as green cottonwood imparts a stronger, less desirable flavor. Cottonwood is not typically used to heat homes, although shavings of the wood make an excellent tinder. The Alutiiq word for cottonwood, ciquq, can also be used to mean “dishes”, as the soft wood of this tree was once carved into kitchen utensils. Before carving, craftsman sometimes burned their stock with hot rocks to aid in shaping the wood. In addition to plates, ladles, and spoons, cottonwood was carved into fishing floats and toys. Planks of green cottonwood are valuable for construction, as they resist water better than spruce, and cottonwood poles make good supports for fish drying racks. Cottonwood also has healing properties. Alutiiq steam bathers use its leafy branches to switch away aches and pains - particularly those associated with arthritis. Arthritis can also eased by soaking your feet in hot water infused with cottonwood branches. Alutiiq Word of the Week, Season 13 : Lesson 8 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 01:00:00 +0100 http://alutiiqmuseum.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=756&Itemid=91 Tunturpak : Moose Maani Sun'ami tunturpanek piitukut. : Here in Kodiak we do not have moose. Hunter with a moose rack, Dog Salmon River, Alaska Peninsula, Nekeferof Collection. Moose (Alces alces) are the biggest member of the deer family. These large bodied, long-legged creatures are known for their droopy nose and dewlap – a flap of hair-covered skin beneath their chin. Only the males have antlers. Moose live in forests across North America, Europe, and Russia. In Alaska they can be found from the southeast panhandle to the arctic slope. Throughout this area, the animals prefer habitats with dense shrub, including river valleys and recently burned areas. Moose have been part of the Alaskan landscape for thousands of years. Despite their enduring, widespread availability, they are not broadly found in the Alutiiq world. Moose are native to the Kenai Peninsula, but they do not occur in the Kodiak archipelago, and only stray into western parts of Prince William Sound. Similarly, archaeological data indicate that moose were not part of the Alaska Peninsula landscape until the twentieth century. Moose spread into the Alaska Peninsula in the early 1900s, becoming relatively common by the 1930s. Today, moose are a popular source of food in Alaska Peninsula Alutiiq communities, on both the Pacific ocean and Bering sea coasts. Residents hunt moose in from August – April with peak harvesting in December. Moose are often taken while caribou hunting, and like caribou meat, moose meat is widely shared. Alutiiq Word of the Week, Season 13 : Lesson 8 Sun, 22 Aug 2010 01:00:00 +0100 http://alutiiqmuseum.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=755&Itemid=91 Kena'iyuq : Kenai Peninsula Person Taugkut Kena'iyut. : Those people come from Kenai. The Alutiiq Nation - shaded in light grey. Though separated from the Kodiak archipelago by miles of open ocean, the Kenai Peninsula shares many features with the Kodiak region. Geologically, the two are formed of the same rocks, squeezed and folded into a continuous set of mountains. The Kodiak Mountains are the western most extension of Kenai-Chugach Mountains, the steep-sided ridges that form the spine of the Kenai Peninsula and her fjorded southern coast. As on Kodiak, glaciers carved deep narrow valleys out of the Kenai’s bedrock creating its rugged topography. Glacial ice is also responsible for separating the Kenai from Kodiak. Massive tongues of ice cut channels between the regions, which were filled with seawater when the glaciers retreated. The biological and cultural histories of the region are also similar. Although the Kenai has been forested much longer than Kodiak, and supports a wider variety of terrestrial mammals, its sea life is quite similar. Salmon, shellfish, sea mammals and sea birds abound, especially along the southern coast. Archaeological data suggest that Alutiiq ancestors colonized this region, particularly Kachemak Bay, at least 6,000 years ago. They were not alone, however. Indian societies also thrived on the Kenai, although in more northerly regions. Today there are two Alutiiq villages on the Kenai Peninsula, Nanwalek and Port Graham. Alutiiq people also live in Seldovia, Homer, Kenai, and Soldotna. Alutiiq Word of the Week, Season 13: Lesson 7 Sun, 15 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://alutiiqmuseum.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=754&Itemid=91 Qarusiq : Red Cedar MiskiiRat pingaqenitait qarusit. : Spiders don’t like red cedar. Splitting a red cedar log into planks. Two varieties of cedar are indigenous to coastal Alaska, the yellow cedar or Alaska cypress (Camaecyparis nootkatensis), and the western red cedar (Thuja plicata). Both are large evergreen trees with fibrous bark and a straight grained, rot resistant wood. Named for the color of their heartwood, cedar trees grow primarily in the forests of southeast Alaska and British Columbia. Cedar has long been an essential resource to the Native societies of these regions. Although cedar does not grow around Kodiak, its is also widely used by Alutiiqs, who collected its as driftwood. Today, Alutiiq people used cedar primarily for firewood, as it burns cleanly. In the past, however, cedar was a coveted building and carving material. Cedar resists water more readily than the spruce. As such, it was used to create objects that came in contact with moisture - houses, boats, hats, paddles and oars, hunting equipment, cooking utensils, and grave markers. Builders preferred to use cedar as the foundation logs and roof posts for sod houses, and in the historic era, they split roofing shingles from cedar. Alutiiq people also used cedar in boat construction. Cedar could be employed in any part of the kayak frame, although it was commonly used to fashion ribs and stringers. To create these parts, strips of cedar were soaked in hot water, bent to shape, and then oiled. Alutiiq Word of the Week, Season 13 : Lesson 6 Sun, 08 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://alutiiqmuseum.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=753&Itemid=91 Kemek : Meat Kemegtullianga akgua'aq. : I ate meat last night. Sven Haakanson demonstrates how to butcher a harbor seal. eat has been a mainstay of the Alutiiq diet for millennia. Like their forefathers, modern Alutiiqs are accomplished hunters who fill their freezers with sea mammal, deer, and even bear meat. But successfully slaying an animal is only the first step in feeding a family. Animal carcasses have to be processed and the meat they produced transported, stored, and cooked. In classical Alutiiq society, animals were butchered with stone tools. Hunters used cobble spalls, sharp flakes of stone knocked off of beach cobbles, as well as ulus and knives ground from slate, to skin, dismember, and deflesh carcasses. Bundles of meat were then wrapped in skins or placed in woven knapsacks and transported home. Hunters traveling on foot might place a layer of fresh grass on their backs to prevent meat carried on their shoulders from bloodying their clothing. At home, hunters often aged fresh meat, hanging it for a week or two to tenderize the flesh and mellow its flavor. Fresh meat was cooked by stone boiling. Families dropped red-hot rocks into watertight containers - baskets, wooden boxes, hollowed out logs, and even animal stomachs, to heat their contents. They often added wild berries, particularly cranberries, to enhance the flavor of meat dishes. Roasting was another common cooking method. Alutiiq people used a flat stone slab heated in a fire to cook their meat, or they placed a roast on a skewer by the fire, turning it occasionally to help the meat cook evenly. Until the historic era when smoking, salting, and canning became popular, families air-dried meat not intended for immediate consumption. They stored this meat in wooden boxes and dipped it in oil before eating. Alutiiq Word of the Week, Season 13 : Lesson 5 Sun, 01 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100