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Subsistence

The Kodiak Archipelago is filled with animals. Sea mammals play in island waters. Schools of fish fill the deep. Shellfish crust the shores. Salmon and trout pack streams. Bears and foxes roam grassy meadows and thousands of birds soar through the skies. Each animal has an important tie to the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq people.

Alutiiq people harvest animals to care for their families. Animals provide meat and fat for food, and materials for tools and clothing. Living off the land is an ancient tradition. Alutiiq people hunt and fish with knowledge passed down over thousands of years an understanding of animal behavior, awareness of the weather, and carefully honed harvesting skills. Relying on wild resources is more than subsistence, it is suumacirpet–our way of living.

Online Exhibits

Salmon hanging in Herman Squartsoff’s smoke house.


Wild Foods

HARVESTING & COOKING WITH ELDERS

A scatter of broken clamshells hints that an octopus is hiding under a nearby rock. Seal intestines should be rinsed with salt water before stuffing. Eating fatty king salmon can interfere with the effectiveness of some plant medicines. These are examples of the cultural knowledge of wild foods preserved by Alutiiq people. Through a year of monthly interviews and community events, the Alutiiq Museum worked with Kodiak’s most experienced harvesters and chefs to document the use of widely available wild foods.

Supported by the National Park Service.

Alutiiq Museum Exhibit

Gayla Pedersen in her kitchen with canned fish and jams.

Plant Crafts & Recipes

WORKING WITH PLANTS

Wild plants are abundant, easy to harvest, and versatile. Alutiiq herbalist Gayla Pedersen demonstrates how to collect, prepare, and cook with local greens and berries.

Produced with support from the US Fish & Wildlife Service.

Cockpit of an Alutiiq kayak collected in 1868, photo courtesy of Harvard University, Peabody Museum

The cockpit of an Alutiiq kayak collected in 1868, photo courtesy of Harvard University, Peabody Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology.

Qayat—Kayaks

ALUTIIQ BOATS

From their qayat, Alutiiq men pursued a wealth of sea mammals, fish, and birds, harvesting in the open water and along the shoreline. Learn about these lightweight, flexible boats perfectly engineered for Kodiak’s stormy waters.

A painting filled with the fish, birds and mammals found on Kodiak.

A Kodiak brown bear enjoying salmon berries.

Harvesting Traditions

HUNTING, FISHING & COLLECTING

How did Alutiiq ancestors harvest from the sea and the land, and how were different resources used?  Learn more about harvesting traditions with these short lessons from Alutiiq Traditions: An Introduction to the Native Culture of the Kodiak Archipelago.