Cultural Succession in the Aleutians

Abstract

Pre-Russian Aleutian Culture was characterized by such typically Eskimo traits as open-sea hunting and the use of kayak like boats, gut clothing, stone knives, ivory needles with eyes, labrets (probably introduced from Northwest Coast cultures), circle-and-dot design, and others. There is evidence that in the eastern Aleutians the culture was most Eskimoid during the early phases and gradually a somewhat more differentiated Aleutian type developed under the influence of the environment. A number of traits, such as whale poisoning with aconite and the use of the semisubterranean, sod-covered house with entrance in the top, are recognized as probable direct Asiatic transfers (Heizer, 1943). The Aleut population numbered 16,000 or more persons prior to 1741 (Kroeber, 1947), and the villages, most of which were situated close to shore, occupied the majority of more than sixty islands comprising the archipelago. Abandoned sites often remain as imposing mounds whose archaeological deposits may be more than thirty feet thick.