Native Hunters Research Articles

Oxygen isotope analysis: a means for determining the seasonal gathering of the pipi (Donax deltoides) by Aborigines in prehistoric Australia

The number of theses and paper in which the question of seasonally arises (e. g. Attenbrow 1976; Bailey 1975; Bowdler 1970, 1984; Callaghan 1980; Coleman 1982; Coutts 1970; Coutts et al. 1984; Draper 1978; Gaughwin 1983; Gaughwin and Brennan 1986; Geering 1982; Hall 1980, 1982; Hope and Coutts 1971; Hotchin 1982; Jones 1971; Jones and Allen 1980; Lampert 1966, 1971; Lourandos 1980; Luebbers 1978; McBryde 1982; Neal 1981; Poinef 1976; Sullivan 1982; Vanderwal and Horton 1984) indicates the importance this factor has for prehistorians in understanding Aboriginal hunting and gathering strategies. Most studies though, have been limited by the scarcity of historical references and by the available methods of analysis. Where the archaeological evidence has been considered (e. g. Gaughwin and Brennan 1986; Hotchin 1982; Lampert 1966; Sullivan 1982) it is usually limited to the numerically scarcer components of sites, such as the bones of migratory birds and fish of which there are very few species represented, the shells of birds' eggs and occasionally some plant remains. The presence of certain seal bones can help identify when some sites were occupied (Jones 1971; Vanderwal and Horton 1984), but other osteological studies have been inconclusive (Geering 1982). Among the few attempts to analyze the shells of marine molluscs, which are the dominant component of most middens, only one study seems to have some promise (Draper 1978: Appendix 2). The other research projects have been inconclusive or have failed (Callaghan 1980; Coutts 1970; Luebbers 1978; Neale 1981 for comments on the work of Callaghan, Luebbers and Neale see Godfrey 1984). The method discussed in this paper is the first which can be successfully used to determine the times of the year that Aborigines were gathering the pipi, Donax deltoides (Plebidonax).

The impact on native mammals of land‐use changes and exotic species in the Bega district, New South Wales, since settlement

AbstractHistorical records for the Bega district were examined to chart the environmental changes wrought by Europeans through habitat alteration and the introduction of exotic species, and to interpret the impact of these on native mammals. Early recorded increases in native mammal populations, particularly koalas, may have been attributable to a decline in Aboriginal hunting pressure. After settlement in 1830, the valley forest was cleared progressively, ecosystems were altered by grazing and improved pastures, and many introduced plants became weeds in the disturbed environment. The timber industry exploited the forests of the valley and then the slopes of the surrounding mountains. Three exotic mammal species had a major impact on the district — hares, rabbits and foxes. Of the native fauna, the large and medium sized mammal species were those recorded most frequently. Dramatic fluctuations in numbers occurred in most of these species, and many reached plague proportions between 1880 and 1910, after which their numbers fell sharply. The peaks of exotic mammals and the decline of native mammals coincided with the clearing of the remaining forests in the Bega Valley. Many native mammal species are now rare, four are in danger of extinction, and at least six species have become locally extinct since settlement. As most of the native mammal populations in the district now occur in the State Forests surrounding the Bega Valley, the importance of preserving or managing these forests for wildlife must be weighed against proposals to manage the forests for pulpwood (woodchip) production.

Formal Education and Aboriginal Children

All children, black or white, learn a lot more outside the classroom than inside it. All normal children, by the time they go to school for the first time, have already learnt to speak their mother tongue, have learnt who they are and where they fit into their family or community, and have learnt a vast range of behaviours which are appropriate (and inappropriate) for members of their culture. They have learnt all these through the informal process of socialization which affects all members of every culture throughout their lives. In traditional Aboriginal society, for example, hunting and food preparation skills, the traditional law, patterns of land ownership and important stories from the past, were all learnt informally in the daily life of the family. Only some sacred knowledge would be transmitted formally in a ceremonial context.

Predation upon Filesnakes (Acrochordus arafurae) by Aboriginal Hunters: Selectivity with Respect to Body Size, Sex and Reproductive Condition

Predation upon Filesnakes (Acrochordus arafurae) by Aboriginal Hunters: Selectivity with Respect to Body Size, Sex and Reproductive Condition

Prospects for the northern Canadian native economy

AbstractMuch ink has been spilled over the future prospects of a Northern native economy based on a mix of hunting, trapping and wage work. Information on the mixed economy appeared during debates over Northern pipeline development which raged during the 1970s; though the native lifestyle came under close scrutiny during that period, sceptics remain unconvinced of the very existence, let alone the viability, of a native mixed economy. In their view a way of life based on harvesting ‘country foods’ is moribund and should give place as soon as possible to a full-fledged wage economy; those who think otherwise, including the authors of pipeline inquiries, are misguided romantics. This paper re-examines the debates over the prospects for a native hunting economy, and comes down on the side of its proponents. The author concludes that, given proper institutional support, a mixed economy should persist into the next century, and shows that the critics of the bush economy have underestimated its contribution to the welfare of Northern natives.

A Seal Hunter's Site on Tasman Island

 Tasman Island was named by Tasman in 1642 and is the site of a light - house constructed before 1906, being first lit in April that year. It is separated from the tip of Cape Pillar on Tasman Peninsula by 400 m of sea running through Tasman Passage. This is the southeastern-most extremity of Tasmania. On the gently undulating plateau surface of the island, rising to 280 m above the sea , a number of stone tools were found associated with skeletal remains of a seal( Arctocephalus sp.). The find is the first record of Aboriginal seal hunting in southeast Tasmania. Of the stone tools collected, four are made of cherty hornfels and  two are of dolerite.  The island was undoubtedly rich in food resources, mainly seals, penguins and muttonbirds.  Some edible plants occurring on the island are listed. The rugged aspect of the island and its isolation represents an extreme type of environment to be used by humans.

Native Hunting and the Migratory Birds Convention Act: Historical, Political and Ideological Perspectives

In the last twenty years restriction of native hunting of migratory birds under international wildlife law has been a source of conflict between the Canadian government and native peoples. It has been assumed by jurists, scholars and native groups that key provisions of the Migratory Bird Treaty and the Migratory Birds Convention Act (1918) were not intended to apply to native hunters when originally drafted—that violations of aboriginal and treaty hunting rights were simply overlooked by policymakers during the negotiation and legislative drafting process. This article reassesses the intentions, attitudes and motives of Canadian and American wildlife conservation policy-makers with respect to native hunting and wildlife destruction. First, the political history of the Migratory Bird Treaty is outlined, the roles played by American special-interest groups and Canadian policy-makers are defined, and the treaty negotiations are scrutinized for evidence of ‘intent.’ Second, attitudes toward native hunting and wildlife destruction held by the elite group of Canadian civil servants that lobbied for and negotiated the Treaty and drafted the Act are evaluated to clarify ‘intent’ further. Third, administrative and legislative precedents for restricting native hunting in Canada are identified and the perceptions of native hunting that underwrote them are defined. Finally, the question of ‘intent’ is explored by evaluating wildlife conservationists’ perception of native hunting against their ideology of wildlife conservation—an ideology which primarily served the economic interests and psychological needs of men in industrialized liberal-capitalist society.

Mortality of Eggs of the Crocodile Crocodylus porosus in Northern Australia

Most mortality of eggs of Crocodylus porosus in northern Australia is caused by flooding. Floods are of two types, short-term caused by the interaction of rainfall and tidal move- ments, and long-term caused by heavy rain. The duration of inundation necessary to kill eggs in laboratory experiments is longer than that normally experienced during tidal flooding, but less than that experienced during long-term flooding. Nests beside rivers are more likely to be flooded than those in swamps. Predation by varanids and humans causes fewer losses but this is probably because eggs are killed by floods in most years before predators have a chance to take them. The presence of an adult crocodile at the nest appears to deter varanids. Aboriginal hunters apparently are less efficient at finding nests in swamps than nests along rivers.

Problems of Fisheries Management in Northern Quebec

The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, signed in 1975, was designed to protect native culture and allow the Cree and Inuit to pursue their subsistence fishing and hunting almost free from government regulations. The land has been zoned: native owned, exclusive areas for native hunting and fishing, with the remaining land also available for traditional activities. Conservation is a theme of the agreement. It is the responsibility of committees with Cree, Inuit and government representatives to monitor environmental and social conditions. The Cree believe their ‘Tally-man’ system is sufficiently sensitive to ensure conservation of fish and game populations. Most fish populations are presently unex- ploited with a predominance of large old fish. These are ideal for subsistence fishing and the native peoples would like to maintain this situation. A native harvest study has revealed some unexpectedly high yields. Conflicts are possible between sports fishing and native fisheries. The agreement may serve as a model for settlements with other native groups, but it is still too early to know whether the integrity of the northern environment can be protected by such legislation.

Frog-eating behavior of wild black-capped capuchin (Cebus apella)

We know the capuchin (Cebus apella) is an omnivorous monkey; we have a considerable amount of information given by native hunters that it feeds on small-sized species of amphibians and reptiles, young birds and birds' eggs, as well as various kinds of fruit and insects. However, how the monkey discovers, captures, and eats such food has not yet been reported. Neither has it been reported that the capuchin feeds on certain species of them purposely, not accidentally.

Dorobo Hunting and Gathering: A Way of Life or a Mode of Production?

There has been much confusion and lack of definition, and in spite of the continued existence of 'pockets' of so-called Dorobo in many parts of East Africa we find ourselves beset with difficulties if we try to give a synoptic ethnological interpretation to the very numerous facts. Some would lump all the Dorobo together with the trapping tribes and call them aboriginal hunting people of a Bushman type, explaining obvious departures from that type by infiltration of Hamite and Negro blood. Others (including many Africans) think that difference between them and other tribes is simply one of culture not of origin, that the Dorobo stay a step behind, while the others, due in part to population pressure, moved from the hunting-trapping-gathering stage to that of herding or herdingplanting (Lambert, 1949/63, p. 53),

Contacts between American Whalemen and the Copper Eskimos

It has often been maintained that the Copper Eskimos did not have contacts with white men between the early eighteen fifties and the first decade of the twentieth century. The earliest recent encounters are generally believed to have occurred in 1902, when David Hanbury conducted explorations on the mainland near Coronation Gulf, and in 1905-06 and 1907-08, when Christian Klengenberg and Captain William Mogg respectively wintered on the schooner Olga at Victoria Island. Stefansson described a whaler's harpoon found by the Eskimos in a dead whale that was stranded in Coronation Gulf, but he believed there had been no direct contacts on Victoria Island before Klengenberg's meeting. Evidence does exist, however, to indicate that American whalers encountered Copper Eskimos during the last decade of the nineteenth century. Captain Hartson Bodfish, who was master of several whaling and trading vessels in the western Canadian Arctic, reported having made contact with these Eskimos long before any explorers had reached the area. These encounters may have begun as early as 1891 because, in the spring of that year, Bodfish, after wintering at Herschel Island, wrote to his mother: Just as soon as we can get out we are going, and are bound to that undiscovered country that lies to the eastward of us. In 1898, while wintering in Langton Bay near Cape Parry in the steam bark Beluga, he noted in the ship's log that one of his native hunters had left the ship in March to look for other Eskimos, and returned several weeks later with a group of them, and added: They report seeing lots of seals and whales as they came along the coast in the neighborhood of Dolphin and Union Straits. Bodfish's ethnographic collection, in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, contains at least one Copper Eskimo artifact, an ulu. The ethnographic collection of Captain Horace P. Smith, at the Old Dartmouth Historical Society Whaling Museum, also suggests an early encounter because it contains a musk-ox horn ladle with a copper rivet in the handle; this piece is similar to other ladles collected from the Copper Eskimos, and Smith's only voyage in the Canadian Arctic took place between 1892 and 1894, when he twice wintered the steam bark Narwhal at Herschel Island. ...

The Greenland fur industry

In recent years Den Kongelige Grenlandske Handel (Royal Greenland Trade Department, or RGTD) has sold about 60000 seal skins, about 4000 fox skins, and 20 to 30 Polar Bear skins annually for native hunters on the west and east coasts of Greenland. As seals predominate in the Greenland crop of skins, this paper will deal mainly with the history and conditions of the seal skin industry, and its significance for the Greenland community.

Grizzly Bear in Danger

From 1949 to 1960 the barren-ground grizzly bear was totally protected in the Northwest Territories of Canada, with the result that numbers increased and so did their range. But pressure from trappers led in 1960 to an amendment legalising die killing of grizzlies in defence of life or property, and in 1964, despite the views of wildlife biologists and organisations, another amendment deprived the bears of all protection from licensed native hunters. The author, who is Research Supervisor of the Eastern Region, Canadian Wildlife Service, and has visited the Canadian Arctic almost every year since 1949, points out that the grizzly bear population there is now so low that a relatively small amount of hunting could reduce the breeding population and lead to the extinction of this magnificent animal.

An Arctic Reindeer Industry: Growth and Decline

R EINDEER were introduced into Alaska at a crucial period: the beginning of the end of commercial whaling in the Alaskan Arctic. By 1892, when the first Siberian reindeer were transported across Bering Strait, the Eskimo along the coast of Alaska from Bering Strait north to Barrow had had some fifty years of contact with whalers and traders. But perhaps more to the point, the whalers and traders had had some fifty years to affect, directly and indirectly, the game resources basic to native subsistence. Whale populations were seriously depleted-an old story re-enacted by an industry that had already depleted most of the economic whale resources of most of -the world's oceans, at least to the extent that the technology of the time permitted. The walrus, of value for its oil and ivory, proved easy prey, and its numbers, too, were severely diminished. The introduction and rapid spread of the rifle among the natives of coastal and inland Alaska led to depletion of land game, especially the caribou. Added to this, concentration of native populations at newly established trading and whaling stations along the coast resulted in greater pressure on local game resources. Added to this, the epidemics of introduced diseases, when they did not kill, at least debilitated -the native hunter. In ail cases, native subsistence was affected. The depletion of game resources was of primary concern, and it was to remedy such a situation that the introduction of reindeer from Siberia was first proposed.' Sheldon Jackson, the one man most responsible for the reindeer program, pointed out the advantages:

The Distribution of Big Wild Mammals in the Northern Kyushu

In this report, the author defines the kind of big wild mammals to four species—Japanese bear (Ursus thibetanus japonicas), antelope (Capricornis crispus), deer (Cervs nippon) and wild boar (Sus scrofa). As the distribution of the first two species is very limited in Kyushu, the author's interest here is inclined to the distribution of the latter two animals. Thus his major problem is why the deer defenseless against the attack of mankind have been keeping greater territory—though the territory is separated in some pieces—than that of the much stouter wild boar. The major premeise the author has taken here is that, in the densely populated land as in the western part of Japan, the distribution of these large-sized wild mammals are the result of suffering defeat from mankind. In short, the reason of this distribution can be sought, not in natural but in historical factors. This is well-ascertained by documentary records written by some old Japanese herbarists and geographers. Also, the author's data, including these documents, consist of hearings from native hunters, information from investigaters and guide-books, and of his own observations. One of the most valuable resources is the stone monuments which are established by native hunters who hunted one thousand beasts. This custom is prevalent only in the northern part of Kyushu. The dates of these monuments show indirectly the definite dates of the extinct species in their vicinities—the interval of both dates is about half a century in each case. The general distribution of the big wild mammals in the Northern Kyushu, except its northwestern islands and peninsula (Nagasaki Prefecture), is given in Fig, 1. Since the bigining of the 17th Century, the large-sized, wild mammals have been driven out from the middle part of the Northern Kyushu where lie the Chikugo Plain and the Seburi Hills, to the north-west and to the south-east, In the northwestern part there are no bear nor antelope but deer and wild boar merely living in some cape-heads or isolated islands. On the south-eastern part there is a mountainland of bear and antelope, named Sobo-katamuki Range. This is the unique territory in Kyushu District where the four animals are living together. Int the same regions there are other deer territories which have no wild boar—e. g. Hikosan mountains and Kunisaki Peninsula. By more integrated research in Kunisaki Peninsula and Sobo-katamuki Range, the author has found that the selected attack of mankind to those mammals should not be neglected. For instance, the bears have been kept safely by the belief that who kills a bear must be haunted by its ghost even to postery, which has been kept till now at the foot of Sobo-Katamuki Range. On the other hand, since Meiji Era, the wild boar has been hunted more and more in many regions, because his meat began to have been tasted common since that time. Nevertheless this is a inferior condition than the ecological and topographical one, which has kept them from attack of mankind. For example, the author observes that the deer lives on steeper and savanna-like hillsides than the wild boar does, the latter of which preferes to gentle and dark bushed hills. And the latter runs slower than slower than the first, and always walks along the fixed tracks of his own, so then the native hunters skillfully follow and mark them when they hunt. On the contry, the deer climbs steeper hillside very rapidly and rushes into shrub fields for every way when he is attacked. Thus the mountainous and virgin forests are the advantageous places for them—e. g. Fukaba (Kumamoto Pref.), Kurodake (Oita Pref.) and the Sobo-Katamuki Range kept a number of deer or wild boars, only bacause in such location their enemy could hardly act quickly enough to get them.

Responses of African Monkeys to Native Stratagems

During a recent expedition to Africa to collect specimens of different monkey groups, I secured the services of a very able African hunter at Epulu (formerly Camp Putnam) in the Belgian Congo. This man was at times able to find the general location of monkey bands by giving a loud series of honking cries. On one occasion I heard a monkey respond with the same cry, and the native hunters were able to …

The Kill of Wild Geese by the Natives of the Hudson-James Bay Region

The economic plight of Indians and Eskimos in the Hudson-James Bay area is partly dependent on the numbers of wild geese nesting in or migrating through their territory. The information presented on kills indicates that the number taken by native hunters is within a safe limit of what the nesting populations of that area can withstand. Expansion of wintering grounds and inaccessibility of breeding grounds assure that wild geese will continue to be an important source of food for the northern natives.

RECENT CHANGES IN TRADE AND TRANSPORT IN WEST GREENLAND

West Greenland has long been dependent on the sea for its wealth, supplemented by a small production of coal for domestic use, and cryolite for export. While sea mammals such as seals, walrus and small whales were for long the mainstay of native hunters, changes in water temperatures in the past thirty years have brought cod into coastal waters and permitted contemporary economic expansion. Transport today is of far greater significance than formerly. The old subsistence economy supplemented by modest imports from Europe paid for by exports of seal and other oils, has given way to a modern trading economy with large imports of fuel, construction materials and a wide variety of consumer's goods. These are paid for, in part, by exports of dried, salt and frozen fish. The former small ocean-going vessels are no longer adequate, and modern passenger-cargo ships owned by the government trading company and an equal tonnage of chartered vessels are used. Modern coaster carry exports from outposts to the main harbours, which are themselves being modernized. Cryolite has been exported for almost a hundred years. That for North America is carried in chartered vessels which convey little or no cargo to Greenland. That destined for Copenhagen provides a return cargo for vessels carrying supplies to Greenland settlements. Apart from the commercial fishing by Greenlanders, there is a growing production from vessels from Norway, Denmark and the Faeroes, which are based on special Greenland harbours. These are serviced by large freighters bringing salt and other supplies and carrying away fish products. This trade is completely separate from that of Greenland proper, and it does not appear in published statistics. In recent years imports to Greenland settlements have amounted to about 50,000 tons per annum, made up approximately of coal 20%, salt 20%, and general cargo including oil fuel, 60%. Exports have been slightly larger, amounting to about 60,000 tons of which 80% by weight has been cryolite.

Acquisitions at the British Museum (Natural History)

THROUGH the kindness of the Rev. T. H. Wilson, of Inkongo in the Sankuru district of the Congo, the Museum has received a female specimen of the recently discovered peacock-like bird, Afropavo congensis. This bird was first discovered by Dr. James P. Chapin, of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, in 1936, who found two mounted examples in the Ethnological Department of the Tervueren Museum, Brussels, where they had been overlooked. Later the authorities of that Museum received further specimens from the Congo. Dr. Chapin visited the area and his native hunters brought in two more, while he himself had a fleeting view of one bird in the forest. The interesting feature of this bird is that in some of its characters it resembles the peacock, a bird which is confined to Asia. Specimens of diamondiferous gravels and concentrates have been received from the Geological Survey of the Gold Coast Colony, and Prof. Takeo Watanabé has presented a specimen of the new mineral kotoite—a magnesium borate occurring as a rock-forming mineral in limestone in Korea. A magnificent group of yellow and green zoned crystals of fluor from a mine in Weardale has been purchased and the opportunity has been taken to re-arrange the exhibit of fluor in the pavilion of the Mineral Gallery. Mr. P. M. Game, a member of the staff of the Department of Minerals, who recently returned from an expedition to West Greenland under the leadership of Dr. H. I. Drever, has brought back a collection of about three hundred specimens of rocks and minerals from Ubekendt Island, Umanak Fjord, a region in which no previous geological work had been done.