Aleut people

Aleut

Traditional Aleut dress
Total population
17,000 to 18,000
Regions with significant populations
United States 17,000 Russia 482
Languages
English, Russian, Aleut
Religion
Russian Orthodoxy, Animism
Related ethnic groups
Inuit, Yupik, Sirenik , Sadlermiut

Aleut people (ⁱ/ˈæli.uːt/) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, United States and Kamchatka Krai, Russia.

Name

The name "Aleut" comes from the Aleut word allíthuh, meaning "community." A regional self-denomination is Unangax̂, Unangan or Unanga, meaning "original people." The name Aleut was given to the Unangan by Russian fur traders in the mid-18th century.

Ivan Veniaminov lived amongst the indigenous people of the Fox Islands from 1824 to 1834, extensively studying the language and the people, and he does not equivocate on the name Unangan, writing in his journal, "The inhabitants of these islands, called 'Aleuts' by the Russians and by all the Europeans, called themselves Unangan" (p. 157). In addition to the "...general appelation, Unangan...", Veniaminof provides local names for people of various island groups of directions (eastern or western).

The word "Unangan" (plural Unanga-x) evidently translates to "Seasider" (p. 444).

Population and distribution

For specific tribal village names, see List of Alaska Native tribal entities.

Тhe Aleut people were distributed throughout the Aleutian Islands, the Shumagin Islands, and the far western part of the Alaska Peninsula, with an estimated population of around 25,000 before contact with Europeans. In the 1820s, the Russian-American Company, which administered a large portion of the North Pacific during a Russian led expansion of the fur trade, resettled many families to the Commander Islands (within the Aleutsky District of the Kamchatka Krai in Russia) and to the Pribilof Islands (in Alaska), where there are currently established majority Aleut communities. Their numbers have dwindled to about 2,000 as a consequence of disease and disruption of traditional lifestyles, though people with partial Aleut descent may number around 15,000.

History

Aleut in Festival Dress in Alaska, watercolor by Mikhail T. Tikhanov, 1818

After the arrival of missionaries in the late 18th century, many Aleuts became Christian by joining the Russian Orthodox Church. One of the earliest Christian martyrs in North America was Saint Peter the Aleut.

In 18th century, Russian furriers promyshlenniki established settlements on the islands and exploited the people.

There was a recorded revolt against Russian workers in Amchitka in 1784. It started from the exhaustion of necessities that the Russians provided to local people in return for furs they had made.

In 1811, in order to obtain more of the now commercially valuable otter pelts, a party of Aleut hunters traveled to the coastal island of San Nicolas, near the Alta California-Baja California border. The locally resident Nicoleño nation sought a payment from the Aleut hunters for the large number of otters being killed in the area. Disagreement arose, turning violent; in the ensuing battle nearly all Nicoleño men were killed. This, along with European diseases, so impacted the Nicoleños, that by 1853, only one living Nicoleña person remained. (See Juana Maria, The Lone Woman of San Nicolasa, also known as Karana)

Prior to major influence from outside, there were approximately 25,000 Aleuts on the archipelago. Barbarities by outside corporations and foreign diseases soon reduced the population to less than one-tenth this number, The 1910 Census count showed 1,491 Aleuts. In the 2000 Census, 11,941 people reported they were of Aleut ancestry; nearly 17,000 said Aleuts were among their ancestors. Alaskans generally recognize the Russian occupation left no full-blooded Aleuts. When Alaska Natives enrolled in their regional corporations under the terms of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA), the Aleut Corporation attracted only about 2,000 enrolees who could prove a blood quantum of 1/4 or more Alaska Native (including Aleut).

In 1942, during World War II, Japanese forces occupied Attu and Kiska Islands in the western Aleutians, and later transported captive Attu Islanders to Hokkaidō, where they were held as prisoners of war. Hundreds more Aleuts from the western chain and the Pribilofs were evacuated by the United States government during WW2 and placed in internment camps in southeast Alaska, where many died. The Aleut Restitution Act of 1988 was an attempt by Congress to compensate the survivors.

The World War II campaign to retake Attu and Kiska was a significant component of the operations of the Pacific theater.

Recorded revolt

In May 1784, according to Hokusa bunryaku (Japanese: 北槎聞略) written by Katsuragawa Hoshū interviewing Daikokuya Kōdayū, local Amchitka people revolted against the Russians. According to what Aleut people told Japanese castaways, otters were decreasing year by year and their share in return of furs they made also were decreasing as Russian ships stopped coming to the island. The castaways felt that the people had a sense of crisis to their situation. There were some negotiations with higher Aleut people about necessities that the Russians had run out of and that they had given to Aleuts in return for furs. After that, by Nevizimov's order, two Russians, Stepano (ステッパノ) and Kazhimov (カジモフ), killed the chieftain's daughter and Nevizimov's mistress, Oniishin(オニイシン), because Russians had doubted that Oniishin pushed islanders' back. That evening, hundreds of Aleuts started gathering on a mountain and marched to the Russians' houses. Five Russians opened fire, and Aleuts ran away. They attempted another attack the next day. They yelled and moved more quickly towards the house. Nevertheless, as Russians opened fire, they started to run away again. After they ran, Russians noticed that all the men were discussing their act on a mountain. The Russians took around forty women and children hostage while the men were not in the village. The Aleuts surrendered. Four higher Aleut people had been executed. After the incident, the Aleuts began to move from Amchitka to neighboring islands. The leader of the Russians, Nevizimov was jailed after the whole incident was reported to Russian officials.

Culture and technology

Aleuts constructed partially underground houses called Barabara. According to Lillie McGarvey, a 20th-century Aleut leader, barabaras keep "occupants dry from the frequent rains, warm at all times, and snugly sheltered from the high winds common to the area". First a rectangular pit was dug. Then it was covered with logs and poles and then sealed by dirt/mud/soil and ice and moss. Inside there would be benches along the side with the hearth in the middle. The bedrooms were at the back of the lodge.

Fishing, hunting and gathering were the only way Aleuts could find food. Salmon, seal, walrus, crabs, shellfish, cod were all caught and dried, smoked or roasted. Caribou, musk oxen, deer, moose, whale and other types of game were eaten roasted or preserved. Berries were dried or often whipped into alutiqqutigaq, which was a mixture of berries, fat and fish. The skin and blubber from a whale which was boiled was a delicacy as was walrus. These days Aleuts eat their traditional food but also with the new processed foods the outside world brought in.

Burial Practices

There are many different types of burials that have been found in the Aleutian Islands by archaeologists throughout the years. Aleutian burials are the result of dealing with the layer of permafrost known to the area and still managing to honor the dead. There are four main forms of these mortuary practices: umqan burials, cave burials, above-ground sarcophagi, and extended and flexed burials found off of communal houses.

Umqan burials are the most known type of mortuary practice found in the Aleutian Islands. Umqan burials are burial mounds that tend to be located on the edge of a bluff. They are made with stone and earth covering the mound. These burial mounds were first excavated in 1972 on Southwestern Unmak Island and date to the early contact period. The prevalence of these umqan burials in this area suggests that it is a regional mortuary practice. It may even be considered a pan-Aleutian mortuary practice.

Cave burials have been found throughout the Eastern Aleutian Islands. In the caves, the human remains are buried in shallow graves at the rear of the cave. These caves tend to be located next to middens and near villages. There has been evidence of some grave goods found in the caves. The main example has been the finding of a deconstructed boat found in a burial cave on Kanaga Island. However, there were no other major finds of grave goods in the vicinity. The caves provided a venue for the protection of the dead for the living, but they tend to be concentrated in the Eastern Aleutian Islands.

Throughout the Aleutian Islands, there have been graves found with above-ground sarcophagi. These sarcophagi are left out in the open with no attempt to bury the dead in the ground. These burials tend to be isolated incidents where the remains are that of adult males. In the Near Islands, isolated graves have also been found with the remains of the individual, and not just the sarcophagus, left exposed on the surface. This way of burying sarcophagi above ground is not as common as umqan and cave burials, but it is still a prevalent occurrence.

The last main form of mortuary practices in the Aleutian Islands is the burial of remains in areas next to the communal houses of the settlement. Human remains are abundant in these sites, and they reflect a pattern of burying the dead within the main activity areas of the settlement. These burials consist of small pits adjacent to the houses and are scattered around them. Mass graves are common for women and children in these instances. This type of mortuary practice has been mainly found in the Near Islands.

In addition to these main forms of mortuary practices, there have been other types of burials found in the Aleutian Islands. Some other forms include mummification, private burial houses, abandoned houses, etc. However, the finding of these kinds of burials is considered to not be a part of a larger, unifying tradition. These findings only represent the sites that have been excavated; there could be many other burial sites that have not been found yet, but they might be able to inform scientists further on the burial practices of the Aleutian Islands.

Despite the vast variety of types of mortuary practices, there is not an extensive grave good cultural phenomenon. The remains so far have been mainly found with other human and faunal remains. In some rare instances, there will be other objects accompanying the remains such as the deconstructed boats already mentioned. Archaeologists have been trying to dissect the absence of a great tradition of grave goods, but findings have been ambiguous and do not really help the academic community to understand these practices more.

In addition to the lack of a grave good tradition, there is not much information known about the ritual parts of burying the dead. There has not been a lot of evidence found pertaining to different rituals in these graves. This lack of ritual evidence could hint at either no ritualized ceremony used to bury the dead or one that has not made it into the archaeological record yet. As a result, archaeologists are not able to decipher the context surrounding these burials, which could help archaeologists to understand exactly why a certain type of burial was used.

There are four main types of burials found in the Aleutian Islands. These types include umqan burials, cave burials, above-ground sarcophagi, and extended and flexed burials found off of communal houses. In addition, there have been burials found in burial and abandoned houses and mummification. Aleutian burials arose from the necessity of having to bury their dead with a layer of permafrost in the ground. Despite this permafrost, the Aleut people managed to bury their dead in a variety of matters, but the context for such burials is unknown as there has been no substantial grave good tradition or ritualized ceremonial aspects of the burial that would give the said context.

Art

Traditional arts of the Aleuts include hunting, weapon-making, building of baidarkas (special hunting boats), weaving, figurine making, clothing, carving, and mask making. Ivory and woodcarving were and are prevalent crafts for Aleut men to create, too. 19th century craftsmen were famed for their ornate wooden hunting hats, which feature elaborate and colorful designs and may be trimmed with sea lion whiskers, feathers, and ivory. Andrew Gronholdt of the Shumagin Islands played a vital role in reviving the ancient art of building the chaguda-x or traditional bentwood hats. Aleut seamstresses created finely stitched waterproof parkas from seal gut, and some women still master the skill of weaving fine baskets from dune wildrye grass or Elymus mollis. Aleut arts are still very much alive today and are practiced and taught throughout the state of Alaska. Many Aleuts now live across the state and not only in the Aleutians which has helped to spread the arts of their people and to better develop methods of creating their arts. Many old methods had been lost during the periods of European contact.

Aleut carvings are distinct in each region and have attracted traders for centuries. Including early European traders and other Native Alaskan cultures. Historically carving was a male art and leadership attribute; in today’s world it is an art of both sexes. Most commonly the carvings of ivory and wood were for the purpose of hunting weapons. Other times the carvings were created to depict commonly seen animals, such as: seals, whales, and even humans.

The Aleuts use ivory in many other types of carvings. Jewelry is one of the most prominent, accompanied by sewing needles. Jewelry of the Aleuts is also specific to which region it hails from. Each clan would have a specific style to signify their origin. The ornaments used as jewelry consisted of: Lip piercings, nose piercings, necklaces, ear piercings, and piercings through the flesh under the bottom lip. Sewing needles were special to the sewer and were custom made, often with a detailed end that had animal heads.

Aleut basketry is some of the finest in the world, and the tradition began in prehistoric times.The main method of basketry used by the Aleuts was false embroidery (overlay). In this method strands are overlaid upon the basic weaving surface to obtain a plastic effect. Basketry was an art reserved for women. Early Aleut women created baskets and woven mats of exceptional technical quality using only an elongated and sharpened thumbnail as a tool. Today, Aleut weavers continue to produce woven grass pieces of a remarkable cloth-like texture, works of modern art with roots in ancient tradition.Birch bark, puffin feathers, and baleen are also commonly used by the Aleuts in basketry. The Aleut term for grass basket is qiigam aygaaxsii. One Aleut leader recognized by the State of Alaska for her work in teaching and reviving Aleut basketry was Anfesia Shapsnikoff whose life and accomplishments are portrayed in "Moments Rightly Placed."

Masks are full of meaning in the Aleut culture. For instance, the Atka people believed that another people lived in their land before them. These people are displayed through the masks created by the Atka’s. The masks show anthropomorphic creatures that are described in Aleut language. The translation is “like those found in caves” as translated by Knut Bergsland. Masks were generally carved from wood and were decorated with paints made from berries or other earthly products. Feathers were also inserted into holes carved out for extra decoration. These masks were used from ceremonies to dances to praises, each with its own meaning and purpose.

Tattoos and Piercings

The tattoos and piercings of the Aleut people demonstrated not only their accomplishments in life but their religious views. Their body art was thought to please the spirits of the animals and make any evil go away. The body orifices were believed to be highways that evil entities traveled through. By piercing their orifices, the nose, the mouth, and ears, they would stop evil entities, “Khoughkh”, from entering their bodies (Osborn, 52). Body art also enhanced their beauty, social status, and spiritual authority.

Before the 19th century, tattoos and piercings were very common among the Aleut people, especially among women. Tattooing for women began when they reached maturity, or menstruation, at about age twenty. For men, traditionally, their first tattoo was done when they killed their first animal. Sometimes tattoos signaled social class. For example, the daughter of a rich, famous ancestor or father would work hard at her tattoos to show the accomplishments of that ancestor or father. They would sew, or prick, different designs on the chin, the side of the face, or under the nose.

From Russian arrival in the Aleutian Islands in 1786 through the mid-19th century, the Russians invaded and enslaved the natives, and many of the Aleut customs disappeared. The Russians, although very intrigued by their body art, thought their piercings and tattoos were “hideous” and made the younger women believe that body art did not make them attractive. Even the Christian missionaries said they were savage looking and tried to alter how the Aleuts dressed and groomed themselves.

Piercings such as the nose pin were common among both men and women and were usually performed a few days after birth. The ornament used for the piercing was made out of various materials, a piece of bark or bone, or an eagle’s feather shaft. From time to time, women would decorate the nose pins by hanging pieces of amber and coral from strings that would dangle down to their chins.

Piercing ears was also very common. The Aleuts pierced holes around the rim of their ears with dentalium shells (tooth shells or tusk shells), bone, feathers, dried bird wings or skulls and/or amber. The use of birds was very meaningful to these people because birds were seen as defending animals in the spirit world. Sea lion whiskers worn in male’s ears represented a trophy, which meant he was a good hunter. Worn for decorative reasons, and sometimes to signify social standing, reputation, and the age of the wearer, Aleuts would pierce their lower lips with walrus ivory and wear beads or bones. The individual with the most piercings would hold the highest respect.

Aleut clothing

Imitation of the sax, a traditional Aleut coat made from bird skins and sea otter fur.

A Kamleika, or seal skin coat

The Aleut people live in one of the harshest parts of the world, so warmth is a priority. Both men and women wore parkas below the knees. The women wore the skin of seal or sea-otter and the men wore bird skin parkas, the feathers turned in or out depending on the weather. When the men were hunting on the water they wore waterproof parkas made from seal or sea-lion guts, or the entrails of bear, walrus, or whales. Parkas had a hood that could be cinched, as could the wrist openings, so water could not get in. Men wore breeches made from the esophageal skin of seals. Children wore parkas made of downy eagle skin with tanned bird skin caps. (Enthnohistory: Gross & Khera pg 33, 34). They called these parkas “Kameikas” for raingear in the English language K (Aleut Corp. Web.).

Sea-lions, harbor seals, and the sea otters are the most abundant marine mammals. The men brought home the skins and prepared them by soaking them in urine and stretching them. The women undertook the sewing (Enthnohistory: Gross & Khera pg.32). Gut sewing involved turning the intestines inside out and using a bone knife to remove the muscle tissue and fat from the walls of the intestine. The gut was then cut and stretched and fastened to stakes to dry and then made into waterproof parkas, bags, and other receptacles (Turner Ch. 5 pg. 70). On some trips the men would take several women with them and their duty was to catch the birds and prepare them for future use. They caught Puffins, Lunda Cirrhata, Fratercula Corniculata, Guillemots, and Cephus & Murres (Lucienm M. Turner pg. 70).

One parka took a year to make and would last two years with proper care. It took 40 skins of tufted puffin and 60 skins of horned puffin to make one parka. All parkas were decorated with bird feathers, beard bristles of seal and sea-lion, beaks of sea parrots, bird claws, sea otter fur, dyed leather, and caribou hair sewn in the seams. (Gross & Khera pg. 34).

Women made needles from the wingbones of seabirds and the thread was made of sinews of different animals and fish guts. A thin strip of seal intestine was also used and was twisted to form a thread. The women would grow their thumbnail extra long so they could split the threads as fine as a hair. Vermilion paint, hematite, the ink bag of the octopus and the root of a kind of grass or vine were used to color the threads.

Hunting Technologies

Boats

Main article: Aleutian kayak

The interior regions of the rough, mountainous Aleutian Islands were unable to offer much support to the Aleutian people. From the land they could meet only a few needs, such as stone for weapons, tools, stoves or lamps and grass for their woven baskets. For everything else, the Aleuts turned to the sea.

In order to hunt sea mammals and to travel between islands, the Aleuts became experts of sailing and navigation. While hunting they used small watercrafts called Baidarkas and during travel they used their large Baidaras.

The baidara (large skin boat) was a large open walrus-skin-covered boat used by Aleut families to travel from island to island, as well as to transport goods for trade and warriors to battle.

The baidarka (small skin boat) was a small boat covered in sea lion skin and was used for hunting because of its sturdiness and maneuverability. The Aleut baidarka resembled that of an Eskimo Kayak, however, it was designed to be much more aerodynamically fast which was perfect for sea hunting. A baidarka came in only two models, a one person and a two-person seat. The deck was made with a sturdy chamber, the sides of the craft were nearly vertical and the bottom was rounded. Most one-man baidarkas were about 16 feet (4.9 m) feet long and 20 inches (51 cm) wide, whereas a two-man was on average about 20 feet (6.1 m) long and 24 inches (61 cm) wide. It was from the baidarka that Aleut men would stand on the water to hunt from the sea.

Weapons

The Aleuts hunted small sea mammals with barbed darts and harpoons slung from throwing boards. These boards gave precision as well as some extra distance to these weapons.

Harpoons were also called throwing-arrows when the pointed head fit loosely into the socket of the foreshaft and the head was able to detach from the harpoon when it penetrated an animal, and remain in the wound. There were three main kinds of harpoon that the Aleut’s used: a simple harpoon, with a head that kept its original position in the animal after striking, a compound (toggle-head) harpoon in which the head took a horizontal position in the animal after penetration, and the throwing-lance used to kill large animals.

The simple Aleut harpoon consisted of four main parts: the wooden shaft, the bone foreshaft, and the bonehead (tip) with barbs pointed backward. The barbed head was loosely fitted into the socket of the foreshaft so that when the animal was stabbed, it pulled the head away from the rest of the harpoon. The sharp barbs penetrated with ease, but could not be pulled out. The bone tip is fastened to a length of braided twine meanwhile; the hunter held the other end of the twine in his hand.

The compound harpoon was the most prevalent weapon of the Aleut people. Also known as the toggle-head spear, it was about the same size as the simple harpoon and used to hunt the same animals, however, this harpoon provided a more efficient and lethal weapon. This harpoon separated into four parts. The longest part was the shaft with the thicker stalk closer to the tip of the harpoon. The shaft was fitted into the socket of the fore shaft and a bone ring was then placed over the joint to hold the two pieces together, as well as, protecting the wooden shaft from splitting. Connected to the fore shaft of the harpoon is the toggle head spear tip. This tip was made of two sub shafts that break apart on impact with an animal. The upper sub shaft held the razor stone head and attached to the lower sub shaft with a small braided twine loop. Once the tip penetrates the animal the upper sub head broke off from the rest of the shaft, however, since it was still connected with the braided loop it rotated the head into a horizontal position inside the animal’s body so that it could not get away from the hunter.

The throwing-lance may be distinguished from a harpoon because of the fact that all its pieces are fixed and immovable. A lance is formerly a weapon of war and it was also used to kill large marine animals after it has already been harpooned. The Throwing lance usually consisted of three parts: a wooden shaft, a bone ring or belt, and the compound head that was made with a barbed bonehead and a stone tip. The length of the compound head was equivalent to the distance between the planes of a man’s chest to his back. The lance would penetrate the chest and pass through the chest cavity and exit from the back. The bone ring was designed to break after impact so that the shaft could be used again for another kill.

Language

While English and Russian are the dominant languages used by Aleuts living in the US and Russia respectively, the Aleut language is still spoken by several hundred people. It is a dying language, and it is not known by many Alaskan Natives. The language belongs to the Eskimo-Aleut language family and includes three dialect groupings: Eastern Aleut, spoken on the Eastern Aleutian, Shumagin, Fox and Pribilof islands; Atkan, spoken on Atka and Bering islands; and the now extinct Attuan dialect. The Pribilof Islands boast the highest number of active speakers of Aleutian. Most of the Native elders speak it, it is very rare for an everyday person to speak the language fluently. Only about 150 people speak Aleut.

See also

• Adamagan
• Aleutian Islands
• Aleutian tradition
• Alutiiq
• Benny Benson (Russian-Aleut-Swedish) designer of the flag of Alaska
• Eskimo
• Indigenous Amerindian genetics
• Maritime Fur Trade
• Sadlermiut
• Unangan Aleut

References

• Gross, J. Joseph, Sigrid Khera. Ethnohistory of the Aleuts. Fairbanks: Department of Anthropology University of Alaska, November 4, 1980.
• Turner, M. Lucien. An Aleutian Ethnography. Ed. L. Raymond Hudson. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2008.
• Kevin, Osborn. The Peoples of the Arctic. New York : Chelsea House Publishers, 1990. 52. Print.
• Krutak, Lars (24 April 2011). Tattooing and Piercing Among the Alaskan Aleut (PDF). Quarterly Journal of the Association of Professional Piercers 44 (2008): 22. 
• Lee, Molly, Angela J. Linn, and Chase Hensel. Not Just a Pretty Face: Dolls and Human Figurines in Alaska Native Cultures. Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska, 2006. Print.
• Black, Lydia T. Aleut Art: Unangam Aguqaadangin. Anchorage, Alaska: Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association, 2005.
• Corbett, Debra G. 2001 Prehistoric Village Organization in the Western Aleutians. In Archaeology of the Aleut Zone of Alaska, edited by D. Dumond, pp. 251–266. University of Oregon Anthropological Papepers, no. 58. University of Oregon, Eugene.
• Nelson, Willis H., and Frank Barnett. 1955 A Burial Cave on Kanaga Island, Aleutian Islands. American Antiquity 20(4):387-392.
• Veltre, Douglas W. 2001 Korovinski: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Investigations of a Pre- and Post-Contact Aleut and Russian Settlement on Atka Island. In Archaeology of the Aleut Zone of Alaska, edited by D. Dumond, pp. 251–266. University of Oregon Anthropological Papepers, no. 58. University of Oregon, Eugene.

Further reading

• Black, Lydia T. Aleut Art: Unangam Aguqaadangin. Anchorage, Alaska: Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association, 2005.
• Jochelson, Waldemar. History, Ethnology, and Anthropology of the Aleut. Washington: Carnegie institution of Washington, 1933.
• Jochelson, Waldemar, Bergsland, Knut (Editor) & Dirks, Moses (Editor). Unangam Ungiikangin Kayux Tunusangin = Unangam Uniikangis ama Tunuzangis = Aleut Tales and Narratives. Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 1990. ISBN 9781555000363
• Kohlhoff, Dean. When the Wind Was a River Aleut Evacuation in World War II. Seattle: University of Washington Press in association with Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association, Anchorage, 1995. ISBN 0-295-97403-6
• Murray, Martha G., and Peter L. Corey. Aleut Weavers. Juneau, AK: Alaska State Museums, Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums, 1997.
• Reedy-Maschner, Katherine. "Aleut Identities : Tradition and Modernity in an Indigenous Fishery". Montréal, Quebec: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0773537484
• Veltre, Douglas W. Aleut Unangax̂ Ethnobotany An Annotated Bibliography. Akureyri, Iceland: CAFF International Secretariat, 2006. ISBN 9979-9778-0-9

Homes The Aleuts built there house by digging in the ground,an oblong square pit, the length of which seldom exceeds 50 ft, and the breadth twenty;but in general the dimensions are smaller.Over this excavation, they form the roof of wood which the sea throws ashore. This roof is covered first with grass, and then with earth; so that the outward appearance is like a dunghill.

External links

• Aleut Corporation
• Aleut Management Services
• Aleutian Pribilof Island Association
• Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska
• Museum of the Aleutians
• Unalaska Communities of Memory Project Jukebox