Background Information of the Alaskan Inuits

This indigenous group are called "Eskimos"(meaning eaters of raw flesh) by their neighbors the Abnaki Indians, but they call themselves "Inuit" (meaning the people). They contain around 60,000 people spread out throughout Alaska. Being one of the last groups to come to North America, the Inuit came between 6,000 and 2,000 B.C. There are several cultural eras discovered by anthropologists, the Denbigh (small tool culture) began 5,000 years ago and spread westward to Alaska and Canada. Being close to the sea and living in snow, it is a high probability that the Denbigh created the first snow houses. By about 1000 B.C. the Denbigh had moved further East into the Dorset Tradition. Both cultures have been found at a site near Point Hope called Ipiutak (around 125 miles North from the Artic Circle). Point Hope has been continuously inhabited for 2,000 years, making it the oldest known Inuit settlement. Houses at the Iputak, population of around 2,000 people (around the size of a modern village at Point Hope), were around 12 feet by 15 feet with sod-covered walls and roof. Other Inuit peoples settled in part-time villages, continually developing and called Old Bering Sea Cultures. This was because they traveled by kayak in the summer and sled in the winter. The Inuit people were classified as central-based wanderers because they spent part of the year searching for food and the rest of the time at a central camp. The hunting groups contained 12 to 50 people and there were three hunting seasons (seal season, caribou season, and whale season). This continuous cycle was broken up with occasional feasts where groups from miles around came together. This all being, the Inuit culture.

Bibliography:

Jones, Sydney, "Inuit", Countries and their Cultures,
            http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Inuit.html#b (accessed April 7, 2013).