Art

Two distinctive cultural items Aleuts are especially known for are their bentwood hunting hats and grass-woven baskets. Aleut men took particular pride in their hunting hats, which they wore at sea. The hats had long visors to protect the paddler's eyes from the sun's glare. 

A hunter personally made his hunting hat from a single piece of wood bent to form a curved shape. The hat's shape was a visual symbol of the hunter's status; a short visor was worn by young and inexperienced hunters, an elongated visor by the rank-and-file, and open-crown long-visored hats by important mature men. The men often painted the hats bright colors and decorated them with bones and sea lion whiskers. The number of sea lion whiskers attached showed the hunter's success in hunting. 

Aleut women made intricate baskets and mats from rye grass. The baskets were woven in geometric patterns and decorated with dyes from berry juices. These baskets are considered among the finest in the world, with up to 2500 stitches per square inch. Some baskets are so tightly woven that they can contain water.