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2.5.4.wavInupiaq groups had very different subsistence patterns based on where they lived and the resources available. With little for edible plants in the tundra, one commonality of all the groups was a focus on meat for a large portion of their diet.
The Inupiaq along the Arctic Ocean depended on large marine mammals for much of their meat. Above the Arctic Circle, the focus was on whales. A large bowhead whale provided several tons of food. The Inupiaq, who lived on the Seward Peninsula coast, relied more on walrus. A large walrus provided several hundred pounds of meat. Walrus migrated in herds of up to 200 animals through the Bering Strait twice a year. Some herds spent the summer on the shores of the Seward Peninsula. Inupiaq hunters harpooned swimming walruses from boats and speared or clubbed the animals when they were on land.
Seals were also an important source of food for coastal Inupiaq. In spring, ringed and bearded seals spent a great deal of time sunning on the ice. Hunters stalked and speared the seals before they escaped into the water. Two men often hunted bearded seals together because of the animals' size. Later in spring, hunters hid behind blocks of ice at the water's edge and harpooned the seals as they swam past. In summer, hunters in kayaks harpooned seals at the mouths of rivers. In winter after sea ice formed, a hunter harpooned or trapped a seal when it surfaced for air.
Inland Inupiaq relied on caribou for most of their food. Studies of the Nunamiut Inupiaq found that caribou provide 90% of their diet. Caribou round-ups involved the entire population of a village. In fall and winter, they chased caribou into corrals. The people constructed long fences of willows and brush that they covered with earth and moss. Women and children hid behind the fence until the animals neared. Then they stood and frightened the animals to move them into the corral. There, the men speared the animals, shot them with bow and arrow, or snared them. In a large corral, the people could take up to 200 animals at a time.
The inland Inupiaq also snared caribou at openings in willow thickets. Where snow conditions made it feasible, they established deadfalls. They dug a hole in hard-packed snow and set sharpened stakes upright. Then, they covered the pit with thin slabs of hard snow. Caribou broke through the cover and fell on the sharp stakes. In summer, the inland people chased the animals into rivers and lakes, where they shot them using bows and arrows or speared them from kayaks. Caribou taken in late summer had skins in prime condition for clothing. Coastal people also hunted caribou, sometimes traveling far inland for this purpose.
All the Inupiaq groups supplanted their diet with fishing, game hunting, and gathering. They caught and used salmon and other available fish. In freshwater streams, they set fish weirs and traps. They caught salmon in nets as the fish proceeded along the coast on their northward migration. In winter, the people chopped holes in the ice and fished for cod with hooks and lines. They fashioned hooks from ivory or bone. They used sinew from walrus, seals, and caribou for their lines.
Inupiaq hunted other large animals, including polar and grizzly bears and Dall sheep. They also sought small game, including foxes, birds, and ducks. To catch these small animals, they used snares and deadfall traps. They caught birds with long-handled nets and with bolas. A bola is five or six short pieces of thong fastened together at one end and with a weight on the end of each piece. This is whirled, then thrown at a flock of birds. They gathered bird and duck eggs in July. Women and children picked berries in the fall and gathered roots in the spring.
1824 drawing of Inupiaq hunting caribou from kayaks
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