Technology

Fine-tuned through the centuries by trial and error, the Inupiaq, Yupik, and Alutiiq technology was highly adapted to survival in the sub-arctic environment. Technology was mostly geared toward the marine environment along the coast and more riverine habitats in the delta regions.

The traditional tool kit included a variety of stone, wood, bone, and ivory tools for butchering, tanning, carving, drilling, inscribing, sharpening, and flaking. The bow drill was an important tool for starting fires and drilling holes in wood, bone, and ivory. 

Women’s important household items included the versatile, fan-shaped slate knife (ulu), stone seal-oil lamp, and skin sewing implements made from stone, bone and walrus ivory. Women wove other goods, such as cords, cables, and fish line, from plant fibers and animal tissue. 

Men’s tools were associated with hunting and elaborately decorated with appropriate spiritual symbols to aid in hunting success. A sophisticated package of toggle-headed harpoons, lances, lines, and seal bladder floats were used for hunting marine mammals, from sea otters to bowhead whales. Other tools include scratching boards for attracting seals to breathing holes, bows and arrows, spears, atlatls, bolas for taking birds, and snares. Fishing gear includes hooks, nets, and traps made from branches and roots.

The skins of seals, sea lions, sea otters, bears, birds, squirrels, and marmots were all used for clothing items. Caribou hides were often used for clothing because the skins were lightweight, warm, and durable. Men, women, and children wore pants and long-sleeved parkas that reached the ankles. In winter, the Inupiaq wore two suits; the inner suit had the hair turned to the inside, and the outer suit had the hair on the outside. To further shield them from cold and wind, intestine or fish skin jackets might be worn over parkas.