Encyclopedia of World CulturesVolume I - NORTH AMERICA - Y pot

386 Yakima Yakima The Yakima (Pakiut'lema) lived on the lower course of the Yakima River in south-central Washington and now live with the Klickitat as the Confederated Tribes of the Yakima In- dian Reservation of Washington. They speak a Sahaptin language of the Penutian phylum and numbered over six thousand in the mid-1980s. Bibliography Daugherty, Richard D. (1973). The Yakima Peoples. Phoenix, Ariz.: Indian Tribal Series. Schuster, Helen H. (1982) . The Yakimas: A Critical Bibliogra- phy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Yankton ETHNONYMS: Nakota, Wiciyela The Yankton are one of the seven main divisions of the Siouan-speaking Dakota (Sioux) Indians. Prior to the early seventeenth century the Yankton were located in present-day southern Minnesota, where they practiced a hunting, farm- ing, and gathering way of life. During the seventeenth century they were forced by the indirect pressures of European contact to migrate from their homeland in a southwesterly direc- tion to the open plains, eventually ending up in present-day southeastern South Dakota. Beginning in the 1830s disease, declining bison herds, and hostilities with other Plains Indian groups began to take their toll on the Yankton, and the culture was in decline. About this time they numbered around three thousand people. By 1860 the Yankton had ceded all of their lands to the United States government and were settled on reservations in North and South Dakota. In the 1970s Yankton living on the Crow Creek and Yankton reservations in South Dakota and on several reserves in Canada numbered approximately forty- five hundred. With the move to the plains, bison hunting became the center of Yankton economic life, though gathering and culti- vation of maize, beans, squash, and other crops continued to be important. After acquiring horses they extended their range into the Dakotas and northern Minnesota. The Yankton were organized into eight bands, each of which was subdivided into patrilineal clans. Band governance was provided by a band council composed of a hereditary chief and clan elders. They believed in a supreme deity, Wakan Tanka (Great Spirit), and they practiced scaffold and underground burials. Bibliography Howard, James H. (1966). The Dakota or Sioux Indians: A Study in Human Ecology. Vermillion: University of South Da- kota Museum. Woolworth, Alan R. (1974). Ethnohistorical Report on the Yankton Sioux. New York: Garland Publishing. Yavapai ETHNONYMS: Apaches-Mohaves, Cruzados, Mohave-Apache The Yavapai are a Yuman-speaking American Indian group who in the late seventeenth century numbered about 1,200 and ranged over an extensive territory in present-day central and west-central Arizona. Though in contact with the Spanish as early as the late sixteenth century, Yavapai relations with Whites were limited until gold was discovered in Yavapai territory in the 1860s. By the early 1900s, after some resistance and bloodshed, the U.S. government succeeded in settling the Yavapai onto reservations. In 1978 Yavapai located on the reservations in central Arizona numbered 883. Except for some western bands along the lower Colorado River who practiced limited horticulture, the Yavapai were nomadic hunters and gatherers. Their staple food source was the agave plant, used to make mescal, and their most important animal resources, deer and rabbits, were taken in communal hunts involving men and women. Yavapai society was divided into three subtribes, each of which was further subdivided into local bands. Tribal and subtribal chiefs were lack- ing, and bands were headed by influential leaders who had distinguished themselves in warfare. A central feature of Yavapai religion was prayer, particularly for good health. Shamans who provided religious leadership were believed to be knowledgeable in the supernatural forces that influenced people's lives, and thus they were considered effective healers. Of the supernatural forces appealed to in prayers, the most important were Old Lady White Stone, who is believed to have planted all of the healing plants recognized by the Yavapai, and Lofty Wanderer, who is believed to have put the present world into order. Supernat- ural aid also came from the qaqaqe, "little people," who are recognized by some Yavapai as being like the kachinas of the Hopi. Bibliography Coffee, William R. (1972). "The Effects of the Central Ari- zona Project on the Fort McDowell Indian Community." Eth- nohistory 19:345-377. Gifford, Edward W. (1932). "The Southeastern Yavapai." University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 29:177-252. Yokuts 387 Khera, Sigrid, and Patricia S. Mariella (1983). "Yavapai." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 9, Southwest, edited by Alfonso Ortiz, 38-54. Washington, D.C.: Smith- sonian Institution. Yokuts ETHNONYMS: Mariposan, Noche Orientation Identification. The groups classified under the name "Yokuts" include some forty to fifty subtribes which are usually distinguished by three main cultural and geographical divisions, the Northern Valley Yokuts, the Southern Valley Yokuts, and the Foothills Yokuts. The name 'Yokuts" derives from a term in several of the Yokuts dialects that means "people." Location. The traditional homeland of the Yokuts was the San Joaquin Valley and the adjacent foothills of the Sierra Nevada in south-central California. Their territory extended from the Calaveras River near Stockton south to the Teha- chapi Mountains and into the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada between the Fresno and Kern rivers. The climate of the San Joaquin Valley is semiarid, with mild winters and long hot summers, especially in the south. The eastern side of the valley was characterized by extensive marshes that bordered the numerous rivers and streams flowing westward out of the mountains to the San Joaquin River. Fauna, in the form of fish, shellfish, waterfowl, and large and small game, were abundant. The foothills of the Sierra Nevada is a region of irregular and steep ridges and valleys, offering a diversity of ec- ological zones and varied plant and animal resources. Demography. Prior to European contact the Yokuts numbered in excess of 18,000 and perhaps as many as 50,000. In 1833 epidemic disease, probably malaria, devastated the Yokuts, claiming as much as 75 percent of the population. In the late 1970s the Yokuts numbered several hundred, including 325 living on the Tule River Reservation and another 100 living on the Santa Rosa Rancheria. Linguistic Affiliation. Each of the Yokuts subtribes had its own dialect, all of which belong to the California Penutian language family. In the mid-1970s only a few of the many Yokuts dialects were still being spoken. History and Cultural Relations Archaeological evidence indicates the presence of small hunter-gatherer bands in the southern part of the San Joa- quin Valley dating to at least eight thousand years ago. The aboriginal neighbors of the Yokuts included the Miwok to the north, the Costanoans, Salinans, and Chumash to the west, the Kitanemuk to the south, and the Tubatulabal and Mon- ache to the east. The Southern Valley Yokuts first encoun- tered Europeans in 1772 when Spanish missionaries pene- trated the region. Owing to the remoteness and inaccessi- bility of the region, however, both they and the Foothills Yokuts were spared intensive contact until the 1820s when Mexican settlers began to invade the area. The early contact experience of the Northern Valley Yokuts was quite different. Early in the nineteenth century many of the Northern Valley Yokuts were drawn into the Spanish mission system, and large numbers were lost to the combination of disease and cultural breakdown that was characteristic of the Spanish mission experience. Following the discovery of gold in California in 1848, White settlers flooded into the San Joaquin Valley and carried out a ruthless campaign to drive the Yokuts off their land. In 1851 the remaining Yokuts groups ceded their lands to the United States, and after resistance by Californians was overcome, a reservation system was eventually established for them. The demoralizing conditions suffered by the Yokuts gave way in 1870 to widespread but short-lived participation in the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dance promised the return of dead relatives, freedom from sickness and death, peace and prosperity, and the disappearance of Whites. By 1875 interest in the Ghost Dance had died after the new world envisioned by the cult failed to materialize. Today the descendants of the Yokuts live on the Tule River Reservation near Porterville, California, established in 1873, and the Santa Rosa Rancheria near Lemoore, California, established in 1921. Settlements The Yokuts occupied permanent residences for most of the year, a pattern that stemmed from the abundance and diversity of the plant and animal resources in their environment. Both the Northern Valley and Southern Valley subtribes made use of oval-shaped single-family dwellings constructed of a wooden pole frame covered with tule mats. The Southern Valley Yokuts also used similar, but larger dwellings that housed as many as ten families. Among the Northern Valley subtribes dwellings were scattered in an irregular pattern in close proximity to one another, and among the Southern Val- ley groups they were arranged in a single, regular row. The Foothills Yokuts followed the irregular pattern of housing ar- rangement, but dwellings consisted of conical-shaped huts thatched with pine needles, tar weed, and other locally available materials. Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. The traditional subsistence activities of the Yokuts varied from region to region but in all instances emphasized fishing, hunting, and gathering. Among the Northern Valley Yokuts the major food staples were salmon, taken in great numbers with nets and spears during fall spawning runs, and acorns, gathered in significant quantities in the late spring or early summer and fall. The hunting of waterfowl, such as geese and ducks, was also of major importance. The subsistence pattern of the South- em Valley Yokuts focused on lake and river fishing with nets, basket traps, and spears, hunting waterfowl from tule rafts, and gathering shellfish and tule roots. The Foothills Yokuts emphasized hunting deer by means of stalking, ambush, and collective drive techniques, trapping and shooting quail, and gathering acorns; fishing, employing spears, weirs, and poi- sons, supplemented this pattern during certain times of the year. The descendants of the Yokuts living on the Tule River 388 Yokuts Reservation now find employment in lumbering and farm and ranch work and derive some income from the lease of grazing lands and timber tracts. Yokuts living on the Santa Rosa Rancheria are less fortunate, with many unable to find anything more than seasonal employment as migrant workers. Industrial Arts. The Valley Yokuts depended to a consid- erable extent upon tule as a raw material for baskets, cradles, mats for rafts and house coverings, and a variety of other items. Employing twined and coil techniques, the Yokuts wove baskets of a variety of types, including cooking contain- ers, burden baskets, winnowing trays, seed beaters, and water bottles. Simple, functional pottery was produced by some Foothills Yokuts groups. Trade. The Yokuts were heavily engaged in trade with their neighbors prior to European contact. Among the variety of goods traded by the Yokuts were fish, dog pups, salt, seeds, and tanned antelope and deer hides. In return they received acorns, stone mortars and pestles, obsidian, rabbit-skin blan- kets, marine shells, shell beads, and dried sea urchins and starfish. Division of Labor. Both sexes contributed substantially to subsistence, with males primarily responsible for hunting and fishing and females for collecting shellfish and plant foods. In addition, men wove fishing nets and produced wood, bone, and stone tools; women cooked, cared for children, and wove baskets and tule mats. Land Tenure. Local or subtribal territories were owned collectively. Each member of a local group possessed rights to utilize the resources of the group's territory; however, in some instances some seed-producing areas were owned by individual women. Kinship Kin Groups and Descent. Beyond the family, the most important kinship groupings were patrilineal exogamous to- temic lineages, each of which was connected to one of two patrilineal moieties; only among some of the Foothills Yokuts subtribes was the moiety organization absent. Subtribal offices and responsibility for certain ceremonial functions passed within lineages. Moiety members had reciprocal ceremonial obligations and formed groups for opposing teams in games such as gambling, races, and hoop and pole contests. Patrilineal descent was the norm. Kinship Terminology. Valley Yokuts group kin terms followed the Omaha pattern; Foothills Yokuts terms followed the Hawaiian pattern. Marriage and Family Marriage. Marriages arranged by families were preceded by gift giving to the family of the future bride and concluded with a feast. Lineage exogamy was enforced, and moiety exogamy was favored but not prescribed. Matrilocality was customary for newlyweds, but after a year the married couple shifted residence to the husband's father's home or set up their own residence nearby in his village. Polygyny was allowed but infrequent, and divorce was an easy matter to effect by either husband or wife. Domestic Group. The basic economic and social economic unit among the Valley Yokuts was the nuclear family; among the Foothills Yokuts the extended family was the norm. Generally, each family lived separately in its own dwelling, but among some groups of the Southern Valley Yokuts as many as ten families shared a single large communal home. Inheritance. Subtribal political offices and certain ceremonial functions were inherited patrilineally within lineages. Socialization. During her first menstruation a girl was iso- lated in her home and prohibited from consuming certain foods and drinks. Subsequently, a celebratory feast was held to which neighbors were invited. No special puberty or initia- tion rite was held for boys. Adult status for both sexes was sig- nified by a group ceremony intended to bring long life, happi- ness, and prosperity. The ritual involved the consumption of a hallucination-producing decoction derived from the root of jimsonweed. Sociopolitical Organization Social and Political Organization. Among the Yokuts there was no overarching political authority uniting the numerous subtribes. Rather, each subtribe was an autonomous unit composed of one or a few villages. Leadership within the village units was provided by a headman whose position was inherited patrilineally within a particular lineage and whose responsibilities included directing the annual mourning ceremony, mediating disputes, hosting visitors, sanctioning the execution of social deviants, and assisting the poor. The headman was aided and counseled by a herald or messenger, whose position also was inherited patrilineally. Relations between subtribes were usually peaceful and cooperative, although warfare between local groups was not unknown. In some instances subtribes united in warfare against common enemies. Social Control and Conflict. Socially disruptive persons, such as shamans believed to practice sorcery, were sometimes murdered by an execution squad hired by the village headman. Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. The Yokuts origin myth depicts a world covered with water, which is transformed by the action of Eagle, who takes mud brought from the depths by an aquatic bird, mixes it with seeds, and allows it to expand to form the earth. The Yokuts believed in a variety of localized spirits, some of whom were potentially evil. Religious Practitioners. Part-time religious specialists, or shamans, with powers derived from visions or dreams cured the sick and conducted public rituals and celebrations. Most often males, the shamans were believed to be capable of using their powers for evil purposes and might be executed on sus- picion of doing so. Ceremonies. The most important of the Yokuts religious rituals was the annual mourning ceremony, a six-day rite held in the summer or fall to honor the dead who had passed away during the previous year. The ceremony, which involved the participation of visitors from other villages, included sym- bolic killing, the destruction of property, and the ritualized washing of mourners, and concluded with feasting and games. Other ceremonies included simple first-fruit rites held for various seeds and berries as they became available for harvest. Arts. The most important artistic achievement of the Yokuts was in designs woven into their baskets. Musical instruments included rattles, bone and wood whistles, and a musical bow. Music was expressed primarily as an accompani- ment to ritual activities. Medicine. Serious illnesses were treated by shamans employing supernatural powers received in visions and dreams. Cures, effected only for a fee, involved consulting with spiritual helpers and sucking the sickness-causing agents from the patient's body. Death and Afterlife. Cremation and burials were typical funeral practices for the Yokuts, with the latter becoming more common in the historical period as a result of White contact. After death the corpse was handled by paid under- takers and buried along with personal possessions with the head to the west or northwest in a cemetery outside the village. Among the Southern Valley Yokuts cremation was re- served for shamans and individuals who died while away from home. After cremation, the remains of the deceased were buried in the village cemetery. The Yokuts believed that the soul left the body of the deceased two days after burial and jour- neyed to an afterworld in the west or northwest. Following a death, close kin maintained a three-month period of moum- ing, which included ritual abstention from eating meat and burning the hair short. The Yuchi (Hughchee, Uchi), with the Westo, lived at various times in several places in the southeastern United States, from eastern Tennessee to Florida, with three main bands, one on the Tennessee River, one in northwestern Florida, and one in the middle drainage of the Savannah River in Georgia. Some of their descendants live in the northwestern part of the former Creek Indian Reservation in eastern Ok- lahoma, although the Yuchi are extinct as a distinct culture unit. They spoke a language isolate in the Macro-Siouan phylum. Bibliography Craford, James Mack (1979). "Timucua and Yuchi: Two Language Isolates of the Southeast." In The Languages of Na- tive America, edited by Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun, 327-354. Austin: University of Texas Press. Speck, Frank G. (1909). Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians. Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, University Museum, Anthropologi- cal Publications, no. 1, 1-154. Philadelphia. Yuit Bibliography Gayton, Anna H. (1948). Yokuts and Western Mono Ethnog- raphy. University of California Anthropological Records, 10, 1-302. Berkeley. Kroeber, Alfred L. (1925). Handbook of the Indians of Califor- nia. U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin no. 78. Washington, D.C. Latta, Frank F. (1949) Handbook of Yokuts Indians. Bakers- field, Calif.: Kern County Museum. Spier, Robert F. G. (1978). "Foothill Yokuts." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8, California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, 471-484. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Wallace, William J. (1978). "Northern Valley Yokuts." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8, California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, 462-470. Washington, D.C.: Smith- sonian Institution. Wallace, William J. (1978) "Southern Valley Yokuts" In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8, California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, 448-461. Washington, D.C.: Smith- sonian Institution. GERALD F. REID ETHNONYM: Asiatic Eskimos Orientation Identification. "Asiatic Eskimos" refers to those living on St. Lawrence Island in the north Bering Sea and on the adjacent Siberian shore. "Yuit" means "the real people" or "au- thentic human beings" and is comparable to "Inuit" (used among North American Eskimos); both are indigenous terms. In the 1970s the St. Lawrence Islanders applied the name "Sivuqaq" to both the entire island and the town of Gambell, and a derived term, sivu.qaxMi.t, could mean either "St. Lawrence Islanders" or "people of Gambell." Specific locality-based names were more commonly used in differenti- ating people from the various areas and clans. The Yuit are those Eskimos who speak one of the two major language groups in this broad ethnic category, namely, those living in Southwest Alaska and eastern Siberia, including St. Law- rence Island. This entry deals only with the latter two groups, the "Asiatic" (Yuit) speakers of the language variant "Yup'ik." Location. For over two thousand years the Asiatic Eski- mos have lived on St. Lawrence Island and in several scattered villages rimming the easternmost tip of Siberia, the nearest point being forty miles away. Archaeological remains have provided a rich store of artifacts highly significant in Yuit 389 Yuchi 390 Yuit theories dealing with Eskimo origins. The topography is tree- less tundra alternating with spectacular mountain scenery (especially in Siberia), and the climate is wet, cold, and frequently stormy. Demography. In the middle 1980s the population of the Asiatic Eskimos was approximately two thousand, about half living in the Siberian villages. Because of the relocation policies of the Soviet government, the Eskimos since the 1960s have been grouped with other ethnic minorities, such as the Chukchees, in larger villages intermixed with Europeans. It is impossible to estimate the precontact population with any degree of assurance. What is known is that in the late 1880s there was a calamitous decline brought on primarily from sickness and contact with crews of whaling ships. St. Lawrence Island was especially affected, its population drop- ping from an estimated sixteen hundred in the 1870s to barely six hundred following the Great Starvation of 1878- 1879. linguistic Affiliation. Asiatic Eskimos speak three dialects or distinct languages of the Yup'ik branch of the Eskimo language: Sirenikski, Central Siberian Yup'ik, and Naukan- ski. All are spoken in Siberia, with Central Siberian Yup'ik also found in virtually identical form on St. Lawrence Island. History and Cultural Relations Asiatic Eskimos are the cultural and biological descendants of highly successful hunter-gatherers who for at least a couple of millennia had been well adapted to the Arctic ecosystem. First contacts with Europeans came during Russian explora- tions of the seventeenth century and later (such as that of V. J. Bering, who in 1728 "discovered" and named St. Lawrence Island), and navigators of other nationalities soon followed. The opening of the North Pacific whale fishery after the middle of the nineteenth century brought many whaling ships, disease, new hunting equipment, and liquor into the lives of the Asiatic Eskimos. With the U.S. government's purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, a formal political boundary sepa- rated the St. Lawrence Islanders from their closest cultural relatives in Siberia, a boundary that was only infrequently observed until post-World War II animosities between the So- viet Union and the United States resulted in hostility sometimes and an "ice curtain" preventing centuries-old patterns of trade and intermarriage. In the late 1980s there occurred several friendship visits of Alaskans (including St. Lawrence Islanders) to the Siberian villages, where long-unseen relatives greeted each other and ties of common identity were renewed. Settlements Aboriginally, the Yuit lived in permanent settlements, which they left as the season dictated for hunting, fishing, or bird- catching camps nearby. For centuries the basic dwelling was a semisubterranean sod-covered, driftwood structure with a below-ground tunnel entrance designed to conserve heat. Such structures were large enough to house an extended family. During the nineteenth century Yuit living on the Siberian shore began to use the walrus-hide-covered winter structure of the nearby Maritime Chukchee, and this type of housing spread to St. Lawrence Island. For both groups, the typical summer dwelling was a skin tent in both the permanent settlements and seasonal subsistence camps. Houses constructed of imported lumber began to appear early this century in a style and of materials much less well adapted to the severe winter weather than had been the aboriginal dwellings. Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Subsistence was based primarily upon sea mammals: seals, walruses, and whales. Flesh of polar bears was only infrequently eaten, the animal being valued more for its fur and the prestige accruing to the successful hunter. Fishing, bird hunting, and gathering plants and littoral edibles supplemented the meat diet. Today the bulk of food still comes from hunting, but there is also much use of store-purchased food. All edible parts of the animals are eaten-not only flesh but also internal organs (heart, lungs, liver, intestines) and, in the case of whales and male walruses, the skin and attached fat (blubber). Animals also provided other materials vital to subsistence: from seals and walruses, skins for clothing, housing, boat covers, and ropes; from walruses, ivory for harpoon heads and sled run- ners; from whales, baleen for hunting toboggans and jaw- bones for house frames. Driftwood and various types of stones provided other principal raw materials needed for tools and housing. Except for the dog, aboriginally there were no domesticated animals. Among the St. Lawrence Island Yuit dogs are no longer kept. Today, features of the emergent material culture-rifles, aluminum boats with high-powered mo- tors, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, electronic commu- nication equipment, airplane service, the occasional calling in of helicopters and government vessels to aid in the search for lost hunters, offshore exploration for oil and other natural resources-illustrate the magnitude of change from former times. Industrial Arts. Carving and shaping of stones and ivory were highly developed for use as harpoon, lance, and arrow heads and other tools, such as knives. Sewing animal skins for clothing was principally the task of women, who used ivory or bone needles and thread derived from animal sinews. In modern times sewing and carving are done primarily for the tourist trade. The St. Lawrence Islanders, in particular, are renowned internationally for their ivory carving. Trade. Aboriginally trade between the Siberian villages and St. Lawrence Island took the form of exchanges of reindeer skins (from Siberia) for walrus hides and other animal products from the island. Because of distance, little contact occurred with Alaskan Eskimos. With the advent of European-American exploration and whaling in the North Pacific, the intensity of trade increased, the Eskimos wanting rifles and whaling gear (and, for wealthy boat captains, wooden whale boats), tools of various types, and food and liquor. The whaling and commercial ships bartered for baleen, walrus ivory, skin clothing, and the services of Eskimos during the summer whaling voyages. In the present day, trade pat- tems are predominantly those of a modern consumer culture based on monetary exchange and, to a limited extent, use of subsistence products. Division of Labor. The division of labor was simple. Be- cause of their greater physical strength, men were the hunters on the winter ice and in whaling and walrus open-boat hunting. Women contributed significantly by picking leaves, roots, Yuit 391 and stalks of vegetal products, fishing through holes chopped in the ice, and collecting anything edible found along the beach. The man's job was to provide the bulk of food (primarily meat); the woman's, to distribute seal and walrus (and other) meat brought home. Once inside the house, it was the woman's right-and responsibility-to give some meat to whomever came asking, and such distribution was always in accordance with the Yuit ethos of communal sharing. Elders, both men and women, contributed to subsistence as long as they were able; and children began early on to emulate their parents' economic activities. In today's world, much the same pattern obtains, with the exception that children, school- bound for most of the year, cannot regularly participate in subsistence pursuits. Land Tenure. Aboriginally land was not 'owned" de juris by a person or family. "Use-ownership" is the best term to apply to the habitual use of a particular camping site or resi- dential location in a village by a given family, and such propri- etary interests were socially recognized and accepted. The sea and its faunal bounty, not the land and its products, were the key environmental features elaborated in the culture. Kinship Kin Groups and Descent. The Asiatic Yuit are unique among Eskimo groups in having clans. On St. Lawrence Is- land the clans-each with a distinctive name-continue to function in selection of marriage partners, composition of boat crews for hunting, transmission of the "name soul" to newborn clan members, and social support of all kinds. Clan names usually were derived from traditional camping areas; for example, the 'Meruchtameit" are the "people of Meruchta," a hunting site used for centuries by a particular family group. One of the St. Lawrence clans, the "Aima- ramka," is composed of people- whose forebears migrated from Siberia, and extended family relatives and fellow clansmen are still found in the nearest coastal Siberian village. De- scent was and continues to be patrilineal. Through life a person remains a member of his or her clan of birth. Even though marriage was clan-exogamous, women maintained certain social and religious ties and practices with their natal group. Kinship Terminology.In addition to clans, the overall pattern of terms used to designate kin also significantly separates the Yuit from most other Eskimo groups. Although the more widespread Eskimo pattern designates all cousins by a single term-as is done in American society-the Asiatic Yuit fol- low a different model, that of the Iroquois terminological system. Behavior toward one another expected of cross cousins is culturally structured to be the familiar "joking relationship," and patrilineal parallel cousins show unstinting support and help for one another. So close is that relationship, in fact, that the terms for brother and sister are used interchange- ably with those for a patrilineal parallel cousin. Relations between a person and his or her mother's sister's children, although not as close as those with patrilineal parallel cousins, are still supportive and nurturant. The Yuit also had the institution of fictive "brothers," by which two unrelated men engaged in drumming and singing contests as well as exchange of goods and sexual access to the partner's wife. Marriage and Family Marriage. Traditionally marriage, clan-exogamous, was arranged by elders of the two families involved, an agreement for the union sometimes being formalized during the child- hood of the two young people. There was no formal marriage ceremony, marriage had no religious connotations, and the only ritual involved was that the groom's family customarily took a sledload of gifts to the home of the bride. Residence was matri-patrilocal. For the first year or so the groom lived with his wife in the house of his parents-in-law and performed .groom-work" by helping his father-in-law in hunting and household maintenance. After a year the young couple- accompanied by a reciprocal sledload of gifts-returned to take up permanent residence in the groom's family's household. Divorce was socially recognized although not marked by any formal ritual. The wife simply moved out of the husband's (or husband's family's) house. A divorce posed prob- lems of affiliation and loyalty for children involved, since they belonged to their father's clan. A woman usually would return to the home of a clansman, sometimes with younger children accompanying her. Domestic Unit. The household was usually composed of an extended family of parents, younger married sons and their wives and children, and unmarried children. Older married sons would usually establish their own households as demands on space in the parental home expanded. They would always, however, build their dwelling close to the parents' home. Thus a settlement would consist of several enclaves or neighborhoods of clansmen, a pattern still found, although changing. Inheritance. Material objects, such as tools, weapons, sewing and cooking utensils, and clothing, were passed on to appropriate users in the family. A boat was inherited by the eldest son. Nonmaterial property was also recognized; for example, the composer of a song was considered its "owner" and it could not be sung without his permission. Socialization. Child rearing among the Yuit conformed to the pan-Eskimo pattern of extreme permissiveness in the first two to three years. Few demands were made on the child for adherence to toilet training, obedience, or delaying of gratifi- cation; and the implicit goal was that of building deep self- confidence and self-reliance. From four to five years of age onward, the child gradually internalized models for appropriate behavior and self-restraint observed in the familial environment. Sociopolitical Organization Social and Political Organization. No autonomous insti- tutionalized political or legal system existed. There were no formal "chiefs" or communitywide leaders, and "legality" in- hered in diffuse, established norms for conduct understood by all. Clans were the principal social mechanism by which interpersonal predictability and control of disruptive behavior were accomplished. Social Control. If a dispute did not appear resolvable ami- cably by the disputants themselves, elders of the extended family or clan groups involved would adjudicate the issue in an effort to prevent its escalating into interclan violence. Great respect was accorded age and seniority. Sometimes, as 392 Yuit in other Eskimo groups, an argument would be settled by a .song contest" (the famous "nith" contests), in which the plaintiffs, in front of an audience, performed newly composed songs insulting their opponents. The winner of the argument was decided by the relative plaudits of public acclaim. In addition to song duels, wrestling matches between two male disputants were also commonly used in the service of justice. Such controlled fighting was never allowed to lead to the death of the opponent. A less overt form of anticipatory behavior control was verbal. In any small community, gossip and innuendo critical of a person's actions always get to the ear of the offender. The basic value all such means of social control implemented was the overriding importance of main- taining intragroup harmony and ties of supportive social re- ciprocity-the stem challenges to survival presented by na- ture itself underscored the need for cooperation rather than conflict. The most tangible social value contributing to group cohesiveness was sharing food if another household was in need, no matter how small the animal. Clansmen customarily still share the goods of life with relatives without waiting to be asked. Such widespread sharing practices constituted a form of social insurance against the unpredictable fortunes of the morrow. Conflict. Beyond relations among clans within a single settlement, there were occasional armed conflicts between villages. In the past such conflicts periodically occurred between the St. Lawrence Islanders and Siberians from the nearest villages (during lulls in the otherwise amicable trading relations). Informants' accounts still tell of raiding parties, walrus-hide armor, and special bow-and-arrow fighting techniques. In the years immediately following World War 11, such animosities were inflamed by cold war politics on each side of the strait, and only recently have visits celebrating friendship and common cultural identity been possible. Since establishment of national political infrastructures in both the Soviet Union and the United States and the gaining of state- hood for Alaska, local legal and governmental structures re- flect national policies and processes. Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. The Yuit world was highly animistic. Al- most everything observable had an indwelling spirit as its real substance, its owner. Not only did humans have a name soul, an immortal personality that could pass into the body of a newborn infant and become that person; but there were other spiritual dimensions as well, such as the breath soul, whose leaving marked the material death of the person. All animals important to survival-seals, walruses, whales, polar bears- had humanlike souls, which had to be appeased before and after the hunt to keep their goodwill. Aside from souls inhab- iting living bodies, there were spirits of rocks and other natural features-a flame, the air, the sea, a mountain-as well as disembodied, free-floating spirits, some of which were malev- olent to humans. Frequently they were the instruments of misfortune and disease (one cause being theft or wandering of the soul). Sometimes they acted on their own volition; sometimes they were directed toward evil ends by a witch or sorcerer. In modem times, Christian (or, in the Soviet Union, atheistic) beliefs and practices have largely replaced aboriginal spiritual conceptions. Religious Practitioners. The principal spiritual protago- nist against witches or the threat of disease was the shaman. (In Yup'ik, the term for this familiar religious figure is aligi- nalre). The shaman was the religious functionary who had obtained power through a period of deprivation on the tundra during which he was visited by spirits who would agree to become his helpers in the seance that was part of every healing or divinatory ritual. At the end of such a ceremony (always attended by the patient's family), the shaman would sacrifice tiny bits of valuable goods offered in payment by the family- for example, walrus-hide rope, seal blubber, reindeer hide, to- bacco. The shaman's spiritual helpers as well as the supreme being (familiarly called Apa, or "grandfather") were paid for their assistance by the small pieces of payment goods being thrown into the flame of a seal-oil lamp and accompanied by prayers. During the seance, which was conducted in a darkened room, the shaman would sing to the beat of a tambourine drum. The language used, mainly archaic words and neolo- gisms, created an aura of belief in the shaman's powers. The purpose of such drumming, singing, and dancing was to transport the shaman's soul into the spiritual world to dis- cover the cause of the problem. Once the soul had returned from the search, there would be a dramatic struggle between the shaman and the witch or spirit causing the disease or misfortune. The entire scene-dim and eerie light, other-worldly singing, the throbbing drum, ventriloquially produced sounds appearing to come from all corners of the room-was highly conducive to belief in the shaman's powers. It strongly rein- forced compliance with instructions laid down for the patient's and the family's behavior, such as not working for a given period oftime and wearing particular amulets on clothing. Aside from using the (unbeknownst to him) powers of psychological medicine, the shaman might also prescribe eating certain types of foods or using particular folk medicinal remedies. Ceremonies. Aside from social rituals accompanying trade gatherings, ceremonialism was largely directed at main- taining proper relations with the animal world and preventing or ameliorating baleful actions of witches and malignant spirits. Proper treatment of the souls of animals was particularly important, both in small-scale and major ceremonies. If, for example, animals were not implored prior to the hunt to offer their flesh for human consumption and were not properly thanked after the kill (say, by a seal's not being given a drink of fresh water by the wife of the household when the carcass enters the house), that soul would tell other seals not to let themselves be killed by humans. Offering prayers, practicing taboos and behavioral restrictions (by both the hunter and his wife), and wearing special clothing and amulets were important accessories to the hunt. Major ceremonies of thanks- giving were conducted after the killing of walruses and polar bears; and for whales, elaborate rituals in preparation for the forthcoming hunt, presided over by the boat captain and his wife and attended by the entire boat crew, were enacted as well. Arts. Drumming, singing, and dancing were not confined to the shamanistic seance. They were common forms of en- tertainment generally, along with telling stories and myths. Ivory carving and needlework were highly developed, as were such children's amusements as string-figures. Yurok 393 Medicine. Folk medicine used both plant and animal products to relieve symptoms and assist curing. For example, a widespread remedy for aches and pains was an infusion of willowbark in water; the salicylic acid thus obtained is the ac- tive ingredient in aspirin. Pieces of blubber were applied to a wound to staunch the flow of blood, as was fresh human urine. Prior to contact with outsiders and the contagious dis- eases they brought, death and disability came primarily from hunting accidents and aging. Since the turn of the century the Yuit have been served by modem Soviet and American medicine. Death and Afterlife. There were no consistent beliefs about an afterlife. The reincarnation of the name soul into a newborn's body was the single most important (and most uniformly held) belief relating to an afterlife. Bibliography Hughes, Charles C. (1984). "Saint Lawrence Island Es- kimo." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 5, Arctic, edited by David Damas, 262-27 7. Washington, D.C.: Smith- sonian Institution. Hughes, Charles C. (1984). "Siberian Eskimo." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 5, Arctic, edited by David Damas, 247-261. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institu- tion. VanStone, James W. (1984). "Southwest Alaskan Eskimo: Introduction." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 5, Arctic, edited by David Damas, 205-208. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Yevtushenko, Yevgeny. (1988). Divided Twins: Alaska and Si- beria. New York: Viking Penguin. CHARLES C. HUGHES Yuki The Yuki, including the Coast Yuki (Ukhotnom) and the Huchnom (Redwoods), live on the northwest coast of Cali- fomia between the Wailaki and the Pomo, and in the upper drainage of the Eel River. They spoke languages of the Yukian family. They probably now number less than fifty, living with the Wailaki, Nomlaki, and Pomo on the Round Valley Indian Reservation. Bibliography Miller, Virginia P. (1978). "Yuki, Huchnom, and Coast Yuki." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8, Cali- fornia, edited by Robert F. Heizer, 249-255. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Yurok ETHNONYMS: Alequa, Aliquois, Eurocs, Kanuck, Kyinnaa, Polikla, Tiamath, Ulrucks, Weits-pek, Youruk, Yurock Orientation Identification. The name 'Yu-rok" is said to be derived from the language of their neighbors, the Karok, who referred to these people as "Yuruk," meaning "downriver." Later eth- nologists referred to Yurok language as Weitspekan. It appears that the Yurok had no name for themselves, but rather used the names of their towns when matters of affiliation were concerned. Location. The ancestral home of the Yurok was on the northwest California Pacific coast, on the lower forty-five miles of the Klamath River. The remaining contemporary Yurok share the Hoopa Valley reservations in Humboldt and Klamath counties on this same part of the California coast with the Hupa. Persons of Yurok ancestry live throughout California, as well as in their ancestral territory. Demography. As of 1970, it was reported that full-blood Yuroks were very few, though persons of direct ancestry numbered between three thousand and forty-five hundred. This is larger, it appears, than native, pre-1850 population figures, placed at about fifteen hundred; Kroeber felt that it had certainly not been any higher than twenty-five hundred. Linguistic Affiliation. Early twentieth-century linguists classified Yurok as an Algonkian language, but some scholars claim this affiliation cannot be confirmed. The Yuroks, as late as the 1970s, asserted that there were minor variations in dialect between men and women, between families (especially rich versus poor), and among Yurok villages. In 1917, when Yurok was still commonly spoken, Kroeber recognized three separate regionally specific dialects within Yurok territory. History and Cultural Relations The few archaeological investigations in the Yurok area indi- cate Yurok presence there in late prehistoric times. There was no known historic contact between the Yurok and Europeans prior to 1775, when they were visited by the Spanish. Fur traders from the Hudson's Bay Company ventured into the Yurok area in 1827, and gold rush prospectors entered the lower Klamath River area in 1850-1851. The first Anglo- European settlement began around 1852. There was consid- erable violence between the Yurok and the gold seekers during this era. After 1855, however, the Yurok were protected by military and government officials in the area. Prior to the advent of Europeans, the Yurok interacted primarily with the Hupa and the Karok, who shared a common northwestern California coast lifestyle. On their periphery, there were contacts with other groups, including the Wiyot, Chilula, Chimariko, Shasta, Tututni, Chetco, and Tolowa. There were extensive kinship and economic ties between the Yurok and their neighbors, yet the Yurok, Hupa, and Karok were fiercely territorial. They would visit one another's villages for ceremonies, but were generally self-sufficient within their territories, except for obsidian and dentalium shell that were obtained through trade. The Yurok were obsessed with amassing 394 Yurok and holding wealth and often sued or demanded tribute from other Yuroks or their neighbors for a variety of infractions. Feuds were fought between Yurok villages, and the Yuroks waged wars, albeit small-scale ones, with the Hupa, Chilula, and Tolowa. Tribute was often extracted by the Yurok, but there was also a complex system of compensation for damages inflicted in feuds between Yurok families or villages. Compensation was usually in the form of strings of dentalium shell used by the Yurok as a measure of currency and wealth. Settlements All Yurok settlements were either on the Klamath River, up to about thirty miles inland, and extending about twenty-five miles down the seacoast from the mouth of the Klamath. Kroeber described Yurok habitation as occurring in villages, the latter numbering about fifty-four. Most were on high ter- races of the Klamath, though others were at lower elevations near the mouth of the river (for example, from elevations of about two hundred feet to twenty feet above sea level). The wood plank houses within Yurok villages were named according to their topographic location, size, ceremonial frontage, or position. Though there was no formal village plan, these villages, with their typical square houses, were usually tightly clustered. Sweat houses were placed both within the residen- tial area and on its periphery. Although few data exist on the population of these villages, there is an 1852 census, which indicates a range of two to thirty houses per village, though seventeen villages (of the twenty-three recorded in that year) had seven or eight houses or fewer. Yurok villages held communal property, such as acorn groves, or claimed rights to certain waters for whaling. There were distinct boundaries between the properties held by one village and those of an adjacent Yurok village. Villages functioned as units in warfare or feuds and would also host ceremonies, providing the regalia and food for guests. Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Subsistence tasks involved fishing, hunting, and gathering. Salmon was certainly the most important food source. Using nets, har- poons, weirs, and specially built platforms, the Yurok obtained large numbers of salmon in the spring and autumn runs. Yurok families often had a ton of dried salmon hanging from the house rafters. They also stored the dried salmon in baskets, separating each layer of fish with aromatic tree leaves; they believed the leaves "kept out the moths" (moth larvae would have eaten the fish), although the leaves may have added flavor to the dried fish. Other fish obtained by the Yurok included eels and sturgeon. They also hunted sea lions and prized the meat from stranded whales. Shellfish were collected, as were wild grass seeds, bulbs, and water lilies. Salt was extracted from seaweed. Deer were hunted with the use of dogs and were usually snared rather than shot. Acorns were collected in the fall from groves usually owned by the village, but sometimes individually owned; some oak groves away from the river or between Yurok villages were said to be open to "everybody." Specific rights were held for certain fishing spots, and conflict often erupted if a spot was used without authorization or if a new fishing locale was established down- stream. These were time-honored rights, often inherited within family groups. Contemporary Yurok of both sexes work today as state and college bureaucrats, teachers, military officers, nurses, ac- countants, and in the fishing and lumber industries. Industrial Arts. The Yurok were skilled workers of redwood for house planks, boats, paddles, storage boxes, and hunting and fishing devices. Basket weaving was also a major craft, with basketry items used as baby carriers, storage con- tainers, and mush-cooking vessels. Surviving obsidian tools and salmon-butchering knives of flint also attest to their skills in chipping stone. Shells were strung on long cords to serve as currency. There seems to have been little craft specialization, aside from some men who traditionally made boats. Trade. Obsidian did not occur within Yurok territory and had to be obtained from Medicine Lake, where it was quarried by the Achumawi and then traded through the Shasta and Karok before reaching the Yurok. Given the role of large obsidian bifaces in Yurok ceremony, this was a vital trade item. Additionally, dentalium shell, prized as Yurok currency, was traded down the Pacific coast from deep-water beds at the north end of Vancouver Island. The Yurok traded redwood boats of their manufacture to the Hupa, Tolowa, and Wiyot. Division of Labor. Shamans could be either men or women. Men traditionally were the hunters, salmon fishers, and woodworkers. Women gathered shellfish and plant foods and used twined burden baskets for gathering firewood. Chil- dren collected acorns, roots, edible berries, and wild potatoes. Rich men manufactured ceremonial regalia, and some men specialized in boat making. Land Tenure. Towns were usually inhabited by groups of related individuals and their families. Subsistence areas, such as fishing spots or acorn groves, could be owned by the town, by a group of men, or by an individual. Well-defined territorial boundaries existed between the Yurok and their neighbors, though some areas were open to all peoples or were neutral areas, and some were sacred zones. In 1875, nearly all of Yurok territory was placed in Humboldt County; today the Hoopa Valley reservations total more than eighty-seven thousand acres. Kinship Kin Groups and Descent. Kroeber thought that patrilineal kin groups existed among the Yurok, but were undesig- nated and unrecognized by them. Kinspeople were spread through Yurok towns and never organized as circumscribed groups such as clans or tribes. Bilateral kinship must have also been present, so that, in Kroeber's words, "a definite unit of kinsmen acting as a group capable of constituted social action did not exist." Descent groups were traced according to the name of its house site in a particular town, and by the late 1960s, Yurok descent groups were labeled as "families." A "house group," as precontact Yurok descent entities might be called, owned rights to certain land, houses, and ceremonial regalia. Kinship Terminology. Murdock has suggested that the Yurok are one of several California groups with Hawaiian- type kinship systems. Yurok 395 Marriage and Family Marriage. Kroeber notes that the Yurok married "whom and where they pleased." In the small Yurok villages, however, exogamy was a necessity, but endogamy was common in the larger villages. Social status of the married couple depended on the amount paid for the bride; men of wealth paid great sums, enhancing their rank in the community as well as that of their children. Whether the man was rich or poor, Kroeber relates, "the formality of payment was indispensable to a marriage." In the 1850s, most Yurok married couples lived with the husband's family, with their children having primary affiliation with this house (a "full marriage" in Yurok terms). A much smaller number of couples maintained permanent residence with the wife's family, with the children subsequently linked to that family (to the Yurok, a "half marriage"). Di- vorce could be initiated by either party, but if the man was the instigator, he had to refund the payment made for his wife. If the woman was the initiator, her kin would have to compen- sate the husband. If the woman wanted to take any children from the marriage, the husband had to be compensated. Ste- rility on the part of the woman was the most frequent ground for divorce. Inheritance. A man's estate went largely to his sons, though the daughters were expected to have a certain share. Additionally, male relatives expected to receive some portion of the estate. Socialization. Fathers trained their sons to be hunters and warriors, and it is said that daughters were taught by their mothers to be diligent housewives. Children were also taught to be "merry and alert." Sociopolitical Organization Social Organization. Yurok society was socially stratified. Persons of wealth, or "aristocrats," were clearly distinguished from "commoners" and the "poor." The aristocrats wore clothing of high style, performed most religious functions, and had a distinctive manner of speech, said to be "rich in its expressiveness." They also owned heirlooms, such as fifteen- inch obsidian bifaces and albino deerskins. Their wealth ena- bled them to hold dances, providing regalia and food. Other aristocratic "treasure" included many strings of dentalium shell as well as woodpecker scalps. Slavery existed among the Yurok, though it was not an important institution; men became slaves largely through indebtedness. Political Organization. Although the basic political unit was probably the village, Kroeber reported no sense of community and no encompassing political entity. Only kinship ties at times united some people in separate villages. There were no chiefs or leaders, although a man could sometimes gain importance through great wealth. Social Control. Since there was no political organization, there existed no central authority. Nevertheless, the Yurok had a series of eleven principles, or "laws," enumerated by Kroeber. The individual had all rights, claims, and privileges; if someone carried out a violent act, there was an elaborate network of compensation claims that could be applied, for example, to an act of revenge. Indeed, the bulk of Yurok law in- volves the various levels of liability related to any offense. The concept of full compensation involved negotiation and litiga- tion and thus served as the major factor of social control in Yurok life. Conflict. Disputes could arise among individuals over fishing rights, boundaries of territories, and adultery. So-called warfare involved feuds between large groups of kinsmen in Yurok villages. Raids and retaliation for such raids took place between the Yurok and their neighbors, such as the Hupa. After raids, however, compensation-settlement for damages that occurred-was always required. Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. Yurok myths ascribed creation to Woh- pekumew, "widower across the ocean." Their world was thought to float on water, and, as Kroeber related, "at the head of the river in the sky, where the Deerskin dance is danced nightly, are a gigantic white coyote and his yellow mate." Yurok dances expressed their beliefs. The motive of such dances was to renew or maintain the world, beginning with the reciting of long formulae, after which a dance en- sued. Dances were of various lengths, but could last ten or more days. Each dance had a strict style of regalia, and the wealthy would display their treasures. There were two main kinds of dances: the White Deerskin Dance and the jumping Dance. The latter usually followed the White Deerskin Dance, and the ceremonies related to the dances intensified as each day passed. A Deerskin Dance also marked the most famous ceremony of the Yurok, the building of a salmon dam at Kepel in early autumn. This preceded the Yurok's first salmon ceremony, held at a small village near the mouth of the Klamath River each April. After days of recitation by a formulist, a salmon was cooked and ritually consumed, thus signifying the opening of the fishing season for upstream Yurok villages. Religious Practitioners. Among the Yurok were formu- lists, usually old men who could recite formulae for various events, such as releasing a person from corpse contamination. The Yurok also believed in sorcerers who caused various evil occurrences. Women usually functioned as "doctors," or shamans. They relieved "pain" for high fees; unsuccessful shamans were not killed as they were in some other California In- dian groups. True to Yurok law, they were, however, liable for several forms of compensation if the patient died or remained il. Ceremonies. In addition to the dances noted above, the Yurok also held "brush dances," apparently designed to cure a sick child, but also held when younger men in the village de- sired a holiday. The other dances were once held annually but later took place only in alternate years. The last first salmon ceremony took place around 1865. The other dances have not been performed in Yurok territory since 1939, although Pilling has described a revival of Yurok ceremonialism in the 1970s. Arts. Only men could dance in Yurok ceremonies, and some served as singers who constantly composed new songs during the dances. Medicine. Women "doctors," or shamans, smoked pipes as part of curing rituals, which also involved sucking out the patient's pain. Disease was caused by breaking taboos or ceremonial regulations. Late in the nineteenth century and early . the consumption of a hallucination-producing decoction derived from the root of jimsonweed. Sociopolitical Organization Social and Political Organization. Among the Yokuts there was no overarching political authority uniting the numerous subtribes. Rather, each subtribe was an autonomous unit composed of one or a few villages. Leadership within the village units was provided by a headman whose position was inherited patrilineally within a particular lineage and whose responsibilities included directing the annual mourning ceremony, mediating disputes, hosting visitors, sanctioning the execution of social deviants, and assisting the poor. The headman was aided and counseled by a herald or messenger, whose position also was inherited patrilineally. Relations between subtribes were usually peaceful and cooperative, although warfare between local groups was not unknown. In some instances subtribes united in warfare against common enemies. Social Control and Conflict. Socially disruptive persons, such as shamans believed to practice sorcery, were sometimes murdered by an execution squad hired by the village headman. Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. The Yokuts origin myth depicts a world covered with water, which is transformed by the action of Eagle, who takes mud brought from the depths by an aquatic bird, mixes it with seeds, and allows it to expand to form the earth. The Yokuts believed in a variety of localized spirits, some of whom were potentially evil. Religious Practitioners. Part-time religious specialists, or shamans, with powers derived from visions or dreams cured the sick and conducted public rituals and celebrations. Most often males, the shamans were believed to be capable of using their powers for evil purposes and might be executed on sus- picion of doing so. Ceremonies. The most important of the Yokuts religious rituals was the annual mourning ceremony, a six-day rite held in the summer or fall to honor the dead who had passed away during the previous year. The ceremony, which involved the participation of visitors from other villages, included sym- bolic killing, the destruction of property, and the ritualized washing of mourners, and concluded with feasting and games. Other ceremonies included simple first-fruit rites held for various seeds and berries as they became available for harvest. Arts. The most important artistic achievement of the Yokuts was in designs woven into their baskets. Musical instruments included rattles, bone and wood whistles, and a musical bow. Music was expressed primarily as an accompani- ment to ritual activities. Medicine. Serious illnesses were treated by shamans employing supernatural powers received in visions and dreams. Cures, effected only for a fee, involved consulting with spiritual helpers and sucking the sickness-causing agents from the patient's body. Death and Afterlife. Cremation and burials were typical funeral practices for the Yokuts, with the latter becoming more common in the historical period as a result of White contact. After death the corpse was handled by paid under- takers and buried along with personal possessions with the head to the west or northwest in a cemetery outside the village. Among the Southern Valley Yokuts cremation was re- served for shamans and individuals who died while away from home. After cremation, the remains of the deceased were buried in the village cemetery. The Yokuts believed that the soul left the body of the deceased two days after burial and jour- neyed to an afterworld in the west or northwest. Following a death, close kin maintained a three-month period of moum- ing, which included ritual abstention from eating meat and burning the hair short. The Yuchi (Hughchee, Uchi), with the Westo, lived at various times in several places in the southeastern United States, from eastern Tennessee to Florida, with three main bands, one on the Tennessee River, one in northwestern Florida, and one in the middle drainage of the Savannah River in Georgia. Some of their descendants live in the northwestern part of the former Creek Indian Reservation in eastern Ok- lahoma, although the Yuchi are extinct as a distinct culture unit. They spoke a language isolate in the Macro-Siouan phylum. Bibliography Craford, James Mack (1979). "Timucua and Yuchi: Two Language Isolates of the Southeast." In The Languages of Na- tive America, edited by Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun, 32 7-3 54. Austin: University of Texas Press. Speck, Frank G. (1909). Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians. Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, University Museum, Anthropologi- cal Publications, no. 1, 1-1 54. Philadelphia. Yuit Bibliography Gayton, Anna H. (1948). Yokuts and Western Mono Ethnog- raphy. University of California Anthropological Records, 10, 1-3 02. Berkeley. Kroeber, Alfred L. (1925). Handbook of the Indians of Califor- nia. U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin no. 78. Washington, D.C. Latta, Frank F. (1949) Handbook of Yokuts Indians. Bakers- field, Calif.: Kern County Museum. Spier, Robert F. G. (1978). "Foothill Yokuts." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8, California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, 47 1-4 84. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Wallace, William J. (1978). "Northern Valley Yokuts." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8, California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, 46 2-4 70. Washington, D.C.: Smith- sonian Institution. Wallace, William J. (1978) "Southern Valley Yokuts" In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8, California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, 44 8-4 61. Washington, D.C.: Smith- sonian Institution. GERALD F. REID ETHNONYM: Asiatic Eskimos Orientation Identification. "Asiatic Eskimos" refers to those living on St. Lawrence Island in the north Bering Sea and on the adjacent Siberian shore. "Yuit" means "the real people" or "au- thentic human beings" and is comparable to "Inuit" (used among North American Eskimos); both are indigenous terms. In the 1970s the St. Lawrence Islanders applied the name "Sivuqaq" to both the entire island and the town of Gambell, and a derived term, sivu.qaxMi.t, could mean either "St. Lawrence Islanders" or "people of Gambell." Specific locality-based names were more commonly used in differenti- ating people from the various areas and clans. The Yuit are those Eskimos who speak one of the two major language groups in this broad ethnic category, namely, those living in Southwest Alaska and eastern Siberia, including St. Law- rence Island. This entry deals only with the latter two groups, the "Asiatic" (Yuit) speakers of the language variant "Yup'ik." Location. For over two thousand years the Asiatic Eski- mos have lived on St. Lawrence Island and in several scattered villages rimming the easternmost tip of Siberia, the nearest point being forty miles away. Archaeological remains have provided a rich store of artifacts highly significant in Yuit 389 Yuchi 390 Yuit theories dealing with Eskimo origins. The topography is tree- less tundra alternating with spectacular mountain scenery (especially in Siberia), and the climate is wet, cold, and frequently stormy. Demography. In the middle 1980s the population of the Asiatic Eskimos was approximately two thousand, about half living in the Siberian villages. Because of the relocation policies of the Soviet government, the Eskimos since the 1960s have been grouped with other ethnic minorities, such as the Chukchees, in larger villages intermixed with Europeans. It is impossible to estimate the precontact population with any degree of assurance. What is known is that in the late 1880s there was a calamitous decline brought on primarily from sickness and contact with crews of whaling ships. St. Lawrence Island was especially affected, its population drop- ping from an estimated sixteen hundred in the 1870s to barely six hundred following the Great Starvation of 187 8- 1879. linguistic Affiliation. Asiatic Eskimos speak three dialects or distinct languages of the Yup'ik branch of the Eskimo language: Sirenikski, Central Siberian Yup'ik, and Naukan- ski. All are spoken in Siberia, with Central Siberian Yup'ik also found in virtually identical form on St. Lawrence Island. History and Cultural Relations Asiatic Eskimos are the cultural and biological descendants of highly successful hunter-gatherers who for at least a couple of millennia had been well adapted to the Arctic ecosystem. First contacts with Europeans came during Russian explora- tions of the seventeenth century and later (such as that of V. J. Bering, who in 1728 "discovered" and named St. Lawrence Island), and navigators of other nationalities soon followed. The opening of the North Pacific whale fishery after the middle of the nineteenth century brought many whaling ships, disease, new hunting equipment, and liquor into the lives of the Asiatic Eskimos. With the U.S. government's purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, a formal political boundary sepa- rated the St. Lawrence Islanders from their closest cultural relatives in Siberia, a boundary that was only infrequently observed until post -World War II animosities between the So- viet Union and the United States resulted in hostility sometimes and an "ice curtain" preventing centuries-old patterns of trade and intermarriage. In the late 1980s there occurred several friendship visits of Alaskans (including St. Lawrence Islanders) to the Siberian villages, where long-unseen relatives greeted each other and ties of common identity were renewed. Settlements Aboriginally, the Yuit lived in permanent settlements, which they left as the season dictated for hunting, fishing, or bird- catching camps nearby. For centuries the basic dwelling was a semisubterranean sod-covered, driftwood structure with a below-ground tunnel entrance designed to conserve heat. Such structures were large enough to house an extended family. During the nineteenth century Yuit living on the Siberian shore began to use the walrus-hide-covered winter structure of the nearby Maritime Chukchee, and this type of housing spread to St. Lawrence Island. For both groups, the typical summer dwelling was a skin tent in both the permanent settlements and seasonal subsistence camps. Houses constructed of imported lumber began to appear early this century in a style and of materials much less well adapted to the severe winter weather than had been the aboriginal dwellings. Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Subsistence was based primarily upon sea mammals: seals, walruses, and whales. Flesh of polar bears was only infrequently eaten, the animal being valued more for its fur and the prestige accruing to the successful hunter. Fishing, bird hunting, and gathering plants and littoral edibles supplemented the meat diet. Today the bulk of food still comes from hunting, but there is also much use of store-purchased food. All edible parts of the animals are eaten-not only flesh but also internal organs (heart, lungs, liver, intestines) and, in the case of whales and male walruses, the skin and attached fat (blubber). Animals also provided other materials vital to subsistence: from seals and walruses, skins for clothing, housing, boat covers, and ropes; from walruses, ivory for harpoon heads and sled run- ners; from whales, baleen for hunting toboggans and jaw- bones for house frames. Driftwood and various types of stones provided other principal raw materials needed for tools and housing. Except for the dog, aboriginally there were no domesticated animals. Among the St. Lawrence Island Yuit dogs are no longer kept. Today, features of the emergent material culture-rifles, aluminum boats with high-powered mo- tors, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, electronic commu- nication equipment, airplane service, the occasional calling in of helicopters and government vessels to aid in the search for lost hunters, offshore exploration for oil and other natural resources-illustrate the magnitude of change from former times. Industrial Arts. Carving and shaping of stones and ivory were highly developed for use as harpoon, lance, and arrow heads and other tools, such as knives. Sewing animal skins for clothing was principally the task of women, who used ivory or bone needles and thread derived from animal sinews. In modern times sewing and carving are done primarily for the tourist trade. The St. Lawrence Islanders, in particular, are renowned internationally for their ivory carving. Trade. Aboriginally trade between the Siberian villages and St. Lawrence Island took the form of exchanges of reindeer skins (from Siberia) for walrus hides and other animal products from the island. Because of distance, little contact occurred with Alaskan Eskimos. With the advent of European-American exploration and whaling in the North Pacific, the intensity of trade increased, the Eskimos wanting rifles and whaling gear (and, for wealthy boat captains, wooden whale boats), tools of various types, and food and liquor. The whaling and commercial ships bartered for baleen, walrus ivory, skin clothing, and the services of Eskimos during the summer whaling voyages. In the present day, trade pat- tems are predominantly those of. the consumption of a hallucination-producing decoction derived from the root of jimsonweed. Sociopolitical Organization Social and Political Organization. Among the Yokuts there was no overarching political authority uniting the numerous subtribes. Rather, each subtribe was an autonomous unit composed of one or a few villages. Leadership within the village units was provided by a headman whose position was inherited patrilineally within a particular lineage and whose responsibilities included directing the annual mourning ceremony, mediating disputes, hosting visitors, sanctioning the execution of social deviants, and assisting the poor. The headman was aided and counseled by a herald or messenger, whose position also was inherited patrilineally. Relations between subtribes were usually peaceful and cooperative, although warfare between local groups was not unknown. In some instances subtribes united in warfare against common enemies. Social Control and Conflict. Socially disruptive persons, such as shamans believed to practice sorcery, were sometimes murdered by an execution squad hired by the village headman. Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. The Yokuts origin myth depicts a world covered with water, which is transformed by the action of Eagle, who takes mud brought from the depths by an aquatic bird, mixes it with seeds, and allows it to expand to form the earth. The Yokuts believed in a variety of localized spirits, some of whom were potentially evil. Religious Practitioners. Part-time religious specialists, or shamans, with powers derived from visions or dreams cured the sick and conducted public rituals and celebrations. Most often males, the shamans were believed to be capable of using their powers for evil purposes and might be executed on sus- picion of doing so. Ceremonies. The most important of the Yokuts religious rituals was the annual mourning ceremony, a six-day rite held in the summer or fall to honor the dead who had passed away during the previous year. The ceremony, which involved the participation of visitors from other villages, included sym- bolic killing, the destruction of property, and the ritualized washing of mourners, and concluded with feasting and games. Other ceremonies included simple first-fruit rites held for various seeds and berries as they became available for harvest. Arts. The most important artistic achievement of the Yokuts was in designs woven into their baskets. Musical instruments included rattles, bone and wood whistles, and a musical bow. Music was expressed primarily as an accompani- ment to ritual activities. Medicine. Serious illnesses were treated by shamans employing supernatural powers received in visions and dreams. Cures, effected only for a fee, involved consulting with spiritual helpers and sucking the sickness-causing agents from the patient's body. Death and Afterlife. Cremation and burials were typical funeral practices for the Yokuts, with the latter becoming more common in the historical period as a result of White contact. After death the corpse was handled by paid under- takers and buried along with personal possessions with the head to the west or northwest in a cemetery outside the village. Among the Southern Valley Yokuts cremation was re- served for shamans and individuals who died while away from home. After cremation, the remains of the deceased were buried in the village cemetery. The Yokuts believed that the soul left the body of the deceased two days after burial and jour- neyed to an afterworld in the west or northwest. Following a death, close kin maintained a three-month period of moum- ing, which included ritual abstention from eating meat and burning the hair short. The Yuchi (Hughchee, Uchi), with the Westo, lived at various times in several places in the southeastern United States, from eastern Tennessee to Florida, with three main bands, one on the Tennessee River, one in northwestern Florida, and one in the middle drainage of the Savannah River in Georgia. Some of their descendants live in the northwestern part of the former Creek Indian Reservation in eastern Ok- lahoma, although the Yuchi are extinct as a distinct culture unit. They spoke a language isolate in the Macro-Siouan phylum. Bibliography Craford, James Mack (1979). "Timucua and Yuchi: Two Language Isolates of the Southeast." In The Languages of Na- tive America, edited by Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun, 32 7-3 54. Austin: University of Texas Press. Speck, Frank G. (1909). Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians. Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, University Museum, Anthropologi- cal Publications, no. 1, 1-1 54. Philadelphia. Yuit Bibliography Gayton, Anna H. (1948). Yokuts and Western Mono Ethnog- raphy. University of California Anthropological Records, 10, 1-3 02. Berkeley. Kroeber, Alfred L. (1925). Handbook of the Indians of Califor- nia. U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin no. 78. Washington, D.C. Latta, Frank F. (1949) Handbook of Yokuts Indians. Bakers- field, Calif.: Kern County Museum. Spier, Robert F. G. (1978). "Foothill Yokuts." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8, California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, 47 1-4 84. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Wallace, William J. (1978). "Northern Valley Yokuts." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8, California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, 46 2-4 70. Washington, D.C.: Smith- sonian Institution. Wallace, William J. (1978) "Southern Valley Yokuts" In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8, California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, 44 8-4 61. Washington, D.C.: Smith- sonian Institution. GERALD F. REID ETHNONYM: Asiatic Eskimos Orientation Identification. "Asiatic Eskimos" refers to those living on St. Lawrence Island in the north Bering Sea and on the adjacent Siberian shore. "Yuit" means "the real people" or "au- thentic human beings" and is comparable to "Inuit" (used among North American Eskimos); both are indigenous terms. In the 1970s the St. Lawrence Islanders applied the name "Sivuqaq" to both the entire island and the town of Gambell, and a derived term, sivu.qaxMi.t, could mean either "St. Lawrence Islanders" or "people of Gambell." Specific locality-based names were more commonly used in differenti- ating people from the various areas and clans. The Yuit are those Eskimos who speak one of the two major language groups in this broad ethnic category, namely, those living in Southwest Alaska and eastern Siberia, including St. Law- rence Island. This entry deals only with the latter two groups, the "Asiatic" (Yuit) speakers of the language variant "Yup'ik." Location. For over two thousand years the Asiatic Eski- mos have lived on St. Lawrence Island and in several scattered villages rimming the easternmost tip of Siberia, the nearest point being forty miles away. Archaeological remains have provided a rich store of artifacts highly significant in Yuit 389 Yuchi 390 Yuit theories dealing with Eskimo origins. The topography is tree- less tundra alternating with spectacular mountain scenery (especially in Siberia), and the climate is wet, cold, and frequently stormy. Demography. In the middle 1980s the population of the Asiatic Eskimos was approximately two thousand, about half living in the Siberian villages. Because of the relocation policies of the Soviet government, the Eskimos since the 1960s have been grouped with other ethnic minorities, such as the Chukchees, in larger villages intermixed with Europeans. It is impossible to estimate the precontact population with any degree of assurance. What is known is that in the late 1880s there was a calamitous decline brought on primarily from sickness and contact with crews of whaling ships. St. Lawrence Island was especially affected, its population drop- ping from an estimated sixteen hundred in the 1870s to barely six hundred following the Great Starvation of 187 8- 1879. linguistic Affiliation. Asiatic Eskimos speak three dialects or distinct languages of the Yup'ik branch of the Eskimo language: Sirenikski, Central Siberian Yup'ik, and Naukan- ski. All are spoken in Siberia, with Central Siberian Yup'ik also found in virtually identical form on St. Lawrence Island. History and Cultural Relations Asiatic Eskimos are the cultural and biological descendants of highly successful hunter-gatherers who for at least a couple of millennia had been well adapted to the Arctic ecosystem. First contacts with Europeans came during Russian explora- tions of the seventeenth century and later (such as that of V. J. Bering, who in 1728 "discovered" and named St. Lawrence Island), and navigators of other nationalities soon followed. The opening of the North Pacific whale fishery after the middle of the nineteenth century brought many whaling ships, disease, new hunting equipment, and liquor into the lives of the Asiatic Eskimos. With the U.S. government's purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, a formal political boundary sepa- rated the St. Lawrence Islanders from their closest cultural relatives in Siberia, a boundary that was only infrequently observed until post -World War II animosities between the So- viet Union and the United States resulted in hostility sometimes and an "ice curtain" preventing centuries-old patterns of trade and intermarriage. In the late 1980s there occurred several friendship visits of Alaskans (including St. Lawrence Islanders) to the Siberian villages, where long-unseen relatives greeted each other and ties of common identity were renewed. Settlements Aboriginally, the Yuit lived in permanent settlements, which they left as the season dictated for hunting, fishing, or bird- catching camps nearby. For centuries the basic dwelling was a semisubterranean sod-covered, driftwood structure with a below-ground tunnel entrance designed to conserve heat. Such structures were large enough to house an extended family. During the nineteenth century Yuit living on the Siberian shore began to use the walrus-hide-covered winter structure of the nearby Maritime Chukchee, and this type of housing spread to St. Lawrence Island. For both groups, the typical summer dwelling was a skin tent in both the permanent settlements and seasonal subsistence camps. Houses constructed of imported lumber began to appear early this century in a style and of materials much less well adapted to the severe winter weather than had been the aboriginal dwellings. Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Subsistence was based primarily upon sea mammals: seals, walruses, and whales. Flesh of polar bears was only infrequently eaten, the animal being valued more for its fur and the prestige accruing to the successful hunter. Fishing, bird hunting, and gathering plants and littoral edibles supplemented the meat diet. Today the bulk of food still comes from hunting, but there is also much use of store-purchased food. All edible parts of the animals are eaten-not only flesh but also internal organs (heart, lungs, liver, intestines) and, in the case of whales and male walruses, the skin and attached fat (blubber). Animals also provided other materials vital to subsistence: from seals and walruses, skins for clothing, housing, boat covers, and ropes; from walruses, ivory for harpoon heads and sled run- ners; from whales, baleen for hunting toboggans and jaw- bones for house frames. Driftwood and various types of stones provided other principal raw materials needed for tools and housing. Except for the dog, aboriginally there were no domesticated animals. Among the St. Lawrence Island Yuit dogs are no longer kept. Today, features of the emergent material culture-rifles, aluminum boats with high-powered mo- tors, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, electronic commu- nication equipment, airplane service, the occasional calling in of helicopters and government vessels to aid in the search for lost hunters, offshore exploration for oil and other natural resources-illustrate the magnitude of change from former times. Industrial Arts. Carving and shaping of stones and ivory were highly developed for use as harpoon, lance, and arrow heads and other tools, such as knives. Sewing animal skins for clothing was principally the task of women, who used ivory or bone needles and thread derived from animal sinews. In modern times sewing and carving are done primarily for the tourist trade. The St. Lawrence Islanders, in particular, are renowned internationally for their ivory carving. Trade. Aboriginally trade between the Siberian villages and St. Lawrence Island took the form of exchanges of reindeer skins (from Siberia) for walrus hides and other animal products from the island. Because of distance, little contact occurred with Alaskan Eskimos. With the advent of European-American exploration and whaling in the North Pacific, the intensity of trade increased, the Eskimos wanting rifles and whaling gear (and, for wealthy boat captains, wooden whale boats), tools of various types, and food and liquor. The whaling and commercial ships bartered for baleen, walrus ivory, skin clothing, and the services of Eskimos during the summer whaling voyages. In the present day, trade pat- tems are predominantly those of. the consumption of a hallucination-producing decoction derived from the root of jimsonweed. Sociopolitical Organization Social and Political Organization. Among the Yokuts there was no overarching political authority uniting the numerous subtribes. Rather, each subtribe was an autonomous unit composed of one or a few villages. Leadership within the village units was provided by a headman whose position was inherited patrilineally within a particular lineage and whose responsibilities included directing the annual mourning ceremony, mediating disputes, hosting visitors, sanctioning the execution of social deviants, and assisting the poor. The headman was aided and counseled by a herald or messenger, whose position also was inherited patrilineally. Relations between subtribes were usually peaceful and cooperative, although warfare between local groups was not unknown. In some instances subtribes united in warfare against common enemies. Social Control and Conflict. Socially disruptive persons, such as shamans believed to practice sorcery, were sometimes murdered by an execution squad hired by the village headman. Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. The Yokuts origin myth depicts a world covered with water, which is transformed by the action of Eagle, who takes mud brought from the depths by an aquatic bird, mixes it with seeds, and allows it to expand to form the earth. The Yokuts believed in a variety of localized spirits, some of whom were potentially evil. Religious Practitioners. Part-time religious specialists, or shamans, with powers derived from visions or dreams cured the sick and conducted public rituals and celebrations. Most often males, the shamans were believed to be capable of using their powers for evil purposes and might be executed on sus- picion of doing so. Ceremonies. The most important of the Yokuts religious rituals was the annual mourning ceremony, a six-day rite held in the summer or fall to honor the dead who had passed away during the previous year. The ceremony, which involved the participation of visitors from other villages, included sym- bolic killing, the destruction of property, and the ritualized washing of mourners, and concluded with feasting and games. Other ceremonies included simple first-fruit rites held for various seeds and berries as they became available for harvest. Arts. The most important artistic achievement of the Yokuts was in designs woven into their baskets. Musical instruments included rattles, bone and wood whistles, and a musical bow. Music was expressed primarily as an accompani- ment to ritual activities. Medicine. Serious illnesses were treated by shamans employing supernatural powers received in visions and dreams. Cures, effected only for a fee, involved consulting with spiritual helpers and sucking the sickness-causing agents from the patient's body. Death and Afterlife. Cremation and burials were typical funeral practices for the Yokuts, with the latter becoming more common in the historical period as a result of White contact. After death the corpse was handled by paid under- takers and buried along with personal possessions with the head to the west or northwest in a cemetery outside the village. Among the Southern Valley Yokuts cremation was re- served for shamans and individuals who died while away from home. After cremation, the remains of the deceased were buried in the village cemetery. The Yokuts believed that the soul left the body of the deceased two days after burial and jour- neyed to an afterworld in the west or northwest. Following a death, close kin maintained a three-month period of moum- ing, which included ritual abstention from eating meat and burning the hair short. The Yuchi (Hughchee, Uchi), with the Westo, lived at various times in several places in the southeastern United States, from eastern Tennessee to Florida, with three main bands, one on the Tennessee River, one in northwestern Florida, and one in the middle drainage of the Savannah River in Georgia. Some of their descendants live in the northwestern part of the former Creek Indian Reservation in eastern Ok- lahoma, although the Yuchi are extinct as a distinct culture unit. They spoke a language isolate in the Macro-Siouan phylum. Bibliography Craford, James Mack (1979). "Timucua and Yuchi: Two Language Isolates of the Southeast." In The Languages of Na- tive America, edited by Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun, 32 7-3 54. Austin: University of Texas Press. Speck, Frank G. (1909). Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians. Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, University Museum, Anthropologi- cal Publications, no. 1, 1-1 54. Philadelphia. Yuit Bibliography Gayton, Anna H. (1948). Yokuts and Western Mono Ethnog- raphy. University of California Anthropological Records, 10, 1-3 02. Berkeley. Kroeber, Alfred L. (1925). Handbook of the Indians of Califor- nia. U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin no. 78. Washington, D.C. Latta, Frank F. (1949) Handbook of Yokuts Indians. Bakers- field, Calif.: Kern County Museum. Spier, Robert F. G. (1978). "Foothill Yokuts." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8, California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, 47 1-4 84. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Wallace, William J. (1978). "Northern Valley Yokuts." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8, California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, 46 2-4 70. Washington, D.C.: Smith- sonian Institution. Wallace, William J. (1978) "Southern Valley Yokuts" In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8, California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, 44 8-4 61. Washington, D.C.: Smith- sonian Institution. GERALD F. REID ETHNONYM: Asiatic Eskimos Orientation Identification. "Asiatic Eskimos" refers to those living on St. Lawrence Island in the north Bering Sea and on the adjacent Siberian shore. "Yuit" means "the real people" or "au- thentic human beings" and is comparable to "Inuit" (used among North American Eskimos); both are indigenous terms. In the 1970s the St. Lawrence Islanders applied the name "Sivuqaq" to both the entire island and the town of Gambell, and a derived term, sivu.qaxMi.t, could mean either "St. Lawrence Islanders" or "people of Gambell." Specific locality-based names were more commonly used in differenti- ating people from the various areas and clans. The Yuit are those Eskimos who speak one of the two major language groups in this broad ethnic category, namely, those living in Southwest Alaska and eastern Siberia, including St. Law- rence Island. This entry deals only with the latter two groups, the "Asiatic" (Yuit) speakers of the language variant "Yup'ik." Location. For over two thousand years the Asiatic Eski- mos have lived on St. Lawrence Island and in several scattered villages rimming the easternmost tip of Siberia, the nearest point being forty miles away. Archaeological remains have provided a rich store of artifacts highly significant in Yuit 389 Yuchi 390 Yuit theories dealing with Eskimo origins. The topography is tree- less tundra alternating with spectacular mountain scenery (especially in Siberia), and the climate is wet, cold, and frequently stormy. Demography. In the middle 1980s the population of the Asiatic Eskimos was approximately two thousand, about half living in the Siberian villages. Because of the relocation policies of the Soviet government, the Eskimos since the 1960s have been grouped with other ethnic minorities, such as the Chukchees, in larger villages intermixed with Europeans. It is impossible to estimate the precontact population with any degree of assurance. What is known is that in the late 1880s there was a calamitous decline brought on primarily from sickness and contact with crews of whaling ships. St. Lawrence Island was especially affected, its population drop- ping from an estimated sixteen hundred in the 1870s to barely six hundred following the Great Starvation of 187 8- 1879. linguistic Affiliation. Asiatic Eskimos speak three dialects or distinct languages of the Yup'ik branch of the Eskimo language: Sirenikski, Central Siberian Yup'ik, and Naukan- ski. All are spoken in Siberia, with Central Siberian Yup'ik also found in virtually identical form on St. Lawrence Island. History and Cultural Relations Asiatic Eskimos are the cultural and biological descendants of highly successful hunter-gatherers who for at least a couple of millennia had been well adapted to the Arctic ecosystem. First contacts with Europeans came during Russian explora- tions of the seventeenth century and later (such as that of V. J. Bering, who in 1728 "discovered" and named St. Lawrence Island), and navigators of other nationalities soon followed. The opening of the North Pacific whale fishery after the middle of the nineteenth century brought many whaling ships, disease, new hunting equipment, and liquor into the lives of the Asiatic Eskimos. With the U.S. government's purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, a formal political boundary sepa- rated the St. Lawrence Islanders from their closest cultural relatives in Siberia, a boundary that was only infrequently observed until post -World War II animosities between the So- viet Union and the United States resulted in hostility sometimes and an "ice curtain" preventing centuries-old patterns of trade and intermarriage. In the late 1980s there occurred several friendship visits of Alaskans (including St. Lawrence Islanders) to the Siberian villages, where long-unseen relatives greeted each other and ties of common identity were renewed. Settlements Aboriginally, the Yuit lived in permanent settlements, which they left as the season dictated for hunting, fishing, or bird- catching camps nearby. For centuries the basic dwelling was a semisubterranean sod-covered, driftwood structure with a below-ground tunnel entrance designed to conserve heat. Such structures were large enough to house an extended family. During the nineteenth century Yuit living on the Siberian shore began to use the walrus-hide-covered winter structure of the nearby Maritime Chukchee, and this type of housing spread to St. Lawrence Island. For both groups, the typical summer dwelling was a skin tent in both the permanent settlements and seasonal subsistence camps. Houses constructed of imported lumber began to appear early this century in a style and of materials much less well adapted to the severe winter weather than had been the aboriginal dwellings. Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Subsistence was based primarily upon sea mammals: seals, walruses, and whales. Flesh of polar bears was only infrequently eaten, the animal being valued more for its fur and the prestige accruing to the successful hunter. Fishing, bird hunting, and gathering plants and littoral edibles supplemented the meat diet. Today the bulk of food still comes from hunting, but there is also much use of store-purchased food. All edible parts of the animals are eaten-not only flesh but also internal organs (heart, lungs, liver, intestines) and, in the case of whales and male walruses, the skin and attached fat (blubber). Animals also provided other materials vital to subsistence: from seals and walruses, skins for clothing, housing, boat covers, and ropes; from walruses, ivory for harpoon heads and sled run- ners; from whales, baleen for hunting toboggans and jaw- bones for house frames. Driftwood and various types of stones provided other principal raw materials needed for tools and housing. Except for the dog, aboriginally there were no domesticated animals. Among the St. Lawrence Island Yuit dogs are no longer kept. Today, features of the emergent material culture-rifles, aluminum boats with high-powered mo- tors, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, electronic commu- nication equipment, airplane service, the occasional calling in of helicopters and government vessels to aid in the search for lost hunters, offshore exploration for oil and other natural resources-illustrate the magnitude of change from former times. Industrial Arts. Carving and shaping of stones and ivory were highly developed for use as harpoon, lance, and arrow heads and other tools, such as knives. Sewing animal skins for clothing was principally the task of women, who used ivory or bone needles and thread derived from animal sinews. In modern times sewing and carving are done primarily for the tourist trade. The St. Lawrence Islanders, in particular, are renowned internationally for their ivory carving. Trade. Aboriginally trade between the Siberian villages and St. Lawrence Island took the form of exchanges of reindeer skins (from Siberia) for walrus hides and other animal products from the island. Because of distance, little contact occurred with Alaskan Eskimos. With the advent of European-American exploration and whaling in the North Pacific, the intensity of trade increased, the Eskimos wanting rifles and whaling gear (and, for wealthy boat captains, wooden whale boats), tools of various types, and food and liquor. The whaling and commercial ships bartered for baleen, walrus ivory, skin clothing, and the services of Eskimos during the summer whaling voyages. In the present day, trade pat- tems are predominantly those of