Aleut Artifacts: Unangam aguqaadangin

• About this book
• Bones – Bones survive long after flesh and blood have gone.
• Umnak figurine – Some images go back before our stories.
• How did we get here? – Instead of walking across Beringia, we would take a boat.
• Utility and esthetics – Everything is useful.
• Walrus man – Brother and sister don’t marry.
• Beards – Aleut men don’t have much beard.
• Otherworldly – A figurine is supposed to be otherworldly.
• Earspoon, stopper, harpoon socket – Decorations distinguish common objects.
• The dead ones – The dead were feared, but men without fear didn’t care.
• Bird feathers – We make useful or beautiful things with feathers.
• Flight – Feathers evoke flight.
• Macramé loops – They show the beauty of the souls that made them.
• Basketry – The plan for the basket is worked out beforehand.
• Labrets – Wearing labrets was a mark of status.
• Effigies – I carve to embody the qualities that come from the sea.
• Ignorance – Our ignorance should haunt us.
• Spirits – All things have spirits.
• Bird mask – Feathers on a mask show the dancer’s spirit.
• My mask – My mask is a safe mask.
• Masks of the dead – We do not forget our dead ones.
• Famous people – Famous people still visit us.
• Unga whaling cult – Masked actors and puppets tell a story.
• Mask of orca man – The hunted becomes the hunter.
• Weapons, tools, implements, decorations – Implements are painted.
• Everyday items – Everyday items are decorated.
• Patterns – No two patterns are alike.
• Controlling space – The Aleut artist controlled the space.
• Peg calendar – A peg is moved from day to day.
• Little man on my visor – Maybe the little ivory man can tell which direction to paddle.
• Sea otter – Sea otter figurines protect us.
• Ivory dancers from Atka – Ivory dancers tell a story.
• Ivory seahunter – The seahunter is fixed in concentration.
• Bentwood hat – This is the hat of an important hunter.
• Puffin-skin parka – Something light, warm, waterproof, and beautiful.
• Gut kamleikas – The Russians would take our kamleikas.
• Basketry of grass – I have a couple genuine Aleut baskets.