From Time Immemorial: Indigenous Whaling Past & Present on Alaska’s North Slope

Summary

Bowhead whaling has long been the organizing focus of coastal North Slope Iñupiat culture. In 1848 Thomas Welcome Roys took the whaling vessel Superior north of the Bering Strait, and things changed dramatically for the Inupiat. In the 1870s and 1880s, Inupiat and Yankee whalers worked together and blended Yankee gear with their traditional techniques of shore-based whaling. Commercial whaling persisted in at least minimal fashion until the early years of the 20th century.However, subsistence whaling continues today. There have been a number of challenges from regulatory agencies (based on incorrect data) and from organizations that are adamantly against the killing of whales for any reason. The regulatory agencies have been provided better data and a successful co-management regime developed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Exploitation and Survival: Indigenous Americans and the Commercial Whaling Industry   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-11,05