Hunted and Honoured: Animal Representations in Precontact Masks from the Nunalleq Site, Southwest Alaska

• Published in: Études Inuit Studies
• Main Authors: Mossolova, Anna, Knecht, Rick, Masson-MacLean, Edouard, Houmard, Claire
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Centre interuniversitaire d’études et de recherches autochtones (CIÉRA) 2019
• Subjects: Alaska; Yup’ik prehistory; human–animal relationships; relational ontologies; masks; préhistoire Yup’ik; relations homme-animal; ontologies relationnelles; masques; archeo; geo; Études/Inuit/Studies; permafrost; pergélisol
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.7202/1071942ar; http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1071942ar

The precontact lifeways of Yup’ik people in Southwest Alaska were poorly known until the 2009–2018 excavations at the Nunalleq site near the village of Quinhagak. Until recently, the site dating from around AD 1400–1675 had been locked in permafrost that secured the extraordinary preservation of organic artefacts and faunal materials. As in many other hunter-gatherer communities across the North, animals were economically and culturally central to the lives of Nunalleq residents. This multidisciplinary paper combines the ethnographic study of unearthed artefacts with the results of subsistence and dietary studies at Nunalleq, and demonstrates how precontact Yup’ik ecologies were embodied in material culture, particularly in the iconography of ceremonial objects such as masks and mask attachments. Early ethnographic records and collections suggest that Yup’ik masks were often complex in structure and imagery, and can be considered miniature models of a multilayered and ensouled universe. Masks and other material culture representations highlight the way humans and animals are related and ontologically linked in Yup’ik worldviews. By taking this approach, this study aims to better understand the role of animals in the belief systems and lifeways of a precontact Nunalleq community. Le mode de vie des communautés yup’ik pendant la période précontact dans le sudouest de l’Alaska était peu connu avant les fouilles archéologiques récentes, entre 2009 et 2018, sur le site de Nunalleq, près du village de Quinhagak. Jusqu’à récemment, le site daté principalement entre 1400 et 1675 après J.-C., était scellé par le pergélisol garantissant la préservation extraordinaire d’objets organiques et de restes fauniques. Comme dans d’autres sociétés septentrionales de chasseurscueilleurs, les animaux occupaient une place centrale, d’un point de vue économique et culturel. C’est le mode de vie adopté par les occupants de Nunalleq. Cet article pluridisciplinaire associe l’étude iconographique des artéfacts avec les résultats des ...