A New View of the History of the Aleutians

• Published in: ARCTIC
• Main Authors: Laughlin, W.S., Marsh, G.H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Arctic Institute of North America 1951
• Subjects: Atmospheric temperature; Auroras; C.D. Howe (Ship); Coring; Curricula; Dental care; Eastern Arctic Patrol; 1922-1968; Economic feasibility; Economic geology; Geological exploration; Health; Health care; Inuit; Iron; Magnetite; Marine transportation; Ore deposits; Tuberculosis; Universities; Winds; X-rays; Greenland; Port Burwell; Nunavut; Kuujjuaq; Québec; Churchill; Manitoba; Cape Dorset (Settlement); Kimmirut; Clyde River (Hamlet); Pond Inlet (Hamlet); Arctic Bay (Hamlet); Dundas Harbour (Locality); Iqaluit; Makkovik; Labrador; Kangiqsualujjuaq region; Barents Sea; Canadian Arctic waters; Arctic; Arctic Bay; Atka; Cape Dorset; Clyde River; Dundas; Dundas Harbour; Kangiqsualujjuaq; Pond Inlet; Arctic bay; eskimo*; inuit; Alaska
• Online Access: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/66986

Account of work conducted during preceding three summers by parties of anthropologists, archeologists and medical workers, at Nikolski village on Umnak Island, at Atka on Atka Island and at St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs. The results of this work are correlated with those of earlier investigators in a summary account of the physical anthropology, archeology, ethnology and linguistics of Aleuts. Conclusion: the Aleuts appear to have moved from the Alaskan mainland in two waves, one beginning 4,000 years ago, the other within the last 1,000 years and still continuing at the time of the Russian discovery of the area. The culture of the entire span of occupation was continuous. The great numbers of Aleuts and other Eskimos in southern Alaska possibly arose through a "population explosion" brought about by very favorable living conditions existing here when the first proto-Eskimos came south, along the west coast of Alaska. Of the 16,000 Aleuts estimated to have lived in the area prior to the white man's penetration, only 1,200 remain. Early massacres, exhaustion of marine resources, diseases, etc., all caused by Europeans, contributed to the decline of the population, which still continues. Bibliography (14 items).