Tikchik village: a nineteenth century riverine community in ... - Cluster

VANSTONE: TIKCHIK VILLAGE 347forest-dwelling Eskimos, both shared a diversity of economies withan emphasis on fishing, both had ties with the coast and with AthapascanIndians. The Kobuk River people, however, placed moreemphasis on caribou hunting and probably maintained closer tieswith coastal Eskimos. The Crow Village people, on the other hand,may have had closer ties with the Indians and certainly possessedgreater economic stability due to the abundance of salmon. A comparisonof Arctic Woodland Culture traits with the Crow Villagecollection tended to confirm the above pattern, particularly with regardto the greater intensity of coastal contacts found on the Kobuk(Oswalt and VanStone, 1967, pp. 106-108).While questioning the usefulness of the Arctic Woodland Cultureas a configuration applicable to the central Kuskokwim, Oswalt andI were nevertheless reluctant not to recognize that "riverine Eskimocultures at the time of historic contact were in many ways distinctfrom their coastal neighbors" (1967, p. 109). We go on to suggestthat "perhaps it might be useful to conceive of a configuration ofAlaskan riverine Eskimo characteristics. The traits would includediverse fishing techniques for taking salmon and whitefish in particular.The use of trees, ... is important, . The relative . . stabilityof physical settlement is a function of the productivity of the environment.. There is also the trade with coastal Eskimos in which. .there is the exchange of forest-riverine products for those of the seacoast.It should be stressed also that like most Eskimos these peoplemaintained a flexibility in their subsistence pursuits. They exploitedland animals as well as fish, but their economic stability came fromfishing" (1967, p. 109).It is obvious, of course, that the Tikchik site exhibits all the characteristicsof a riverine Eskimo configuration and one would hardlyexpect it to do otherwise. There are, however, certain features of lifeat Tikchik, as we have reconstructed it, that call for more detailedcomment. To begin with, it seems likely that ties with the coast weresomewhat stronger than at Crow Village but less than on the KobukRiver. The presence of the Nushagak post and later the salmon canneriesserved to draw the residents of Tikchik to Nushagak Bay atleast once a year and we know that while they were there they tradedfor coastal products. However, coastal subsistence techniques arenot reflected in the material culture at Tikchik and it is highly unlikelythat the inhabitants engaged in subsistence activities duringtheir visits, as did the Eskimos of the Kobuk River when they wentto Hotham Inlet and Kotzebue Sound.