"A history of Alaskan Athapaskans is a work which fills a gap in information about Athapaskans in Alaska, their culture, and their history. The book is divided into two parts: a description of Athapaskan culture as it was about the early to middle nineteenth century, and a historical narrative. This is a fascinating and informative book, useful for both scholar and lay person"--Back cover.
The seventeen papers on Northern Athapaskan research in ethnology, linguistics, and archaeology published in these two volumes were presented at the National Museum of Man Northern Athapaskan Conference in March 1971. The papers are prefaced by a short introduction that outlines the rationale and accomplishments of the Conference.
Using the accounts of fur traders, explorers, officials, and missionaries, Colin Yerbury documents the profound changes that swept over the Athapaskan-speaking people of the Canadian subarctic following European contact. He challenges, with a rich variety of historical documents, the frequently articulated view that there is a general cultural continuity from the pre-contact period to the twentieth century. Leaving to the domain of the archaeologists the pre-historic period when all the people of the vast area from approximately 52N to the edge of the tundra and from Hudson Bay to Alaska were hunters, fishers, and gatherers subsisting entirely on native resources, Yerbury focuses on the Protohistoric and Historic Periods. The ecological and sociocultural adaptations of the Athapaskans are explored through the two centuries when they moved from indirect contact to dependency on the Hudson Bay trading posts. For nearly one hundred years prior to 1769 when North West Company traders began to establish trading relationships in the heart of Athapaskan territory, contacts with Europeans were almost entirely indirect, conducted through Chipewyan middlement who jealously guarded their privileged access to the posts. The boundaries of the indirect trade areas fluctuated owing to intertribal rivalries, but generally, the hardships of travel over great distances prevented the Athapaskans from establishing direct contact with the posts. The pattern was only broken by the gradual expansion of the traders themselves into new regions. But, as Yerbury shows, it is a mistake to believe significant sociocultural change only began when posts were established. In fact, technological changes and economic adjustments to facilitate trade had already transformed Athapaskan groups and integrated them into the European commercial system by the opening of the Historic Era. The Early Fur Trade Period (1770-1800) was characterized by local trade centered on a few posts where Indians were simultaneously post hunters, trappers, and traders as well as middlemen. But the following Competitive Trade Period before the amalgamation of the fur companies in 1821 saw ruinous and violent feuding which had devastating effects on traders and natives alike. During these years there were great qualitative changes in the native way of life and the debt system was introduced. Finally, in the Trading Post Dependency Period, monopoly control brought peace and stability to the native population through the formation of trading post bands and trapping parties in the Athapaskan and Mackenzie Districts. This regularization of the trade and proliferation of new commodities represented a further basic transformation in native productive relations, making trade a necessity rather than a supplement to furnishing native livelihoods. By detailing this series of changes, The Subarctic Indians and the Fur Trade, 1680-1860 furthers understanding of how the Hudson's Bay Company and then government officials came to play an increasing role that the Dene themselves now wish to modify drastically.
The papers in this book focus on themes which have been near the centre of fur trade scholarship: the identification of Indian motivations; the degree to which Indians were discriminating consumers and creative participants; and the extent of Native dependency on the trade. Spanning the period from the seventeenth century up to and including the twentieth, with distinguished authors such as J. Arthur Ray and Toby Morantz, The Subarctic Fur Trade will help scholars become more fully aware of the issues concerned with Native economic history.
The Encyclopedia of Prehistory, with regionally organized entries on each major archaeological tradition, is a comprehensive overview of human history from two million years ago to the historic period. Prepared under the auspices and with the support of the Human Relations Area Files, and an internationally distinguished advisory board, the Encyclopedia is organized regionally with entries on each major archaeological tradition, written by noted experts in the field and edited by Peter N. Peregrine and Melvin Ember. The volumes follow a standard format and employ comparable units of description and analysis, making them easy to use and compare. -Volume 1 focuses on Africa. -Volume 2 focuses on Arctic and Sub Arctic. -Volume 3 focuses on East Asia and Oceania. -Volume 4 focuses on Europe. -Volume 5 focuses on Middle America. -Volume 6 focuses on North America. -Volume 7 focuses on South America. -Volume 8 focuses on South & Southwest Asia. -Volume 9 is the index volume.
This bibliography brings together the relevant materials in linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, folklore, and ethnomusicology for the Athapaskan languages. It consists of approximately 5,000 entries, of which one-fourth have been annotated, as well as maps and census illustrations.
The Encyclopedia of Prehistory represents also defined by a somewhat different set of an attempt to provide basic information sociocultural characteristics than are eth on all archaeologically known cultures, nological cultures. Major traditions are covering the entire globe and the entire defined based on common subsistence prehistory of humankind. It is designed as practices, sociopolitical organization, and a tool to assist in doing comparative material industries, but language, ideology, research on the peoples of the past. Most and kinship ties play little or no part in of the entries are written by the world's their definition because they are virtually foremost experts on the particular areas unrecoverable from archaeological con and time periods. texts. In contrast, language, ideology, and The Encyclopedia is organized accord kinship ties are central to defining ethno ing to major traditions. A major tradition logical cultures. There are three types of entries in the is defined as a group of populations sharing Encyclopedia: the major tradition entry, similar subsistence practices, technology, and forms of sociopolitical organization, the regional subtradition entry, and the which are spatially contiguous over a rela site entry. Each contains different types of tively large area and which endure tempo information, and each is intended to be rally for a relatively long period. Minimal used in a different way.
David Pelly tells the Thelon's story, exploring the mystery of Man's relationship with this special place in the heart of Canada's vast Arctic barrenlands. From Thanadelthur and Telaruk to J.W. Tyrrell, John Hornby and Eric Morse, the history is detailed, complete and exciting. The Thelon is the setting for a compelling Canadian adventure tale -- with all its drama, intrigue, joy and tragedy. But the writer goes beyond that to contemplate the significance of the Thelon wilderness, and to examine its uncertain future. "It is the richness of human experience, layered on top of the natural splendour of the river valley and its wildlife, that really sets the Thelon apart. The place has a history, both Native and non-Native, which gives it standing beyond the intrinsic value of wilderness itself." David Pelly writes as one who has been there time and again. He knows the Thelon from personal experience. As a freelance writer for 20 years, he has travelled many parts of the Arctic, but claims that "nowhere draws me back more powerfully than the Thelon."
An examination of the influence of bilateral kinship principles on the social organization of the Sahtúgot’ine (Bear Lake People), a Northeastern Athapaskan group. The recognition that factors other than kinship and marriage are also pertinent to an understanding of Sahtúgot’ine social organization has ramifications with respect to traditional Northeastern Athapaskan bands.
