Daily Report for June 27

Morning

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Midday

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Evening

Location: Palmer
Latitudinal Coordinates: 61.60° N
Longitudinal Coordinates: 149.12° W
Altitude: 233 ft
Temperature: 54° F
Current Weather: Cloudy

The Unangax and Alutiiq by Riley M

            “Long ago the sea faring people of the north pacific rim (the unangax and alutiiq) harvested the bounty of rich sea life available each year in the worlds largest ocean” read the sign at the Alaskan native heritage center. Further signs explained the peoples’ use of spears, nooses, bolas, traps, and nets to catch seabirds, and hooks, nets, spears, and weirs to catch fish. The Unangax and Alutiiq also hunted large whales with highly technical kayaks and poison tipped harpoons from their single hatch baidarkas. The men and boys did much of the hunting and whaling. They also climbed down cliffs to collect bird eggs. It was explained that every part of a bird was used, for food, clothing, and ceremonial purposes. Since the area the unangax and alutiiq live in is a string of island, only the easternmost area has land mammals as an important food source. The women, children, and elders worked by fishing in streams, collecting trapped sea life in intertidal zones, and collecting plants, roots, and berries.
            In addition to being expert mariners, the unangax and alutiiq peoples were very knowledgeable in human anatomy and medical procedures. Medical practitioners successfully performed brain surgery, amputations, and other advanced medical procedures, even without the advanced facilities available to doctors and surgeons today. They were also the only native Alaskans to practice mummification.

The Native Dance by Kyle Weck

            This afternoon the whole AGLP crew went to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. After looking around outside at the different houses, buildings and cultural artifacts we went inside the Heritage Center for an Alaskan Native Culture dance performance. Before the dance a girl named Caroline explained the different native groups in Alaska, and talked about their culture along with their language. After the very interesting explanation she called the dancers onto stage. There were five girls including herself and one guy, plus their instructor who was also the singer and drummer. They started their performance with a dance.  Once the first dance was over Caroline and the boy came to center stage to explain many of their moves and what they mean. Some included rowing the canoe, gathering berries, and using the bow and arrow. They also explained the feathers they hold and their outfits including their headdresses. The instructor explained the boy’s feathers and told us that the center circle represented the world, the outer circle represented the universe, and four feathers represented animals and different objects. Then the middle feather represented the creator. After explaining many of their dance motions they resumed their dancing with their instructor hitting a drum and singing. After their four dances were over we were able to ask questions and interview the people that danced for us.
            I thought the Heritage Center was a very interesting place to visit because it had many things to look at and learn about. Also because we didn’t go my year, in eighth grade, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was really glad that I got the opportunity to go today and learn so much more about Alaska and its culture. It was a great day at the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage Alaska!

The Native Heritage Center by Isabella J

          Out of all of the things in the Native Heritage Center, I decided to write about the dog team. The owner had puppies and adult dogs. All of his dogs are Alaskan huskies even though some of them didn’t look like it. The owner feeds his 10 week old puppies high fat and high protein kibble. The older huskies eat the same, other than in the winter. In the winter they eat salmon, beef, and horse. The owner says that sled dogs get more attention than a house dog because they have to work with them all day to train. Normally, he hooks the dogs as a group, but he will train them individually if needed. He harnesses the puppies at the age of 6-8 months. The owner charges 10 dollars for a three minute ride! Crazy!

The Games by Laura M

Today, we went to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. We traveled with our assigned vans and got to see many cool things.  I liked the center’s game demonstration! The first game was a version of wrestling.  The next game involved two people sitting across from each other with their feet touching. The two people then grabbed on to a dowel rod with both of their hands and pulled as hard as they could. The first time one of the guys almost flew over the other! After that they showed us a couple of different games involving a ball filled with cotton covered leather and seal fur on the outside. They the told us they had games that were just for fun and didn’t serve as practice for anything. You know what it was? Butt bouncing! It definitely worked. We were all laughing instantly. One more game they did was a four-step hopping practice. Personally, I thought it looked similar to our game of hopscotch. It was actually for crossing ice. They could go across a big room in just four steps! And those games were quite enjoyable to watch and that is why the games they demonstrated for us were one of my favorite parts of going to the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

Untitled by Sandi D

I really enjoyed seeing the style of the different tribes. The way they adapted their homes to their surroundings and the weather. I thought that the Alaska tribes that used the earth sod and tundra for housing materials were very smart. To use what the earth provided for us, not to waste, and also to give back to mother earth. The tribes that shared the homes contained up to 5 families. The closeness of these people and their traditions still today is very cool.