Thursday, June 2, 2011

Sustenance strategies of the Netsilik



Dwellings
The Netsilik people used dome shaped igloo structures made from snow and ice, and wind break made from the same material, (rarely did they use summer tents made from sealskin). Because of the year long winter, minus twenty frost free days, the Netsilik had just the one type of dwelling, the winter house. Igloos are dome-shaped, made from blocks of packed snow. A large igloo can be constructed by a skilled person in less than an hour and can be up to 15 ft. in diameter. The blocks to make the igloo were cut out of a circle drawn to outline the size of the building, these blocks were roughly 20 inches long, 25 inches wide, and 4 inches thick, the blocks held together by loose snow filling the cracks. A tunnel left open for an entry and ice form a river used for a window of sorts.
Clothing
The Netsilik wore tailor made clothes; caribou fur was the primary material. Men wore two parkas, one on the inside (the caribou fur faced inward), and one on the outside used for hunting, fishing, and traveling (the fur faced outwards). On these parkas decorative panels of light fur adorned the shoulders. Two pairs of trousers were also used from hips to knees with an opening for elimination. These were met by two pairs of boots; the outer boot was sealskin because of its water proofing. Women wore clothes that were much the same, slightly bulkier with only one set of trousers; boots attached and held on by a belt. The woman’s parka had a roomy compartment for infants placed at the back.
Tools
The Netsilik because of the sacristy of wood used antler for the handles of weapons, things such as adzes, this tool is something like an ax but set at a right angle to the handle. They used antler for handles because it was easily shapeable, stone and bone were used for blades, use of weirs for fishing, they also made use of other traps. They had a very interesting array of weapons, mostly spears. They used bows and arrows for land animals, but harpoons were their main weapon. Harpoons are long shafts with barbed tips attached to sinew cord. They used smaller ones for seals and bigger ones waited with ivory for whales.
Transportation (with means to sustenance)
Netsilik move by means of dog sled, these sleds were made from frozen fish, what little wood they could find antler, and sealskin. The runners would be covered by water to make the sled slide freely over the snow, pulled by dogs. These people also had canoes for fishing Harpoons as stated earlier are long shafts with barbed ends attached to string. With smaller harpoons the men would hunt seals; they did this by waiting at the small hole in the ice seals used to breath from every fifteen minutes. This process could take hours upon hours, and was very physically demanding, starving was always a threat. Bigger harpoons were used for animals like sea lions and whales, the men would go out in large canoe teams to do this. On rare occasion the men would find polar bear tracks, to kill this animal they would first let the dogs loose then using everything they had attempt to take down this massive animal. Early in the year if possible the men would hunt caribou that were migrating using bow and arrows and harpoons.

picture website

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gbv=2&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=iSjoTa-uFMrL0QHs8siwAQ&ved=0CDgQBSgA&q=netsilik+clothing&spell=1&biw=1277&bih=521

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