Since Upper Paleolithic times, caribou have been a historically important food resource for northern Eurasian hunting peoples for three reasons: the dense aggregation of the animals in bands and herds, their ease of capture, and their nutritional value. Modern caribou tend to congregate in large numbers ranging from dozens (bands) to thousands (herds). Their migratory habits minimize their impact on the relatively delicate plant communities upon which they depend. These migrations may shift groups between forested and open (tundra) environments on a seasonal basis. They frequently involve movement between seasonally important hunting grounds and spring “calving grounds,” where females give birth. Contemporary migration distances range from relatively short (for example, on Spitzbergen and islands of the Canadian High Arctic) to very long (in western Canada and Alaska). Factors involved in the distance and location of migration include available forage, protection against predators, and insect infestations (Pruitt 1960;Skoog 1968;Heard 1997).
The nature of caribou migration patterns of the past is unclear. Zooarchaeological data from late Ice Age sites in southwestern France suggest that year-round occupation of some areas was possible by specialized caribou hunters, which may be related to shorter-distance migrations by the animals, as well as to the fact that they existed in significant numbers (Gordon 1988; David and Enloe 1992; Enloe and David 1997; Spiess in press). In comparison with their Arctic habitats of today, southwestern France would have provided a smaller physical area but much greater environmental (particularly altitudinal) diversity, thereby helping to support larger groups of animals. In addition, beginning around 20,000 years ago, caribou were hunted with efficient tools such as spears and atlatls (Bouchud 1966; Delpech 1983; Pike-Tay and Bricker 1993).
In places where they were less available, such as in open forest areas, caribou were a seasonally important resource; their dietary significance seems to have varied in relation to the specificity of the habitat for caribou and the length of local caribou migration routes. Among historically known caribou hunting groups, some maintained a herd-following strategy, whereas others remained in specific areas, usually near annual migration routes, exploiting other resources until the caribou showed up.
The former pattern seems to have been more typical of places where few alternative resources existed, such as the Canadian High. Arctic (Gordon 1975), and may also have been true of Scandinavia before the domestication of reindeer (Blehr 1990). The second pattern was more typical of places where alternative resources existed, where annual migration routes were fairly precise, and where caribou could be taken in sufficiently large numbers that their meat could be stored for a considerable time period; such a location was the Brooks Range of northern Alaska (Burch 1972). Situations in which caribou composed the predominant element in the diet yet failed to materialize along a particular migration route in a given year have been well documented; the result was usually starvation for the hunters (Mowat 1952).
Human groups hunting caribou have employed a wide variety of techniques, which Arthur Spiess (1979), Otto Blehr (1990), and Bryan Gordon (1990) have discussed in detail. There are basically two approaches: One involved “mass killing” techniques, in which large numbers of animals were taken from a band or herd at one time, whereas the other saw individual caribou or small numbers of individuals killed. The former tended to be used for hunting large bands or herds (as during seasonal aggregations) when large numbers of humans were available to hunt and where caribou meat was particularly important in the diet. Mass killing techniques involved logistic planning, whereas individual hunting techniques were largely based on opportunistic encounters.
Mass killing techniques were historically used by many groups, including coastal and interior Eskimos, various Athapaskan peoples of interior Alaska and western Canada, some Algonquian groups in the eastern Canadian Subarctic, the Saami peoples of northern Scandinavia, some Siberian groups, and a few of the Rocky Mountain groups of western Canada. Algon-quians of northern New England and peoples of the Russian Far East seem to have used individualistic hunting techniques almost entirely. Mass killing techniques were of two types. On land, they involved drives into traps, snares, fences, corrals, or human “surrounds”; in general, this type included any technique in which the caribou were lured into a small area to be killed and butchered (Anell 1969; Morrison 1982). The caribou were also driven into water, with the use of boats, in areas where rivers or lakes lay near migration routes (Arima 1975; Greenman and Stanley 1977; Yesner 1980). Male and female humans of all ages participated in these activities, with which forms of sociopolitical leadership were often associated. These may have ranged from simple task leadership to the involvement of more general leaders or village headmen (for example, the umialik or whaling boat captains in North Alaskan villages).
By contrast, individualistic hunting was usually done by men using singly set snares, stalking, and “running down” of game. Killing was done with atlatls, spears, bows and arrows, and the rifles introduced into many indigenous caribou hunting groups during the nineteenth century. For both mass and individualistic hunting various aids were employed, such as decoys (antlers, reindeer skins, calls) and mock caribou made of wood or stone. Some of these approaches may be reflected in the archaeological record; examples might include the caribou headdress from Trois Freres or certain depictions in Scandinavian rock art. Mass killing efforts tended to yield nonselective age and sex groups of caribou, whereas individual hunting techniques were more effective at different times of year to take particular ages or sexes of the animals. The archaeological record indicates that bulls were generally preferred for meat, and today they are larger and have more fat, particularly during the autumn (Yesner 1980). Calves were also sought for their high fat content, and female adults became the preferred prey in early winter, when the bulls were in rut (see Figure II. G.4.1).
Individualistic hunting techniques were also used to take animals at specific times of the year for nonfood purposes, such as in late summer and fall, when the quality of reindeer fur was particularly suitable for clothing manufacture. Cows and calves were often sought for their skins. Animals of varying ages and sexes were targeted for the manufacture of specific items of clothing: skin bags, rawhide or “babiche” for snowshoe lacings, as well as covers for dwellings, caches, and sleds (Smith 1978). In addition, antlers were an important resource for tool manufacture. If already shed, antlers could be scavenged, but they could also be taken from animals, particularly males, and generally from adults over 4 years of age, as they produce significantly larger antlers.
World History
