Reindeer Butchery and Consumption

Caribou butchery practices have varied widely among groups. However, common variables in the butchery process have involved transportation requirements and whether immediate or short-term consumption or storage of meat was anticipated. The size of the packages of meat produced would often be related to whether humans, dogs, or sleds (or, today, snowmobiles) were used for transportation. If carcasses were

Sources: Hill (1967), Hall (1971), Binford (1978), Spiess (1979), and Yesner (1980).

To be used for long-term caching (storage in an underground or rock-lined chamber), they would only be beheaded, eviscerated, and quartered, with further butchery taking place before consumption at a later time. Butchery procedures may also have been affected by whether the animal was being used for purposes other than human consumption (such as clothing manufacture, dog food, or bait for traps).

Arctic peoples compensated for the relative leanness of caribou meat by the way in which the animal was butchered, cooked, and prepared. The final preparation of food sections was strongly related to preference for body parts. These were (and are) fairly constant cross-culturally and were based on the amounts of meat in different parts of the carcass, particularly on fat concentrations and the reliability of those concentrations. In general, because of higher fat content, portions nearer the axial skeleton (ribs and vertebrae), including rib steaks and roasts, were highly desired. Also high on the preference list was the back-strap (backbone musculature), followed by front (brisket, short ribs) and back (pelvis) portions. Rear haunches were generally preferred to front shanks for the same reasons. Kidneys were also prized above other viscera because of higher fat content, followed by the heart and lungs. The most desirable smaller parts included those of the head, particularly the brain, the tongue, and the fat behind the eyes. Intestinal fat was also consumed (Spiess 1979).

If alternative resources were few, a variety of techniques were employed to maximize the nutritional yield from caribou carcasses. One was the smashing or cracking of the articular ends of long bones to obtain marrow, a high-fat, high-protein substance enjoyed by hunting peoples. Afterward, the marrow and bone fragments were sometimes boiled to produce “bone juice.” Data from Eskimo informants suggest that marrow was cherished as a source of fat because of high concentrations of low-melting-point fats, particularly oleic acid (Binford 1978). Bones chosen first for marrow extraction were the tibia, the “cannon bones” (metacarpals and metatarsals), the radiocubitis, the femur, and the humerus (Binford 1978: 42). Less desirable as sources of marrow were the pelvis, phalanges, mandible, scapula, and ribs. Thin animals (including nursing females or rut-depleted males) were often avoided because starvation removes fat reserves from the bone marrow.

Both marrow and caribou back-fat have been key ingredients in the traditional dish akutuk, an excellent source of vitamins as well as protein and fat. This dish, colloquially known as “Eskimo ice cream,” was prepared in the past by mixing caribou tallow with berries of various types and snow. Depending on the availability of other fats, fish, or sea mammals, oils might also have been added. Today, sugar has become another ingredient in the mix.

A second major nutritional resource obtained by carcass reduction was caribou “bone grease,” that is, fats obtained from bone tissue itself (Leechman 1951). These were rendered by first smashing bones into small fragments, then simmering them in a pot of water and skimming off the fat. If not consumed immediately, the fat was generally stored in a cleaned caribou stomach. The best bone grease, referred to as “white” bone grease by Eskimo informants (Binford

1978) , was rendered from long bones, whereas the axial skeleton, mandible, sternum, and pelvis were used to produce a less desired “yellow grease.” Obtaining both marrow and bone grease could also have been part of the same procedure that employed long bones for tool manufacture (Yesner and Bonnichsen

1979) . Carcass reduction for marrow and bone grease most likely took place at times of the year when caribou were scarce and/or stored resources were depleted, particularly in the late winter and early spring.

A final resource that could sometimes be obtained from caribou or reindeer were the stomach contents, that is, fermented plants of various sorts, including lichens. Although these plants cannot be readily digested by humans because of their high cellulose content, they are edible if fermented in the caribou rumen. As such, they can be an excellent source of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), otherwise obtainable only from berries (fresh, frozen, or preserved in fish or sea-mammal oils) or raw meat.

Food Storage and “Social Storage”

Many groups stored their caribou meat. Variables affecting storage included the quantity of meat to be butchered or transported and the ambient temperature at the time of the kill and afterward. There were two basic practices: the caching of unbutchered or roughly butchered meat sections and storage following butchering of the animals. Caching was likely to occur when large numbers of caribou were killed at one time and the carcasses could not be consumed or transported immediately. This generally took place in late fall or winter, and landmarks were left behind so that the meat could be recovered even if the caches were covered by snow. Meat sections were recovered when the area was revisited during an annual round, whereupon secondary butchering would take place. Unbutchered, cached meat sections were sometimes fed to the dogs, particularly during the winter.

In situations where butchering preceded storage, the hunters employed drying and also (when possible) freezing. Specific butchery methods depended on storage techniques. Drying methods utilized drying racks (Figure II. G.4.2), whereas frozen storage required deep ice cellars, often delved out of the permafrost, that could only be used during winter or spring.

Widespread food sharing was also a technique that helped to maximize both the nutrition obtained from the caribou and the survivability of the caribou-hunting group. In groups using mass killing techniques, the individuals in charge of the hunt often acted as decision makers regarding the division of the meat. Sharing beyond the nuclear family was less likely during periods of relative abundance, but at other times of year (when individual hunting took place) food sharing was ubiquitous. It was widely recognized by various caribou-hunting groups that men differed significantly in their hunting abilities (or luck), and kills were shared with all other members of the group. In such cases, the successful hunter was often in charge of meat distribution.

Finally, trade was a mechanism by which caribou hunters obtained other foods. Among the Nunamiut of northern Alaska and the Tareumiut peoples on the North Alaskan coast, for example, long-distance trading partnerships were developed. During annual ses-

Figure II. G.4.2. A spring drying rack for caribou meat used by the Nunamiut Eskimo of the Brooks Range, northern Alaska. (From Binford 1978: 99; used by permission of Academic Press.)

Sions, frequently held during summer months, caribou hides were traded for dried fish, seal meat, and fish and sea-mammal oils. Similar patterns evolved in Scandinavia and Russia.