The remnants of the Kets, a hunting and fishing culture, live today in the middle and lower basin of the Yenisei River to the east of the Nenets and are generally thought to be descendants of ancient Tibetan tribes who migrated northward into the Yenisey Basin, while various groups branched off and assimilated into other neighboring cultures.19 DNA testing shows that these people indeed came from the south. Their shamanistic practices share certain similarities with those of the Turks and the Mongols to the southeast. Comparative linguistic studies show connections between them and certain Native American tribes in northwest Canada, proving the link between Asia and America.
In summer, the Kets live in villages that will usually encompass two to seven chums. They construct a more substantial structure, a bangus, or pit house, built especially for families incapable of hunting such as those in which the male had died; these squarish structures are located near the rivers where there is a steady supply of fish. The skeleton of the house is based on two parallel trabeated structures supported by smaller logs anchored into the soil. It is built in the form of a truncated pyramid for stability. The floor is sunk a few feet into the ground. There is sometimes a type of lobby, created by two rafters leaning against the beam above the doorway. The whole is usually covered with sod as a type of weather-proofing. The inside subdivision of a bangus is identical to that of a chum with the fireplace at the center.
The Kets also use houseboats that enable them to navigate the bays and shorelines, moving their camps to follow the seals or to explore new hunting grounds. In summer they take the houseboats beyond the range of insects that infest the water’s edge. The boats are certainly a later addition to their culture, but at what time they became integrated into their lives is unknown. They are not deep-water fishers, but rather hunters. Fall and winter are the hunting seasons, with groups sailing up the Yenisei’s tributaries to their various hunting grounds. During this period, because of lack of sunlight, groups live in more hastily made structures (glomo) half-buried in the ground with the upper part framed of wood and covered with earth. They eat provisions brought with them until the days begin to lengthen and hunting can resume.
The Nani (“People”) are a Tungusic people who have traditionally lived along the Heilongjiang (Amur), Songhuajiang (Sunggari), and Ussuri rivers on the Middle Amur Basin. They catch Siberian salmon and sturgeon in the rivers from late August through September with the entire population engaged in netting, preserving, and storing the catch. Hunting of elk and deer is done in winter, when groups of men venture out on long treks. Nanai summer dwellings are of various types, including the conical pole tent as well as a spherical bark hut. Each settlement consists of a more or less autonomous group along the Amur River.
At some time, square log houses with a gabled roof (khurbu) came into being that could hold about forty people. They were built around perimeter columns, with posts along the sides entwined with willow sticks and plastered with clay mixed with grass. The center posts were about 2 meters high. Gabled roofing was usually multilayered: the bottom layer of poles over which lay two or three layers of birch or fir bark, then clay, then tufts of grass or straw. The number of windows varied from three to eleven depending on the size of the house, but was always an odd number. Windows were covered with fish skins of bladders or later with oiled paper. The use of glass began only after the arrival of Russian colonists. The perimeter log benches (khan) were hollow underneath and could thus be heated from below similar to a Chinese system called a fanza. Smoke was diverted through a pipe placed outside the house. One slept with one’s head pointed toward the center. Older structures were covered by earth and had winter access through the smoke hole in the roof and summer access through a side entrance. A large notched log placed in the interior and projected out through a hole at the top served as a ladder.
As far as orientation, if the nearby river flowed from north to south the door would be placed on the east. If the river flowed from east to west, the door would look to the south. The interior of the house was regulated by a system of social practices and rituals. The door—which was considered sacred—divided the house into masculine (right) and feminine (left), with the superior part belonging to the man. The central columns of the house are considered the habitat of the Nanai ancestral spirits, an aspect that was reinforced by a ritual sculpture placed near the pillar and the central Are. Every spring the shaman purifles the house by walking three times around the columns. Beds were placed along the walls.20
The Nanai were very skilled at building sleds and plank boats. They also wove baskets and mats and made birch-bark vessels. The traditional clothing was made out of Ash skins. These skins were left to dry. Once dry, they were struck repeatedly with a mallet to leave them completely smooth. Finally they were sewn together.
World History
