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Native Pathways to Education
Alaska Native Cultural Resources
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Tlingit RavenTlingit Indians of Southeastern Alaska

Section 1: TLINGIT COUNTRY

7 days (2 weeks).

CONCEPTS: ADAPTATIONS, ENVIRONMENT OF SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA, TLINGITS BELONG TO CLANS

OBJECTIVES

    1. Students exhibit a knowledge of the components and some of the resources of Southeastern Alaska's environment.
    2. Students can name and locate the three Indian groups in Southeastern Alaska: the Tlingits, Haidas, and Tsimshians.
    3. Students learn that Tlingit society is divided in clans and that clans have crests.

MATERIALS

  1. Native Peoples and Languages of Alaska map
  2. Books or pictures for bulletin boards
  3. UN 642 or F 3665 (Enrichment)
  4. UN 639, Northwest Coast Study Prints if available
  5. Northwest Coast Indian Art (Alaska State Museum mini-kit)
  6. Art supplies for student folders
  7. Community Profiles
  8. Worksheet 1 and 2 (in pdf)
  9. Glossary (in pdf)
  10. Tongass National Forest map
  11. Posters: Harvest Time at the Beach, Living by the Seasons, Environments of Lingit Aanee
  12. VT 735 (Enrichment)
  13. Tlingit Trade Game
  14. Student text, The Tlingit World

PREPARATION

  1. Order any AV materials you want to use during the course of this unit
  2. Schedule museum visit for six weeks from now (see Section 5)
  3. Tack up Language map and Tongass National Forest map
  4. Order UN 639, Northwest Coast Study Prints from AVS Center if your school does not own the prints.
  5. Make a bulletin board showing the art of Southeastern Alaska
  6. Make copies of Worksheets 1 and 2 (pp. 53, 55 & 56).
  7. Make copies of Glossary (pp. 59 & 60).
  8. Laminate Environments of Lingit Aanee poster if this has not been done
  9. Obtain new stickers for Environment poster if necessary (see p. 13)

 

ACTIVITIES

DAY 1
  1. Review concepts of environment and adaptation
  2. Groupwork: predictions about environment based on study of art
  3. Map study: Language map, Worksheet 1
DAY 2
  1. Natural Resources Center: Posters, Sticker, and Worksheet 2 LANGUAGE ARTS: Raven stories
DAY 3
  1. Assign clans, decorate folders for this unit
DAYS 4 & 5
  1. Chapter 1 in The Tlingit World
  2. Enrichment: Locate clans in their home villages
  3. Introduction to Tlingit Trade Game
  4. Read Chapter 2 in The Tlingit World.
DAY 6
  1. Review for Quiz.
DAY 7
  1. Quiz

NEW VOCABULARY

Tlingit

Tsimshian

Haida

Northwest Coast

Southeastern Alaska

clan

crest

commodity

From the Reading

Lingit Aanee

evidence

bladder

populated

eulachon

crocheted

middlemen

(The following list contains names of 14 of the approximately 50 Tlingit clans and need not be memorized by your students):

Chookaneidee

Dakl'aweidee

Deisheetaan

Gaanax.adee

Kaach.adee

Kaagwaantaan

Kiksadi

Kwashk'i kwaan

Naanyaa.aayee

Shangukeidee

T'akdeitaan

Teey hittaan

Teiweidee

Wooshketaan


 

A NOTE ON THE STUDY OF TLINGIT CULTURE, LANGUAGE ARTS, AND ART

You will notice a large number of green pages interspersed throughout this guide. These pages denote activities in disciplines other than social studies, either language arts or art. (Web-converter's note: this resource was a photocopy, so it is not formatted like the original)

Tlingit culture is a natural choice for an interdisciplinary approach: the art is probably the richest of all Native American traditions, and the literature is rich, complex, and fun.

It is thus strongly recommended that, during your study of Tlingit culture, you plan to devote part of your language arts and art time to activities about or from that culture. See the green pages in this guide for ideas.


 

Section 1: TLINGIT COUNTRY

CONCEPT: ENVIRONMENT OF SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA

PREPARATION FOR UNIT: MUSEUM VISIT

At this time you should schedule your class's museum visit through the Community Resources office (276-8011). It should occur during the 4th, 5th, or 6th week of your study of this unit. Be sure to tell the office that you are studying the 4th grade Tlingit social studies unit, since a special tour has been planned. Indicate whether you want the tour to cover both Athabascan and Tlingit areas or just Tlingit.

 

PREPARATION FOR UNIT: BULLETIN BOARD

Set the mood in your classroom by tacking up the Native Peoples and Languages of Alaska map, the Tongass National Forest map, and by preparing a bulletin board or table top center with books, photographs, or pictures of artwork from the Southeastern portion of the state (Northwest Coast art).

Sources for art pictures include Northwest Coast Indian Art (Alaska State Museum mini-kit, in your library), UN 639, Northwest Coast Study Prints (more than half the schools own their own sets and need not order the unit; see Appendix G for a listing of the schools), UN 642, (Far North Unit), magazines such as National Geographic, Alaska Magazine, or Alaska Journal. For a listing of books which contain pictures, refer to Appendix E at the end of this guide.

 

DISTRIBUTE PAPER FOR FOLDERS

Students will need a place to put worksheets on the first day. However, they will not decorate their folders until the third day.


 

Section 1: Tlingit Country

DAY l

CONCEPTS: ADAPTATIONS AND ENVIRONMENT

Begin instruction with a review of the concepts of environment and adaptations, both covered in detail during the Athabascan Social Studies unit. Review some of the adaptations to the environment which the Athabascans exhibited.

 

SMALL GROUP WORK OR CLASS DISCUSSION:

NORTHWEST COAST STUDY PRINTS and NORTHWEST COAST INDIAN ART MINI-KIT

The following discussion/activity can be carried out with either small groups (4 students each) or with the class as a whole. If you are using small groups, divide the students up. Tell students that you expect all to participate in the small group discussions, and that all students must be able to participate in the class discussion to follow. Then refer to the Northwest Coast Study Prints and photographs in the Northwest Coast Indian Art mini-kit and explain:

"These items are all from another part of Alaska. Look at them closely and try to describe what type of environment they are adapted to and came from. Give reasons for your answers. You will have 5 minutes to come to a conclusion." You might review with them the clues they will use in deciding the objects' home environment (for instance, "What are the items made of? What clues does that give about the environment?").

After 5 minutes, reassemble the class for group reports. As groups describe the environment from which the objects probably arose, review the factors that led them to those conclusions: for example, what materials were used in making the objects? What might the objects have helped the people from the area do? What kinds of plants and animals were probably available to the people who made these objects? Etc.

 

LANGUAGE MAP, WORKSHEET 1

Now turn to the Language Map. Review the Athabascan area's location. Point out the Southeastern portion of the state and identify the Tlingits, Haidas, and Tsimshians. Explain why this is called "Southeastern Alaska." Then explain that the art objects students have been viewing were made by members of the three groups in Southeastern Alaska.

Tell the students that they will be studying the Tlingit people, who are the largest group of Alaska Natives in Southeastern Alaska. Explain that the word "Tlingit", sometimes spelled "Lingit", means "the people" in the Tlingit language.

Distribute Worksheet 1 at this time and have students fill it in and, if you like, color it.

 

ENRICHMENT: LINGIT AANEE

Read Lingit Aanee to your students to give them a feeling for the environment in Southeastern Alaska. Explain to the students that "Lingit" is the correct spelling of "Tlingit" and that "Aanee" means "the home or place".

As with the Athabascans, the Tlingits had to obtain their necessities from the natural environment. From the information described in this booklet, elicit two lists from the students (example follows):

1. Possibilities for survival afforded by the environment

2. Limitations which the environment poses.

Compare the two lists. Have students copy them and place them in their folders. Refer to them later when you discover how the Tlingits actually did use their environment.

SAMPLE LIST

Lingit Aanee


Possibilities Limitations

water travel

wood tools, houses

beach and ocean food

berries

fur clothing

Land travel difficult

hard to grow crops

need protection from rain

sometimes limited visibility

 



DAY 2

NATURAL RESOURCES OF LINGIT AANEE CENTER:

HARVEST TIME AT THE BEACH POSTER, LIVING BY THE SEASONS POSTER, ENVIRONMENTS OF LINGIT AANEE POSTER, RESOURCES STICKERS, COMMUNITY PROFILES, WORKSHEET 2

Additional materials for this center might be pictures of the resources or environment of Southeastern Alaska, obtained from National Geographic, Alaska Geographic, Alaska Magazine, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and travel folders.

Direct the class to look at and decipher the Harvest Time and Living by the Seasons posters. Then point out that all the resources shown on those two posters have been reproduced as stickers. The students' task will be to place those stickers in the proper part of the Environments of Lingit Aanee poster. (Be sure to laminate the poster first so it may be used year after year. You will need to obtain replacements for the stickers each year.)

There are 53 stickers (some resources are duplicated if they are normally found in more than one environmental zone) so most students will be able to place two stickers on the poster. Information on the correct environmental zone is listed on the stickers.

When all stickers have been placed, students should complete either page 1 or page 2 of Worksheet 2. When all have finished, talk about the worksheet. Make a bar graph on a piece of butcher paper to show the numbers of resources in each environment (see example, p. 15 following). Discuss which zones contain the most resources. Tell students that the Tlingits built their houses along the beach. Did this make sense, considering the availability of resources in the various zones?

 

FILM (ENRICHMENT)

Tlingit Ani (another spelling for Lingit Aanee), F 3665, is a good film for depiction of the environment of Southeastern Alaska.

 

WRITING (ENRICHMENT)

Ask students to write paragraphs or stories beginning with:

"I woke up and jumped out of bed. I ran outside to look around. Our family had just flown to Southeast Alaska last night, and I wanted to see what it looked like. When I looked around me I saw...

I smelled . .

I felt . . ."


Number of Resources in Environments of Lingit Aanee (in pdf format)

Section 1: Tlingit Country
LANGUAGE ARTS

LANGUAGE ARTS:

RAVEN STORIES

During Read to Kids time in your classroom, read one or more of the Raven stories (Appendix H, pp. 185-244) which tell about the formation of the Tlingit world. You might refer to the stories as you talk about the land and its resources during the next few days.

See also VT 735 (1982 Festival of Native Arts) for Tlingit storyteller Walter Babe Williams' rendition of "The First Tlingit".

DAY 3

CONCEPT: TLINGITS BELONG TO CLANS

 

ASSIGN CLANS

 

Explain to students that Tlingit society is divided into about 50 clans, and that everyone is a member of a clan. Explain that a clan is a large family, including cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, nieces, nephews. Explain further that each clan has several crests, or designs, which identify it. Liken these to Scottish clan tartans, heraldic emblems, or national flags. Finally, tell students that in Tlingit society, the clans are divided into two groups. About half of them are Raven clans, and the other half are Wolf (Eagle in the north) clans. Now tell students that your class will be divided into clans, clans which they will keep throughout the unit. There should be five or six clans in your room. You may work this in one of two ways:

First, if more than one 4th grade class is studying the Tlingit unit at this time, you could divide one class into several Raven clans, and the other into Eagle clans. This arrangement is helpful in demonstrating the concept of "moiety", since one class is one moiety and the other class is of the other moiety. A potlatch can be held with one class being the hosts, the other the guests, and mock marriage partners can be chosen, one from each class. Directions for these activities appear later in this guide.

Alternatively, your own class can have in it representatives of both the Raven and the Eagle moieties. Make sure that you have at least two clans to represent each moiety. If you have Tlingit students in your class, ask them their clans or, if they don't know, ask them to find out. They should be placed in their own clan group.

A partial list of clan names and the main crest symbol for each follows (but note: each clan has more than one crest symbol). See the Glossary (p. 59 & 60) for pronunciation aids. Pictures of some of the actual crest designs follow.

RAVEN MOIETY

Gaanax.adee

(or Gaanaxteidee): Woodworm

Deisheetaan: Beaver

Kiksadi: Frog

T'akdeintaan: Seagull

Kwaashk'ikwaan: Humpback salmon

Kaach.adee: Raven

Teey hittaan: Winter Raven

Additional Raven crest symbols include:

Coho, goose, snail

EAGLE MOIETY

Naanyaa.aayee: Eagle, Shark

Kaagwaantaan: Brown bear

Shangukeidee: Thunderbird

Chookaneidee: Halibut

Teikweidee: Golden Eagle

Wooshketaan: Wolf

Dakl'aweidee: Killerwhale

Additional Eagle crest symbols include:

Eagle, porpoise, iceberg, petrel, murrelet

 

DECORATE FOLDERS

Now have the students decorate their folders with their clan name and crest design as well as their personal names.


Section 2

HANDOUTS (in pdf)

DRAWINGS OF TLINGIT CREST DESIGNS

by Jim Marks
Courtesy of the
Juneau Indian Education Act Program


DAYS 4 & 5

CONCEPT: HOW PEOPLE CAME TO LINGIT AANEE

CHAPTER 1 IN THE TLINGIT WORLD

Read and discuss Chapter 1 in The Tlingit World. Note that some of the Raven stories can be found in Appendix H of this guide.

map
Click on image to see a bigger one

The Tlingit people are known around the world for their beautiful artwork and for their wealth. They lived in a place with rich food resources, and they learned how to harvest them.

aanee

The Tlingit people have not always live in Southeastern Alaska. They originally came from the interior parts of Canada.

How do we know that the Tlingits moved to the coast from somewhere else?

We have two types of evidence:

FIRST, are Tlingits legends. According to old stories, Raven, the creator of the world and of the Tlingit people, came from the Mass River. This is in Canada and is now Tsimshian territory, but it must once have been the name of the Tlingits.

mountains

Other old stories tell of the Tlingits first arriving at the coast. The people traveled together by clans, or large families. Each clan came separately, and each clan has its own migration story. Many of the clans tell of their people coming from the interior. Some were once related to Athabascan people -- cooled in the Tlingits call "Gunnaa" (spelling?). In many of the stories, the people left their homes because of some problems there, either wars with others or trouble getting enough food. They came through the mountain passes, not glaciers, and found a way to travel under the glaciers to the coast.

One clan that came to southeastern Alaska that way are the Shangukelders. They remember that, when they first got to the coast, they did not know that tides rise and fall. As a result, one of the people got caught by a giant oyster, far out on the beach during low tide. As the tide came in, he felt the water get higher and higher around his body. Although his relatives try to help him breathe with the bladder filled with air, he eventually drowned.

artifacts

The SECONDS kind of evidence of the Tlingits' migration is from archeology. Ancient artifacts have been dug up in southeastern Alaska: the oldest are about 10,000 years old. But these artifacts did not belong to the ancestors of the Tlingits: they belonged to some other, long-lost people. The earliest Tlingit artifacts to be found are only a few hundred years old. The recent date for these artifacts shows that the Tlingits came from somewhere else, to a place where others have lived before them.

coast

After the clans came to the coast, each started its own village. Sometimes some of the members of the clan would move to another place and start another village. And sometimes, a clan would decide to settle any village which someone helps had already started. In this way, the whole of southeastern Alaska became populated.


ENRICHMENT: LOCATE CLANS

If you like, you can give another bit of information to your class clans. Students know their main crest; you can now tell them which parts of Lingit Aanee their clans settled. Using the following list and map, locate each of the clans in their own parts of Southeastern Alaska. The division lines on the map show the locations of the Tlingit "kwans", which were geographical regions. Each kwan had one or more villages in it, and was settled by more than one clan. Kwans were not political units with chiefs; those men who were leaders were leaders only of their own clan, not of a certain territory. You might make clan markers on the Language Map or Tonga.ss National Forest map.

RAVEN MOIETY:

Deisheetaan (Beaver): Killisnoo (village of Angoon)
Gaanax.adee (Woodworm): Tongass, Taku, Chilkat (village of Klukwan), Yakutat
Kaach.adee (Raven): Kake, Stikine
Kiksadi (Frog): Tongass, Stikine, Sitka, Sanya
Kwaashk'1ikwaan (Humpback salmon): Yakutat
T'akdeintaan (Seagull): Hoonah
Teey hittaan (Winter raven): Stikine

EAGLE/WOLF MOIETY:

Chookaneidee (Halibut): Hoonah
Dakl'aweidee (Killerwhale): Tongass, Killisnoo (village of Angoon), Chilkat (village of Klukwan)
Kaagwaantaan (Brown bear): Hoonah, Sitka, Chilkat (village of Klukwan)
Naanyaa.aayee(Eagle): Stikine
Shangukeidee (Thunderbird): Henya (village of Klukwan), Kake, Yakutat, Chilkat (village of Klukwan)
Teikweidee (Golden Eagle): Tongass, Killisnoo (village of Angoon), Yakutat, Sanya
Wooshketaan (Wolf):

Auke, Killisnoo (village of Angoon), Hoonah

Tlingit Kwans in pdf
(Geographical Areas)


CONCEPT: ENVIRONMENT AND GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA
TLINGIT TRADE GAME

Introduce the Tlingit Trade Game to students at this time and have them play it once. When thee students have mastered the rules, they can play it during indoor recess, when other work is completed, or at other times you may assign throughout the course of this unit.

The game itself at first seems harder than it really is, and the learning students gain from it is worth the time it takes to teach the rules. They will not learn unless they have a chance to play it a number of times, however.

At this point in the unit, you are interested in the students attaining two objectives.

1) Students become familiar with a map of southeastern Alaska.

2) Students begin to recognize some of the natural resources (trade items) available to the Tlingits.

A later, important objective, the trade system itself, will be discussed by you and the students later in the unit (see pp. 130-133)

 

EXPLAIN RULES

Explain the purpose of the game to students. There are five game boards per set. Divide your class into five groups of five or six. It would be best not to use the clan groups as game groups. Instead, divide the clans up so that each clan member is playing with members of other clans. Each group should be given its own trade game and copy of the Tlingit Trade Game Rules card. Explain the components and rules of the game to students. Tell students that each player is the representative of his clan. Then provide time for them to play.

An alternative method of teaching the rules is to instruct five students at some point on a previous day. Each of the five then becomes the teacher for a group of students.

 

CHAPTER 2 in The Tlingit World

Read aloud and discuss Chapter 2 in The Tlingit World which describes the various commodities which the students encountered in the Trade Game.


CHAPTER 2: TLINGIT COMMODITIES

When the first Tlingits settled Southeastern Alaska, they chose their villages according to the resources they found there. One group, for instance, noticed that the Stikine River had a heady run of candlefish, or eulachon. The oil from this fish was nutritious and delicious, and was the necessary part of their diet. This made the mouth of the Stikine a perfect choice for a village site.

Each village had many resources near it. In fact, each village has more than enough of some resources, so it traded those for others which it lacked.

The Tlingit villages could be divided into two groups. According to the resources they had: the MAINLANDERS and the ISLANDERS. All of the villages, both mainland and island, were on the sea and so used these resources most of all. And although villages depended on salmon as their main food.

But the villages on the mainland had an added advantage: they were at the malice of rivers which had, not only a salmon run, but also a eulachon run. These people had a surplus of the very valuable eulachon oil to trade.

fish

moose hide
chilkat blanket
 
eulachon oil
Mainlanders were also able to hunt for land animals which didn't live on the islands, or were hard to get there. It was the mainland villagers who traded beautifully carved spoons made from whole sheep and goat horns, Chilkat blankets made from mountain goat wool, and soft blankets crocheted from strips of rabbit skin.
spruce root basket
spoon
cranberries
blanket

 

sea otter pelt
dried deer meat
dried halibut
wood
The villages on the islands head different commodities to trade. They gathered more sea resources than did the mainlanders. Instead of eulachon oil, they had a surplus of seal oil which was valued by other Tlingits. They had clams, mussels, dried halibut, and sea urchins in large supply. They hunted sea otters for the warm, soft, and durable fur. The islanders also had wood products to trade, because yew and cedar trees grew larger on the islands where the climate was warmer.
breenstone
wood
seal oil
clams

hiking

In the days before becoming of white men to Southeastern Alaska, the Tlingits were master traders. They traded with Haidas, Tsimshians, and other southern groups. They kept some of the things they got from them, and took other items farther north to trade to the Athabascans. They were middlemen, and the made a profit by it. Without the Tlingits, the northerners and southerners could not get goods from each other.

The Tlingits knew that being middlemen was profitable, so they made sure that they, and the alone, could fill this role. They controlled to trading routes to the Interior. They would not allow travel over the mountain passes without permission. In this way, they were able to charge both the southerners and northerners for transportation of goods.


 

TLINGIT TRADE GAME

Materials Provided:

1 Teacher's Guide

1 Game board

1 pair dice

1 set of game cards consisting of

30 BLUE Tlingit Island Commodity cards

29 GREEN Tlingit Mainland Commodity cards

7 BROWN Copper River Commodity cards

7 LIGHT BLUE Southern Tribes Commodity cards

12 LIGHT GREEN Interior Tribes Commodity cards

12 ORANGE Town cards

9 RED Hazard cards

9 RED Boon cards

YOU NEED TO SUPPLY TOKEN PIECES FOR PLAYERS TO MOVE AROUND THE BOARD.


 

COMMODITY CARDS

Each Tlingit Trade Game should have the following numbers of commodity cards:

GREEN: Mainland Tlingit
5 spruce root baskets
5 rabbit or marmot skin blankets
5 sheep or goat horn spoons
5 chilkat blankets
5 cranberries in oil
2 eulachon oil
2 moosehides
LIGHT GREEN: Interior
2 moosehides
2 decorated moccasins
3 caribou hides
2 birchwood bow w/porcupine gut string
3 wolf moss for dye
BLUE: Island Tlingits
2 greenstone for tools
2 dried deer meat
2 yew wood
4 sea otter pelts
5 dried halibut
5 seal oil
5 clams, mussels, & sea urchins
5 cedar bark or wood
BROWN: Copper River
4 deer meat
1 wolf moss for dye
1 copper
1 caribou hide
LIGHT BLUE: Southern Tribes
2 eulachon oil
2 dentalium shell
1 iron
1 cedar canoe
1 abalone shell
 

Background Information: The Commodities

ISLAND TLINGIT COMMODITIES

Six island towns (Henya, Sitka, Hoonah, Angoon, Kake and Kuiu) have been chosen as home towns for this game. The cormiodities which are associated with those towns reflect their sea orientation as well as the slightly more moderate climate of the islands. Thus, the sea otter pelts, dried halibut, seal oil, and clams, mussels and sea urchins were eagerly sought by mainland Tlingit villagers and were readily available to the islanders. In addition to these maritime resources, the islands had an easily accessible source of greenstone (used in fashioning tools), and the milder climate of the islands allowed for the growth of more and larger cedar and yew trees than in the mainland river valleys. Dried deer meat was made available by virtue of the many Sitka black-tailed deer on the islands, which was one of the few land animals actively hunted by the island Tlingits.

The importance of most of the above-mentioned commodities is apparent; however, some were considered especially valuable. Seal oil, for instance, was in demand by mainland villagers, for it was a commonly used condiment eaten with most dried foods. Cedar bark and wood were also valuable for use in carving, weaving baskets and mats, and being entwined with goats' wool to make the beautiful ceremonial Chilkat blankets produced by mainlanders. Finally, yew wood was used in making bows, boxes, and dance batons.

 

MAINLAND TLINGIT COMMODITIES

Six mainland towns (Chilkat, Yakutat, Tongass, Auke, Chilkoot, Stikine) were chosen as home towns for this game. Most of them were located in the slightly colder micro-environments along river valleys. Fur-bearing animals were thus more readily available to mainlanders, as were river products such as the highly prized eulachon oil. The land orientation of these villages is apparent in the spruce root baskets (used for a large number of household tasks), cranberries in oil, sheep or goat horn spoons, rabbit or marmot skin blankets, moosehide, and ceremonial Chilkat blankets (which were woven from mountain goat wool and cedar bark). Of these commodities, three deserve additional mention: the eulachon oil, Chilkat blankets, and sheep or goat horn spoons. All were extremely valuable because of their rarity and importance in ceremonies (potlatches).

 

COPPER RIVER COMMODITIES

Located along a major trade route (the Copper River), and having access to twb very important commodities, the Copper River Athabascans (Ahtnas) and Eyaks were in a good position to trade with the Tlingits. Raw copper was traded for use as daggers, mask decorations, and the prestigious "coppers" or "tinnehs" which were the foremost symbol of wealth to a Tlingit clan. Wolf moss (actually a lichen) was also valuable as the dyestuff used in producing yellows in Chilkat blankets.

 

SOUTHERN TRIBES COMMODITIES

Like the mainland Tlingits, Southern tribes had access to the valuable eulachon oil rendered from river-run eulachon. The Tsimshians, occupying the river valleys, were especially wealthy in their eulachon oil supplies. In addition, it was in the south that huge cedar trees grew, and the Haidas in particular traded trees large enough to make cedar canoes and totem poles to the Tlingits. Dentalium shells were obtained from the west coast of Vancouver Island by the Nootka, and were traded far up the coast. They were important as decoration on the ceremonial garb of the Tlingits, and were perhaps even more important as symbols of wealth (though not as actual currency) among the Athabascans in the interior of Alaska. Abalone shells were also used in decorating carvings and ceremonial garb. Finally, ironwas available from the southern tribes, and came originally from the European settlers far to the south.

 

INTERIOR TRIBES COMMODITIES

The Interior tribes, or Athabascans, desired many of the commodities available in the more temperate Tlingit environment, but they also had certain valuable commodities to trade. Both moosehide and caribou hides were welcomed by Tlingits: moosehide was used in making moccasins and was also thick enough to serve as a protective shirt in combat, while carjbou hides made the warmest garments and sleeping robes. Wolf moss, as mentioned above, was used in making the yellow dye for Chilkat blankets. And two types of handiwork, decorated moccasins and birchwood bows, were highly prized by Tlingits for their workmanship and usefulness.

 

Background Information: The Towns

Students may notice that the towns in this game do not correspond exactly with the kwans they just learned. This is because the kwans sometimes contained more than one town. So, for instance, Chilkoot and Chilkat were both part of the Chilkat kwan.

 

Games Rules: 3- 6 players

1. The object of the game is to trade with different groups so that you have, in the end,

ONE INTERIOR TRIBES CARD

ONE SOUTHERN TRIBES CARD or ONE COPPER RIVER CARD

TWO MAINLAND TLINGIT CARDS

TWO ISLAND TLINGIT CARDS

For a total of six cards.

2. Each player starts with 9 cards, which are either all Island Tlingit cards or Mainland Tlingit cards. To determine which type of cards a player starts out with, divide the town cards into two groups, the .island towns and the mainland towns, as follows:

Mainland towns:
Chilkat
Yakutat
Tongass
Auke
Chilkoot
Stikine
Island towns:
Hoonah
Henya
Angoon
Sitka
Kake
Kuiu

Shuffle the two piles separately and place each pile face down on the table. Half the players draw one card each from the island town pile; the other half draw one card each from the mainland town pile. This also determines which type of Commodity Card they begin with:
those towns which are located on the mainland will receive Mainland cards, and those towns which are on islands will receive Island cards.

3. Distribute the Mainland or Island commodity cards as follows:
Shuffle each pile of Commodity cards separately. Then pass out, face down, 9 Mainland Commodity cards to players based in Mainland towns, and 9 Island Commodity cards to players based in Island towns. The remainder of the Tlingit commodity cards (of both types) should be shuffled together and placed in a pile on the game board to be drawn from at various times during play when a Boon card instructs "Take One Card." Similarly, cards should be placed at the bottom of this pile when a Hazard card instructs "Lose One Card."

4. Place Boon, Hazard, Copper River Commodity, Southern Tribes Commodity, and Interior Tribes Commodity cards in the designated places on the Game Board.

5. Players move on the squares at the roll of the dice. To determine which player goes first, roll dice once. High score is first, and play proceeds in a clockwise direction from that person.

6. Players move vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. They move one square for each number on the dice. They may only move on water, either ocean or rivers. A square which is partially covered by water may be used as a travel route. Players may not backtrack within a move, but must proceed toward a single goal by the straightest possible route.

7. If a player lands on a HAZARD square or a BOON square by exact roll of the dice, he must take the appropriate card from the pile and follow directions on the card. If the player is instructed to lose one card by a HAZARD card, he must place a card on the bottom of the Tlingit commodity card pile (see item 3). If the player is instructed to take one card by a BOON card, he takes a card from the top of the Tlingit commodity card pile.

8. To obtain the six cards necessary, to win, players may do either of the following:

Trade with another player by going to that player's home town . . . . or

Travel to a trading area (Interior Copper River, Southern Tribes)

9. To trade with another player, a player must first proceed to that player's home town in the normal way, by roll of the dice. He must roll either the exact number or more to land in the town. When he reaches the town, he trades one of his cards for one of the cards belonging to the player whose home town it is (that player does not need to return to his home town.) (BUT NOTE: If you wish to allow bartering, for instance trading two cards for one, be sure to specify this rule variation at the beginning of play.)

10. To obtain a card from one of the non-Tlingit areas, a player must move according to the throw of the dice to the end of the appropriate trade route. He needs either the exact roll of the dice or more to land at the trading area. When he reaches the specially marked square at the end of the route, he may trade as many cards as he wishes in exchange for the desired cards, on a one-for-one basis.

To obtain an INTERIOR CARD or a COPPER RIVER CARD, players must give one or more of the following cards in trade:

Iron
Dentalium
Abalone
Cedar Bark
Eulachon Oil

Interior tribes will not accept any other commodities.

They must have one of these cards for each Interior or Copper River card they wish to obtain. Thus, if a player has only an Iron card of those on the list, he leaves that Iron card on the square, and can take only one card from the pile of Interior commodity cards. If, however, he has two Iron and one Abalone cards, he may leave all three and pickup three of the desired cards.

To obtain a SOUTHERN TRIBES CARD, players must give one or more of the following cards in trade:

Moose hides
Green stone for tool making
Wolf Moss
Deer Meat
Copper
Sheep and Goat Horn Spoons

Southern Tribes will not, accept any other commodities.

The same rules apply for SOUTHERN TRIBES CARDS as do for INTERIOR or COPPER RIVER CARDS: trading one-for-one.

11. There are a limited number of Interior, Copper River, and Southern Tribes cards. Once all cards in a single pile have been picked up by players, that area may not be visited again. Thus, if all the Copper River cards have already been picked up, no one may visit that trading area again during the game. Players may only pick up cards which originate in the non-Tlingit area they are visiting; thus only Interior cards can be obtained from Interior areas; only Southern Tribes cards may be picked up in the Southern Tribes area; and only Copper River cards may be picked up in the Copper River area. The other cards which have been left in trade may not be picked up; they are out of play.

12. Play ends when one player has the necessary six commodity cards.


DAY 6

Review for the Quiz.


Day 7

Quiz 1


Worksheet 1 (in pdf)

Worksheet 1 Answers (in pdf)

Worksheet 2 (in pdf)

Worksheet 2 Answers (in pdf)

Glossary (in pdf)

Tlingit Unit Quiz 1 (in pdf)

Tlingit Unit Quiz 1 Answers (in pdf)


TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

MATERIALS LIST & GOALS
SECTION 1: Tlingit Country
SECTION 2: Clans
SECTION 3: Summer Camp
SECTION 4: Tlingit Economy: Surplus
SECTION 5: Wrap Up

APPENDIX A: Brief Description of Tlingit Culture
APPENDIX B: A Sample Winter Clan House
APPENDIX C: Northwest Coast Materials in ASD AVS Center
APPENDIX D: Juvenile Literature on Northwest Coast Cultures
APPENDIX E: Art Bibliography
APPENDIX F: Northwest Coast Cultures Bibliography
APPENDIX G: Schools Which Own Northwest Coast Study Prints
APPENDIX H: Raven Stories (reprints)
APPENDIX I: Recorded Versions of Clan Crest Stories
APPENDIX J: Some Northwest Coast Art Activities

 

 

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Last modified August 21, 2006