TheTikiġaġmiut (Inupiaq:[tikeʁɑɴmiut]), anIñupiat people, live two hundred miles north of theArctic Circle, 330 mi (530 km) southwest ofUtqiagvik,Alaska, in the village ofPoint Hope (Inupiaq:Tikiġaq).[1] The Tikigaq are the oldest continuously settled Native American site on the continent. They are nativewhale hunters with centuries of experience co-existing with theChukchi Sea that surrounds thePoint Hope cape on three sides. "Tikiġaq" means "resembles an index finger (point of land)" in theIñupiaq language.
About 1,500 years ago, when Tikiġaġmiut first settled the Point Hope area, they did not depend on whale hunting. Instead, early Tikiġaġmiut were notable for producing elaborate and beautiful art in an artstyle calledIpiutak, after the place where archaeologists first found the artwork. But the Tikagaq's past is a present-day mystery with no explanation for where the ideas for the art came from, nor how a large population was sustained during their earliest centuries without whale dependence.[2]
The Tikigaq relied on berries and roots for food, local willows for house frames, and moss or grass for lamp wicks and insulation.
Today, distribution and movement of game, especially thebeluga,bowhead whale,caribou,seal,walrus, fur-bearing animals,polar bear andgrizzly bear, directly affect the lives of Tikigaq.[3]
While ancillary health care is provided by the local volunteer fire department, the closest physician is inKotzebue, Alaska, 180 mi (290 km) away.
About one in three Tikiġaġmiut homes lack running water or sewer connections.
Also known asTikigaqmuit orTikigaqmiut,[3] the Tikiġaġmiut people used to live close together for half the year in underground whale-bone, driftwood, and dirt houses that were connected by tunnels. The men's unit was called theqargi. Tikigaqmiut today live in modern houses. Their connections include the spirits of ancestors, the sun, the moon, and animal worship. Tikiġaġmiut sustain myths about their homeland once being a great whale killed by a shaman's harpoon. Their year involves storytelling, rituals, dances, shamanic seances, puppet shows, divinations, spirit guests, encounters with animal souls, and lunar rites, culminating in the spring with the annual whale hunt.[4]
Tikiġaġmiut people have complex kinship and alliance webs.
Tikigaq School, part of theNorth Slope Borough School District,[5] is the second largest K-12 in Alaska, serving more than 250 children. Notable to the school's curriculum is a three-week whaling class where a small group of students learn specific whaling traditions and skills.[3]