By George F. MacDonald
In 1966 the nationwide Museum of guy introduced an enormous software of prehistoric learn at the northern coast of British Columbia, a venture which was once conducted over 20 years. an incredible a part of that application used to be the mapping and recording of the main villages of the Haida at the Queen Charlotte Islands. In "Chiefs of the ocean and sky", archaeologist George F. MacDonald offers an outline of this wide study at the Haida. He recounts the heritage of eighteen of the main villages, telling the tale in their humans and describing the location in their homes and different recognized constructions. In his advent, he explains how the Haida's big cedar homes and totem poles are a part of a desirable non secular and fabric tradition which integrates family members, heritage, ritual and technique. the varied ancient pictures which accompany the textual content illustrate the richness and diversity of Haida sculpture; they express the villages on the peak in their glory within the Eighties and Eighteen Nineties and of their next and tragic decay. "George F. MacDonald is Director of the Canadian Museum of Civilization. he's the writer of "Haida enormous artwork.
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Extra resources for Chiefs of the Sea and Sky: Haida Heritage Sites of the Queen Charlotte Islands
Example text
Were great fighters and sent expeditions in all directions" (1909:105). Swanton suggests thai: the inhabitants of numerous small towns of the Kunghit Haida gathered at Ninstints in the middle decades of the nineteenth century. The family which ruled Ninstints at the time of first contact with the Europeans were Ravens, while an Eagle family controlled the village during the half century before it was abandoned. Anthony Island is small and exposed to the sweep of the open Pacific. However, the village site of Ninstints is the most secluded and protected of all major Haida villages, since it lies in a sheltered bay on the eastern side of the island and is further protected by a rocky islet facing the village.
They also frequently referred to the town as Gold Harbour, since it was near the gold strike at Mitchell Inlet, or as Old Gold Harbour, to differentiate it from New Gold Harbour (Haina). John Work credits the town with eighteen houses and 329 people, while Swanton's informants remembered the names of twenty houses. Traces of only fifteen houses could be detected in mapping the village. Some of the names on Swanton's list may refer to houses built at different times on the same house sites. The town is clearly divided into moiety sections, with the Ravens to the west (Houses 1—8) and the Eagles to the east (Houses 9—15).
Three Raven families dominated Skedans. All three shared the same crests. Two Eagle families also lived in the village. Almost all the crests of both clans figure in the village sculpture, as do other motifs depicting stories associated with the families. Skedans was abandoned only a few years after Dawson's visit in 1878, at which time most of the houses appear to have been habitable. TANU 48 TANU is SITUATED ON A SIZEABLE ISLAND opposite Kunga Island in Laskeek Bay. The name T'anu refers to a type of sea grass found near the village.