POLAR REGIONS

Arctic People

These homes could be so warm that people stripped off almost all their clothes when inside. Lamps gave light and heat for cooking, but most food was eaten raw or even frozen. Fresh meat and blubber from whales and seals was popular, but in summer the diet was varied with moss, herbs and birds’ eggs. In winter the Inuit traveled inland to hunt. This was when they lived in igloos. In summer they generally lived in tents made from caribou skin. Some Inuit made low houses with walls made from stone and whale bone. Skins were stretched over the walls as a roof. Several families would live together, using stone lamps that burned oil made from whale blubber. Traveling on Ice With no iron and little wood, Inuit used seal and whale bones, tied with sinews, to make sleds and boats. A team of six to ten husky dogs was used to pull sledges across snow and sea ice. Huskies are strong and they can travel day after day even in winter. But in spring the snows melt and the sea ice breaks up. Inuit then used boats to hunt. Inuit had two types of boat. The kayak was made by stretching seal skins over a frame of driftwood or bone. It was so light that it could be carried by one man. In summer, when the whales moved north into the Arctic Ocean to feed, they were hunted. Then a much larger boat, the umiak , was needed. It was nearly always rowed by women but was accompanied by men in kayaks who chased the seals or whale.

T his 150-year-old kayak was made in Greenland. It needed great skill to use when hunting seals among sea ice. knives like those above which would be used for building igloos. Large bones would be used for building homes and making sledges. Ivory, bone, and some types of stone were carved into the shapes of seals and birds which the Inuit hunted or saw on their travels. Ivory and Stone There are no trees in the tundra to supply wood for building homes or making tools. No metals were mined, although some were obtained by trading with people living in the forests further south. Instead the Inuit used what was at hand. There were plenty of bones from seals and whales. Ivory is much harder and came from tusks of walruses and some whales. Ivory was used for making strong

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