Another Day in Barrow

Today, Day 3 in Barrow, we went to the Barrow Heritage Center where we saw a special exhibit about whaling. Something which stood out the most to me was that the Inupiat believe that the spirit of the whale chooses to give itself to the hunters based on how well the people will treat the whale,  treat their space, homes, and each other. As stated to the left, "While men may hunt the physical whale, the spirit of the whale gives itself to the women. The women maintain the sanctity of the home, feed the needy, and care for others. The spirit of the whale tells other whales of the kind of treatment it received and convinces themselves to the men the following year."  To the right you can see the Inupiat core values listed. As we have learned, each native Alaskan culture seems to have core values (similar to the 10 common principles) which they aim to follow. Respect and attention to nature is one that I have heard mentioned a few times up here by natives, particularly how it is their responsibility to notice climate change.

We also got to check out the science lab and talk to a few of the archeological anthropologists who we will be accompanying on a dig tomorrow. Their work is 

to date and test the remains at a sinking burial

ground to trace DNA connections between local Inupiat and their ancestors. There is a lot more that they are doing but you will have to talk to the science teachers for further explanation on that! Or tune in tomorrow and we will fill you in on our participation in the dig!

Finally, we got to stand on some sea ice which made the whole trip look really authentic and made Molly really happy! (Below- obviously)

Here is a teaser for tomorrow: This is Molly trying on her full facial covering for the ride out to the windy dig site on 4-wheelers.  Another important logistic for getting to the site is planning for enough Bear Guards so no one gets attacked by a polar bear. I think even polar bears would be afraid of this get-up.