Inuit Housing and Diet
Covered in Detail Below
Inuit Housing
- Inuits were nomads and needed houses that could be set up and taken down fast.
- Igloos could be built in 20-30 minutes and taken down in the same amount of time
- They slept on ice blocks or mounds covered in fur as beds.
- Igloos are certainly warmer than outside but they were surprisingly very strong and stable.
- Inuits did have other types of houses in the summer.
- They were like the teepees in the great plains, made of wood and skins.
- Wood was hard to come by so it was re-used and kept in good condition.
- Another tribe that lived slightly to the west called the Inuvialuit were quite rich in resources and they lived in permanent log and sod houses.
- The log and sod houses were constructed by digging a shallow hole the size of the houses and then placing logs vertically at an incline and then piling sod over them for insulation.
- Inhabitants of the log and sod houses were kept warm with fire.
Inuit Diet
- The Inuits had many limiting factors and obstacles that made food a valued comodity
- Inuits never relied on the small amount of plants that grew in the arctic.
- These are several types of animals hunted land, sea, and sky: Seals , beluga whales,narwhals, walruses, polar bears, musk oxen, arctic foxes, arctic birds, and arctic hares.
- Inuits had one year round food source, the ringed seal, however hunting patterns changed with the seasons.
-
December to March: It is hard to find breathing holes in the thick ice but there are still some.
April to June: It is breeding season so seal pups are hunted during this period.
July to September: Most seals were hunted during this season as breathing holes are easy to find and the population has risen because breeding season was recent.
October to November: Breathing holes are still easy enough to find however the ice is starting to freeze over. The Inuits general lifestyle was rough and active, calling for them to take in extra calories, the food available to them provided them with plenty of protein, calcium , and fat. The source of vitamin C in their diet still puzzles scientists, but inuits are also said to be much healthier than average.