Native Village of Chitina (Tsedi Ná) (Athna: ″Copper River″. Population (2010 Census): 126; Current Population: 93 (Population Year: 2018))
** Tonsina (Kentsii Cae'e or Kentsii Na‟) / Klutina (Tl‟atii Na‟) Band - today:
Native Village of Kluti Kaah (Tl’aticae’e or Tl‟atii Na‟) (Athna: ″Mouth of Klutina River″ or ″Undercurrent River″, formerly the ''Native Village of Copper Center'', the village ''Tl’aticae’e (Copper Center)''. Population (2010 Census): 328; Current Population: 317 (Population Year: 2018))
* Central Ahtna or Middle Ahtna or Dan'ehwt'aene
** Gulkona (C‟ulc‟e Na‟) / Gakona (Ggax Kuna‟) Band - today:
***
Nativa Village of Gulkana (C'uul C'ena') (Athna: ″tearing River″, the village ''C'uul C'ena' (Gulkana)''. Population (2010 Census): 119; Current Population: 113 (Population Year: 2018))
***
Native Village of Gakona (Ggax Kuna') (Athna: ″Rabbit River″; the village ''Ggax Kuna' (Gakona)''. Population (2010 Census): 218; Current Population: 203 (Population Year: 2018))
* Western Ahtna or Tsaay Hwt'aene / Dze Ta Hwt'aene (″People in the middle of the mountains, i.e.
Nutzotin Mountains
The Nutzotin Mountains are a mountain range in Alaska, United States and Yukon, Canada. They have an area of 829 km2 and form a subrange of the Alaska Range at its southeastern end. The mountains are located within Wrangell–St. Elias Nation ...
″, sometimes known as ''Hwtsaay Hwt'aene / Hwtsaay hwt'aene'' - ″Small Tree People, Small Timber People″)
** Tyone (″chief″) / Mendeltna (Bendilna) Band - today:
Native Village of Tazlina (Tezdlen Na') (Athna: ″swift water″, the village ''Tezdlen Na' (Tazlina)''. Population (2010 Census): 297; Current Population: 263 (Population Year: 2018))
** Cantwell (Yidateni Na‟) / Denali (Dghelaayce‟e) Band - today:
Native Village of Cantwell (Yidateni Na') (Athna: ″Jaw Trail Creek″, English name: Jack River. Population (2010 Census): 222)
* Upper (Copper River) Ahtna or Tatl'a Hwt'aene / Taa’tl’aa Denaé (″Headwater People″)
** Sanford River (HwdinndiK‟ełt‟aeni) / Chistochina (Tsiistl‟edze‟ Na‟) Band - today:
Cheesh-Na Tribe
The Ahtna (also Ahtena, Atna, Ahtna-kohtaene, or Copper River) are an Alaska Native Alaskan Athabaskans, Athabaskan people of the Athabaskan languages, Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. The people's homeland called Atna Nenn', is loca ...
(formerly the ''Native Village of Chistochina (Tsiis Tl’edze' Caegge)''; Cheesh-Na means ″blue ocher River″, the village ''Tsiis Tl’edze' Caegge (Chistochina)''. Population (2010 Census): 97; Current Population: 88 (Population Year: 2018))
** Slana (Stl’aa Caegge) / Batzulnetas (Nataełde) Band - today: part of the ''Native Village of Mentasta (Mendaesde)''
** Mentasta (Mendaesde) Band - today:
Native Village of Mentasta (Mendaesde) (Athna: ″shallow lake″, the village ''Mendaesde (Mentasta Lake)''. Population (2010 Census): 112; Current Population: 128 (Population Year: 2018))
Culture
Governance
Architecture
In the summertime the Ahtna used temporary rectangular dwellings made of
spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...
and
cottonwood. These structures had bark-covered sides and skin-covered entrances to provide access. In the wintertime, families lived in large semi-underground homes. As large as 10 feet wide by 36 feet long, these dwellings were constructed from wood and covered with spruce bark. Sometimes a second room was attached to be used for
sweating
Perspiration, also known as sweating, is the production of fluids secreted by the sweat glands in the skin of mammals.
Two types of sweat glands can be found in humans: eccrine glands and apocrine glands. The eccrine sweat glands are distr ...
rituals.
Family life
When traveling by water, moose-hide boats were used. In the wintertime,
snowshoes
Snowshoes are specialized outdoor gear for walking over snow. Their large footprint spreads the user's weight out and allows them to travel largely on top of rather than through snow. Adjustable bindings attach them to appropriate winter footwe ...
and load-bearing
toboggans
A toboggan is a simple sled traditionally used by children. It is also a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada.
In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people (often children) down a hill o ...
were used. When traveling by foot and carrying goods, people, usually women, would use a
tumpline
A tumpline () is a strap attached at both ends to a sack, backpack, or other luggage and used to carry the object by placing the strap over the top of the head. This utilizes the spine rather than the shoulders as standard backpack straps do. ...
. The tumpline was made of animal skin or cloth and was slung across the forehead or chest to support a heavy load on the back.
Subsistence
Traditionally the Ahtna hunted many different types of animals such as the
moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...
,
caribou
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
,
mountain sheep
The argali (''Ovis ammon''), also known as the mountain sheep, is a wild sheep that roams the highlands of western East Asia, the Himalayas, Tibet, and the Altai Mountains.
Description
The name 'argali' is the Mongolian word for wild sheep. I ...
, and rabbits. Salmon was a staple, being caught with nets in rivers and streams. To support healthy prey populations, the Athna would monitor and reduce predator populations such as wolves, eagles and bears. For example, they would keep track of wolf dens in traditional hunting areas and by killing cubs. A central figure in their mythology, the Ahtna might prop up killed wolves and feed ceremonial meals to them. The Ahtna also gathered berries and roots.
Economy
The Ahtna were historically part of a trade network with other Athabaskans, the
Alutiiq
The Alutiiq people (pronounced in English; from Promyshlenniki Russian Алеутъ, "Aleut"; plural often "Alutiit"), also called by their ancestral name ( or ; plural often "Sugpiat"), as well as Pacific Eskimo or Pacific Yupik, are a sout ...
, and the
Tlingit
The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ), . They would barter furs, hides and copper, and eventually manufactured European goods after encounters with the Europeans. Trade meetings would take place three times a year
Nuchek on the
Prince William Sound
Prince William Sound (Sugpiaq: ''Suungaaciq'') is a sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Tr ...
.
The Ahata operate Ahtna, Inc., an
Alaska Native corporation
The Alaska Native Regional Corporations were established in 1971 when the United States Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) which settled land and financial claims made by the Alaska Natives and provided for the establis ...
founded in 1971.
Ahata has provided services to
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...
at the
Port Isabel Detention Center The Port Isabel Service Processing Center near Los Fresnos, Texas holds detainees of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose immigration status or citizenship has not been officially determined or who are awaiting repatriation. It ...
since at least 2008.
The contract will earn Ahtna Technical Services (ATS) at least $800 million.
See also
*
List of Native American peoples in the United States
This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...
References
Further reading
* Williams, Maria Sháa Tláa
''The Alaska Native Reader: History, Culture, Politics'' Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press (2009).
External links
Official websitefor the Ahtna Heritage Foundation
Copper River Native AssociationWrangell's 1839 Comparative Word-List of Alaskan languages(includes Copper River Ahtna)
*
PARADISEC
The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) is a cross-institutional project that supports work on endangered languages and cultures of the Pacific and the region around Australia. They digitise reel-to ...
archiv
collection of Ahtna recordings
{{Authority control
Ahtna