Holikachuk (also Innoko, Organized Village of Grayling, Innoka-khotana, Tlëgon-khotana) are a
Yupikized Alaska Native
Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a numbe ...
Athabaskan
Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific C ...
people of the
Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group to western
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
. Their native territory includes the area surrounding the middle and upper
Innoko River
The Innoko River (; (Deg Xinag: ''Yooniq'') is a tributary of the Yukon River in the U.S. state of Alaska. It flows north from its origin south of Cloudy Mountain in the Kuskokwim Mountains and then southwest to meet the larger river across from ...
. Later in 1963 they moved to
Grayling on the
Yukon River
The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...
.
The Holikachuk call themselves ''Doogh Hit’an'' (). The name ''Holikachuk'' is derived from the name (in the
Holikachuk language
Holikachuk (own name: ''Doogh Qinag'') was an Athabaskan language formerly spoken at the village of Holikachuk (''Hiyeghelinhdi'') on the Innoko River in central Alaska. In 1962, residents of Holikachuk relocated to Grayling on the lower Yuk ...
) of a village in native
Holikachuk
Holikachuk (also Innoko, Organized Village of Grayling, Innoka-khotana, Tlëgon-khotana) are a Yupikized Alaska Native Athabaskan people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group to western Alaska. Their native territory includes the ...
territory.
The Holikachuk have been neglected by anthropologists, resulting in little documentation (both published and unpublished). In the past they have erroneously (or out of convenience) been grouped with the
Koyukon
The Koyukon (russian: Коюконы) are an Alaska Native Athabascan people of the Athabascan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. Their traditional territory is along the Koyukuk and Yukon rivers where they subsisted for thousands of years by ...
.
The peoples neighboring the Holikachuk are in the north the
Yup'ik
The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Central Yup'ik, Alaskan Yup'ik ( own name ''Yup'ik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an I ...
and
Koyukon
The Koyukon (russian: Коюконы) are an Alaska Native Athabascan people of the Athabascan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. Their traditional territory is along the Koyukuk and Yukon rivers where they subsisted for thousands of years by ...
, in the east the Koyukon, in the south the
Upper Kuskokwim people
The Upper Kuskokwim people or Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskans, Upper Kuskokwim Athabascans (Upper Kuskokwim language, own native name ), and historically Kolchan, Goltsan, Tundra Kolosh, and McGrath Ingalik are an Alaskan Athabaskans, Alaskan Athabaska ...
, and in the west the
Deg Hit'an.
Holikachuk culture is a relative to the
Deg Hit'an culture.
References
Further reading
* Snow, Jeanne H. (1981). Ingalik. In ''Subarctic'' (pp. 602–617). Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 6). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution.
External links
Holikachuk(Alaska Native Languages)
Alaskan Athabaskans
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