Yttygran Island ( rus, Итыгран;

Eskimo–Aleut The Eskaleut (), Eskimo–Aleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages are a language family native to the northern portions of the North American continent and a small part of northeastern Asia. Languages in the family are indigenous to parts of w ...

: ''Siklyuk'') is an island in the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Am ...

northwest of

Cape Chaplino Cape Chaplin or Cape Chaplino ( rus, Мыс Чаплина; Mys Chaplina; Eskimo–Aleut: Angazik) is a cape pointing eastward in the Bering Sea in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of the Russian Federation. The area was first surveyed described and ...

, close to the coast of Chukotka. Nowadays this island is popular with ecotourists.

Beluga The beluga whale (/bɪˈluːɡə/) (Delphinapterus leucas) is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus Delphinapterus. It is also known as the wh ...

whales are common in the waters around Yttigran and neighbouring Arakamchechen islands.

Geography

Yttygran is located to the south of Arakamchechen Island and is separated from the continental shore by a sound that is only in its narrowest point. Penkigney Bay lies to the NW of the island. Yttigran is long and has a maximum width of . It has a mountainous interior.

Administration

Administratively Yttygran Island belongs to

Providensky District Providensky District (russian: Провиде́нский райо́н; Chukchi language, Chukchi: , ''Urèlḳujym rajon''; Yupik languages, Yupik: Уӷрилӄуйым район) is an administrativeLaw #33-OZ and municipalLaw #45-OZ district (r ...

, part the

Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Chukotka (russian: Чуко́тка), officially the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug,, ''Čukotkakèn avtonomnykèn okrug'', is the easternmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia. It is an autonomous okrug situated in the Russian ...

of the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Whale Bone Alley

Situated on the northern shore of Yttygran island (from the Chukchi ''Etgyran'', meaning "midway dwellings"), Whale Bone Alley consists of a large number of carefully arranged whale skulls, whale bones and stones, along with a considerable number of

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

storage pits.Petit Fute, ''Chukotka'', p.136 It is thought that Whale Bone Alley was used as a central shrine by a number of different villages dotted along the eastern Chukotkan coast.''Whale Alley: the Antiquities of the Senyavin Strait Islands'', S.I. Arutyunov, I.I. Krupnik and M.A. Chlenov, Moscow: Nauka. It is thought that the site was used for initiation rituals and for sporting contests, although the local Yupik have a simpler explanation that the island was simply a collective centre for the

flensing Flensing is the removing of the blubber or outer integument of whales, separating it from the animal's meat. Processing the blubber (the subcutaneous fat) into whale oil was the key step that transformed a whale carcass into a stable, transp ...

, butchery and storage of whale meat, an idea supported by the etymology of the Yupik name for Yttygran: Sikliuk, from ''Siklyugak'', meaning "meat pit" in Yupik. The site is monumental by Chukotkan standards when compared with other early settlements such as

Uelen Uelen (russian: Уэлéн; Chukchi: , ''Uvèlèn''; Siberian Yupik: Улыӄ, ''Ulyḳ''; Naukan Yupik: Олыӄ, ''Oleq''; also known as Whalen in older English-language sources and Ugelen on USCGS charts) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') ...

, Ekven,

Sireniki Sireniki (russian: Сиреники; Yupik: Сиӷинык, literally ''Mountain of Horns''; Chukchi: , ''Vutèèn''; Sirenik: ''Sigheneg'') is a village ('' selo'') in Providensky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, in the Far Eastern Fede ...

and

Kivak Providensky District (russian: Провиде́нский райо́н; Chukchi: , ''Urèlḳujym rajon''; Yupik: Уӷрилӄуйым район) is an administrativeLaw #33-OZ and municipalLaw #45-OZ district (raion), one of the six in Chukotka ...

,''Whale Alley: A Site on the Chukchi Peninsula, Siberia'', M.A. Chlenov and I.I. Krupnik, ''Expedition'', University of Pennsylvania Press, p.6ff and consists of several lines of whale skulls and jaw bones along the shoreline, several large pits behind them and a number of meat pits surrounding a central sanctuary and stone path around one third of the way along the site travelling from south to north. The site extends some 1800 feet (548 metres) along the northern coast of Yttygran Island''Alaska Native Art: Tradition, Innovation, Continuity'', S.W. Fair, University of Alaska Press, p.45
/ref> and lies on a major whale migration path, and it is thought that the site was chosen partly because of the ease by which local people could kill and butcher a whale and also as a place where people could come together and trade on neutral ground in a forerunner to the fairs held during the period of

cossack The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...

exploration of the region. There is no evidence of any monumental ritual centre like this elsewhere in any other part of Eskimo lands, though there are sites along the Chukotkan coast where the whale skull motifs can be seen at sites such as Nykhsirak.

References

External links

LocationYttigran
{{Islands in the Bering Sea Islands of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Islands of the Bering Sea Providensky District