Collection Name	S.R. Bernardi Photographs
Identifier	UAF-1959-875-2
Title	Pre-Historic granite pits.
Description	Photograph of a stone box . Caption: Just back of the village, on the side of Cape Mountain there are hundreds of pre-historic pits made of hewn granite stones. These pits are six feet long four wide and four deep. The stone facing the sea is always a solid stone while the other side & end are of several stones fitted together. Until recently these pits were filled with small stones (8 in. cubes). By accident, one was emptied & discolored the masonry. An Esquimo legend says- When the world was made the pits were for homes of evil spirits when they wanted to leave the mountian & go into the valley they turned into a white fox. No Eskimo will wear any white fox furs. When a boy was old enough to want to go whaling he had to go up the mountain, carry seal meat to the evil spirits, to show his courage. One famine time they carried stones resembling seal meat. The spirits ate the stones and became overpowered with sleep and have never been able to leave the pits since. All pits are filled with small stones. Some evil spirits are still white foxes but cannot get into the pits for the stone filled spirits. S.R. Bernardi photographs formerly known as The Gertrude Lusk whaling album.
Creator	Bernardi, Suzanne Rognon
Subject.TGM	Stonework Stone cutting Masonry Archaeological sites Indigenous peoples
Subject.Local	Alaska Natives--Northern Alaska--Inupiaq Ethnotechnology
Location	Wales (Alaska)
Region	Northern Alaska
Time Period	1896 to 1913
Date	1905?
Type	Image (Photographs)
Ordering & Use	For information on ordering and using this material: http://library.uaf.edu/order-photos
Holding Institution	Alaska and Polar Regions Collections, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks.; mailto:UAF-APR-reference-Service@alaska.edu --(907) 474-2791--PO Box 756808, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6808.
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Pre-Historic granite pits.

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