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A prized plant for regional Native Americans has been carefully cultivated for more than 3,500 years, according to an Oregon State University study.
KLCC’s Brian Bull reports.
Camas is a first food staple for Native Americans, who traditionally bake the bulbs in earthen ovens.
Many dig up the bulbs across the Pacific Northwest in early summer like this group did in June 2023, led by a Siletz tribal member.
“Here’s some right here. Actually, the seeds haven’t quite gone to seed yet.”
Molly Carney is an OSU anthropologist and lead author on the study.
She looked up bulbs from around 3,500 years ago and saw Native gatherers were harvesting them selectively.
“We found by looking at the archaeological bulbs, that people were only harvesting these sexually mature plants. And we infer that they are replanting the immature plants that are popped out with those bulbs.”
Camas becomes harvest ready in three to five years, so Carney says this selective gathering shows careful stewardship of the plant.
The study is published in the journal Holocene.
(Photo: Rhonda McBride)
At the recent Statewide Native Youth Olympic (NYO) Games in Anchorage, Alaska, students took home medals for traditional games like the Two-Foot High Kick and the Kneel Jump.
But they also had some unofficial competition with this sound.
Imagine hearing lots of these seal calls in a stadium full of people.
Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA sought out the source of these sounds, a tradition that is as old as the games themselves.
Long after the excitement of the Statewide Native Youth Olympic (NYO) Games has faded, students might still hear in their mind’s ear, the sound of the seal call.
As they competed for medals in traditional games like the Two-Foot High Kick and the Kneel Jump, intermingled in the cheers and applause were seal calls, that echoed across the stadium at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.
Samuel Mecham, a student from Anchorage, says he perfected the call during seal hunts in his hometown of Unalakleet, but now he’s happy to belt it out to a sea of people.
“It’s fun. It gets everybody riled up. And it gets people’s attention. It’s like our way of shouting and cheering on your teammate.”
Marjorie Tahbone, a longtime NYO veteran, actively encourages the use of the seal call.
As Master of Ceremonies for this year’s games, she used it to get the crowd pumped up.
She even took time to teach hundreds of athletes the art of the seal call between competitions, as judges made preparations to award the medals.
“You start off with a low sound, like ‘Ooh-ooh’. And then you learn how to make a high sound ‘Ooht’. And then you crack your voice. So, ‘Ooh-ooht’. And then you figure out how to do it, and eventually you’re able to go ‘Ooh-oot’, real easy.
Tahbone says seals are naturally curious creatures, so hunters used the call to distract them.
“The hunters would have to mimic a seal and get as close as they could, close enough where they could harpoon it.”
The seal call was also used to signal hunter success, a joyful sound that Tahbone says helps to bring the sounds of land and sea into the city.
During this year’s games, which were held from April 25 to 27, seal calls weren’t the only Indigenous sounds in the crowd.
Kids often walk the aisles making bird whistles.
Joey Cross’ specialty is the raven call.
“Organize your throat, your voice in a certain way.”
He makes almost a trilling sound, deep in his vocal chords and added caws to the mix.
Also, from his seat in the stadium, you can hear his call of the loon.
“I learned this from a friend (loon call). By doing that, I learned I could make it smaller. Also, a little whistle.”
Cross (Chenega) says seal calls are not part of the hunting tradition in Prince William Sound, but bird calls are another way to Indigenize gatherings.
On average, the NYO Games, hosted by the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, drew about 2,000 spectators a day.
The sounds from villages near and far added excitement to games like the seal hop, where athletes raced across the stadium in a push-up position, hopping continuously, as far as they could go.
The seal and bird calls managed to cut through the roar of the crowd.
In the back of the room, you could hear the Mat-Su School District’s Caelynn Carter and her friends doing the seal call, responding back and forth to each other.
Although Carter won a first-place medal in the girl’s Scissors Broad Jump, she’s proud to have finally mastered the seal call.
“I just figured it out today, and I haven’t stopped. It’s a great way to cheer someone on. It’s a lot cooler than clapping.”
Each of the games has a story behind it that explains how it helped to hone skills and build endurance for hunting and fishing in the extreme cold.
The Seal Hop, for example, was a game of stamina, used to teach hunters to sneak up on seals on the sea ice.
Today, these traditions transfer to other areas of life and help students learn self-discipline and gain confidence.
Marjorie Tahbone says even the seal call has use in today’s modern world.
“When you’re walking down the aisle of Walmart – and you hear an ‘Ooht’ – other people will start doing it, three aisles down. If you can’t find me, seal call, and we’ll find each other.”
While it signals a different kind of hunter success, Tahbone says it’s very effective.
(Photo: Nayana LaFond)
“Portraits in Red: Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Painting Project”, a national traveling exhibition, will be on view at The Museum at Warm Springs in Oregon, starting in June.
The exhibition features 40 paintings by Nayana LaFond (Anishinaabe, Abenaki, Mi’kmaq, French, and German descent), focusing on missing and murdered Indigenous relatives.
The opening reception will be held on June 5.
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