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Shadow of the Whale: West Coast Rituals Associated with Luring Whales

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The History and Environmental Impacts of Hunting Deities

Part of the book series: Conflict, Environment, and Social Complexity ((CESC))

Abstract

Most native peoples along the Pacific Coast of North America viewed whales as an important subsistence item. Some Alaskan and Northwest groups developed a whale hunting culture, and nearly all coastal dwellers exploited stranded whales, providing abundant meat and oil for consumption. Many rock art sites along the coast between Alaska and Acapulco contain images of whales and other cetaceans, and portable effigies depict these marine mammals. Chumash, Alaskan, and Northwest Coast shamans used whale effigies in rituals designed to summon the whales to be hunted and/or beach themselves in one’s territory. A survey of the ethnographic literature investigates the extent to which these rituals sought the assistance of a Supernatural Gamekeeper or Animal Master. At least some whale depictions in carved effigies and rock art likely resulted from such rituals.

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Acknowledgments

This study had its genesis as a presentation prepared for the Bangudae Petroglyphs International Symposium, “Whale on the Rock,” held in Ulsan, South Korea, on June 20-22, 2017. The author is grateful for the invitation to participate extended by Sang-Mog Lee, Director of the Ulsan Petroglyph Museum and to other symposium attendees who shared their research and perspectives regarding whale images found in rock art around the world. The author’s ideas regarding this topic further developed as a result of his participation in the “Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters” symposium, organized by Richard J. Chacon, that was held at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. As research for this study progressed, other friends and colleagues contributed ideas and information. The author especially is indebted to Ernestine Ygnacio-De Soto, who helped identify Barbareño Chumash whale texts in her mother Mary J. Yee’s notebooks that had been translated by the late Madison Beeler. Among those who suggested references or aided in searching the literature were Carol and Rick Bury, Evan Connell, Janet Erro, Devlin Gandy, Al Knight, Jonathan Malindine, Susan Morris, Madonna Moss, Steve Schwartz, Matthew Vestuto, and Barbara Voorhies. Others shared images of whale-related artifacts and/or rock art, including the late Rick Bury, Kathleen Conti, Paul Goldsmith, Jon Harman, and Greg Orfalea. Colleagues at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History who helped to locate and identify whale-related artifacts in the museum’s collections were Paul Collins, Krista Fahy, Tacy Kennedy, and Jan Timbrook. Library Assistant Peggy Dahl and Anthropology Curatorial Assistants Kaleigh Blair, Destiny Harrell, and Kate Paulson aided by copying and scanning documents and images. The manuscript benefited from Thomas Blackburn’s editorial review.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    John R. Johnson

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  1. Sociology, Criminology, and Anthropology Dept, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC, USA

    Richard J. Chacon

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Johnson, J.R. (2023). Shadow of the Whale: West Coast Rituals Associated with Luring Whales. In: Chacon, R.J. (eds) The History and Environmental Impacts of Hunting Deities. Conflict, Environment, and Social Complexity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37503-3_10

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