The Whale House of the Chilkat

An ethnographic study documents the architecture, carvings, and ceremonial practices centered on a Chilkat whale-house, drawn from long-term fieldwork and native informants. It details construction and floor plans, carved and painted posts and screens bearing clan crests and narrative figures, associated ritual objects and burial arrangements, and the matrilineal social organization that gives the house communal meaning. Illustrations and measured drawings accompany close descriptions, while comparative commentary notes shifts in settlement, customs, and material culture under outside influence, aiming to preserve knowledge of communal rites and decorative traditions that were rapidly changing.