Major population centers such as Point Hope and Point Barrow, located along sea mammal migration routes, contained several large local families clustered in distinct locations or neighborhoods, each set linked together by various affinal and consanguineal kinship ties.In the larger settlements, such as the whaling communities of Point Hope and Barrow, this differentiation culminated in a recognizable system of stratification whereby a small number of families were able to attain more wealth and power than those less well endowed. Given the importance of maximizing success in hunting, choosing the most knowledgeable individual within the larger group to lead the effort was a far more effective approach than limiting the selection to a member of one's own family. Exceptions included journeys to or from a Messenger Feast, a ceremonial gathering of local families from different localities whose leaders were either trading partners or linked by co-marriage; and visits to relatives in other territories brought on by problems of famine in the individual's home district. Local trade goods such as pokes of oil, seal, whale, and walrus meat and maktak, ugruk skins and rope, were exchanged for Russian tobacco, regional specialties such as jade, pottery and Siberian reindeer skins, beads, caribou skins and furs.
Reference: Chance,Norman A.(1990). The Inupiat and Arctic Alaska. Harcourt Brace
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