Name_________________________

Yurok Indian Scavenger Hunt Answer Sheet

Culture
1. What are the Yurok people known for being good at?
a. great fishermen, eelers, basket weavers, canoe makers, storytellers, singers,
dancers, healers and strong medicine
2. What trees were the original Yurok houses and canoes built out of?
a. redwood trees
3. The Yurok Indians value nature and only use the amount of resources necessary.
Why are redwood trees considered sacred living beings?
a. stand as guardians over their villages/sacred places

Ceremonies
4. After all the sayings recitation are given in the beginning of the ceremony, what
two dances are performed?
a. White deer dance and jumping dance
5. What are some of the materials/animal skins the Yurok Indians wore during these
dances?
a. Deerskin dancers wore aprons of civet cat or deerskin around the waist, masses of
dentalium necklaces, and forehead bands of wolf fur , eagle feathers, wood pecker
scalps
6. For everyone who attended the salmon ceremony, what were they erased of?
a. All past blood feuds

Spirits
7. How did the Yurok Indians sense spirits?
a. Through natural environments, land, water, plants, and animals
8. Why is it important for them to keep a balanced relationship with spirits?
a. Teaches how to heal the sick, how to live off the land, and develop spiritual power
9. After reading the spirit power section, what type of mind frame does a person have
to have in order to be given good luck by the spirits?
a. A person had to have good thoughts about spirit power

Environment and Resources

10. The Yurok tribe is the largest group that lived and continues to live in what state?
a. CA
11. What types of resources did the Yurok men hunt and fish to provide food for their
tribe?
a. Fish- salmon in the spring and fall (dried in the sun and saved for future use).
They also caught mollusks and sometimes seas lions. They hunted both like deer
and elk too.
12. What types of tools do you think they used to catch these? (Remember they did not
have fishing poles back then!)

a. spears and nets

13. Since fish were a huge source of food to the Yurok Indians, why do you think they
only caught the amount of fish necessary?
a. They valued fish and all of nature
14. What types of food did children and mothers collect? How did these foods help their
diet?
a. Berries, nuts, acorns
15. How did these foods help their diet?
a. This helped their diet because it is important to eat fruits, nuts, and vegetables

Economy
16. What did they use for money?
a. Dentalium shells
17. What did these shells look like and where are they found?
a. Tube shaped mollusk shells- found in deep waters of the ocean (Pacific)
18. According to the text book, one chain of shells can be traded for a small boat. How
many chains of shells can be traded for a wife?
a. 10 chains
19. What other possessions were highly valued to use for trade with American Indians?
a. Woodpecker scalps, very light and very dark deerskins