The Aleutian Kayak

The Aleutian Kayak George B. Dyson’s article in the April 2000 edition of Scientific American, “The Aleutian Kayak”, illustrates that the Aleut hunters of the past, were ahead of their time with their technologically superior version of the modern kayak, the baidarka. Dyson reports that the innovative design of the baidarka greatly propitiated this hunter-gatherer society who relied on sea mammals who lived in the treacherous waters of the area. Dyson explained that this design …

…grandfather served in the Aleutian Islands during WWII. Dyson hinted at the fact that people need to be more involved in protecting and preserving other people's ways of life, as well as their artifacts. It is imperative that we learn from the CRM and their ways of helping individuals so that they do not become lost in history as so many other cultures or societies have in the past similar to the Aleut’s baidarka.