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Yup’ik masks in the precontact past and the contested present

ABSTRACT The Nunalleq site (ca. 1400–1675 AD) near the village of Quinhagak, Alaska has produced the largest archaeological collection of Yup’ik material culture. Amongst other perfectly preserved artefacts recovered from the site, there are masks and mask fragments that deserve special attention. The knowledge and skills involved in Yup’ik mask making have been almost forgotten in Quinhagak for generations due to the abolition of this Indigenous tradition by Moravian missionaries in the early 1900s. Quinhagak community members view the Nunalleq masks not just as artefacts but gifts from their ancestors that remind them how the Yup’ik celebrated life and survival prior to colonisation. In today’s context, these masks have become endowed with new cultural meaning as symbols of decolonisation and cultural revival. This article discusses the role of Nunalleq masks in the efforts of local community members to reclaim their pre-colonial cultural practices and heal the colonialism-induced trauma.