The Aleutian Kayak

A detailed Summary of 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 of the baidarka increased its speed and reduced the amount of energy that the kayakers' needed to expend during their hunts. Unfortunately, few baidarkas and the knowledge of how to reconstruct new ones remain for modern person to study and fully understand the brilliance of these incredible people.

The Aleuts lived in a marginal area of the Earth that had scarce supplies of vegetation for the islanders to gather due to the unstable environment. Hunting se

According to William S. Laughlin, the physical demands of hunting at sea led the Aleuts "to shuffle a whole lot faster through the evolutionary deck." This means that the Aleuts adaptation to their environment was a necessity. Natural selection results in more favorable genes to become more frequent in a population over time. Maybe the Aleuts remarkable upper-body strength was due to the adaptation of the essential task of hunting at sea to provide sustenance.

Upon arrival, the Russian traders realized the Aleuts' technology was superior to their own. The Russians also "modified" the baidarka, established a near-monopoly on hunting and finally killing entire populations of sea otters leading to the sea mammals near extinction, and the American government prohibiting the hunt led to the end of the Aleut's best-known occupation. With the end of the hunting of sea otters, the Aleut's had no reason to continue the building of the baid

Some common words found in the essay are:
Aleutian Kayak, Maybe Aleuts, Management CRM, William Laughlin, WWII Dyson, II Aleuts, Aleutian Island, George Dyson's, hunting sea, design baidarka, sea mammals, innovative design baidarka, dyson's article, aleutian kayak, sea otters, innovative design, crm archaeologists,

Approximate Word count = 637
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Technology

join now Save Paper

Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

Newest Essays

Testimonials

"Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
Jack M.
"With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
Brian P.
"I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
Sara J.
"I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
Rachel W.
"I love this site!!!"
Marie N.