Alaska News

Which came first - the Raven or the Eagle?

Which Alaska Native lineage came first – the Raven or the Eagle? This is a question researchers seek to answer, and they are asking Alaska Natives to participate in DNA testing this week during the biennial Celebration festival in Juneau to help unravel the past, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

The Eagle and Raven are two moieties (a.k.a. clans) with which Southeast Alaska tribes identify. People within each clan typically do not marry partners from the other, and clan identification is passed down from the mother.

Researchers hope to discover whether the two moieties arrived in Alaska at different times.

The DNA study is part of researcher Theodore Schurr's work at the University of Pennsylvania. He's a principal investigator for a study titled "The Genographic Project: Molecular Genetic Analyses of Indigenous Populations of North America."

Celebration festival organizer Sealaska Heritage Institute has participated in past DNA studies, but Sealaska officials hope this one will be more thorough. Sealaska President Rosita Worl said she was "pleased" with Schurr's work; he is collecting DNA and oral histories at the same time.

Although DNA tests have prompted backlash from some in the Native community, Worl says that people have largely supported of the research. "I recall a meeting where one elder stood up and said, 'I like this (DNA) work. It proves scientifically that we've been here since time immemorial,'" Worl told the Anchorage Daily News.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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