The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of Northern Eurasia is the first book to describe the bark and skin watercraft of more than forty indigenous cultures and peoples from northern Europe to the Bering Strait and Far East. This vast region includes Scandinavia and parts of northern Europe; western, central, and eastern Siberia; Chukotka; Kamchatka; Hokkaido; and northern China. Waterways and coasts were the connecting arteries of this sprawling territory, and small boats were its vessels for communication, migration, subsistence, trade, and war. Built from the simplest basic materials-bark or skin over a light wooden frame lashed with root or sinew-these boats weighed almost nothing, could be made or repaired in a day or two, and were easily transported over portages or sea ice. For tens of thousands of years these small watercraft dominated human transport on land and sea until the appearance of the horse and automobile. Drawing on the tradition of The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America by Adney and Chappelle (Smithsonian, 1964), Luukkanen and Fitzhugh have crafted a cultural and historical atlas of this vast, rich boating region. The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of Northern Eurasia documents the origin of small boat use and manufacture in Northern Eurasia as known from museum collections; petroglyphs; archaeological finds; reports from explorers, diplomats, and scientists; and from photographs and ethnographic sources. The authors then connect how these indigenous vessels spread into North America via Bering Strait, ultimately becoming prototypes for today's utilitarian, sport, and recreation industries.
