‘The day was clear next morning, and the children watched the sea. And when they saw a shape approaching, they shouted “Something’s coming. Something black on the sea!” It was dead whale. It floated in to where they were camping. They butchered the whale right there on the beach.’ Told by Asatchaq Jimmie Killigivuk, Point Hope.

Whale hunting is frequently depicted in the engravings. Most seem to show bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus; Iñupiaq abviq; Fig. 1). A species of baleen whale, they can be over 18 m long, and weigh over 60 tons. Living on the southern edge of the ice, they pass Bering Strait when they migrate south to the Bering Sea in winter, and north to the Arctic Ocean in summer.

The bowhead whale hunt was most important for the Iñupiat living on Bering Strait, and along the shores of the Beaufort Sea. Marking the beginning of the annual cycle of activities, it was celebrated with ceremonies.

Bowhead whales were hunted from umiaqs (boats) (Fig. 2). Crews consisted of eight to ten men - in the engravings, one figure in an umiaq usually indicates two men sitting next to each other on the same bench. The umialik, as the owner of the umiaq, directed the hunt, sitting in the stern and steering the umiaq. In Fig. 2, the harpooner can be seen standing in the bow of the umiaq, striking the whale with a harpoon. One of the crew members is ready to throw the float attached to the harpoon, to prevent the whale from escaping and sinking. The whale's breath or blow is indicated by a feathered line (Fig. 2) or by a small cloud (Fig. 3).

The whale was towed to the ice edge, where it was greeted and offered fresh water by the wife of the umialik. The whale was butchered (Fig. 4), and divided among participants in the hunt. Generous shares were given to others within the community and beyond.