"And he was beautiful"

by William E. Simeone

The collections of Field Museum of Natural History contains 65 examples of contemporary northern Athapaskan Indian crafts made by the Han, Tanacross, and Upper Tanana Indians. These objects were collected for the museum in 1981-1982 and are described, illustrated, and placed in their historical and contemporary context by this study. The authors demonstrate that contemporary northern Athapaskan material culture, at least in interior Alaska, is vital, innovative, and modern, but with strong ideological and technological roots in the past.