NORWAY: As far back as 1200 AD, Indigenous Sámi in Norway dug pits up to two metres deep to trap and hunt wild reindeer - a highly efficient survival strategy that eventually contributed to a major shift from hunting to reindeer herding.
That was one of the learnings for members of the World Indigenous Broadcasters Network (WIBN), who gathered in Karasjok, Norway, last week and took part in a hīkoi along the Ássebákti Nature and Culture Trail.
Guided by Karasjok local Tonje Tunold, the international broadcasters walked the ancient landscape, connecting with the deep roots of Sámi history, culture and survival.
“These hunting methods were so efficient that the wild reindeer became extinct, which is partly the reason they think is why Sámi started with reindeer husbandry, reindeer herding, so that they could control the amount that were eaten and kept,” Tonuld said.
According to researcher John Olsen, the pits were about 1.7 metres long, 50 to 90 centimetres wide and between 1.7 and two metres deep.
“Each pit was camouflaged with twigs, moss and lichen so that a reindeer would suspect nothing until it had fallen into it. Often, the top of the pit walls sloped slightly inwards or vertical stone slabs were placed there to make it more difficult for the reindeer to get out once they had fallen in,” Olsen explained.
Reindeer husbandry remains a primary source of income for Sámi communities, providing meat, hides and antlers. Historically, every part of the reindeer was used for food, warm clothing, shoes, tools and bone handicrafts.
NITV cultural lead Chandler Connel, from Wiradjuri Country in Australia, took part in the hīkoi.
He said learning about the hunting technique was “pretty brutal”.
“Them poor deers just ran straight into the pit, but that’s their way, and that’s their style, and I know after talking with aunty [Tonje] there, once the deer fell into the pit, they got the job done quickly because we don’t keep the animals in pain or anything. And all of it is used from the skin to the bone. So it’s all done proper ways so it’s beautiful,” Connel said.
The hīkoi also took in sculptures, art pieces and cultural heritage sites associated with settlements dating to around 1200 AD.
Tunold said some of the sites remain open to interpretation.
“There are stone mounds. We’re not quite sure what they are. Specialists and researchers don’t agree on what they are, whether they’re burial mounds or turf hut mounds and fire pits, fireplaces, or whether they’re sacrificial sites.”
The trail is also an old postal route between Karasjok and Alta.
Tunold says the Danish King, between 1500 and 1600 AD, ordered a postal route to be made to bring post to the Danish Far North.
“[People] travelled here by reindeer and horse and we can still walk all the way to Alta along this road. It’s 100 kilometres long until we hit the road,” he said.
For the Indigenous broadcasters taking part, the hīkoi is part of a wider programme of cultural exchange through the World Indigenous Broadcasters Network conference.