Food

The Yurok would eat salmon, seals,sea lions,marine fish,mollusks,shore birds,migratory waterfowl,bear,elk,dear and rabbits.Acorns were the main food of Yurok,with fish(salmon) also important to them. Deer were plentiful and were caught with snores.Bulbs were dug in early summer, and seeds were gathered.

Shelter

The Yurok villages were usually near the sea or river coast, and their culture was built around their canoes. The Yurok house was built of redwood planks split from logs with wedges and held together by squared poles tied with grapevines the walls were low. The door was a round hole about two feet in diameter, located a few inches above ground level. Yurok villages were located either by the Klamath River or sometimes by the shore of the ocean.

Clothing

The Yurok tribe made clothing out of deerskins. Young men would fold a deerskin around their hips and older men would wear nothing. The women would wear decorated dresses with shekels and seeds. During the cold weather, both men and women would use deerskin blankets over and short buckskin leggings to keep their bodies warm. For shoes when hunting they made snowshoes from branches and grapevines.

Trade

Money used in the Yurok tribes was dentalium shells which is a tube-shaped mollusk shells found in the sand under deep ocean water. The shells were strung on strings 27 inches long. The value was based on the size of the shells, the larger the shells the more valuable. The other value of money were woodpecker scalps used in dance headdresses and deerskins.

Population

The Yurok population had an estimate of 2,500 people living it's located in Northwestern California. The language the villagers spoke was the Alonquian family. For the villagers at Yurok felt that money was very important and every person and every action had a measured value. They lived by a very rigid detailed code of laws and rights, by having these beliefs it set them apart from other early Californians.

Ceremonies 

Ceremonies were held in an attempt to insure good crops or lots of salmon, or to prevent disasters. Most ceremonies began with an old man reciting a long memorized chant. Then a dance lasting for five or ten days was done by the men. The men displayed their most valued possessions at the dance.

Tools

The tools used by the hunters were bows and arrows. The fishermen used spears, nets, and wooden fish traps. If they needed to go to war they would fight duels with clubs. Another tools used by the Yuroks were baskets which were done by the twining. These baskets were used for gathering, cooking, and storing food. And sometimes they used baskets to carry babies and these type of baskets were made from hazel sticks. Spoons were made by using Elk hour to make flints. The spoons were used by many for eating acorn mush. Some of the decoration of the spoons were carved decorative patterns and others had geometric decorations.

Additional facts

For transportation they used dugouts canoes to move around by hollowing redwood logs and it measured longer than thirty feet. Yurok kids like to play games, one of the games they played was the stick game. It was played by players holding sticks behind their backs and gambled as they guessed the location of each stick. They also liked to play a more athletic sport like lacrosse and rugby.

Why should you visit the Yurok?

I feel that you should visit the Yurok tribe because you can learn a lot from their culture and way of living. You can learn how the ceremonies are done and get to experience outdoor living. Also to learn how they hunt for food and make their own clothing to keep themselves warm.