Mouse Food Brooch

Yup’ik women in the Nelson land area conclude their summer gathering with trips to the tundra in search of annllret, “mouse food”, consisting of the small roots and underground stems of the sedges and cottongrass gathered by the tundra lemmings and cached for their winter use. The women look for dry places that have been mounded up slightly, and dig into the cache, taking only part of the mouse’s food.