We were eating more than I thought possible, including jellied whale casserole and fresh apricot buns, while Elizaveta Dobrieva’s family explained that their ancestors descended from the polar bear and the killer whale. Then Elizaveta disappeared into the back room of her apartment in Lavrentiya, Chukotka, and came back cradling a dark wooden carving. Its eyes slanted down to a long nose, and many thin vertical lines extended below the chin. Elizaveta told me that the lines represent tattoos and indicate that this figure is a woman.

“This is the keeper of our clan,” she said, “her name is Yiakunneun.” (иякунеун) She held the figure like it was a baby, resting it in the crook of her arm, so it seemed