{{Short description|Indigenous people of Oregon and California, US}} {{other uses}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}} {{ethnic group| | group = Karuk | native_name = káruk vaʼáraaras | native_name_lang = kyh | image = Ron Reed.jpg | caption = Karuk leader Ron Reed collecting gooseberries (2014) | population = 2010 census: 6,115 alone and in combination<ref name="2010 census">{{cite web|title=2010 Census CPH-T-6. American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2010 |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2010/cph-t/t-6tables/TABLE%20(1).pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209093630/http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2010/cph-t/t-6tables/TABLE%20(1).pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 9, 2014 |website=census.gov |access-date=February 22, 2015 }}</ref> | popplace = California (Yreka, Happy Camp, Orleans), Oregon<ref name=sdsu>[http://library.sdsu.edu/guides/sub2.php?id=195&pg=194 "Karuk Indians."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706185302/http://library.sdsu.edu/guides/sub2.php?id=195&pg=194 |date=July 6, 2015 }} ''SDSU: California Indians and Their Reservations.'' 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2012.</ref> | rels = Christianity, other | langs = English, Karuk | related = Yurok }}
The '''Karuk people''' ({{langx|kyh|káruk vaʼáraaras}})<ref name="endonym">Andrew Garrett, Susan Gehr, Erik Hans Maier, Line Mikkelsen, Crystal Richardson, and Clare Sandy. (November 2, 2021) '''Karuk'''; ''The Languages and Linguistics of Indigenous North America: A Comprehensive Guide'' (De Gruyter Mouton), ed. by Carmen Jany, Marianne' Mithun, and Keren Rice [https://lx.berkeley.edu/publications/karuk]</ref> are an Indigenous people of California, and the Karuk Tribe is one of the largest tribes in California.<ref name="sdsu" /> Karuks are also enrolled in two other federally recognized tribes, the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria<ref>[http://www.actaonline.org/content/cher-ae-heights-indian-community-trinidad-rancheria "Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224190810/http://www.actaonline.org/content/cher-ae-heights-indian-community-trinidad-rancheria |date=2012-02-24 }} ''Alliance for California Traditional Arts.'' 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2012.</ref> and the Quartz Valley Indian Community.
Happy Camp, California, is located in the heart of the Karuk Tribe's ancestral territory, which extends along the Klamath River from Bluff Creek (near the community of Orleans in Humboldt County) through Siskiyou County and into Southern Oregon.<ref name="Bell1991">{{cite book|author=Maureen Bell|title=Karuk: The Upriver People|url=https://archive.org/details/karukupriverpeop00bell|url-access=registration|year=1991|publisher=Naturegraph Publishers|isbn=978-0-87961-208-5}}</ref>
==Name== The name ''káruk'', also spelled "Karok," means "upriver",<ref name = "Kroeber">{{cite book | title=Handbook of the Indians of California | last = Kroeber | first= Alfred L | author-link =Alfred L. Kroeber |series= Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin |volume= 78 | year=1925 | location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref><ref name="endonym"/> or "upstream",<ref name="Bauer">{{cite book|author=Helen Bauer|title=California Indian Days|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GYaUmgEACAAJ|year=1968|publisher=Doubleday}}</ref> whereas the word ''yúruk'' means "downriver".<ref name="endonym"/> Thus, the term ''káruk vaʼáraaras'' refers to Karuk people, literally meaning "upriver people", whereas the exonym of the Yurok people in English is derived from Karuk language term ''yúrukvâaras'', meaning "downriver people".<ref name="endonym"/>
Historically, ''káruk vaʼáraaras'' referred to any people from upriver of a reference point or person speaking. Traditionally, Karuk people referred to themselves as ''ithivthanéenʼaachip vaʼáraaras'', meaning "middle of the world people".<ref name="endonym"/>
Karuk people are called ''Chum-ne'' in the neighboring Tolowa language.<ref>{{Cite web| title = Siletz Talking Dictionary| access-date = 2012-06-04| url = http://siletz.swarthmore.edu/?entry=2915}}</ref>
==Language== The Karuk people speak the Karuk language, a language isolate<ref name="Campbell1997">{{cite book|author=Lyle Campbell|title=American Indian Language: The Historical Linguistics of Native America|year=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195140507}}</ref> sometimes grouped into the proposed family of Hokan languages. The tribe has an active language revitalization program.<ref name="Walters">{{cite news|last=Walters|first=Heidi|title=In Karuk: A family struggles to bring its ancestral tongue back to life|url=http://www.northcoastjournal.com/humboldt/in-karuk/Content?oid=2132629|access-date=October 4, 2013|newspaper=North Coast Journal|date=October 27, 2011}}</ref>
==Population== Estimates for the population sizes of most Native groups before European arrival in California have varied substantially.{{efn|For estimates of population, see Population of Native California.}} Alfred L. Kroeber proposed a population for the Karuk of 1,500 in 1770. Sherburne F. Cook initially estimated it as 2,000, later raising this figure to 2,700.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cook |first=Sherburne F |author-link=Sherburne F. Cook |year=1956 |title=The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of California |journal=Anthropological Records |volume=16 |issue=81–130 |page =98|publisher=University of California, Berkeley}}</ref><ref name="Cook1943">{{cite book|author=Sherburne Friend Cook|title=The Conflict Between the California Indian and White Civilization. ... : The Physical and demographic reaction of the non-mission Indians in colonial and provincial California. 22|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zwnjSAAACAAJ|year=1943|publisher=University of California Press}}</ref> In 1910, Kroeber reported the surviving population of the Karuk as 800.<ref name = "Kroeber" />{{rp|883}}
According to the 2010 census, there were 6,115 Karuk individuals.<ref name="2010 census" />
==Culture== thumb|Pre-contact distribution of the Karuk Since time immemorial, the Karuk resided in villages along the Klamath River, where they continue such cultural traditions as hunting, gathering, fishing, basketmaking and ceremonial dances.<ref name="Bell1991" /> The Karuk were one among several California tribes to sow and harvest tobacco plants.<ref name = "Bauer"/> The Brush Dance, Jump Dance and Pikyavish ceremonies last for several days and are practiced to heal and "fix the world," to pray for plentiful acorns, deer and salmon, and to restore social goodwill as well as individual good luck.<ref name="Bell1991" />
The Karuk developed sophisticated usage of plants and animals for their subsistence. These practices not only consisted of food harvesting from nature, but also the use of plant and animal materials as tools, clothing and pharmaceuticals. The Karuk cultivated a form of tobacco,<ref name ="Bauer" /> and used fronds of the Coastal woodfern as anti-microbial agents in the process of preparing eels for food consumption.<ref>C. Michael Hogan. 2008. [http://www.globaltwitcher.com/artspec_information.asp?thingid=88976 ''Coastal Woodfern (Dryopteris arguta)'', GlobalTwitcher, ed. N. Stromberg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711102430/http://www.globaltwitcher.com/artspec_information.asp?thingid=88976 |date=2011-07-11 }}</ref>
==In film== * Andrew Chambers. 2008. Pikyáv (to fix it).<ref>{{Cite web|date=November 18, 2007|title=Pikyáv (to fix it)|url=https://www.kqed.org/trulyca/58/pikyv-to-fix-it|access-date=2020-09-20|website=KQED|language=en-us}}</ref> Documentary film produced for the Truly California series. KQED Public Television and C. Buried Star Productions.
==Notable Karuk people== <!---♦♦♦ Please keep the list in alphabetical order by LAST NAME ♦♦♦---> *Rob Cabitto, author of a memoir about his struggles with identity and addiction. *Naomi Lang, figure skater; five time US Champion in ice dancing from 1999 to 2003. As a member of the 2002 US Olympic figure skating team, she was the first Native American woman to compete in the Winter Olympics. Her great-great-grandmother, Bessie Tripp, was a full blooded Karuk from Orleans/Salmon River. *Buck Martinez, former professional baseball player and current play-by-play broadcaster for the Toronto Blue Jays.<ref>[https://www.mlb.com/baseball-assistance-team/director-profile-buck-martinez Baseball Assistance Team Director Profile: Buck Martinez.] MLB.com. Retrieved November 9, 2022.</ref> *Anthony Earl Numkena (Hopi/Karuk) (born 1942), actor, appeared in a number of films and television shows in the 1950s including being credited in ''Pony Soldier'' (1952) at the age of nine. His grandmother, Caroline Besoain, née Harrie, was three-quarters Karuk born in Somes Bar, California in 1899 and settled in Quartz Valley, California. *Jetty Rae, musician whose grandmother, Jetty Rae Thom, was a full-blooded Karuk.<ref name = "Carr">Carr, Tom. [http://record-eagle.com/features/x75065708/Jetty-Rae-puts-her-own-mark-on-music/print "Jetty Rae puts her own mark on music."] ''Traverse City Record-Eagle.'' 25 Dec 2008. Retrieved November 9, 2022.</ref> *Cutcha Risling Baldy, associate professor Cal Poly Humboldt *Fox Anthony Spears, artist and printmaker who uses geometric designs inspired by Karuk basketry patterns. Commissioned to design warmup jersey patches for Seattle Kraken's Indigenous Peoples Night game in 2021.<ref name="Whiting">{{cite news|last=Whiting|first=Corinne|title=From galleries to Kraken games, Native American artist Fox Spears honors Karuk traditions|url=https://seattlerefined.com/features/contemporary-native-american-karuk-artist-fox-spears-seattle-artet|access-date=November 9, 2022|newspaper=seattlerefined|date=January 29, 2022}}</ref> * Brian D. Tripp (1945–2022) was a Native American artist and cultural advocate known for his work across murals, poetry, performance, and mixed-media, which reflected and promoted Karuk traditions.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gehr |first=Susan |date=Summer 2022 |title=Brian D. Tripp April 6, 1945 – May 13, 2022 |work=News from Native California |pages=40-41, 45}}</ref> In 2000, Tripp, along with fellow artist Alme Allen, created the mural ''The Sun Set Twice on the People That Day'' in Eureka, California, which features Karuk cultural symbols.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oprea Alley Mural |url=https://www.clarkemuseum.org/mural.html |access-date=2025-12-18 |website=CLARKE HISTORICAL MUSEUM |language=en}}</ref> In recognition of his decades-long contributions to visual art, ceremonial performance, and the preservation of Karuk cultural practices, Tripp received the California Living Heritage Award from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jameson |first=Jennifer |date=2018-10-11 |title=Celebrating the Native Heritage of Humboldt County |url=https://actaonline.org/celebrating-the-native-heritage-of-humboldt-county/ |access-date=2025-12-18 |website=Alliance for California Traditional Arts |language=en-US}}</ref>
==See also== *Karuk language *Karuk traditional narratives
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{commonscat}} * [https://www.karuk.us/ Karuk Tribe of California] * [https://www.karuk.net/ Ayukii: Karuk, The People of the Klamath] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20051103214141/http://www.ncidc.org/bright/karuk.html Karuk Language Section] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20051215033459/http://dicts.info/1/karuk.php Karuk language resources] * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20011214114813/http://www.fourdir.com/karuk.htm Four Directions Institute Karuk Information and Links]}} *[https://www.census.gov Karuk Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land, California], United States Census Bureau *[http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/cilc/bibs/karuk.html Karuk Bibliography], from [http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/cilc/bibs/toc.html California Indian Library Collections Project]
{{Indigenous peoples of California}} {{Klamath River}}
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Category:Karuk Category:Indigenous peoples of California Category:Native American tribes in Oregon Category:Siskiyou County, California