2018 年 27 巻 p. 27-52
Torsion traps are one of the interesting styles of traps in North America. They have a heavily twisted string as a spring and use its releasing power to trap animals, especially foxes. In this paper, I discuss three topics about North American torsion traps. At first, I discuss distribution of torsion traps in detail, focusing on the “Uralo-Siberian” type in North America. Secondly, I classify its trigger into five types. Finaly, from the point of view of trigger types and historic / ethnographic records, I discuss diffusion of Uralo-Siberian torsion traps into North America. I conclude that there were three possible routes from Siberia to North America. Firstly, these traps were directly brought by Russians into Aleutian Islands (Aleut) and Southwest Alaska (Alutiiq). The second is the Chukchi-Eskimo route. This was a trading route between Chukchi and Alaskan Eskimos over the Bering Sea. Third is the Chukotka Peninsula to St. Lawrence Island route. This was a trading route among the Siberian Yup'iks between the Chukotka Peninsula and St. Lawrence Island sides. Regardless of each route, the diffusion of Uralo-Siberian torsion traps into North America can be regarded as the influence of Russian invasion to Alaska and the fur trade both directly and indirectly.