Description
The Tahltan or Nahani are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group who live in northern British Columbia around Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake, and Iskut. The Tahltan constitute the fourth division of the Nahane (People of the West). Ten thousand years ago, the Tahltan people used obsidian from Mount Edziza to make tools and weapons for trading material. This is the main source of obsidian found in northwestern British Columbia. During the early 1900s, the Tahltan population was devastated by epidemics and reduced to less than 300 people. Since 1972, the Tahltan groups have been administered separately as the Iskut band in 2022 and Tahltan band, with the Iskut including the Sekani living at Kinaskan Lake.
Language
Na-Dene (or Athapaskan)
Culture
The Tahltan were nomadic, gathering at salmon runs in summer and dispersing to hunting territories in winter. Tahltan society was organized through kinship; there were six clans headed by chiefs and grouped three and three into the Raven and the Wolf subgroups, or moieties. Tahltan individuals and families sponsored the potlatch, a gift-giving festival held for validating ennoblement, advancing one’s prestige, or marking an event, such as a funeral. They also carried on trade, as well as some raiding and warfare, with the coastal tribes and with the Kaska to the north. The Tahltan recognized a sun god and a sky god. However, their religion was more focused on animism, a belief in the supernatural powers of the natural world, particularly of the creatures that constituted their food supply.