Chuvans - Settlements

The settlement system of the sedentary Chuvan (and of the whole group of Anadyr River creoles) was centered around the main village of Markovo with its 300 to 350 residents, local school, Orthodox church, etc. It included five to seven other, smaller hamlets of three to five families (fifteen to forty people) each and a network of summer fishing and hunting camps (Russian: letniki ) occupied for a few months a year. When the Anadyr River and its tributaries became ice-free in mid-June, the residents of Markovo abandoned their main village for dozens of camps that were bases for salmon fishing and reindeer hunting. They returned to their village log houses in September. Reindeer Chuvans lived in nomadic camps of some two to four families, each settled in a movable skin tent, like the nomadic Chukchee and Koryak.