  In this paper all of the classical constructions of A. Young are generalized
to affine Hecke algebras of type A. It is proved that the calibrated
irreducible representations of the affine Hecke algebra are indexed by placed
skew shapes and that these representations can be constructed explicitly with a
generalization of Young's seminormal construction of the irreducible
representations of the symmetric group. The seminormal construction of an
irreducible calibrated module does not produce a basis on which the affine
Hecke algebra acts integrally but using it one is able to pick out a different
basis, an analogue of Young's natural basis, which does generate an integral
lattice in the module. Analogues of the "Garnir relations" play an important
role in the proof. The Littlewood-Richardson coefficients arise naturally as
the decomposition multiplicities for the restriction of an irreducible
representation of the affine Hecke algebra to the Iwahori-Hecke algebra.
