Shaman's Small Whistle; "Ku-Ku-Mi-Agach-Shun"
date: label: Accession Date
content: 4 Jan 1887
name: label: Collector
content: William J. Fisher
label: Donor Name
content: William J. Fisher
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Made of two slips of wood, that when placed together form a tapering piece. The halves are excavated to form an air channel and air chamber. The sound hole is triangular, made in the front half; its lip 7/8" above lower end. L. 2"; Dia. 1/2" to 5/16 by 1/4 inch." Part of a set of Sugpiaq shaman's objects E127802 - 7. See remarks for E127804.
label: Notes
content: Illus. Fig. 198, p. 210 in Crowell, Aron, Amy F. Steffian, and Gordon L. Pullar. 2001. Looking both ways: heritage and identity of the Alutiiq people. Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=233 , retrieved 8-30-2012: Whistle, Sugpiaq (Alutiiq), Koniag. kukumyararsuun "whistle" - Language: Koniag Sugpiaq (Alaska Peninsula dialect) In traditional belief, whistling sounds are the voices of supernatural beings. Shamans blew whistles to summon their spirit assistants. Parents caution children not to whistle, especially at night.
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: Reference: Crowell, Aron. “Postcontact Koniag Ceremonialism on Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula: Evidence from the Fisher Collection.” Arctic Anthropology 29, no. 1 (1992): 18–37. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40316240. Copy of this article is attached to accession record.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 11 Feb 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Ugashik, Alaska Peninsula / Ugashik River, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Alutiiq (Sugpiaq), Koniag
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 018490
label: USNM Number
content: E127807-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Whistle
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 5 cm