Oil Lamp
date: label: Accession Date
content: 7 Jun 1912
label: Collection Date
content: 1878 to 1909
name: label: Collector
content: Gov John G. Brady
label: Donor Name
content: Mrs. Edward H. Harriman
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Neatly carved and worked from basalt."
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=320, retrieved 5-14-2014: Oil lamp There were few fireplaces in the large communal houses of classical Unangan society, which held up to 150 residents. Instead, stone lamps filled wiith sea mammal oil provided heat and light, enough even for sewing on winter nights. The lamps were elevated on stands, and the wicks were made of grass or moss. Men manufactured the lamps but women owned and tended them, adjusting the wicks for a clean flame. The oil of killer and sperm whales was said to burn well, but baleen whale and seal oil were smoky; when they were used, mothers had to wipe soot from the babies' faces in the morning. When a woman was cold, she stood or squatted over a small stone lamp so that its heat rose up beneath her parka and warmed her body. Men did the same and carried small lamps for this purpose with them when hunting and traveling. Fire made by striking two stones together, one of which was covered with sulfur. Dry grass, feathers, and powdered sulfur were used for tinder.
label: Notes
content: From Elders' discussions of the boots in 2003 with Mary N. Bourdukofsky, Vlass Shabolin, Maria Turnpaugh and Daria Dirks (Tanadgusix Foundation) at the National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian, 4/07/2003-4/11/2003. Also participating: Aron Crowell and Bill Fitzhugh (NMNH) and Suzi Jones (AMHA). Mary Bourdukofsky: An oil lamp. Maria Turnpaugh: I've seen them like this small one but really very deep. But most of them are round. Mary Bourdukofsky: They use it for light. Aron Crowell: Do you know the name for this in Unangam Tunuu [Unangan language]? Maria Turnpaugh: Lámpa. (Lamp.) Mary Bourdukofsky: Châthumlampâ [oil lamp]. Lámpa is a Russian word. And Aleut and Russian are mixed, yes.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 31 Jul 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Aleut (Unangax^ ; Unangan; Unangas)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 054171
label: USNM Number
content: E274101-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Lamp
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 26.5 cm