Boy's Goose-Toggles, Walrus Teeth 4
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1879
name: label: Collector
content: Edward W. Nelson
label: Donor Name
content: Edward W. Nelson
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "ILLUS. IN BAE 18TH AR, PT. 1; PL. LI-16; P. 122. BIRD BOLAS." LOAN: CROSSROADS SEP 22 1988. ILLUS.: CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS CATALOGUE; FIG.13, P.17. LOAN RETURNED: JAN 21 1993. Crossroads of Continents catalogue identifies this object as: "Ivory Bolas, Norton Sound Eskimo. One of many implement types shared by peoples of Alaska and Siberia, the bolas was used to hunt ducks and other waterfowl. Its distribution was confined largely to Eskimo areas and to coastal groups in Northeastern Siberia, where it may have been introduced by contact with Eskimo peoples. During bird hunting season, men wore the bolas wound around their heads where it could be grasped and thrown at a moment's notice. Eskimo bolas usually have four to eight weights whose lines are attached to a central knot or to a feather quill handle. Feather ornaments are common and probably had ritual function. This bolas was collected from Inupiat Eskimos of eastern Norton Sound. Its red incised decoration includes the raven's foot motif commonly used in western Alaskan Eskimo art. The image of Raven himself however, is almost never figured, perhaps out of respect for his powerful and unpredictable spirit. Raven mythology is even more widely distributed among peoples of the North Pacific than the bolas and has been cited as important evidence of ethnological connections between the cultures of North America and Northeastern Siberia."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 29 Aug 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Shaktolik, Norton Sound, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Inupiaq
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 008133
label: USNM Number
content: E38444-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Bola