Ceremonial Bow
date: label: Accession Date
content: 27 Mar 1923
name: label: Donor Name
content: Dr. W.B. Stephens
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Painted red on the inner surface and black on the outer. Carved from a single piece of wood. The grip is constricted, flaring out on each side and tapering towards the ends, each of which terminated in a good sized human mask, with real hair inserted." Illus. Fig. 376, p. 274 in Fitzhugh, William W., and Aron Crowell. 1988. Crossroads of continents: cultures of Siberia and Alaska. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Identified there as a Tlingit shaman's bow. "Wands, batons, spears, daggers, and other items were used for display, carried in the hands by Tlingit chiefs and shamans on state occasions like potlatches and festivals. This oversized bow has a carved human head at each end, one singing and one talking. Similar paired faces were carved on shaman's headrests used during fasting (Wardwell 1978:87). Ceremonial bows were often made with matching arrows, and were sometimes used in curing ceremonies."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 7 Jul 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Tlingit, Chilkat
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 069744
label: USNM Number
content: E324930-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Bow