Ceremonial War Club
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1876
name: label: Collector
content: James G. Swan
label: Donor Name
content: James G. Swan
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "THUNDER BIRD ORNAMENT. ??? ILLUS. IN USNM AR, 1888; PL. 28, FIG. 132, P. 286. LOAN: CROSSROADS SEP 22 1988. ILLUS.: CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS CATALOGUE; FIG. 313, P. 234. LOAN RETURNED: JAN 21 1993." Crossroads catalogue caption identifies as "War Club, Tsimshian? Few weapons rival the elegance of this fine wooden club, with the raven's beak for a striking point. The form was probably derived from the antler club of the Athapaskans .... Two frogs crouch flanking the grip and another, topped with a reclining human figure, caps the club. Between his folded wings, the raven grasps another, inverted human. Abalone shell once glittered in the wing feathers. Such clubs were once true weapons, and later were used as emblems of chiefly rank. It is said they were sometimes used to kill slaves on ceremonial occasions."
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
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=46, retrieved 3-31-2012: Ceremonial War Club, Tsimshian. Designs carved on this polished wooden club include Raven and three Frogs. Although recorded by collector James Swan as an “ancient war club,” it was probably a ceremonial weapon used during initiation rituals of the Tsimshian Destroyer society, called Wi'-nanal (meaning "strong breath"). Novices underwent a ritual of possession by the protector spirit of the cult. While possessed they destroyed canoes, boxes, and other property using wooden clubs decorated with crest designs. The Tsimshian apparently adopted the Destroyer cult and other secret societies from the Bella Bella. "This is an amazing carving…These are probably potlatch rings above Raven's head. Below is a human figure between his wings. You see a lot of this kind of design on shamans' things, where they are riding in a canoe, going to the spirit world. Maybe Raven is that canoe." - David Boxley (Tsimshian), 2009.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 17 Jan 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: British Columbia, Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Bella Bella (Heiltsuk, Haíłzaqv) (?)
label: Culture
content: Tsimshian (Ts'msyen) (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 004686
label: USNM Number
content: E20610-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Club
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 63 cm