Wooden Spoon Or Ladle with Painted Caribou
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: "36358-9. ILLUS. IN BAE 18TH AR, PT. 1; PL. XXX-11, 13; P. 78. LOAN: U.S.I.A. INUA JUN 24 1988. ILLUS.: INUA CATALOGUE. USIA 1988, PL.81, P.55. LOAN RETURNED DEC 28 1990."
label: Notes
content: From transcript of consultations held in conjunction with "Yuungnaqpiallerput (The Way We Genuinely Live)" exhibit, April 17-18, 2010: "this spoon is telling us this person who is using it desires caribou to be plenty."
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 https://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=77 , retrieved 11-23-2021; see web page for additional information: Spoon, Yup'ik. The painting on this soup spoon probably illustrates a hunting story. Wooden bowls and spoons were always painted, both for decoration and to keep them from cracking. Designs were passed down through families. The painting on this Yup'ik soup spoon from Kuskokwim Bay shows a vomiting, defecating male caribou. It probably tells a now-lost hunting story. Often such images were inherited "family crests" that men painted on wooden ladles, spoons, and dishes that they crafted.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 23 Nov 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Kulwoguwigumut, Kuskokwim Bay, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yup'ik
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: E36359-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Spoon
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 12.2 cm