Box For Whale Lance Blades, Ancient
date: label: Accession Date
content: 2 Mar 1900
name: label: Donor Name
content: U. S. Department of the Navy
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "A NICE OLD BROKEN BOX OF SLATE, SHOWING METHODS OF REPAIR- [Box] MADE IN FORM OF WHALE."
label: Notes
content: E204778 (wooden box and blades) and E204779 (stone box) are on exhibit in NMNH Sant Ocean Hall. 2014 exhibit caption identifies the boxes as Inupiaq whale harpoon boxes in the form of whales: "Honoring the spirit of the whale, these carved and decorated boxes stored harpoon blades during whale hunts. "Living" inside the box was meant to give the blade spiritual powers to carry a harpoon back to the blade's "home" in the whale."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 9 Feb 2016
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Port Clarence, 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: 036189
label: USNM Number
content: E204779-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Box