Kayak-Measures (4)
date: label: Accession Date
content: 10 Oct 1913
name: label: Collector
content: Riley D. Moore
label: Donor Name
content: U.S. National Museum
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Sticks of various cuttings "formerly used in measuring parts in constructing a canoe" [kayay]. See also 280363. Name: Ung yah'jug um = canoe [kayak] O spute [measure]."
label: Notes
content: Kayak measuring sticks Illus. Fig. 3 p. 29 in Anichtchenko, Evguenia. 2017. "Reconstructing The St. Lawrence Island Kayak; From Forgotten Watercraft to a Bering Sea Maritime Network." Alaska Journal of Anthropology. 15 (1&2) : 25-48. Identified there: "The "sticks" are narrow triangular pieces of wood about 1.5 cm thick, 2–3 cm wide, and ranging in length between 12 and 39 cm. Rectangular cuts at one or both ends of these artifacts are reminiscent of mortise joints of kayak deck crosspieces, ribs, and flat-bottom crosspieces, but the precise method of use is obscure. A single hole drilled into each of these timbers likely served to accommodate a cord that held several sticks together. The very existence of this method of measuring is in apparent contradiction with the notion of kayaks being tailored to their owners' individual body measurements, but perhaps indicates methods used by a master builder in the process of building a commissioned kayak. Instead of summoning the future owner every time a new measurement was needed, the builder may have had a "fitting session" by recording his client's anthropometric data with wooden sticks. The specific purpose of these objects is captured in their indigenous name recorded by [Henry] Collins in the collection catalog: uuqyah' juqum ("to make kayak")."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 30 Jul 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: St. Lawrence Island, Bering Sea, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 055962
label: USNM Number
content: E280248-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Kayak Measure