Medicine Mans Rattle (Skaga Sisha)
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: "CARVED WOOD RATTLE IN THE FORM OF A HUMAN HEAD COVERED WITH MYTHOLOGICA DESIGNS IN BOTH RELIEF AND INTAGLIO AND PAINTED RED, GREEN, AND BLACK. ACCORDING TO BOAS THE DESIGN IS THE KILLER WHOLE [sic, should be whale] AND IT IS USED IN THE SECRET SOCIETIES. ILLUS. IN USNM AR, 1895; FIG. 210, P. 657. LOANED TO THE S.I. CENTENNIAL COMM. 7-9-75. LOAN RETURNED MAR 22 1990. ILLUS.: HNDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 7, NORTHWEST COAST, FIG. 6, PG. 319." Identified in Handbook caption as carved wooden rattle. "A human figure at the top lies with his back to the killerwhale that encircles the rattle. The whale's dorsal fin rises from the back of the figure's head. Carved features are painted in red, green, and black. This specimen, said to have been the property of a "medicine man," was used in the secrect societies according to Boas (1897:654)."
label: Notes
content: Ian Reid (Heiltsuk) and Jennifer Kramer (anthropologist) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th - 24th, 2013. The name sounds and reads Haida. It appears to be yew. It does not seem to be extremely old because it contains canvas and string, as opposed to hide.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 8 Oct 2024
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: Haida (?)
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: E20584-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Rattle