Game Pieces, Ivory Birds
date: label: Accession Date
content: 12 Oct 1926
label: Collection Date
content: 1926
name: label: Collector
content: Dr. Ales F. Hrdlicka
label: Donor Name
content: Bureau Of American Ethnology
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Such as were used in games and as decorations on masks, etc. Most of them have a hole at the back, and some have the upper surface pitted with small round holes. Purchased by Dr. Hrdlicka from Eskimo of Sevoonga Village, St. Lawrence Id."
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027. 11 of 36 toy birds on loan.
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=339 , retrieved 7-17-2018; see web page for additional information: Game pieces. These ivory bird carvings are pieces for a game that was traditionally played all across the Arctic. Bird figures found in archaeological sites show that the game spread across northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland about a thousand years ago, carried by migrating Thule ancestors of the modern Inuit. Some birds land upright when tossed onto the ground, while others tip over onto their sides. Different species of ducks or geese are indicated by the shapes of the birds' heads and the markings on their backs. From discussion with Jacob Ahwinona, Estelle Oozevaseuk, Marie Saclamana and Branson Tungiyan (Kawerak, Inc.) at the National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian, 5/07/2001-5/11/2001. Also participating: Aron Crowell and Bill Fitzhugh (NMNH) and Suzi Jones (AMHA): Estelle Oozevaseuk: That's the game bird. We call it meteghlluwaaq [bird carving for game]. And the way we play, we call it kuvaghaq [how the game is played with meteghlluwaaq-hold all the toy birds in cupped hands, drop them to the floor and pick up the ones that land standing right side up]. Sometimes we used ten [pieces], any players. When there are many [players], twenty [pieces]. The way we play them, you put their heads together [pick up two by the head with one hand] and [drop them]. This has been killed [bird that falls on its side]. It goes on like that and the last ones who have more standing up, they put them aside. And it goes again. That's the way we play. Each one takes them and tosses them. Takes the standing one, next one. Takes the standing one until they've all been taken. That's when the wrestling starts. Branson Tungiyan: And that's why so many broken heads. Aron Crowell: So each player throws them, taking turns? Estelle Oozevaseuk: Mm-hmm. The players goes like that [clockwise direction]. It's fun. I used to make some for my children when they were small, just to keep them in one place and when they were bothering me too much, asking me what to do. So they sat having fun. Marie Saclamana: Ivory? Estelle Oozevaseuk: Yes. Branson Tungiyan: Ilangi esgha-unallu esgha allakaayaguuq. Qaaymikun alla. (Some of them are-this one is kind of different. It has something on the back.) Estelle Oozevaseuk: That has a little baby on back.
label: Notes
content: Branson Tungiyan: Unallu entaqun esgha uutun maalghugegneg naasqulguyaghtuq. (This one here, I think it had two heads like this one.) Estelle Oozevaseuk: Yes. Meregta [place name of old settlement on the other side of Gambell mountain] has so many of that kind. There we find more. But in Ketngipalak [old campsite southwest of Gambell], nothing. For years, I've been trying to find them find. Branson Tungiyan: Maakutughngam sangamengqaaymengteggun ukimalleqengeltat. Unallu esgha, terellelek inglugtun, naqam ilangi avangitut. (I wonder why these have little holes in the back. This one too, it has lines on both sides, but some don't have any.) Estelle Oozevaseuk: Temngi entaqun pinighnaghqemmun. (They probably are for making them look nice.) Branson Tungiyan: Mm-hmm.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 15 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 36
place: label: Place
content: St. Lawrence Island / Savoonga (purchased here), Bering Sea, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yupik, St. Lawrence Island
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 093522
label: USNM Number
content: E333175-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Game
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 15 cm