Dressed Doll With Walrus Tusks
date: label: Accession Date
content: 23 Nov 1883
name: label: Collector
content: Lt P.H. Ray
label: Collector
content: John Murdoch
label: Collector
content: Middleton Smith
label: Donor Name
content: U.S. Signal Service
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "10/2/46, 6/71: walrus tusks are missing. Wooden doll dressed in walrus gut [identified as walrus gut by] F. Reed 1995." Illus. Fig. 350 p. 258 in Fitzhugh, William W., and Aron Crowell. 1988. Crossroads of continents: cultures of Siberia and Alaska. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Identified there as: "Walrus-Man, North Alaskan Eskimo. This powerful figure, made from a board, has (restored) tusks and ivory eyes, and wears a gutskin parka. A sinew line, probably for suspension, passes through a hole in the stomach. Its identify and function are not known, but the pose suggests Kikamigo, the giant figure seen on Barrow gorgets standing amidst hunters and sea mammals with his arms upraised (fig. 444; Murdoch 1892:371, 394; Ray 1977:87). As a walrus-man in gutskin clothing it also resembles Keretkun, the Chuckchi Master of the Sea, who had a special connection with walrus, lived at the bottom of the sea, wore gutskin clothes, and was represented in the Keretkun ceremony in the form of a figurine (Bogoras 1904-1909:316, 392; Serov, p. 254; see also Ray 1981: fig. 37)."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 7 Jul 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Point Barrow, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 013712
label: USNM Number
content: E89827-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Figure