Mat Of Grass For Sitting On The Kayak
date: label: Accession Date
content: 10 Sep 1876
name: label: Donor Name
content: Lucien M. Turner
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "TROCADERO JULY '85."
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=57 , retrieved 12-17-2021; see web page for additional information: Kayak mat, Inupiaq. Grass has many traditional uses, and was woven into baskets, bags, mats and even sails for umiaks. This long narrow mat was laid inside a kayak to make a comfortable seat. In Norton Sound, women gathered cotton grass (Eriophorum angustifolium), rye grass (Elymus mollis), and sedge to weave grass mats, baskets, and bags. The open twining technique produced very flexible weavings that could be crushed or rolled up. Grass was a good material for making mats since it can be repeatedly moistened and dried without breaking. In the home, grass mats were used to cover the entryway and floor, hung up as partitions, and spread out for sleeping. Girls had toy grass mats and other bedding for their dolls. Inupiaq people at St. Michael wrapped the bodies of their dead in grass mats or caribou skins and bound them with sealskin cords, then raised them through the roof smoke-hole to carry them to their gravesites. Grass mats were also used outside the home. While fishing for tomcod in the Norton Sound, people used them for sitting on the ice and making small wind shelters. Grass mats served as seating pads in kayaks and as sails for kayaks and umiaks (from umiaq "open skin boat"). Umiaq sails were made from grass mats sewn together, or from animal skins such as caribou, reindeer, or seal. By the late 1800s, Edward Nelson saw few skin sails but many made of light canvas or other trade cloth. By 1905, George Gordon reported that umiaq sails were made exclusively from canvas.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 17 Dec 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Norton Sound, 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: 76A00100
label: USNM Number
content: E24605-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mat
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 1 m