Shaman's Rattle Or Clapper "A-Ga-Shak"
date: label: Accession Date
content: 4 Jan 1887
name: label: Collector
content: William J. Fisher
label: Donor Name
content: William J. Fisher
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "A carved wood rattle in two longitudinal sections, one hinged to the other at the handle." Illus. Fig. 196, pp. 208-9 in Crowell, Aron, Amy F. Steffian, and Gordon L. Pullar. 2001. Looking both ways: heritage and identity of the Alutiiq people. Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press.
label: Notes
content: Part of a set of Sugpiaq shaman's objects E127802 - 7. See remarks for E127804.
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 http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=232 , retrieved 8-30-2012: Rattle, Sugpiaq (Alutiiq), Koniag. This shaman's rattle represents a toothed bird; its eyes are copper. Inside is a sinew-wrapped charm bundle that includes a quartz crystal, a mica flake, a sliver of wood, and clippings of hair. The rattle may have been used to summon helping spirits, which were birds, animals, and human souls. Shamans performed cures and predicted the future.
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: Reference: Crowell, Aron. “Postcontact Koniag Ceremonialism on Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula: Evidence from the Fisher Collection.” Arctic Anthropology 29, no. 1 (1992): 18–37. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40316240. Copy of this article is attached to accession record.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 11 Feb 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Ugashik, Alaska Peninsula / Ugashik River, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Alutiiq (Sugpiaq), Koniag
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 018490
label: USNM Number
content: E127805-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Rattle
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 25 cm