Kayak & Paddle
date: label: Accession Date
content: 16 Jun 1981
name: label: Donor Name
content: Mrs. Marjorie M. Post
notes: label: Notes
content: From Card: "Single kayak, on lashing lines are 2 carved ivory seal heads and one carved ivoly used as line guides or guards to prevent paddle or spears from slipping off of the kayak deck. Double-bladed wooden paddle, central ridge on both sides of blade; flat side decorated with narrow bands of red paint." Originally catalogued as probably from Norton Sound area.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on the kayak http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=712, retrieved 4-3-2013: Kayak, qayaq, Inupiaq Museum records do not identify where this kayak was built, but its construction and design appear to be Inupiaq, from northern Alaska. The style of the waterproof stitching; the pattern in which the seal skins are joined; the construction of the frame, including the boat's closely-spaced ribs; the shape of the bow and stern, which provide handholds for carrying the boat; and the boat's overall lines and dimensions suggest that it was constructed at King Island in the Bering Sea. The owner tucked his tools, hunting weapons, and extra paddle beneath the leather deck cords, which pass through walrus ivory spear guards. "This kayak has a northern feel. The hole on one end of the kayak is used for lifting, and the shape is different from Yup'ik kayaks; Yup'ik ones are more circular, while northern holes are more oval, elongated. Yup'ik kayaks have a large round hole at the bow of the boat." - Chuna McIntyre, Yup'ik, and Vernon Chimegalrea, Yup'ik, 2007
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027. Only the kayak is on loan; the paddle is not part of the exhibit.
label: Notes
content: Kayak is illustrated and described in detail (under incomplete number 419041) in Golden, Harvey. 2015. Kayaks of Alaska. Portland, OR: White House Grocery Press: Plate 47, p. 253; p. 281. Golden identifies it as a King Island Southern Inupiaq type. The associated double blade paddle is also illustrated in the same publication: Color Plate XXI, # 4, after p. 274; p.491.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 15 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 2
place: label: Place
content: King Island (not certain), 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: 318782
label: USNM Number
content: E419041A-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Kayak / Kayak Paddle
physicalDescription: label: Height - Object
content: 61 cm
label: Depth - Object
content: 91 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 427 cm
label: Length - Kayak
content: 449 cm