Wooden Armor Vest
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1875
name: label: Collector
content: Capt. Ernst Hennig
label: Donor Name
content: Alaska Commercial Company
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "From large mummy case - cave."
label: Notes
content: Illus. Fig. 306 p. 230 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 Aleut rod armor: "This Aleut rod armor ... from a prehistoric Aleutian Island burial cave, is the only complete example of Aleut armor in existence. Its cedar rods are lashed together with finely plaited sinew cord."
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=40, retrieved 5-15-2014: Armor Armor vests made of wooden rods were essential equipment for an Unangan warrior. Russian Orthodox priest Ivan Veniaminov, who resided at Unalaska from 1824-34, described the armor that was formerly used by eastern Aleutian fighters. He wrote, "Their armor was made of round rods, worked smooth, about 5 chetvert' long [about 35 inches], which were interwoven tightly together with sinew threads. This armor was worn under outer clothing, bound around the torso, leaving arms and legs free. They say that such armor, in appearance not very reliable, was very rarely pierced by an arrow." This complete armor vest is constructed of smooth, red-painted rods, sinew bindings, flat carved pieces at the armholes, and wooden toggles for closure in the front. It was taken from a Kagamil Island burial cave in 1875.
label: Notes
content: From Elders' discussions of the armor in 2003 (see web page cited above for the full entries) with Mary N. Bourdukofsky, Vlass Shabolin, Maria Turnpaugh and Daria Dirks (Tanadgusix Foundation) at the National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian, 4/07/2003-4/11/2003. Also participating: Aron Crowell and Bill Fitzhugh (NMNH) and Suzi Jones (AMHA). Aron Crowell: This came from a mummy cave, a burial cave. Mary Bourdukofsky: For a burial. If someone dies, you put that in there. They used to put all their belongings in there. Daria Dirks: I wonder if they sized it to themselves, to their own bodies. Vlass Shabolin: Yes, probably an individually made one. You make your own, and then you go to war. Mary Bourdukofsky: Just like machinery, [how someone] made it [slats] the same size, so intelligent whoever [made it]. Vlass Shabolin: Mm-hmm. Especially when they size the wood and cut it up like that. They probably didn't even have a saw. They probably used some sharp rock to shape it up. Daria Dirks: What kind of work do you think that [binding] is? Mary Bourdukofsky: To me, it's a twine. It's not sinew. It's one of the Russian-made things.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 28 Jun 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Kagamil Island, Samalga Island Quad / Umnak Quad / Aleutian Islands, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Archaeology
culture: label: Culture
content: Prehistoric Aleut (Unangax^ ; Unangan; Unangas)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 003745
label: USNM Number
content: A17249-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Armor
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 67 cm