Bone Gouge Or Bark-stripping Tool
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1 Nov 1878
name: label: Donor Name
content: Edward W. Nelson
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "USED FOR STRIPPING OFF BIRCH BARK FOR CANOES & C BEFORE IRON TOOLS WERE INTRODUCED. ILLUS. IN BAE 18TH AR, PT. 1; PL. XXXVIII-17; P. 94 ILLUS. IN USNM REPT, 1895; PL. 15, FIG. 3; P. 776." Object is described on p. 90 of BAE 18th AR, Pt. 1 as "from the head of Norton sound, is a long bone knife for removing birch-bark from the tree. It is sharpened at the point and on one edge; the butt is heavily etched with zigzag patterns and with the raven totem mark."
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=540, retrieved 8-19-2012: Bark-stripping tool. Basket makers peel birch bark in the spring or early summer, taking only the outer layer so that the tree will survive. This traditional Koyukon tool for loosening and stripping the bark is a sharpened caribou leg bone, decorated with raven-foot designs; today people use a wooden stick for the job. To make a basket, the artist cuts the stripped bark, applies heat to make it flexible, folds it into shape, and stitches it with spruce or willow root.
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 19 Jan 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Nulato, Yukon River, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Koyukon (Denaakk'e) (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 78A00080
label: USNM Number
content: E33026-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Bark Tool
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 31 cm