Bolas
date: label: Accession Date
content: 9 Feb 1882
name: label: Donor Name
content: Edward W. Nelson
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "ILLUS. IN BAE 18TH AR, PT. 1; PL. II-14; P. 122. 1/83 SITES INUA LOAN."
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
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=132 , retrieved 7-31-2018; see web page for additional information: Bolas. The bola is a throwing weapon for ducks and geese.Hunters whirled a bola overhead and released it into a low-flying flock.The weights wheeled through the air and with the slightest touch would wrap themselves around a bird and bring it down. Bolas were used all around the Bering Sea and have been found in archaeological sites as early as A. D. 600.(1)Bola strings are made of sinew, and the weights are walrus ivory, bone, or wood.Wooden balls were used over water, because they float.(2) Bolas lost popularity after shotguns became available in the late 19th century, but Elders who are alive today still used them when they were young.(3) ... [Long-tailed Ducks (Clangula hyemalis)] were one kind of bird they hunted. Roger Silook of Gambell said that sometimes “these birds fly real low and when the moon is shining bright, the men use their bolas to catch them. It is the best exercise I know of . . . .”(4)Bolas were also used for sport; one man would throw his into the air and others would try to hit it with theirs.(5) 1. Bogoras 1904-09:143-44; Collins 1937; Murdoch 1892:246; Nelson 1899:134-35; Rainey 1947:265 2. Bogoras 1904-09:143-44 3. Bogoras 1904-09:143-44; Moore 1923:358-59 4. Silook 1976:51-52 5. Silook 1976:24.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 15 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: St. Lawrence Island, Bering Sea, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yupik, St. Lawrence Island
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 82A00003
label: USNM Number
content: E63258-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Bola
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 30 cm