Amulet Or Charm
date: label: Accession Date
content: 10 Feb 1894
name: label: Collector
content: William J. Fisher
label: Donor Name
content: William J. Fisher
notes: label: Notes
content: Sea otter amulet, about 7 cm long (smaller than E168626-0). This amulet was loaned for the Looking Both Ways exhibit in 2001. Illustrated in fig. 158, p. 163 (amulet on left) in the Looking Both Ways exhibition catalog. Locality identified there as Napartalek. Looking Both Ways catalogue caption identifies E168626-0 and -1: "Ivory sea otter amulets. According to traditional Alutiiq belief, sea otters (ahnat) were formerly human beings. These walrus ivory amulets - made to be fastened inside the cockpit of a kayak - may be of Yup'ik manufacture, but similar carvings were made in both the Unangan and Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) regions (Black 1982). An archaeological example was found at Seldovia in Cook Inlet (de Laguan 1975: Plate 52-9). The incised designs depict the animal's ribs and spine. The Chugach of Prince William Sound returned the bones of killed otters to the sea so that he animals would be reborn."
label: Notes
content: E168626-0 is illustrated in the Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website. Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on E168626-0, listed as number E168626A, http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=269, retrieved 9-3-2012: Charm, Sugpiaq (Alutiiq), probably Alaska Peninsula Koniag. samanaq "charm" - Language: Koniag Sugpiaq (Alaska Peninsula dialect) According to oral tradition, a man who was collecting shellfish was surprised by the in-rushing tide; to save himself he cried out, "I wish I might turn into a sea otter!" His wish was granted, which is why, it is said, the internal organs of a man and a sea otter look the same. This ivory hunting charm was fastened inside the cockpit of a kayak. The otter's ribs and spine are shown, perhaps because an otter's soul was believed to reside in its skeleton. Its bones were returned to the sea so a new otter could be born.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 18 Aug 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Bristol Bay / Nabachtalik River (Napartalek), Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yup'ik
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: 027806
label: USNM Number
content: E168626-1
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Charm
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 7 cm