Ice Scratcher
date: label: Accession Date
content: 9 Feb 1882
name: label: Donor Name
content: Edward W. Nelson
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "LOANED TO ALASKA STATE MUSEUM 3-31-83. LOAN RETURNED 09 23 87."
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=588 , retrieved 11-4-2021; see web page for additional information: Ice scratcher, Yup'ik. In late winter and early spring, hunters stalked seals as they slept or sunned themselves on the sea ice. If a seal sensed danger and raised its head, the hunter raked the ice with a scratching tool made of seal claws. This familiar sound - like another seal digging its breathing hole - reassured the nervous animal so that it drowsed off again. The device could also lure a swimming seal to within harpoon range. The blue bead on this scratcher recalls the pierced hands seen on masks and other objects, which represent passageways through which animals find their way to hunters.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 2 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Yukon River, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yup'ik
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: E49174-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Ice Scratcher
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 28 cm