Mask With Plaque Or Gorget
date: label: Accession Date
content: 23 Nov 1883
name: label: Collector
content: Lt P.H. Ray
label: Collector
content: John Murdoch
label: Collector
content: Middleton Smith
label: Donor Name
content: U.S. Signal Service
notes: label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: From card: "Human face - attached to gorget - black trim on face and black detail on gorget - red scalloped edges. Similar specimens: Cat. nos. 56,493, 64,230, 89, 818. Ref. To. John Murdock Ethnol. Res. of Point Barrow Exp. BAE R. No. 9, fig. 367, p. 367."
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=638 , retrieved 1-7-2022; see web page for additional information: Mask with plaque, Inupiaq. At the end of spring whaling men who had served on successful crews danced first in the ceremonial house and then at homes in the village, each wearing a mask and a wooden plaque that hung on his chest. Mask and plaque are tied together in this set. Painted images include whales, boats, and polar bears. Hidden underneath the mask the image of Kikamigo, a deity who controlled the supply of sea mammals. White feathers once lined the top edge of the plaque, enhancing its resemblance to a pair of wings. At the end of spring whaling in Barrow, men who had served on successful crews danced first in the ceremonial house and then at each home in the village, wearing wooden masks on their faces and wooden plaques around their necks. Mask and plaque are tied together in this set. Painted images include whales, whaling boats, and a polar bear. Underneath the mask, painted on the plaque is the image of a standing man; he grasps a whale in each hand and stands on top of an umiaq. John Murdoch recorded that this was Kikamigo, a deity believed to control the supply of whales and other sea mammals. White feathers were formerly inserted along the top edge of the plaque, enhancing its resemblance to a pair of wings. Black paint around the eyes and mouth of the mask may represent smudges of soot that whalers wore on their faces. The mask is encircled by a groove in which the wearer secured the edge of his parka hood. Masked whaling ceremonies ended in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century under pressure from Christian missionaries, and today's elders remember little about them.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 4 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 2
place: label: Place
content: Point Barrow, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Inupiaq
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 013712
label: USNM Number
content: E89817-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mask / Gorget
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 47.5 cm