Fox Trap
date: label: Accession Date
content: 9 Jan 1931
name: label: Collector
content: Dr. Henry B. Collins Jr.
label: Donor Name
content: Dr. Henry B. Collins Jr.
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CONDITION REPORT FOR HALL 9 TAKEDOWN (C. VALENTOUR 3/98): "LARGE BONE FITTED W/ WOODEN PADDLE (PROP?) W/ 3 CARVED IVORY SPIKES (PROP?). PADDLE LASHED W/ BRAIDED SINEWS TO 2 BONE HANDLES. RAWHIDE LURE LASH ATTACHED TO PADDLE."
label: Notes
content: From card: "Consists of 1' x 5 1/2" piece of bone with marrow cavity cleaned out, and a bone toggle at each end fastened to cord running through to hold the center piece of wood, 1'5" L., studded with 3 sharp ivory prongs, and a heavy flat spatula shaped piece of wood, onto which the prongs fall. Bought from Eskimos at Gambell, St. Lawrence Island."
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=350 , retrieved 7-31-2018; see web page for additional information: Fox trap. Siberia and northern Alaska by the Russians.(1) In Alaska, they were used on St. Lawrence Island and along the mainland shore from Norton Sound to Kotzebue Sound.(2) By the late 1800s, the traditional traps had been replaced by steel ones in most places. In 1940, James Ottiahok of St. Lawrence Island described how the old traps were used by his father's generation: "Not many people were hunting foxes and there were very few traps. At that time they all used old-time traps. They would take a whale rib and drill a hole through it. In the center of the hole they would put a piece of wood attached to strong sinew, and there would be a wooden plate in the middle. The sinew was then twisted very, very tight so that it would make the wood hit the plate very hard. They put a little piece of meat on the plate. The fox would eat the meat and bite the sinew and get hit right in the mouth."(3) The traps were fastened firmly to the ground and covered with earth or snow to make them harder to see. The buried traps could be dangerous, and trappers were sometimes struck in the foot if they accidentally stepped on the hidden bait or trigger.(4) 1. Bogoras 1904-09:138 2. Nelson 1899:122-123 3. Krupnik et al. 2002:159 4. Bogoras 1904-09:138-139; Nelson 1899:123.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 23 Aug 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 2
place: label: Place
content: St. Lawrence Island / Gambell, Bering Sea / St. Lawrence Quad, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 108529
label: USNM Number
content: E356917-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Trap
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 47 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 38.5 cm