Dance Rattle
date: label: Accession Date
content: 8 Feb 1884
name: label: Collector
content: William J. Fisher
label: Donor Name
content: William J. Fisher
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Illus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 5, Arctic, fig. 10, pg. 193. Puffin beaks tied with sinew to the framework of twigs bent into concentric circles & attached to the central wood cross-pieces." Illus. Fig. 369, p. 270 in Fitzhugh, William W., and Aron Crowell. 1988. Crossroads of continents: cultures of Siberia and Alaska. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Illus. Fig. 181, p. 190 in Crowell, Aron, Amy F. Steffian, and Gordon L. Pullar. 2001. Looking both ways: heritage and identity of the Alutiiq people. Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press. Identified there as hoop rattle made with beaks from horned and tufted puffins (two varieties of sea birds), tied to a wooden frame with sinew cords.
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 http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=194, retrieved 8-28-2012: Hoop rattle, Sugpiaq (Alutiiq), Koniag. uulegsuuteq "shaker" - Language: Koniag Sugpiaq (Kodiak Island dialect) Dancers and shamans performed to the accompaniment of hoop rattles strung with hooves, claws, shells, and puffin beaks. ... Rattles were also used during preparation for war. Before departing, Kodiak Island war parties assembled in the ceremonial house with their weapons and armor, and as their war leaders danced they beat drums, shook rattles, and sang about the victories of their ancestors.
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: Reference: Crowell, Aron. “Postcontact Koniag Ceremonialism on Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula: Evidence from the Fisher Collection.” Arctic Anthropology 29, no. 1 (1992): 18–37. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40316240. Copy of this article is attached to accession record.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 11 Feb 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Uganik Island, Kodiak Islands, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: 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: 014024
label: USNM Number
content: E90438-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Rattle
physicalDescription: label: Diameter - Object
content: 23 cm