Ice Creepers (1 Pair)
date: label: Accession Date
content: 10 Oct 1913
name: label: Collector
content: Riley D. Moore
label: Donor Name
content: U.S. National Museum
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Toothed ivory plates fastened to the sole of the boot."
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=331 , retrieved 7-17-2018; see web page for additional information: Ice grippers, walrus ivory, with leather fastening straps. Cleats (crampons) made of bone or walrus ivory are an ancient Arctic invention that gave sure footing on slippery ice. On St. Lawrence Island, men wore them to launch skin boats from the ice-edge in spring, and today metal cleats are used for the same purpose. Branson Tungiyan said, "We sometimes have to cut ice about ten, fifteen feet wide towards the edge of the water, and we chip it away to make a kenileq (ice ramp) to launch our boats. When the sun gets warm in late spring it gets very slippery, so we use those under our boots."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 12 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: St. Lawrence Island, Bering Sea, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yupik, St. Lawrence Island
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 055962
label: USNM Number
content: E280385-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Ice Gripper
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 30 cm