Snow Beater
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1880
name: label: Collector
content: Dr. William H. Dall
label: Donor Name
content: U.S. National Museum
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "ILLUS.: HNDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 5, ARCTIC, FIG. 10, PG. 252...CARVED AND INCISED."
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=107 , retrieved 7-17-2018: Snow beater. Snow beaters were traditionally used in northeast Siberia, St. Lawrence Island, and northwest Alaska to clean snow and ice off skin boots and parkas before entering a house. A heavier type was applied to the skin walls of old-style sleeping chambers, which became covered with breath-frost overnight. This Siberian Yupik beater is made of reindeer antler and engraved with marks to identify the owner. Chukchi adviser Nicolai Etteyne said, "We believe it protects from bad spirits. You hang it on the door, and it looks like he himself protects your home. If somebody comes, that person uses it and cleans himself of bad spirits."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 31 Jan 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Plover Bay (Providence Bay), Siberia, Russia, Asia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yupik, Siberian
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 009536
label: USNM Number
content: E46005-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Snow Beater
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 64 cm