Bow, Quiver And 5 Arrows
date: label: Accession Date
content: 18 Feb 1869
name: label: Collector
content: Dr. Clinton Wagner
label: Donor Name
content: Army Medical Museum
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "ILLUS. IN SMITHSONIAN REPT 1893; PL..87; P. 679. BOW, QUIVER & 3 ARROWS INVENTORIED 1975. OLD LABEL: QUIVER, BOW, AND ARROWS OF THE SNAKE INDIANS (SHOSHONEAN STOCK). QUIVER AND BOW CASE OF BLACK COWSKIN, TRIMMED WITH GREEN CLOTH, BEADWORK AND CUT FRINGES IN ERMINE SKIN. ARROWS, PLAIN, WITH THREE FEATHERS AND THREE STRAIGHT GROOVES. BOW, OF HARD WOOD, BACKED WITH SINEW. ILLUS.: HNDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 11, GREAT BASIN, FIG. 10 BOTTOM, PG. 301." Handbook caption identifies: "Elaborate 2-piece bowcase-quiver made from a single dog skin. Pieces of beaded green felt, bordered with red ribbon, backed with trade cloth, and sporting ribboned rosettes of beaded buckskin sewn over canvas were stitched to the insides of the paws. Beading was done in light purple, white, red, dark blue, black, and green, on the rosettes. Two rosettes supporting fringes of white rabbit fur wrapped in beaded red stroud were sewn to the bandelier. Strips of white rabbit fur were also used to fringe the bowcase flaps. An eagle feather, the quill wrapped in beaded red stroud and top notched, hangs by a short leather thong from the quiver flaps. This is an early documented example of the classic Plains 2-piece bowcase-quiver combination, which emphasized minimal alteration of the natural shape of the hide, even to use of the tail as a pendant from the mouth of the quiver. The general style is common from the Blackfeet to the Apache (Holm 1981). Use of a dog skin is unusual, although this pelt is particularly luxurious (Mason 1894 misidentified it as bear); more usual is otter or mountain lion skin. Arrows collected with the quiver are crudely shaped hardwood shafts, lacking in decoration except for 3 "blood grooves." These are fletched with closely trimmed, split red-tailed hawk feathers, and tipped with metal points. The bow is sinew-backed, highly reflexed, with a thick, 3-strand string, and a buckskin thong grip. Length of bow 97 cm".
label: Notes
content: One arrow currently # E361136B appears to have an old catalogue number of 9044 written on it (it is also misnumbered 9644), which may mean it was once part of this set and was exchanged out of the collections at some point, subsequently returning as part of the Evans collection.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 25 May 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 6
place: label: Place
content: Idaho, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Shoshone, Snake (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 416140
label: USNM Number
content: E9044-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Bow / Quiver / Arrow