Fort Simpson, British Columbia, Canada, North America
Accession Date:
1870
Notes:
Bone carved to represent a whale and decorated with abalone inlay and incised formline designs.
This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact, listed as number E9813B, http://www.alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=508, retrieved 4-24-2012: Amulet, Tsimshian. A shaman's amulets represented the guardian spirits that aided his work. Like his wooden rattles, crown of bear claws, dance apron, and red ocher face paint, bone and stone amulets were essential to his practice. This beautifully carved example represents a killer whale; its tail is a long-beaked bird.
