Kagamil Island, Samalga Island Quad / Aleutian Islands, Alaska, United States, North America
Accession Date:
5 Oct 1937
Notes:
From card: "Prob. ethnological - Dr. H. Collins. Two pieces; pyramidal lug at back of each for grip. Stains of cross braces. Relashed in Mus. Lab. with buckskin thongs; & red painted design retraced. Illus. in The Far North catalog, Nat. Gall. of Art, 1973, p. 52-53. Illus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 5, Arctic, fig. 12, pg. 173." The Far North catalog caption notes about the shield: "Flat shield, wood (stained with modern preservative), with pigment (retraced), modern rawhide lashings."
Illus. Fig. 21, p. 42 in Black, Lydia. 2003. Aleut art = Unangam aguqaadangin. Virginia Beach, VA: Donning Co. Publishers. Identified there as a shield with spiral decoration.
Note re photos: Color digital negative number 2005-35375 is a view of front (painted) side of shield, and 2005-35376 is a view of the back.
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=360, retrieved 5-8-2014: For protection against ... deadly weapons, Unangan fighters used wooden shields and body armor made of wooden rods. This shield was taken along with other tools and weapons from a burial cave on Kagamil Island. It is made of split driftwood planks, stitched together with leather cords. Red spirals are painted on the front (a museum restoration of the faded original design). Veniaminov wrote that shields "were used to defend the head from flying arrows, holding on with the left hand to a grip . . . in the middle. The shields were used only in open battle or in an assault on a fortified place." From Elders' discussions of the parka in 2003 with Mary N. Bourdukofsky, Vlass Shabolin, Maria Turnpaugh and Daria Dirks (Tanadgusix Foundation) at the National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian, 4/07/2003-4/11/2003. Also participating: Aron Crowell and Bill Fitzhugh (NMNH) and Suzi Jones (AMHA). Aron Crowell: Okay, this shield is from a cave on Kagamil Island, just west of Umnak Island. Mary Bourdukofsky: Oh, a battle shield maybe. To shield their body I guess, when they're fighting. Maria Turnpaugh: That's right. Daria Dirks: We did have a lot of wars amongst each other. Mary Bourdukofsky: Yes they did, I heard. Maria Turnpaugh: Well, I guess the Tlingit too. Aron Crowell: Are there any stories or memories about the days of warfare in the Aleutian Islands that any of you have heard? Maria Turnpaugh: Just what I've read. Vlass Shabolin: I guess in those days they had some bows and arrows, and then they threw rocks at them. They'd bounce right off of there. Daria Dirks: I wonder if the marks on there, the indentations, are from the arrows.
Mary Bourdukofsky: Where the bullets hit maybe, or arrows. Vlass Shabolin: Muskets too, the Russians were shooting at them. Mary Bourdukofsky: I don't think they're bullet holes, maybe spear holes. Aron Crowell: The paint has been touched up in the museum, and also the lashings were added in the museum. It was repaired for exhibit I think, at one point early on. Maria Turnpaugh: When did they have wood like that? Mary Bourdukofsky: They could get their woods from the beach, Russians. Vlass Shabolin: The Russian boat that went by, yes. Daria Dirks: Traders. Aron Crowell: Is there much driftwood there that comes up on the shore? Maria Turnpaugh: A lot. Vlass Shabolin: A lot, tons and tons of driftwood. Aron Crowell: So the material for anything carved would have to be found on the beach. Mary Bourdukofsky: Yes, on the beach. Vlass Shabolin: It's redwood. Redwood was very popular then, I know.
Maria Turnpaugh: That's what those old houses in Unalaska are made of, redwood. Vlass Shabolin: And that red wood lasted long. Mary Bourdukofsky: Nothing underneath? It should have something to hold onto. Maria Turnpaugh: No, you see there's a thing where the rod will go in. Vlass Shabolin: The arm. Mary Bourdukofsky: They must have had a string across. Vlass Shabolin: A string across there for their arm.
This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
