Bone is used within the Yup’ik culture for many things.  It can be used to create tools that are essential for hunting and cooking practices or bone can be used for the purpose of beautification. Yup’ik carvers worked with bone and ivory to create objects used for everyday activities.  Soaking bone and ivory in water made the material softer and easier to work with.  This allowed the carvers to add more detail to objects in order to convey meaning.  

Bone is harvested year round, for the Yup’ik culture used the bones of all the animals they harvested, land or sea.  It was believed that if the bones were taken care of, that animal would be attracted to the Yup’ik people with no reservations.  Sea mammal bones were never put in the ocean, because those animals would never come back if they saw their relatives' bones.

Bone was often used to make tools because of its durability.  Walrus bones were especially durable, which resulted in them being used for anything and everything.  However, unlike bone, ivory has the tendency to become weak and crack if it dries out.  Therefore, ivory was used mainly for decorative objects that would not be subjected to wear and tear, while bones were used for tools and objects meant for heavy use.  

Bone and ivory's versatility allows these materials to be intertwined with almost everything involving Yup'ik lifestyle and traditions.  From simple cooking and hunting traditions to religious practices, these materials are crucial to their way of life.   

(Fienup-Riordan 2007)