Inuŋuaq - “play person, doll” (Iñupiaq); Irniaruaq - “pretend person, doll” (Yup’ik)

14.3 cm long x 1.2-2.55 cm wide x 0.75-1.5 cm thick
Carved ivory

Norton Sound, Alaska (Yup’ik or Iñupiaq), c. 1876
Collector: L. M. Turner

Museum ID number: TUR.C5.r.4604

Dolls were among some of the most common toys for young girls. Typically, they were carved by their fathers and came in many shapes, sizes, and materials with various clothing and adornments. They also had accessories like miniature dishes or mouse-skin blankets. This simple carved ivory figure, upright with its arms at its side, was of the most common. It was carved out of an old piece of ivory, and therefore must have been made by a person particularly skilled in carving ivory. It likely had a piece of leather tied around the neck so that it could be worn as a necklace or used in ceremony. There are additional carvings on the doll to represent clothing, however, it does not resemble clothing that would have been worn but the Yup’ik or Iñupiaq people during this time – western contact may account for this. Dolls represented more than just toys. During the winter, girls were not allowed to take their dolls outside because it was believed that this would bring dangerous, long-lasting storms. Dolls were also symbols of a girl’s future life as a woman. When girls became physically mature, they ceremonially passed down their dolls to younger girls in their community in a “Putting Away the Doll” feast, marking their new adult roles within the community and their ability to have children.