This page is referenced by:

• 1 2019-11-22T19:58:42+00:00 Story Knife 10 plain 2019-12-13T20:56:25+00:00 59.96666, -163.85
  

  Yaaruin - “story knife” 

  29 cm long x 3 cm wide x 0.5 cm tall
  Walrus tusk
  
  Chalitmuit, Alaska (Yup’ik), c. unknown 
  Collector: E. W. Nelson
  Museum ID number: NEL.C1.r.0133
  
  Story knives were typically made of carved and polished walrus tusk and were used by young girls to draw and tell stories in the snow. Knife stories were typically accompanied by songs, and sometimes they were used for games in which spectators tried to guess the artist’s subject. Girls still play these games today with metal butter knives replacing the traditional wood, bone, or ivory ones. A girl’s father or grandfather typically made her knife, and they were given as gifts during Elriq, the Great Feast of the Dead. Once a girl had experienced her first menstrual period, she would give away her story knife along with her dolls to younger girls in the community. This particular knife has a serrated edge to make it easier to break into the ice. As such, it could have also been used to cut ice in order to mark where to tie dogs or to build igloos. This knife shows skilled craftsmanship as it is made from the edge of the inner part of a walrus tusk – a difficult part to carve.

• 1 2019-11-22T20:01:31+00:00 Ivory Knife 7 Ivory Knife plain 2020-06-09T16:43:29+00:00 1884 71.29055, -156.78861
  

  miłkaq “carver; curved knife”

  16.3cm x 2.5cm x .07cm 
  Ivory, iron 
  
  Port Barrow, Alaska (Inupiaq), c.1884
  Collector: Lt. P. H. Ray 
  
  Museum ID: RAY.C1.ebf.0136
  
  This blade consisting of an ivory handle and iron edge is likely a variety of curved blade likely used for carving. These blades would have typically been made with porcupine and beaver teeth, but after foreign contact it became more common to use available scrap metals, as in this example. Leather and glue were used to bind the iron blade to the ivory handle. This object was likely used as a saw, and could have had a dual use as firestarter because of the groove in its shaft.  These tools were also commonly used to carve bowls, spoons, and buckets. Additions to the object indicate it may have been given as a gift after it had been collected.