3-hatch skin covered boat and therefore modeled after post-contact vessels. Damaged, fragile.
Donor:
W. Barclay Stephens
Collection place:
Aleutian Islands, Alaska
Verbatim coll. place:
Alaska
Culture or time period:
Aleut
Collector:
Carleton H. Clark
Collection date:
1900
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Kayaks and Models (concepts)
Function:
1.4 Transportation and 5.7 Objects made for sale, souvenirs, models, and reproductions
Accession date:
1936
Context of use:
Model. Koniag (qanaĝin, literally the fishermen) kayaks that 2-13602a-b, 2-6438, and 2-2091 model are similar to Aleut kayaks, noted for being able to weather rough waters but are more broad-beamed. Instead of a hole or hook, the bow has a more peculiar shape that turns up more with a very thin opening, the stern is the same flat and square shape found on all of the other kayaks. Three hole kayaks were built on Kodiak Island as a result of Russian contact as early as 1805, the missionary would usually sit in the middle hole and was accompanied by a Native Alaskan paddler on each side. Koniag people did their whaling with kayaks as well as hunting other sea animals. Another distinctly Koniag practice with kayaks was to put the frame over a hunter who died while at sea, if their remains were able to be brought back to shore. Koniag kayaking also held the distinction of using single-sided paddles and kneeling in the hatch on a bed of grass.
Department:
Native US and Canada (except California)
Dimensions:
length 83 centimeters
Comment:
Context of use: There are two varieties of prows on Aleut kayaks, according to Lydia Black, Aleut specialist (1978): male and female. Zimmerly, David W. "Qajaq: Kayaks of Siberia and Alaska." (1986). Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. Edited by Warren L. D’Azevedo, David Damas, June Helm, Robert F. Heizer, Alfonso Ortiz, Wilcomb E. Washburn, Wayne Suttles, Ives Goddard, Deward E. Walker, Raymond J. DeMallie, Raymond D. Fogelson, Douglas H. Ubelaker, and Garrick A. Bailey. Vol. 5. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1984.