Nearly complete wolf skin. The head and lower appendages are stuffed with straw, and the mouth and eyes are stitched shut with sinew. Flicker feathers are attached to the mouth by a tassel of white cotton string, and woodpecker scalps cover each eye.
Donor:
Phoebe Apperson Hearst
Collection place:
Lower Klamath River, Humboldt County, California
Verbatim coll. place:
California
Culture or time period:
Karuk and Yurok
Collector:
Alexander Brizard and Alfred L. Kroeber
Collection date:
1902
Object type:
ethnography
Accession date:
1903 and February 10, 1903
Department:
Native California (archaeology and ethnology)
Comment:
Evidence presented by the Karuk Tribe and ethnographic sources suggests that the wolf skin was associated with the Karuk Pikiavish (World Renewal Ceremony), and is used in the component of that ceremony known as the White Deerskin Dance.
Loans:
S1964-1965 #21: Anthropology Department, Vallejo Junior College/Everett F. McCartney (October 22, 1964–November 17, 1964), S2001-2002 #4: Karuk Tribe of California (August 24, 2001–September 28, 2001), S2003-2004 #1: Karuk Tribe of California (July 15, 2003–October 31, 2003), S2004-2005 #9: Karuk Tribe of California (July 26, 2005–October 26, 2005), S2007-2008 #2: Karuk Tribe of California (August 1, 2007–September 27, 2007), S2009-2010 #3: Karuk Tribe of California (August 4, 2009–October 15, 2009), and S2013-2014 #1: Karuk Tribe of California (August 16, 2013–October 31, 2013)