Woman's Knife

Item number E1630-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

FROM CARD: "ILLUS. IN USNM AR, 1890; PL. 56, FIG. 3; P. 416 (ULU) BLADE OF SHEET IRON, INSERTED WITHOUT RIVETS INTO A SLIT IN THE HANDLE OF WALRUS IVORY. THE LATTER IS EXCAVED ON BOTH SIDES TO FIT THE HAND AND ORNAMENTED WITH WHALEBONE PLACED THROUGH PERFORATIONS IN THE UPPER BORDER WITH SLIGHT VARIATIONS. ILLUS. HNDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 5, ARCTIC, PG. 353, FIG. 7A."Source of the information below: Inuvialuit Pitqusiit Inuuniarutait: Inuvialuit Living History, The MacFarlane Collection website, by the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre (ICRC), Inuvik, N.W.T., Canada (website credits here http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/posts/12 ), entry on this artifact http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/items/21 , retrieved 12-17-2019: Ulu with an iron blade and ivory handle. The handle has a transverse slot along the bottom edge into which the blade has been inserted, and an elongated perforation has been cut through the handle to provide a hand grip. Seven holes have been drilled through the top of the handle, through which strands of baleen have been laced, probably to enhance the grip when working with slippery materials. The curved cutting edge has been sharpened by filing along both sides. More information here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/58: An ulu is a knife with a crescent-shaped blade attached to a handle made of wood, bone or antler. The design of an ulu ensures that the cutting force is centred more over the middle of the blade than with an ordinary knife. Ulus are used for skinning animals, scraping skins, cutting hides when sewing as well as for other household tasks. They are sometimes called 'women's knives' since they usually are associated with women's tasks.

Item History

What

Name
Woman's Knife
Identification Number
E1630-0
Type of Item
knife

Where

Holding Institution
National Museum of Natural History
Made in
Northwest Territories, Canada
Collected in
Northwest Territories, Canada

Who

Culture
Eskimo, Inuit and Inuvialuk
Received from
Roderick R. MacFarlane

When

Acquisition Date
on December 21, 1866

Other

Accession Number
66A00090

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