Notes

FROM 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "ADZE.-BLADE OF IRON LASHED TO A WOODEN HANDLE WITH A THONG EXTENDING OVER THE UPPER PORTION OF THE BLADE AND THROUGH A HOLE PIERCED IN THE HANDLE. LENGTH OF HANDLE, 11 INCHES; LENGTH OF BLADE, 5 3/4 INCHES. ESKIMO OF MACKENZIE RIVER, ALASKA, 1869. 5,126. COLLECTED BY R. MACFARLANE."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/150 , retrieved 1-17-2020: An adze with an iron blade attached to wood handle made of wood with a hide thong. The blade is made from an axe head of European origin that has been cut away along along both sides to make it narrower, and a groove has been cut into the upper surface and adjacent edges to hold the thong that secures the head to the handle. The handle has been skillfully shaped to provide a secure grip and balance. The end of the handle where it is attached to the blade has been cut aslant, and has a drilled hole through which the hide thong repeatedly passes. The thong lies in the groove on the head, which protected from wear it while the adze was in use. More information here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/3: The short-handled adze was used for shaping large pieces of wood. The blades of traditional Inuvialuit adzes were made made from stone. When metal axe and hatchet blades became available through trade Inuvialuit used them to make adzes by hafting the blades sideways onto wood handles. The blade was bound to the handle using a thick hide thong that was put on when wet, and which shrank and became hard and tight when dry. Community Interpretations: Darrel Nasogaluak: You can tell if an adze was used by a right-handed or a left-handed person. If you place an adze on its head, with the sharp edge pointed toward you, the handle tilts to the right if it was made for a right-handed person and to the left if it was used by a lefty. The more a head was offset, the bigger the person who used it.