Bone Straight Adze Handle

Item number E708-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

OBJECT IS ILLUSTRATED ON P. 8 ("A") OF DAVID IVES BUSHNELL, "DRAWINGS BY GEORGE GIBBS IN THE FAR NORTHWEST, 1849-1851," SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 97.8 (1938). - STEVEN L. GRAFE 1997. Bushnell identifies animal figure on handle as representing a raccoon, Procyon lotor, with the eyes indicated by copper inlays and identifies object as collected by George Gibbs probably in 1850 or 1851. See p. 386 of Gilman, Carolyn; 2003; Lewis and Clark across the divide; Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, where this object is illustrated and described. Identified there as handle for a straight adze, animal leg bone, Chinookan, pre-1850, collected at the mouth of the Columbia River, designed for use with a steel blade. Animal figure carved on the end. The type used for carving canoes.