Horn Spoon, Shell Inserted

Item number E89169-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=634 , retrieved 6-24-2012: Spoon Open-work figures carved from pieces of black mountain goat horn and inlaid with abalone shell cover the handle of this elaborate ceremonial ladle. The bowl was carved, steamed, and molded from a single mountain sheep horn. Haida artists excelled in this style, even though the raw materials had to be obtained from the Tsimshian, who could hunt sheep and goats in their mainland territories. Large horn ladles were used at feasts and passed to guests for eating preserved berries from wooden bowls. Feast spoons were owned by clans rather than individuals. "Amongst the Haida, certain shapes were for certain foods, even our horn spoons. The little black horn spoons were used for eating seaweed, but the white ones were for halibut…When a chief came to our meal, my mother took out a fancy spoon with carving, and he used it. We were never allowed to touch it, just him." - Delores Churchill (Haida), 2005