Small Knife

Item number E5814-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

FROM CARD: "5813-5. 5814 - LENT TO PRINCE OF WALES NORTHERN HERITAGE CENTER 6-3-92. LOAN RETURNED: DEC 21 1992."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/161 , retrieved 1-24-2020: A small ulu with an iron blade and a handle made from antler or bone. The uppermost part of the blade is set into the handle and is further secured with two tangs, each of which had been made from two pieces of antler or bone (one piece is missing from one of the tangs) set into a slot in the handle and attached there and to the blade by copper rivets. 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.