Pile Driver
Item number A4010 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.
Public
RRN ID
Item Records
This page shows all the information we have about this item. Both the institution that physically holds this item, and RRN members have contributed the knowledge on this page. You’re looking at the item record provided by the holding institution. If you scroll further down the page, you’ll see the information from RRN members, and can share your own knowledge too.
The RRN processes the information it receives from each institution to make it more readable and easier to search. If you’re doing in-depth research on this item, be sure to take a look at the Data Source tab to see the information exactly as it was provided by the institution.
These records are easy to share because each has a unique web address. You can copy and paste the location from your browser’s address bar into an email, word document, or chat message to share this item with others.
- Data
- Data Source
This information was automatically generated from data provided by MOA: University of British Columbia. It has been standardized to aid in finding and grouping information within the RRN. Accuracy and meaning should be verified from the Data Source tab.
Description
Heavy stone pile driver, sculpted to fit the user's hands, with grooves on both sides for fingers and thumbs. On one side a nose-shaped ridge has been carved in the middle. Together with the grooves (representing the eyes) this side appears to have a face-like image.
History Of Use
Heavy pile drivers of stone were once commonly used on the central and northern coast to build fish weirs across streams and rivers. This one has been shaped to provide handholds for pounding pointed stakes into the riverbed, using the stone’s wide underside. "There would be in each house a designated name and position for somebody who was designing and building the fish weirs. They had a name and a rank and a dance in the potlatch that would support the job that they did on the land. Items like this pile driver would have crest designs on them because they would be handed down: as the name goes to the next generation, tools like these would go with them" [Clyde Tallio Snxakila, Nuxalk, 2019].
Narrative
Thought to be from c. 1800, or possibly earlier. Robson, the donor, said it was given to him in April 1920 by a very old (Nuxalk) man named Fred King, after using it to pound King's oolichan-net stakes in the river. King told him that several men (Filip Jacobsen, a Dr. Goddard and Indian Agent Ivor Fougner) had tried to buy it from him in previous years. At some point Robson left it with a friend in Bella Coola, Albert Brynildsen, because he didn’t want to pack it up to Atnarko when he moved there, but Robson got it back from him in 1950 in order to send it down to H.R. MacMillan, so he could pass it along to Harry Hawthorn for the UBC Museum. Harry Hawthorn noted that a very similar one (perhaps the mate of a pair from Bella Coola?), was shown at Scripps College c. 1949-50, from the Arensberg Collection. Hawthorn wrote to Robson in March 1956, sending him a catalogue for an exhibition put on by the Museum and the Vancouver Art Gallery. He said the driver could be found in the catalogue as Plate 38.
Item History
- Made in Bella Coola, British Columbia, Canada before 1800
- Owned by Bert Robson before September 1950
- Received from Bert Robson (Donor) during September 1950
What
- Name
- Pile Driver
- Identification Number
- A4010
- Type of Item
- pile driver
- Material
- granite stone ?
- Manufacturing Technique
- carved and ground
- Overall
- height 9.1 cm, width 23.4 cm, depth 36.1 cm, weight 11.5 kg
Where
- Holding Institution
- MOA: University of British Columbia
- Made in
- Bella Coola, British Columbia, Canada
Who
- Culture
- Nuxalk
- Previous Owner
- Bert Robson
- Received from
- Bert Robson (Donor)
When
- Creation Date
- before 1800
- Ownership Date
- before September 1950
- Acquisition Date
- during September 1950
Other
- Condition
- good
- Accession Number
- 1837/0001
Ask a question
Let the RRN community answer your questions
Public
With an account, you can ask other users a question about this item. Request an Account
Shared Knowledge
Share your knowlege of this item with the RRN community
Public
With an account, you can submit information about this item and have it visible to all users and institutions on the RRN. Request an Account
Similar Items
