Engraved Ivory Needle Case and Bird Bone Needles
Unknown Iñupiat artist
ca. 1890
D: 1”; L: 8.5”; W: 1”
T0608 a-e
http://collections.fenimoreartmuseum.org/node/5186?mode=default
By Krista Ulujuk Zawadski (Carleton University)
The engraved kakpik (needle case; plural: kakpiit) and miqqutiit (bird bone needles; singular: miqqut) in the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art are from Norton Sound, Alaska in western Alaska Yupik territory. Inuit languages spoken from Alaska to Greenland, as well as northern Quebec and Labrador have different words for commonly used objects [1]. For example, in the Yup’ik language, the needle case is called mingqusviutat [2] or mingqucivik [3] while it is called uyamiutaq in the Inukpiaq language [4]. Kakpik is an Inuktitut word, the language spoken by Inuit in the eastern Arctic. As Inuktitut is my language, I will use the terms kakpik and kakpiit to refer to the needle case and miqqut or miqqutiit to refer to the needles.
The kakpik includes an ivory thimble, an ivory stopper, a hook-shaped stopper and a sealskin strap. Kakpiit are made to protect precious needles, such as the four miqqutiit inside its strap (Figure 1). Kakpiit could be made from a number of materials, including bone, ivory or wood, and at times sealskin or bird bones. The shape and decoration of kakpiit varied across the circumpolar world, but they were typically cylindrical or rectangular. Tubular kakpiit made from shafts of caribou leg bones were common across the Arctic and are used with leather or sealskin straps that are pulled through to hold the needles. Rectangular kakpiit were hollowed needle cases of ivory or wood and stuffed with moss to hold the needles. (Figure 2)
Although kakpiit are invaluable objects in the material culture of circumpolar peoples, the miqqut is also significant in the Arctic, as it enabled the creation of warm and beautiful clothing. Miqqutiit were made from a variety of materials. While Boas points out that “very few remember the bone needle” [5], Inuit today still recollect how to make miqqutiit from bone, ivory, native copper and steel Boas also notes that “in ancient times, needles were made of bone, generally taken from the foreleg of a fox. Later they were made by cutting off a very narrow piece from a saw-blade” [6]. Effie Kakayak Otaoyoakyok recalls using native copper in the Western Canadian Arctic to make miqqutiit [8], my research indicates that bone needles were generally made from bird bones. The extraction of needles from bones requires the use of bone blank, which are bones that have been clean and prepared for use. Lines are etched along the length of the bone blank, and needles are snapped off from the bone blank along the etched lines. (Figure 3) Although ivory from walrus and narwhal was also used to make needles, in conversation with Dr. Sven Haakanson while at the Otsego Institute for Native American Art History, I learned that bird bone makes much more flexible needles than ivory. Ivory needles were generally used for heavy work, such as the sewing of sealskin covers over umiaq or qajaq frames [7]. These were often carved out of ivory, as opposed to the use of a blank.
Miqqutiit can also be made from caribou bones. Rachel Uyarasuk shares knowledge about miqqutiit: “Needles were made from the hind leg of a caribou, in particular from the calcaneus. It is said that this bone makes a good needle, as it is sharp... The awl was also made from the calcaneus of the hind leg, as they are known to be sharp, or they could have used ivory. These were used to puncture holes in skins ... and were called ikiuqquut” [10]. A bodkin or awl was used to pierce the eye of the needle, and “a small, flat, wooden tablet… is used for supporting a bone or an ivory needle while the eye is being pierced” [11].
In my own work at home in Nunavut, I have been learning to make bone needles. Every spring I have been fortunate to receive geese bones from family members, from which I make miqqutiit from bone blanks. I also do research based on knowledge shared with me by fellow Inuit, and from written sources such as Bennett and Rowley’s work with Inuit elders [12], I build my understanding of the technology used to create miqqutiit. Engagement with knowledge holders, as well as museum collections, is an invaluable resource in this endeavor and an important element in the process of cultural revitalization. Engaging with the kakpiit, and especially the miqqutiit, in the the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art has provided me an opportunity to expand my own knowledge about miqqutiit, as well as motivation to continue learning about kakpiit and miqqutiit in my home community.
Figures
Unknown Iñupiat artist
ca. 1890
D: 1”; L: 8.5”; W: 1”
T0608 a-e
http://collections.fenimoreartmuseum.org/node/5186?mode=default
By Krista Ulujuk Zawadski (Carleton University)
The engraved kakpik (needle case; plural: kakpiit) and miqqutiit (bird bone needles; singular: miqqut) in the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art are from Norton Sound, Alaska in western Alaska Yupik territory. Inuit languages spoken from Alaska to Greenland, as well as northern Quebec and Labrador have different words for commonly used objects [1]. For example, in the Yup’ik language, the needle case is called mingqusviutat [2] or mingqucivik [3] while it is called uyamiutaq in the Inukpiaq language [4]. Kakpik is an Inuktitut word, the language spoken by Inuit in the eastern Arctic. As Inuktitut is my language, I will use the terms kakpik and kakpiit to refer to the needle case and miqqut or miqqutiit to refer to the needles.
The kakpik includes an ivory thimble, an ivory stopper, a hook-shaped stopper and a sealskin strap. Kakpiit are made to protect precious needles, such as the four miqqutiit inside its strap (Figure 1). Kakpiit could be made from a number of materials, including bone, ivory or wood, and at times sealskin or bird bones. The shape and decoration of kakpiit varied across the circumpolar world, but they were typically cylindrical or rectangular. Tubular kakpiit made from shafts of caribou leg bones were common across the Arctic and are used with leather or sealskin straps that are pulled through to hold the needles. Rectangular kakpiit were hollowed needle cases of ivory or wood and stuffed with moss to hold the needles. (Figure 2)
Although kakpiit are invaluable objects in the material culture of circumpolar peoples, the miqqut is also significant in the Arctic, as it enabled the creation of warm and beautiful clothing. Miqqutiit were made from a variety of materials. While Boas points out that “very few remember the bone needle” [5], Inuit today still recollect how to make miqqutiit from bone, ivory, native copper and steel Boas also notes that “in ancient times, needles were made of bone, generally taken from the foreleg of a fox. Later they were made by cutting off a very narrow piece from a saw-blade” [6]. Effie Kakayak Otaoyoakyok recalls using native copper in the Western Canadian Arctic to make miqqutiit [8], my research indicates that bone needles were generally made from bird bones. The extraction of needles from bones requires the use of bone blank, which are bones that have been clean and prepared for use. Lines are etched along the length of the bone blank, and needles are snapped off from the bone blank along the etched lines. (Figure 3) Although ivory from walrus and narwhal was also used to make needles, in conversation with Dr. Sven Haakanson while at the Otsego Institute for Native American Art History, I learned that bird bone makes much more flexible needles than ivory. Ivory needles were generally used for heavy work, such as the sewing of sealskin covers over umiaq or qajaq frames [7]. These were often carved out of ivory, as opposed to the use of a blank.
Miqqutiit can also be made from caribou bones. Rachel Uyarasuk shares knowledge about miqqutiit: “Needles were made from the hind leg of a caribou, in particular from the calcaneus. It is said that this bone makes a good needle, as it is sharp... The awl was also made from the calcaneus of the hind leg, as they are known to be sharp, or they could have used ivory. These were used to puncture holes in skins ... and were called ikiuqquut” [10]. A bodkin or awl was used to pierce the eye of the needle, and “a small, flat, wooden tablet… is used for supporting a bone or an ivory needle while the eye is being pierced” [11].
In my own work at home in Nunavut, I have been learning to make bone needles. Every spring I have been fortunate to receive geese bones from family members, from which I make miqqutiit from bone blanks. I also do research based on knowledge shared with me by fellow Inuit, and from written sources such as Bennett and Rowley’s work with Inuit elders [12], I build my understanding of the technology used to create miqqutiit. Engagement with knowledge holders, as well as museum collections, is an invaluable resource in this endeavor and an important element in the process of cultural revitalization. Engaging with the kakpiit, and especially the miqqutiit, in the the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art has provided me an opportunity to expand my own knowledge about miqqutiit, as well as motivation to continue learning about kakpiit and miqqutiit in my home community.
Figures
Figure 1: Bird Bone needles inside Leather Strap (Catalogue Number T0608 a-e, Fenimore Museum) (Photo Credit: Dr. Sven Haakanson).
Figure 2: Rectangular kakpik stuff with moss, and ivory needle (Catalogue Numbers 977.16.22a-b, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre) (Photo Credit: Krista Ulujuk Zawadski)
Figure 3: Miqquttit made from bird bone, Dorset culture (Catalogue Numbers 982.50.81a-g, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre) (Photo Credit: Krista Ulujuk Zawadski)
Figure 4: Julia Silverman, Amanda Thompson, Krista Ulujuk Zawadski and Victoria Sunnerman examining the kapik (Catalogue Number T0608 a-e, Fenimore Museum) (Photo Credit: Dr. Sven Haakanson).
__________________________________________________
[1] Dorais, Louis Jacques. 2010. The Language of the Inuit: Syntax, Semantics, and Society in the Arctic (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press).
[2] Fienup-Riordan, Ann. 2005. Yup’ik Elders at the Ethonologisches Museum Berlin: Fieldwork Turned on Its Head (Seattle: University of Washington Press), 195.
[3] Fitzhugh, William, and Susan A. Kaplan. 1982. Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo. (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution), 134–35.
[4] Fitzhugh and Kaplan, “Inuit: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo”, 134.
[5] Boas, Franz. 1901. Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. XV. New York: American Museum of Natural History), 469.
[6] Ibid. p. 469
[7] Nelson, Edward William. 1900. The Eskimo About Bering Strait (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press), 106.
[8] Bennett, John, and Susan Rowley. 2004. Uqalurait: An Oral History of Nunavut (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press), 304.
[9] Boas, “Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay”, 469
[10] Bennett and Rowley, “Uqalurait”, 305
[11] Nelson, “The Eskimo About Bering Strait”, 106-107.
[12] Bennett and Rowley, “Uqalurait.”
__________________________________________________
Bibliography
Balikci, Asen. 1970. The Netsilik Eskimo. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, Inc.
Bennett, John, and Susan Rowley. 2004. Uqalurait: An Oral History of Nunavut. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Birket-Smith, Kaj. 1929. The Caribou Eskimos: Material and Social Life and Their Cultural Position. Copenhagen: Gyldeddalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag.
Boas, Franz. 1901. Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. XV. New York: American Museum of Natural History.
———. 1908. “Decorative Designs of Alaskan Needlecases: A History of Conventional Designs, Based on Materials in a U.S. Museum.” Proceedings of the United States National Museum 34 (1616): 321–44.
———. 1955. Primitive Art. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
Crowell, Aron and William Fitzhugh. 2009. Gifts from the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of Bering Strait. Princeton University Art Museum.
Crowell, Aron and William Fitzhugh. 1988. Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska. Washington. D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Fienup-Riordan, Ann. 2000. Hunting Tradition in a Changing World: Yup’ik Lives in Alaska Today. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
———. 2003a. “Yupik Elders in Museums. Fieldwork Turned on Its Head”, in Museums and Source Communities, edited by Laura Peers and Alison Brown, 28-41, London and New York: Routledge.
———. 2003b. Ciuliamta akluit/Things of Our Ancestors: Yup’ik Elders Explore the Jacobsen Collection at the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
———. 2005. Yup’ik Elders at the Ethonologisches Museum Berlin: Fieldwork Turned on Its Head. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Fitzhugh, William. 1983. Introduction and Dedication to The Eskimo About Bering Strait, by Edward William Nelson, 7–45. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
Fitzhugh, William, and Susan A. Kaplan. 1982. Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
Hennessy, Kate, Natasha Lyons, Stephen Loring, Charles Arnold, Mervin Joe, Albert Elias, and James Pokiak. 2013. “The Inuvialuit Living History Project: Digital Return as the Forging of Relationships Between Institutions, People, and Data.” Museum Anthropology Review 7 (1–2): 44–73.
Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre. 2014. Inuvialuit Pitqusiit Inuuniarutait: Inuvialuit Living History. http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca, accessed May 1, 2019.
Issenman, Betty Kobayashi. 1997. Sinews of Survival: The Living Legacy of Inuit Clothing. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Isuma Productions. 2016. “Inuit Piqutingit (What Belongs to Inuit).” http://www.isuma.tv/isuma-productions/inuit-piqutingit, accessed May 1, 2019.
Mathiassen, Therkel. 1928. Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimo. Copenhagen: Gyldeddalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag.
Nelson, Edward William. 1900. The Eskimo About Bering Strait. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Zawadski, Krista Ulujuk. 2018. “Lines of Discovery on Inuit Needle Cases, Kakpiit, in Museum Collections.” Museum Anthropology 41 (1): 61-75.
__________________________________________________
[1] Dorais, Louis Jacques. 2010. The Language of the Inuit: Syntax, Semantics, and Society in the Arctic (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press).
[2] Fienup-Riordan, Ann. 2005. Yup’ik Elders at the Ethonologisches Museum Berlin: Fieldwork Turned on Its Head (Seattle: University of Washington Press), 195.
[3] Fitzhugh, William, and Susan A. Kaplan. 1982. Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo. (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution), 134–35.
[4] Fitzhugh and Kaplan, “Inuit: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo”, 134.
[5] Boas, Franz. 1901. Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. XV. New York: American Museum of Natural History), 469.
[6] Ibid. p. 469
[7] Nelson, Edward William. 1900. The Eskimo About Bering Strait (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press), 106.
[8] Bennett, John, and Susan Rowley. 2004. Uqalurait: An Oral History of Nunavut (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press), 304.
[9] Boas, “Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay”, 469
[10] Bennett and Rowley, “Uqalurait”, 305
[11] Nelson, “The Eskimo About Bering Strait”, 106-107.
[12] Bennett and Rowley, “Uqalurait.”
__________________________________________________
Bibliography
Balikci, Asen. 1970. The Netsilik Eskimo. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, Inc.
Bennett, John, and Susan Rowley. 2004. Uqalurait: An Oral History of Nunavut. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Birket-Smith, Kaj. 1929. The Caribou Eskimos: Material and Social Life and Their Cultural Position. Copenhagen: Gyldeddalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag.
Boas, Franz. 1901. Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. XV. New York: American Museum of Natural History.
———. 1908. “Decorative Designs of Alaskan Needlecases: A History of Conventional Designs, Based on Materials in a U.S. Museum.” Proceedings of the United States National Museum 34 (1616): 321–44.
———. 1955. Primitive Art. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
Crowell, Aron and William Fitzhugh. 2009. Gifts from the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of Bering Strait. Princeton University Art Museum.
Crowell, Aron and William Fitzhugh. 1988. Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska. Washington. D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Fienup-Riordan, Ann. 2000. Hunting Tradition in a Changing World: Yup’ik Lives in Alaska Today. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
———. 2003a. “Yupik Elders in Museums. Fieldwork Turned on Its Head”, in Museums and Source Communities, edited by Laura Peers and Alison Brown, 28-41, London and New York: Routledge.
———. 2003b. Ciuliamta akluit/Things of Our Ancestors: Yup’ik Elders Explore the Jacobsen Collection at the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
———. 2005. Yup’ik Elders at the Ethonologisches Museum Berlin: Fieldwork Turned on Its Head. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Fitzhugh, William. 1983. Introduction and Dedication to The Eskimo About Bering Strait, by Edward William Nelson, 7–45. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
Fitzhugh, William, and Susan A. Kaplan. 1982. Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
Hennessy, Kate, Natasha Lyons, Stephen Loring, Charles Arnold, Mervin Joe, Albert Elias, and James Pokiak. 2013. “The Inuvialuit Living History Project: Digital Return as the Forging of Relationships Between Institutions, People, and Data.” Museum Anthropology Review 7 (1–2): 44–73.
Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre. 2014. Inuvialuit Pitqusiit Inuuniarutait: Inuvialuit Living History. http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca, accessed May 1, 2019.
Issenman, Betty Kobayashi. 1997. Sinews of Survival: The Living Legacy of Inuit Clothing. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Isuma Productions. 2016. “Inuit Piqutingit (What Belongs to Inuit).” http://www.isuma.tv/isuma-productions/inuit-piqutingit, accessed May 1, 2019.
Mathiassen, Therkel. 1928. Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimo. Copenhagen: Gyldeddalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag.
Nelson, Edward William. 1900. The Eskimo About Bering Strait. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Zawadski, Krista Ulujuk. 2018. “Lines of Discovery on Inuit Needle Cases, Kakpiit, in Museum Collections.” Museum Anthropology 41 (1): 61-75.
