Dagger

NA8488A

Location: On Display in the Native American Voices

From: United States of America | Alaska | Sitka (uncertain) | Klukwan (uncertain)

Curatorial Section: American

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Object Number NA8488A
Current Location Native American Voices - On Display
Culture Chilkat | Tlingit
Provenience United States of America | Alaska | Sitka (uncertain) | Klukwan (uncertain)
Culture Area Northwest Coast Culture Area
Locus Klukwan Dagisdinaa Clan | Thunder House
Section American
Materials Iron | Ivory | Abalone Shell | Hide
Description

Dagger called the "Ghost of the Courageous Adventurer" made by Kaa.ushti, one of Louis Shotridge's ancestors. The blade is made from iron with a medial ridge on one side. The hilt is an extension of the blade and wrapped with a mesh of mountain goat hair dyed red and green. The pommel is made of walrus ivory shaped as a human skull to represent the ancestors who made the journey from Klukwan to the Copper River and back again. The teeth, nose, and sides of the skull are inlaid with blue abalone shell. (Lucy Fowler Williams, Expedition Magazine, 2012, v. 54, no. 2, p. 15)

Length 39.37 cm
Width 5.08 cm
Credit Line Wanamaker Expedition to the Northwest Coast; Louis Shotridge, 1918

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