Research Items

Abstract

ESKIMO ENGRAVINGS ON WALRUS IVORY.—Three examples of Eskimo art from Alaska of a type rarely seen in Europe are described by M. L. Giraux in the Journal de la Société des Américanistes de Paris, N. Sér. T. 18. The objects in question are made of walrus ivory, measuring 31 cm., 33 cm., and 36 cm. in length respectively, and are engraved and painted or stained in colour with human and animal figures. Among the human figures is that of a male in European clothing. All the figures are realistic, but the animals in particular exhibit an intimate acquaintance on the part of the artist with their characteristic attitudes and habits. Although all the Eskimo of Alaska show considerable dexterity in carving wood, bone, ivory, and reindeer horn, the inhabitants of the coast from the Yukon delta to the lower Kuskokwin river are particularly noted for their artistic skill. The technical methods employed in dealing with the ivory of a walrus tooth in the days before the introduction of iron and steel implements, are of considerable interest, especially in view of the marked resemblance of the objects under consideration to palaeolithic engravings. Four grooves were made in the tooth with a piece of quartz or other siliceous stone. When these had been made as deep as the form of the cutting edge of the stone implement allowed, the two pieces were flaked off either by simple pressure of the hand or by means of a wooden knife-blade-like implement, which was inserted in the groove. The central piece of ivory thus obtained was rubbed down to the required shape by a freshly broken stone. The perforation found in some of the objects was then made by a stone drill and sand, working in a slight depression previously made, and actuated by a cord or strap. The polishing was done either with a very fine-grained stone (soapstone) or by the hand used with very fine-grained sand. Lastly, another piece of ivory was employed to produce a high polish. The gravers were sharp pieces of stone, flint, quartz, schist, or soapstone, usually fixed in pieces of wood, each material requiring a special method in manufacturing the graving tool. The colours employed were black (plumbago and charcoal or gunpowder mixed with blood), red (oxide of iron or ochreous earth), yellow (ochreous earth), white (argillaceous clay), and green (oxide of copper). A dark reddish brown used for staining seal skin was obtained by macerating the inner bark of alder in urine for twenty-four hours.