The Loon with the Ivory Eyes: A Study in Symbolic Archaeology

Abstract

A SINGLE LOON SKULL WITH INSET EYES of carved ivory and pupils of jet, found with a human burial at Ipiutak, is the inspiration for this attempt to discover cultural themes associated with the loon for the Ipiutak people. Our goal is not so much a definitive reconstruction of the belief system based on archaeological evidence, but rather an exploration of the ways in which archaeological, mythological, and ethnographic material may fruitfully shed light upon one another. The intersection of these disciplines expands the range of questions that can be posed, and hypotheses based on several different kinds of data can provide support for statements that might otherwise be considered totally speculative. Thus, for example, an animal burial leads us to myths and rituals associated with that animal, the interpretation of which may be checked against other archaeological material. Conversely, linkages between myths and rituals may suggest previously unexplored archaeological connections. Ipiutak is the largest and perhaps the most fascinating proto-Eskimo settlement known.2 Although no longer as enigmatic as it was when discovered and excavated thirty-five years ago by Larsen and Rainey, it remains puzzling and in some ways unique in the archaeological record of the north. The site is located on the tip of the Point Hope peninsula, which juts into the Chukchi Sea on the northwest coast of Alaska, about 25 miles north of the Arctic Circle and a mile from the modern Eskimo village of Point Hope. Larsen and Rainey originally estimated an occupation during the first few centuries of the Christian era,