The variable histories of reindeer scapulae on the Iamal Peninsula of Arctic Siberia

Abstract

Reindeer scapulae are widely incorporated into Indigenous lifeways across the Circumpolar North, especially as hide working tools, fish knives, and divination devices. This article addresses the histories of this particular skeletal element at the Iron Age settlement site of Iarte VI on the Iamal Peninsula, Arctic Siberia. Scapula tools are the most abundant group of implements recovered from the site. These implements, which were only used in Iamal from the 11th to 14th centuries CE, have so far been documented only at Iarte VI and one other site on the peninsula. Their particular forms are not currently known outside the region. We examine how this one element was separated from other parts of the body, which scapulae were chosen for tool production, and how they were transformed into implements. These tools appear to have been used for softening and straightening reindeer skin straps for ropes and lassos, a task now undertaken on the peninsula entirely by men. Drawing upon published accounts and our own ethnographic research with Nenets, we discuss how reindeer scapulae are embedded into perceptions of wild and domestic reindeer, used as hide-working tools, and involved in a variety of social and material practices in this region.