COLLECTOR'S DOCUMENTATION:
"Horn spoon"
-William Fisher
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CATALOG NO: 90428
OBJECT TYPE: goat horn spoon
REMARKS:
Goat horn spoons made by Alaska Natives of the Northwest Coast and the
Gulf of Alaska were trade items highly valued by both Native and
non-Native peoples. While collected on Kodiak Island, this spoon was
probably made by the Chugach Alutiit of Prince William Sound where
mountain goats provided the black horns from which these exquisite
implements were fashioned.
Several design features distinguish Alutiiq from Northwest Coast versions
including the demarcation of the handle from the bowl, the lack of a
recurved handle, and the use of conventional incised patterns and white
sead beads to decorate the bowl and handle of the spoon. The prominent
symbolic aspect to the elaborately carved handles suggests that they were
used in a ceremonial context.
-Dee Hunt
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