Date of Award
Spring 2017
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Anthropology
First Advisor
Dr. Bilinda Straight
Second Advisor
Dr. Vincent Lyon-Callo
Third Advisor
Dr. José António Brandão
Keywords
Eskaleut, harpoon heads, Punuk, Theodore P. Bank, II, museum anthropology
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
“Only his artifacts provide his earthly testimony” (Thiry 1977, p. 5). The purpose of the research is to catalogue Eskimo and Aleut artifacts that comprise an unprovenienced (anonymous) collection in the Anthropology Department at Western Michigan University, and provide a corresponding ethnography. This will be accomplished in two ways: (1) a museum curation project, and (2) an ethnographic study that will focus on cultural synthesis within the parameters of artistic styles of harpoon head artifacts and geography as these pertain to the artifacts and their distribution. Analysis of the collection’s harpoon heads will provide both artistic and inventive evidence of a prehistoric Eskaleut correlation of Northern Maritime tradition (Eskimo) and Aleut cultures. All artifacts will henceforth be identified as the Rhythm of the Sea Collection.
Recommended Citation
Taylor, Marcia Sue, "Alaska Native Artifacts; Eskimos and Aleuts of the Bering Sea Rhythm of the Sea Collection" (2017). Masters Theses. 909.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/909