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The sperm whale was hunted in times of the Old Bering culture. Another northern whale, Baird’s beaked whale, is known to eat squid and octopi. Thus there may have been in ancient Arctic coastal belief an association of squid and octopi with whaling spiritual powers. That the sperm whale was known is proved by a whale effigy socket piece. Not only does this effigy possess the large head of this species of whale, but also the blowhole is placed both far forward and to the left, a specific sperm whale feature. This is, however, a transforming animal with a human face on its left side and a whale-like face blending into it at the right. The mouth structure of this whale recalls that of a gray whale or blue whale rather than the sperm whale. Perhaps this combining was akin to a mental tattoo or imprint, a conceptual device of power and magic. The male sperm whale ventures as far north as the ice pack, north of the Bering Sea in summer, south of it in winter, the gray whale migrates as far north as the Bering Strait and Chukchi Sea; the bowhead whale not only visits the Bering Sea but above it both the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea. Yup’ik peoples on St Lawrence Island have maintained traditional skin-covered umiaks for their annual spring whale hunt, which has for them great ceremonial importance; the number of whales taken is determined annually by international covenant.
The convoluting tentacle and sucker-like motifs have appeared as well in association with various animals in transformation, sometimes jumping context between land and sea in the same object. Land animals on Old Bering Sea ivories are associated in the same piece with “sucker” designs. These designs even defined a crab with claws. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
ProvenanceAlaska; Paul S. Steinhacker, New York City
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.423.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 469.
Harpoon Socket
Date100-300
MediumWalrus ivory
DimensionsOverall: 1 3/8 × 1 × 9 1/4 in. (3.5 × 2.5 × 23.5 cm)
Object numberT0226
Credit LineLoan from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextHarpoon sockets are among the most characteristic products of ancient Alaskan Old Bering Sea culture. This example is decorated with an engraved circle and spur designs that follow a series of organically carved and drawn raised patterns. A number of these patterns resolve themselves beyond the abstract into animal-like faces of discernable but unidentified nature, while the end part of the socket that grasps the foreshaft of the harpoon and blade seems mouth-like and predatory. Some of the designs resemble rows of tentacles with suckers, suggesting a relationship to octopi and squids, which were plentiful and a prime food source for the Bering Sea and Strait area.The sperm whale was hunted in times of the Old Bering culture. Another northern whale, Baird’s beaked whale, is known to eat squid and octopi. Thus there may have been in ancient Arctic coastal belief an association of squid and octopi with whaling spiritual powers. That the sperm whale was known is proved by a whale effigy socket piece. Not only does this effigy possess the large head of this species of whale, but also the blowhole is placed both far forward and to the left, a specific sperm whale feature. This is, however, a transforming animal with a human face on its left side and a whale-like face blending into it at the right. The mouth structure of this whale recalls that of a gray whale or blue whale rather than the sperm whale. Perhaps this combining was akin to a mental tattoo or imprint, a conceptual device of power and magic. The male sperm whale ventures as far north as the ice pack, north of the Bering Sea in summer, south of it in winter, the gray whale migrates as far north as the Bering Strait and Chukchi Sea; the bowhead whale not only visits the Bering Sea but above it both the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea. Yup’ik peoples on St Lawrence Island have maintained traditional skin-covered umiaks for their annual spring whale hunt, which has for them great ceremonial importance; the number of whales taken is determined annually by international covenant.
The convoluting tentacle and sucker-like motifs have appeared as well in association with various animals in transformation, sometimes jumping context between land and sea in the same object. Land animals on Old Bering Sea ivories are associated in the same piece with “sucker” designs. These designs even defined a crab with claws. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
ProvenanceAlaska; Paul S. Steinhacker, New York City
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.423.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 469.
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