Hunting Hat

"Woven spruce root, with blue, green, red and black pigment, seal whiskers, dentalium, trade beads and fabrics, fiber and modern thread (Eskimo/Tlingit). Illus. in The Far North catalog, Nat. Gall. of Art, 1973, p. 200." Illus. Fig. 406, p. 292 in Fitzhugh, William W., and Aron Crowell. 1988. Crossroads of continents: cultures of Siberia and Alaska. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Identified there: Decorated spruce-root hat, Koniag. "Koniag spruce-root hats of the 19th century often carried a spectacular array of beads, dentalia, and sea lion whiskers, arranged in symmetrical patterns right over, and seemingly without regard to, teh painted designs on the crown. The spruce root and whiskers were local products, the beads and probably the shells were acquired in trade. Dentalia grew here and there off the coast, but the best-known fisheries were on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Nootka and west coast Kwakiutl harvested the shells and sold them to traders, who spread them over western North America. No doubt many were traded intertribally before teh Euro-American fur trade, and they were highly prized everywhere." Illus. Fig. 151, p. 157 in Crowell, Aron, Amy F. Steffian, and Gordon L. Pullar. 2001. Looking both ways: heritage and identity of the Alutiiq people. Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press.
Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=174, retrieved 8-28-2012: Hunting hat, Sugpiaq (Alutiiq), Koniag. awirnaq "spruce root hat" - Language: Koniag Sugpiaq (Kodiak Island dialect) A creature with oval eyes, erect ears, and a toothy mouth is painted on the crown of this spruce-root hunting hat, probably representing a helping spirit that attracted sea otters. The hat is ornamented with glass trade beads, dentalium shells, sea lion whiskers, and red cloth. Hunting hats were valuable family heirlooms, passed down through the generations.