Woman's Knife (Ulaaq)

Photograph of a Woman's Knife (Ulaaq).

Woman's knife; Old Bering Sea period, 200 B.C. - A.D. 800, St. Lawrence Island. A woman's knife, ulaaq, has a thousand everyday uses for sewing, cutting meat, and preparing food. As Gambell elder Estelle Oozevaseuk described, a small ulaaq can be used to skin a whole seal from the inside to make an inflatable hunting float. This ancient woman's knife has a stone blade and a walrus ivory handle carved in the shape of a polar bear.