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Winged Objectca. 300 B.C.; Okvik, St. Lawrence Island, Bering Strait region; Walrus ivory; length 18.8 cm (7 3/8 in.); Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Stroh, and Stroh Brewery Foundation Fund; 83.7 |
The Winged Object functioned as a counterweight for a harpoon used to hunt seals and walruses. The thin, weblike tracery of engraved designs and the animal head carved in rounded relief were intended to please the inua or spirit of the hunted quarry. The Okvik were early Arctic ancestors of the Eskimo; they inhabited villages on both the North American and Asian sides of the Bering Straits as well as the several islands in between.  JPEG, 36K | |
