The Wood of Alaskan Masks

• Main Author: Alix, Claire
• Other Authors: Archéologie des Amériques (ArchAm), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2010
• Subjects: [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory; alutiiq; Arctic; Chukotka; eskimo*; Inupiat; Yup'ik; Yupiit; Alaska
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01917264; https://hal.science/hal-01917264/document; https://hal.science/hal-01917264/file/Alix2010_AkMasks.pdf

International audience "The Eskimo peoples (Yupiit, Siberian, Inupiat, Alutiiq) of coast of Alaska and Chukotka made numerous wooden tools, utensils and objects including masks used for rituals and ceremonies. Living in a treeless environment, their main source of wood was driftwood, logs that for the most part originated in interior Alaska and drifted on rivers and seas before ending up on beaches. This paper presents how Yup'ik people perceived and classified the wood they found on their shores and transformed into objects and masks and how this way of knowing and using wood is shared across the Arctic. Wood used to make masks is said to have come from the stump and roots of spruce and cottonwood trees and logs, however, systematic analysis of the large existing collections of masks is needed to determine potential patterns of wood use and the way by which pieces were transformed. Indeed a preliminary examination show that wood was differentially oriented to obtain specific effects and to enhance certain traits of the various representation of human and animal faces." (source éditeur)