Object: Cartonnage Fragment

C/1956/8/1
Fragment of a mummy cartonnage
Egyptian
18th dynasty (1570-1314 BCE)
Materials: linen or papyrus

This object is a multi-colored fragment of a mummy cartonnage possibly from the 18th Dynasty. Cartonnage was used for personal funerary ornaments such as mummy masks. The masks would cover the head, shoulders, and upper chest of the mummy to protect the face of the deceased. This particular piece was likely from the chest portion of a cartonnage mummy mask.

Cartonnage was made from thin, layered pieces of linen or papyrus. Once a shape had begun to form one side was coated with gesso (a mixture of glue and whiting plaster) to harden the shape. This coating allowed the maker to use detailed paint or gold leafing on the front side.

Each individual had their own design for their mask. Usually, the design would indicate something about the deceased. For instance, the mask may have been a representation of what the person looked like or enjoyed doing. An example of a gilded mummy mask can be seen at the British Museum.

[Brittany Teel]

Object: Mask

E/1951/9/1
Cherokee Tribe: Mask
Southeastern US
20th Century
Materials: Wood, Animal Fur

This mask is a wooden “Booger” mask from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of present-day North Carolina. Masks like this one were often used in ritual dance performances to satirize the tensions between tribal members and outsiders. Booger masks were fashioned to represent the faces of foreigners –Europeans, Germans, Africans, or neighboring Indians– and the masks were worn during the dance to designate these clumsy intruders.

In this Booger mask, an eagle feather and strips of white deer skin and brown bear skin make up the hairpiece. The mask was made in 1939 by Will West Long, a Cherokee shaman, who lived on the Qualla Reservation in North Carolina. His influence on the social, political, and cultural ways of the Cherokee is still being studied to this day. Additionally, with anthropologist Frank Speck, he put together several books, recordings, and collections of Cherokee dance and drama.

Booger masks were usually carved from wood or gourds and dyed with vegetable pigments. They often exhibited sexual characteristics, like phallic noses with opossum fur as seen here, and the actors who wore them made obscene, albeit humorous, gestures during the dance to illustrate the perception many had of foreigners with rude behavior and a preoccupation with sex. In the Booger Dance, “Boogers” dressed in European clothing, wrapped themselves in sheets and bed quilts, and chased women around the room, fondling them and soliciting giggles and screams. The performance often culminated in the community Eagle Dance, whereby both the Cherokee and the Boogers danced, and singing and partying continued into the night.

The following is a video of Michael Searching Bear, a Cherokee and Powhatan musician, performing a rendition of the Booger Dance. Check it out and enjoy getting to know the Story Behind the Object! [Lauren  Simons]

[Lauren Simons]

Object: Shawl

E/1947/1/2
Black wool shawl with silk fringe
North America
Late 19th century /early 20th century
Materials: Wool, thread, silk

Shawls are worn by Native Americans throughout North America as a part of traditional regalia. Shawls of this type are associated with plains culture dance clothes. This style of shawl was originally introduced to Native Americans via Spanish traders. Shawls are either folded and hung over the arm of a dancer wearing a complete ensemble of traditional native dress, or can be wrapped around a dancer wearing contemporary clothing.

Shawls are made using a variety of materials suited for its purpose. They are usually constructed from a square or rectangle long enough to be folded in half and wrapped around the dancer. They are then hemmed and two strands of fringe are strung through the hem and tied (with an over hand knot) at varying distances (usually 1” apart or less) on all four sides of the fabric. Sometimes these shawls are decorated with additional materials. These decorations can be custom patterns for particular individuals or groups. In other cases the shawl design is less personal in nature and may simply be a commercial design.

The fringe work on this shawl displays a network of diamond patterns, a technique known as double tying. In contemporary outfits the use of this technique is slowly declining because it is very time consuming, especially when more fringe is used. Double tying involves taking a single piece of fringe from one section of fringe and tying that to a strand of fringe from a neighboring section of fringe. This is repeated all the way around the shawl, and continued further down towards the ends of the fringe until the desired length of pattern is achieved. [Ashley Hunter]

For more information on Native American dances and traditional garments see:

Native American Dance: A Synergy of Dance, Drama and Religion by Denee Bannister or
The National Museum of the American Indian Celebrates Native American Dance
or
Regalia: American Indian Dress and Dance by Russell Peters and Richard Haynes
or
How to make a Native American dance shawl by Full Circle Videos

Object: Bear Claw Necklace

NAM-09-18-051
Bear claw necklace
United States, Plains
Osage
19th Century
Materials: Plains Grizzly claws, glass beads, otter fur, leather

This bear claw necklace, from the Osage tribe, is currently on display at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. The necklace is made of 30 Plains Grizzly Bear claws and three beaded medallions in blue, yellow, green and pink. There are amber colored cut glass beads strung between the bear claws. The base of the necklace is made from otter pelt.

Plains Grizzly claws are long and yellowish, unlike the short and dark colored claws of Black Bears. All of the claws from the front paws were typically used, although the claws from the rear paws were used on rare occasions. Sadly, the once fierce and powerful Plains Grizzly, otherwise called Ursus horribilis Ord, is now extinct due to human population expansion and other causes. In traditional Native cultures and mythology, the bear was a sacred animal and a seeker of the unknown and mystical. Additionally, bears possessed admirable attributes such as strength, power, and courage, which the wearers wished to display in their own lives. Otter fur is always used for this type of necklace. Like the bear, the otter was also believed to be a seeker of the unknown and to possess great power.

Traditionally, only chiefs and elders wore bear claw necklaces. These necklaces were a mark of distinction among most Plains tribes. This particular necklace has been rumored to have been worn by Chief Bacon Rind (Chief Wah-shi-ha), and two other warriors before him. Bear claw necklaces also held ceremonial importance in times of war. It was believed that the necklace would aid in overcoming difficulties and help to obtain victory. [Erin Duncan]

Examples of how bear claw necklaces were worn can be found at the following links:

Chief Shon-Ton-Ca-Be (Black Dog) in 1876

Nah-Kea-Pu-At-See (One Who Reaches the Sky) in 1877

Object: Necklace

NAM-09-06-304
Choker (Necklace)

Collected among the Cheyenne, Western Oklahoma, USA
September 1883–September 1885
Materials: Glass Seed Beads, Horse Hair, Leather

Not all objects found in museum collections are in a condition suitable for traditional exhibition. This necklace, or “choker,” fragment is a useful example of a piece that would likely never be included in a public exhibition due to its fragile state; however, here we are able to highlight its importance to SNOMNH’s collections and use it as a vehicle for discussion on a variety of subjects.

This style choker was at one time worn by both women and men from a wide distribution of tribes found in the Midwest, specifically the around the Great Lakes and in Prairie (Eastern Plains) region. The technique used to create this choker is called side-stitch. This is a hand-woven, or more precisely “oblique interlacing” technique of beadwork that creates diagonal rows. This particular choker was constructed using black horse hair—a material that was later replaced by commercially available threads. The use of horse hair in its construction and the subsequent use by the donor’s family as a plaything have contributed to the current condition of this object.

In 1973, a collection of American Indian objects were donated to SNOMNH (formerly the Stovall Museum) by Mrs. John Surr, daughter of Dr. Vernon W. Stiles. Dr. Stiles worked for the Indian Traders, Hemphill and Way, at the Darlington Indian Agency, Indian Territory, between September 1883 and 7 September 1885. During his two-year employment as a salesman, Dr. Stiles had the opportunity to meet and trade with many Cheyenne and Arapahos in the local Native community. It was during this time that the choker came into Dr. Stiles’s possession.

Knowledge of where an object was acquired and who collected it can create inaccurate identification because the person who last owned an object was often not its maker. In fact, trade in objects was, and continues to be, a very common practice between Native peoples. Because this choker was collected among the Cheyenne and donated along with other items identifiable as Cheyenne material, it was labeled “Cheyenne.” As mentioned earlier, this style choker was common to a wide distribution of tribes; however, the Cheyenne were not among this group. It is possible that the choker was acquired in trade from another tribe, or perhaps, someone from another tribe married into a Cheyenne family bringing this piece or the construction technique with them. It is also quite possible that a Cheyenne beadworker learned this beadwork technique and produced it themselves, which would make the “Cheyenne” label accurate. Without any further information on who exactly made the choker it is impossible to say with certainty from which tribe this object originated.

To learn more about this style of choker, see Georg J. Barth (1993:145-158) and David Dean (2002) for details on the side-stitch technique. Also see Gaylord Torrence (1989:16) on the use of side-stitch chokers. For more information on the Cheyenne and Arapaho, see here or for more information about the Darlington Indian Agency see here.

SNOMNH invites your comments on this choker or any of the other topics addressed above. [John P. Lukavic]

Object: Hair Ornament

NAM-10-01-002
Hair Ornament

Mesquakie (Fox), Tama, Iowa, United States of America
before 1954
Materials: glass seed beads, thread, satin ribbon

This hair ornament came to SNOMNH in May of 1954. It is a beaded “hair tie” or “drop” worn by women of various tribes throughout the Midwest region of the U.S., particularly among the tribes originating near the western Great Lakes such as the Mesquakie (Fox), Sauk, Winnebago, Potawatomie and Menominee. This drop was constructed using a technique called “side-stitch,” which is a hand-woven, or more precisely “oblique interlacing” form of beadwork that creates diagonal rows. This technique differs from loom beadwork, which creates horizontal rows of beads and requires a heddle, a straight loom, or both.

This style of hair ornament was once widely used, but is much less common today. Unmarried women would attach side-stitch drops to a single braid behind their heads and allow them to hang down their backs. Today, when women wear traditional dress, loom beaded strips or decorative ribbon are more commonly used in this same manner; although, both side-stitch drops and “chokers,” worn around the neck of both men and women, are experiencing a sort of renaissance in recent years.

In 1954, SNOMNH (formerly known as the Stovall Museum) received a large donation of American Indian material objects from the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. Among other goals, the mission of GFWC includes efforts to support the arts and promote education. Various local chapters of this organization contributed items from tribes residing in their area to support this mission. The Women’s Club of Iowa contributed this hair ornament, which was given to them by Jonas Poweshiek (Mesquakie)—the great-grandson of the Mesquakie chief, Powesheik.

To learn more about this style of hair ornament, see Alanson Skinner’s “Observations on the Ethnology of the Sauk Indians, Part III, Notes on Material Culture” (1925, p. 133 and p. 167). Also see Georg J. Barth (1993, pp. 145-158) for details on the side-stitch technique and Gaylord Torrence (1989, pp. 3-29) and Mary Alicia Owen (1902) for other relevant material culture background. For more information about the Mesquakie people and their history see here.

The Division of Ethnology at the SNOMNH invites your comments on this hair ornament and/or the style of beadwork used to construct it. [John P. Lukavic]