Toggle
When early hunters succeeded in a big walrus kill, they transformed the animal’s precious ivory into finely wrought tools for their hunting kits. This toggle, carved in the form of a ferocious animal, possibly a sea lion, was attached to a harpoon and acted as a movable barb: when the body of a walrus was pierced, it prevented the spear from exiting the skin.
Artwork Details
- Title: Toggle
- Date: 100 BCE–200 CE
- Geography: Made in Alaska, United States
- Culture: Okvik, Native American
- Medium: Walrus ivory
- Dimensions: 1 1/2 × 6 1/4 × 2 1/2 in. (3.8 × 15.9 × 6.4 cm)
- Credit Line: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native American Art, Gift of Charles and Valerie Diker, 2021
- Object Number: 2021.434.11
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing
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