Identifying materials
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Use
2005
Identifying materials
Delores Churchill: Wow, sharks’ teeth.
Clarence Jackson: No, puffin beaks.
Delores Churchill: No, sharks’ teeth.
Donald Gregory: They’re actually bone.
Delores Churchill: Are they? They sure look like sharks’ teeth to me.
Aron Crowell: This is from Hoonah, 1882, leather vest.
Delores Churchill: Chinese coins—it’s decorated with Chinese coins.
George Ramos: Yaa ooxóo yáx kawduwa.
(These things were made to look like teeth.)
Donald Gregory: Some of them may be sharks’ teeth, but some of them you can definitely tell are made out of bone. You can see the pores. . . . A shark’s tooth doesn’t have any pores on them at all.
Clarence Jackson: Oh yes.
Donald Gregory: They’re solid like a tooth enamel, just like your tooth. Over time they get corroded, and they chip and flake like this one.
Use
Clarence Jackson: I toowóoch gé, gúl ch’á léix daaka.ádi áyá? Léix goodas’ee. I toowóoch gé léix daa.ádi áyá?
(Do you think this may be only a dance shirt? A dance shirt. Do you think this may be a dance shirt?)
George Ramos: Yaanáx aanáx ahéi ayanáax yei kdulátx.
(On the other side is where it is buttoned together.)
Donald Gregory: They made it out of one piece huh?
Clarence Jackson: Because of the ornamentation, I was wondering if it was a dance shirt, because it took a long time for the Indian dance gear to really get beautiful I think.
Aron Crowell: . . . So you think it’s a dancing vest rather than some kind of armor?
Clarence Jackson: I think so.
Aron Crowell: It’s thinner too than armor would be?
Delores Churchill: It’s pretty thick. Feel it.
George Ramos: Is there a design on back?
Clarence Jackson: Yes, there is.
Delores Churchill: Here, you could [lifts tunic slightly].
Museum Staff: Just a little. It’s one of those spirit faces.
Clarence Jackson: Yes, it’s a spirit face again see.
Delores Churchill: Yes.
Donald Gregory: Almost looks like a moon.
Clarence Jackson: I think it was a dance thing rather than a war thing.
Delores Churchill: It’s pretty thick. Feel it, George.
George Ramos: I thought for a while that it was armor or a vest, but it wouldn’t be made with all the fringe and stuff. It must be a dance or—
Clarence Jackson: See it has those designs across and the ornamentation on it.
Suzie Jones: . . . But here it’s double thick for a long ways, which seems superfluous for regalia.
Delores Churchill: Yes, it does.
Aron Crowell: It was listed by McClain as an armor vest but, you know.
Clarence Jackson: It could be an armor vest.
George Ramos: The only other thing it could be is the commander’s, x’áan koonáayee, a commander’s leather armor.
Clarence Jackson: Yes.
Donald Gregory: . . . It’s made from one piece. It could just be that thick because it’s not like tanneries today that can make it thin and pliable.
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