IV.A. 6680 – Wooden Mask / Tablet
Sanradna
23.5cm x 25.5cm x 9mm
“Wooden tablet from a grave”
Although this item is labeled as a “tablet,” most likely it is a mask. There is a very similar mask in the Fisher collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH 72506), which is described as a “plank mask”.* The rectangular opening in the middle can serve as a frame for a face, and there is residual red paint on the front of the mask. The fact that Jacobsen collected this item form a grave also supports identification as a mask.

*(Crowell, A., 1992, Postcontact Koniag Ceremonialism on Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula: Evidence from the Fisher Collection. Arctic Anthropology 29(1): 18-37.)