In the basement of the Sealaska Heritage Institute is very old box drum belonging to the Mount Fairweather (Snail) house of the T\u2019akdeintaan clan in Hoonah. In mid-October, it got some long-needed care, and the Capital City Weekly visited with those working on it to hear a bit more about its fascinating history.<\/p>\n
The drum, which was repatriated in 2011 from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, is unique in several ways. First, it\u2019s very old; it\u2019s most likely the same drum depicted in geographer Aurel Krause\u2019s 1882 book, called \u201cThe Tlingit Indians\u201d in English, and could have been carved decades before that.<\/p>\n
The top figure carved on the front of the drum is a bear, which could represent the T\u2019akdeintaan\u2019s opposite moiety, the Chookaneidi, a clan member has suggested. Alternatively, it could represent the shaman\u2019s spirit. Its mouth is inset with fragmented teeth, like the mouths in some masks.<\/p>\n
The bottom figure, however, is a bit of a mystery; its eyes are slanted in a way unlike that of much other formline design. Some think it may be a wolf.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the faded formline on the side of the drum, however, that is especially unique.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s formline nobody\u2019s seen,\u201d said SHI archivist Jennifer Treadway. \u201cRight now it doesn\u2019t look very recognizable, and it doesn\u2019t look like contemporary formline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the clan members who have seen it believe it\u2019s x-ray formline \u2014 formline showing the insides of an animal, like its skeleton or ribs \u2014 which is consistent with it belonging to a shaman, as Louis Shotridge, a Tlingit ethnographer and art collector who acquired the drum for the Penn Museum in 1924, recorded.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt commemorates the time that a T\u2019akdeintaan shaman \u2018proved his spiritual power as a shaman.\u2019 It was carved to represent his helping spirit, which Shotridge called Adawulcan [Adawulsh\u00e1an], \u2018Old Man of War,\u2019\u201d according to information provided by SHI.<\/p>\n
Photographer Brian Wallace will soon do infrared scanning of the drum\u2019s sides in an attempt to more clearly see those unique, original images.<\/p>\n
The drum is in remarkably good condition for its age, said Skagway art conservator Nicole Peters, owner of Peters Art Conservation Services. That\u2019s a testament, she said, to the skill of its carver.<\/p>\n
Peters on Oct. 16-18 assessed and cleaned the drum. She\u2019s only been able to clean one side, however; they\u2019ll need to stabilize the damaged corner before they turn it.<\/p>\n
Box drums were either played upright or tilted back, and the damage, which is to one of the corners it would have rested on when tilted, is consistent with that, she said. The rest of what she or others will do depends, she said, on what the clan decides they\u2019d like to do with the drum.<\/p>\n
It may be displayed in the Walter Soboleff Building, said Smythe.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an honor for me to be invited to work on such a special piece,\u201d Peters said. \u201cIt\u2019s really been a pleasure the last few days getting to know it inch by inch.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know it\u2019s old,\u201d Smythe said. \u201cIt\u2019s just amazing that it\u2019s still in good condition. It shows the quality of the workmanship.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2022 Mary Catharine Martin is the managing editor of the Capital City Weekly.<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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