Dear Jacqui...we have been repairing and researching some Alutiiq kayaks that we have here at the Peabody. We have been working with Native builders from Kodiak Island,Alaska...I'll get the proper contact info that you can pass along.
Cheers
Peter
Peter Burns
Zooarchaeology Laboratory
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Harvard University
11 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge,MA 02138 USA
Phone: 617-495-8317
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From: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Jacqui Mulville [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 7:17 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ZOOARCH] Skin boats - cetacean hides?
Hello,
a request sent to me regarding the use of cetacea to make boats. Any references on whale leather and its uses, including boats would be of interest.
They have found that there is
'Lots of ethnographic data on the use of seal skins, their preparation and the stitching techniques employed, in boat construction. However, looking through the
ethnographic literature from the Arctic I also keep coming across the
use of the skins of Beluga Whales to make leather. Drifting upon this
material from a low knowledge base, I was wondering whether it would be
possible to make a skin boat from the skin of a whale/dolphin/porpoise.
I have found no reference to the use of whale hides (apart from Beluga)
or dolphins/porpoises, is there some very obvious point that I am
missing? Is whale/dolphin skin too thin/not strong enough?'
Thanks
Jacqui Mulville (PhD), Reader in Bioarchaeology
Chair of the Undergraduate Board of Studies
Tel: + 44 (0) 29 2087 4247
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