d-adze;Thunderbird d-adze;adze


Inquire Download as PDF
From The Collection Of
Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery
Accession Number
E1232
Discipline
Humanities
Culture
Nuu-chah-nulth
Date
1700 – 1809 (creation date)
1776 – 1779 (collection date)
Materials and Techniques
wood (material)
metal (material)
vegetable fibre (material)
sinew (material)
handle carved into the shape of a hawk or salmon head (technique)
Place
Canada (creation)
Mowachaht (creation)
Nootka Sound (creation)
North America (creation)
Vancouver Island, British Columbia (creation)
North America (collection place)
Related People
Mr Henry Vaughan (1809-1899) (from the collection of);Mr George Vaughan II (from the collection of);Mr Isaac Vaughan (from the collection of);Sir Ashton Lever (from the collection of);Captain James Cook (1728-1779) (collector);HMS Discovery or HMS Resolution (1776-1779) (voyage of exploration) (collector)
Description
Few Nootka wood-carving tools were collected on Cook’s third voyage. This Thunderbird adze would have been used for the coarse shaping and fine finishing of wood. The handle is carved in the shape of an eagle’s head. The small amount of iron available to the Nootka in Cook’s time was transformed into blades for chisels, adzes and curved blades. Originally, blades were made from marine mollusk shells.

This object is on display at RAMM in the World Cultures gallery.
See Elsewhere
MDS record link
Record Rights
Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery
CC 0
Collection Location
?map