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Abstract

This is a publication of a hoe with engraved and relief figured compositions on the handle, found in 2022 during the survey of the Ityk settlement, the Bering Sea Coast. The archaeological site and the artefact are dated within the 12th–15th cc. The artefact comes from a distinct context of the cultural layer of the settlement of the late Birnirk – early Punuk period. The walrus tusk handle is decorated with a relief image of a whale with an engraved geometric ornament. To the right of it, a whale is depicted with thin engraved lines with engraved shading within the contour. To the left of the relief whale, a figure of a standing man with legs apart and arms bent at the elbows is engraved. To the left are paired longitudinal lines with volutes or spirals in diff erent directions at the ends; the volutes contain circles with a dot in the center. Five pairs of walrus tusks, depicted in diff erent directions, extend from the double lines. Between the two lines with volutes at the ends, a man lying on his left side with bent legs is depicted. At the end of the hoe handle, there is a kayak and a harpoon. Presumably, the tusk depicts the Eskimos’ ideas about the world of the living and the world of the dead.

Keywords

Archaeology, fine arts, Chukotka, Chukchi Archaeological Expedition, ancient Eskimos, figure composition, walrus tusk.

Kirill A. Dneprovskiy

State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow, Russia; Likhachev Russian Scientific Research Institute for Cultural and Natural Heritage, Moscow, Russia

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