In May, the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center at the Anchorage Museum opened the doors to one of the most comprehensive exhibits of Alaskan Native artifacts ever displayed. The exhibit, Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska, features more than 600 objects representing Alaska’s diverse Native cultures.

During potlatch and spirit-possession ceremonies, a high-ranking Haida woman or man would wear a magnificent headdress with a carved wooden frontlet, a crown of sea lion whiskers, and a floor-length train of white ermine pelts. The frontlets resembled masks but stood above the forehead. Some depicted crest beings, and others were portraits of individual persons. Before a dance the whisker crown was filled with swan or eagle down, which drifted out during the performance and fell onto the spectators like snow. Image credit: Donald E. Hurlbert, National Museum of Natural History Imaging, Smithsonian Institution

The objects on display represent the master works of Alaskan Native art, technology and design, ranging from traditional clothing and hunting tools to ceremonials objects like beaded dresses, elaborately decorated masks and feast bowls. Living Our Cultures is a labor of love that was a long time in the making. Museum officials, Native elders, translators, artists and scholars spent nearly a decade selecting and interpreting the objects.

These child-sized Sugpiaq boots have uppers made of caribou leg skin and are encircled at the top with seal fur. Embroidered bands are narrow strips of sea lion esophagus, both natural color and dyed, which has been cross-stitched with caribou hair. Image: Donald E. Hurlbert, National Museum of Natural History Imaging

Aron Crowell, a Smithsonian anthropologist and director of the Arctic Studies Center, points out that the Smithsonian Institution has a long history of collecting important Alaskan Native objects going back to the 1800s. After nearly 200 years, there are more than 30,000 pieces archived at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.

“The Smithsonian and the Anchorage Museum created a partnership back in 1994. The idea right from the very beginning was that a selection of these pieces in Washington D.C. should come back to Alaska and be accessible to Native communities and to the general public so they can really learn about the cultures of Alaska,” Crowell said.

An overview of the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center, taken from the center’s southeast corner. This image shows the center’s 10 floor-to-ceiling artifact cases and a video installation, which plays on seven large-screen, floor-mounted TVs. The graphics in the cases depict contemporary Alaska Native life. Image: Chuck Choi/Anchorage

A specially designed 120-foot gallery was created to house the objects and provide visitors a truly unique experience. There are seven massive community cases that display Alaskan cultures from north to south in real space, giving visitors the feeling that they are encountering these different groups as they make their way from the southern shores of Alaska to the most northern Arctic coast.

Master Works on Display

As guests walk the media-rich, interactive gallery, they come in contact with all 20 of Alaska’s Native linguistic groups, witnessing rare objects and historical photographs and hearing oral traditions.

One thing that might stand out to visitors is the wealth of indigenous technology that enabled people to thrive in northern climates and become successful hunters. Take Inuit clothing as an example. Initially one might admire the aesthetic beauty of the garments, but a closer inspection reveals tight stitching, specialized designs and careful selection of materials all intended to insulate the wearer from fierce winds, water and the blistering cold.

“One of the most important tools for hunting in the Arctic and for being able to move into those northern environments is the needle.” Crowell points out. “They had to have that knowledge to create the clothing that is needed for survival.”

Also on display are the masterfully crafted hunting weapons and watercraft. Historically, many Native cultures, particularly those living along Alaska’s vast coastline, depended heavily on the fish and marine mammals harvested from the ocean. The exhibit contains darts, harpoons, floats and lines and nets all intended to help with the very difficult task of capturing marine species like whales and seals. A selection of kayak and boat models illustrates the skillfully produced equipment used for open-water hunting and travel.

“The ways that people devised to survive, travel and gather food in the north represents many thousands of years of research and development. It’s quite amazing. You can also see how the designs that were developed have been adapted—you can find may Inuit technologies over at REI!” Crowell said.

Artistry and Craftsmanship

This Inupiaq feast bowl was collected in 1934 in Wales, Alaska. The ivory carvings on this bowl represent adult bowhead whales, a beluga whale and other animals. Blue beads on the whale figures mark the location of the animal's life force and the place where the harpooner aims. Image: National Museum of the American Indian Photo Services

Ceremonial objects and regalia give visitors a sense of the artistry and craftsmanship of these cultures. One of the more unique ceremonial objects is an Inupiaq winter feast bowl (ca. 1934) collected in Wales, Alaska, along the Bering Strait. The top of the bowl features whale and walrus figures carved from walrus ivory. Crowell explained that the carvings represent one hunter’s life experiences—the animals that he had seen and hunted year after year. Each carving is inset with a single blue bead where the head and spine of the animal join, the spot where it’s believed the animal’s soul resides.

The exhibit also features decorated headdresses worn during special ceremonies, like those used during the spirit possession ceremonies conducted by the Haida of southeast Alaska. For these special events, high-ranking Haida men or women sported intricately carved wooden headdresses embellished with sea lion whiskers and a train made of white ermine fur.

In addition to the ceremonial wares and centuries of hunting technology on display, the words and songs of today’s Native Alaskans are prominently featured throughout the exhibit’s listening booths and videos.

Alaskan Natives: Past, Present and Future

Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska is an evolving effort that depends on the input and knowledge of Alaska’s Native citizens. Crowell and others at the Anchorage Museum are working on an ongoing basis to arrange a series of workshops and special programs with community groups to learn more about the pieces on display.

“We have a pretty high-end studio with video and recording capabilities right in the gallery. So we’re able to open the cases and bring pieces in and sit down and talk about them with community members,” Crowell explained.

Through the use of recently recorded video and photography, the curators and others involved with the exhibit’s creation hope that visitors understand that Alaska’s Native communities are alive and well today, and not cultures of the past.

“I hope people will walk away from this exhibit with a better understanding of the cultural diversity of Alaska and that people from all the Native groups are living their lives today, they’re going forward, they’re living in the present and in the future. These are pieces of their heritage that have meaning for them today.” Crowell said.

Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska is on display through 2017, with plans to become a permanent fixture. If your travel plans don’t include a trip to Anchorage, you can see everything on exhibit (artifacts, pictures, essays, maps, recorded conversations with elders and more), plus some materials not currently on display at the exhibit’s revamped web site, Sharing Knowledge.  —Alicia Clarke

Comments (0) Sep 09 2010

"This photo of Arctic Cotton Grass was taken late in the evening in coastal Greenland with the sun highlighting the plants against a dark background," Ed Stockard writes. "It was quite breezy. I set the ISO for a quick picture and this was snapped at 1/500 of a second." Photo: Ed Stockard

Vote for Ed Stockard!

Cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium), this snowy-showy member of the sedge family, is widespread in the Arctic, growing in peat bogs and acidic wetlands in the summer, almost as if nature wants to remind visitors that snow is never far away. Here, Ed seems to have captured something more Seussian than snowy in the blowing cotton: It’s Thing One, Two, and Three!

Have you voted for Ed Stockard to win the Air Greenland photo contest yet?

Ed’s photo of a red and white polka-dotted Twin Otter tail servicing a small science camp has been selected by Air Greenland from more than 1500 entries–he’s a finalist in the contest. The artist has done all he can; now you need to vote. If he wins, Ed will win two travel vouchers from Air Greenland.  Contest ends 15 September. Vote for Ed!

Enjoy more Ed Stockard photos on his flickr site, and come back and vote! www.flickr.com/photos/coastaleddy/

Comments (0) Sep 09 2010

When Robert Sohn isn’t exploring volcanoes at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean or designing autonomous underwater vehicles, he enjoys rock climbing, playing soccer and surfing. Photo: Chris Linder

For some, exploring volcanoes under thousands of feet of frigid water might seem impossible. For Robert Sohn the challenge of unlocking the volcanic secrets on the Arctic Ocean’s sea floor is a calling. Sohn is an associate scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) who mixes volcanology and the study of hydrothermal processes with the development of autonomous underwater robots specially suited to weather extreme conditions.

As a kid growing up in Indiana, Sohn wasn’t particularly interested in volcanoes. His curious nature pointed him to science, and he earned a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering.  It wasn’t until graduate school that his interest in volcanoes erupted.

“I’ve always had a kind of gearhead interest in instruments and machines and I’ve been studying underwater volcanoes since I was in graduate school. So it was a confluence of those two lines of training that led me to where I am now,” Sohn said.

Sohn’s interest in volcanoes and technology has led him to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean and to some unexpected discoveries.

The Surprise at Gakkel Ridge

A bathymetric image showing the physical characteristics of Gakkel Ridge. It was created from sonar data collected by the AGAVE team. Image: Martin Jakobsson

In 2001 researchers with the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge Expedition (AMORE) to Gakkel Ridge detected thermal characteristics in the water column that indicated volcanic plumes almost everywhere along the ridge.

“This was astonishing to hydrothermal researchers like myself!” Sohn explained.  “This is the slowest spreading tectonic plate boundary anywhere on Earth. So it should have very limited amounts of hydrothermal circulation. Yet the sensors were returning signals from everywhere. This was a very enigmatic result. We wanted to explore the sea floor with robots to try to find these volcanoes and learn more.”

AGAVE

In 2007, with funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Sohn along with an international team of scientists launched the Arctic Gakkel Vents Expedition (AGAVE) to pick up where AMORE left off.

Robert Sohn helps with the launch of JAGUAR, one of the AUVs developed and built by Sohn and other Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute faculty. Photo: Chris Linder

Using specially designed autonomous underwater vehicles and a state-of-the-art camera and sampling system developed by Sohn and other WHOI engineers and scientists, the team uncovered evidence of violent volcanic explosions that shocked the scientific community.

“The conventional wisdom for the longest time had been that volcanoes under 4,000 m of water were under such high pressure there could never be enough gas in the magma to make them explode,” he explained.

AGAVE also resulted in the discovery of the Asgard volcanic chain; the first observation of orange-yellow cotton candy-like microbial mats thriving on the volcanoes’ surface; a suite of mapping data; and the discovery of basaltic glass fragments that cover large areas of the Arctic Ocean’s floor.  Three years on, scientists are still working to analyze the full breadth of physical and biological data from the mission.

Arctic Attraction

Sohn’s quest to explore and study volcanoes has taken him all over the world. He’s researched volcanic activity throughout the Caribbean, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans, as well as Hawaii, Costa Rica, Yellowstone National Park, Cyprus and a host of other locations. But the challenge of studying volcanoes covered by 4 km of frigid water and permanent layers of ice has always attracted him to the Arctic.

For Robert Sohn, working in the Arctic is an alluring challenge with many scientific treasures waiting to be discovered. Photo: Chris Linder

“It probably makes my life more difficult, but I’m always intrigued by a good challenge,” Sohn laughed. “And for the kind of research I do, the Arctic is the ultimate challenge.”

He’s also drawn to the Arctic because of the potential to make new, exciting scientific discoveries. Because the Arctic is so unexplored and there’s so little data available to volcanologists, the region is ripe for unexpected discoveries. And AGAVE illustrated that point perfectly.

“The coolest AGAVE discovery was finding the exploding volcanoes. It was totally unexpected,” he said. “It was like a scientific treasure chest at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, and we had to figure out how to open it. Plus opening that treasure chest was a huge technological challenge.”

The next great challenge for Sohn: exploring life under the Antarctic ice shelves. He is currently working on a proposal to develop autonomous underwater vehicles to study the biological communities under the Ross Ice Shelf.

For more information about Robert Sohn and his research, visit:  http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/expedition11/index.html

–Alicia Clarke

Comments (1) Sep 08 2010

Ed Stockard took this shot at an emperor penguin research site in Antarctica dubbed Penguin Ranch. "Thanks to my wife Torre, who was a post doc with the project, I landed a job taking care of the camp and the birds," Ed recalls. "I took this one morning in 2005 after a storm. The emperor penguins had been huddling together when a bit of sun broke out." Copyright: Ed Stockard. All rights reserved.

The job at Rancho Penguino was “one of the best jobs I’ve ever had (other than working for PFS),” Ed says.  A look at this heretofore unpublished shot and one might have some idea why. Click on the picture to get a larger view of the emperors.

Yesterday we mentioned that Ed Stockard has been selected as a finalist in Air Greenland’s photo contest. The winning photo will now be decided by popular vote, so vote! The winner will receive two vouchers for travel on Air Greenland. Vote for Ed!

By the way, the gold plumage on the ears and chests of emperor penguins is a mystery of nature to us. What purpose does it serve in the white, blue and black world of the emperor penguin to be tickled with a brush dipped in saffron?–Kip Rithner

Comments (1) Sep 06 2010

View from the U.S.C.G. Cutter Healy on Sept. 3, 2010. The image was taken from a web camera. To see more images, click the photo.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy should be in port today, Labor Day (September 6), after about five weeks cruising the Arctic Ocean with the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St- Laurent to map areas of the seafloor and to image the underlying sediment layers. The expedition, known as the Extended Continental Shelf Project, is collecting data that will be used to designate sovereign rights to the underwater region.

According to a blog post from the Cutter Healy, the ship has slowly been working its way north mapping the sea floor. The ice, which had been pretty light, was thickening as the ship neared the North Pole, which, as of Aug. 24 (the last date where there was an update), was about 600 miles away.

As of Aug. 24, the ship was about 600 miles south of the North Pole. Photo courtesy U.S. Geologic Survey

The Cutter Healy is escorting the Canadian Louis and conducting flight operations almost daily with the Louis’ helicopter. Most days, the chopper departs from the Louis, stops by the Cutter Healy to pick up some ice observers, and flies in front of the two ships to survey ice conditions that await. Other days, the helo just flies between the two ships, taking members of each crew to the other ship for an exchange day.

A helicopter provides transport between the Canadian and American ships. Photo courtesy U.S.G.S.

The survey will enrich the scientific data set of the area and could have greater implications for other endeavors. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the Arctic may hold 1,670 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 90 billion barrels of oil; this represents 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered gas and 13 percent of its undiscovered oil.

Under international law, as reflected in the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, every coastal country has a continental shelf out to 200 nautical miles (nm) from its coastal baselines, or to a maritime boundary with another coastal country. However, the continental shelf of a coastal country extends beyond 200 nm (the “extended continental shelf”) if it meets criteria outlined in Article 76 of the Convention. (Note that this legal definition of “continental shelf” is different from that traditionally used by marine geologists.) Knowing where these limits lie is important because coastal states have sovereign rights over the continental shelf for the purpose of exploring and exploiting its natural resources—including those resources on the seabed (such as deep-water coral communities or mineral crusts and nodules) and beneath the seabed (such as oil and gas).

Stay tuned for an update of the expedition once the two ships return to port and complete the 2010 expedition.  —Rachel Walker

Comments (2) Sep 06 2010