1893.67.15

Collection type

Object

Description

Bear claw neck ornament. 21 claws on leather thong. Thong has been broken and knotted together between two claws.

Geographical reference

Canada

Northern America > North America > Canada

United States of America

Northern America > North America > United States of America

Alberta

Cultural groups

Blackfoot Confederacy

Person

Field collector Edward Martin Hopkins

PRM source Edward Martin Hopkins

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1842

Date collected

1842

Acquisition information

Purchased: 1893

Materials and processes

Material Animal Claw, Material Animal Leather Skin, Process Perforated, Process Strung

Dimensions

Length: max 840 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1893.67.15

Associated publications

This object was featured in the Museum’s ‘web gallery’ (‘Selected Objects from the Lower Gallery’) produced during the DCF-funded ‘What’s Upstairs?’ project, 2004–2006, with the following caption: ‘This bear-claw necklace comprises twenty-one bear claws mounted on a leather thong. It was collected in 1842 in Alberta, Canada. In the nineteenth century, grizzly bears were common in the North American plains and Rocky Mountains. Native peoples greatly respected them for their physical and spiritual power, and addressed them as ‘grandparents’. After a bear was killed, its claws were worn as a necklace by the hunter, or by someone who had a special relationship with bears. Wearing the claws was a mark of respect for the bear’s spirit, and a sign of the wearer’s hunting or spiritual power. This necklace was collected amongst the Blackfoot, for whom the bear is especially sacred.

Search terms: Ornament, Neck Ornament