Spirit Box

This box was likely inspired from traditional bentwood boxes made throughout the region. According to the Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository, Native artists in Alaska have a long history of bending wood to shape boxes. They note that this technique was historically used to "produce boat parts, sled runners, snowshoes, hunting hats, visors, mask hoops, rattles, and household containers of every size."

Elaborately decorated wooden boxes have also been used to store cermonial objects. The designs on the box replicate the petroglyphs found in the Kodiak and Chugach regions. The designs' significance is not fully known, however they may represent characters from myths, stories, animals of significance, or used to claim certain territories for hunting and fishing. In the Prince William Sound, Birket-Smith also wrote that petrogryphs could be associated with whaling magic. (Looking Both Ways, pg 126)

 According to the Metropolitan Musem of Art, highly embelished boxes in Tlingit communities (southeast of the Chugach Region) served many purposes, including indicating prestige and housing objects that might have been given away as gifts or exchanged. 

Read more about these related artifacts through the following links:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Storage Chest, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/312641 

Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository, Alutiiq Word of the Week Bend, https://alutiiqmuseum.org/word-of-the-week-archive/245-bend

Crowell, Aron L, Amy F. Steffian, and Gordon L. Pullar. Looking Both Ways: Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq People. Fairbanks: Univ. of Alaska Press, 2001. Pg 126