Object photography
Object description
- Inuit artist
- Bow drill, 19th century
- Ivory
- Northern Alaska, United States
- L: 13 in, W: 1/2 in (L: 33.0 cm, W: 1.3 cm)
- Gift of Mr. Alexander O. Vietor, 1980
- E67117
- Illustrations of dangerous activities of hunting and warfare
- Used for drilling hard materials and starting fires
Etched with scenes of daily life, bow drills were invaluable tools of survival in the Arctic. A leather cord attached to the bow would have been wrapped around a drill shaft, and the motion of moving the bow back and forth would have rotated the drill, creating the friction necessary to start fires and carve bone, ivory, or wood.