174 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bui.l. 192 



waisted, as is common in Tlingit portrayals of the human figure. 

 The small of the back, the buttocks, and the slightly bent knees are 

 all indicated, but the feet are shown simply by a roughly cut knob 

 at the base. One has the impression that the back of the figure was 

 more carefully shaped than the front, and that the specimen may be 

 unfinished. 



The function of this object is uncertain. It may have been in- 

 tended for the shank of a halibut hook, since these were traditionally 

 carved to represent a human being, an animal, or a bird. Niblack 

 (1890, pi. XXXI, figs. 155, 156) illustrates Tlingit examples similar 

 to ones seen at Yakutat. In this case, the chest of the figure would 

 have been perforated to attach the line, and the other part of the 

 V-shaped hook with the bone barb would have been fastened by a 

 lashing around the ankles. 



However, we should note that one of the shamans at Yakutat who 

 died at the end of the last century possessed a wooden figure repre- 

 senting one of his guardian spirits, the Child of the Sun. During 

 seances, this doll is said to have become animated and danced. The 

 first shaman at Yakutat to obtain this spirit was Xatgawet, the great 

 leader associated by some informants with Knight Island, and the 

 spirit was inherited by his successors. Our specimen may, therefore, 

 be a shaman's doll. 



Carved figurines used by shamans in this fashion are known from 

 the Eyak, Chugach, Tanaina, Koniag (?), and Aleut (?) (Birket-Smith 

 and de Laguna, 1938, p. 210; de Laguna, 1956, pp. 221, 223; Birket- 

 Smith, 1953, pp. 127, 217). Archeological figures interpreted as 

 shamans' dolls are from Kachemak Bay II and III, Port Moller on 

 the Alaska Peninsula, and Kodiak. Specimens from the first two 

 areas have a pointed head, suggesting the Chugach notion about 

 shamans' spirits (de Laguna, 1934, pp. 114 f., 208; Birket-Smith, 

 1953, p. 209; Heizer, 1956, pp. 79 f.). The conception that spirits had 

 pointed heads, common in Siberia, may also have been known on the 

 Northwest Coast, since an antler figurine from Locarno Beach I is so 

 shaped (Borden, 1951, pi. i). However, Birket-Smith is too cautious 

 to commit himself to speculative theories on this point. Shamans' 

 dolls, in any case, did not necessarily reflect the owners' familiars, 

 but were essentially inanimate figures (sometimes of animals or birds, 

 or commercial dolls) into which the shaman might put his power and 

 thereby cause them to move. This notion of animating objects by 

 projection of shamanistic power is widespread in Siberia and North 

 America, finding expression in such themes as the drum that beats of 

 itself, objects that fly through the air dm^ing seances, or the Coast 

 Salish "spirit boards" that drag their holders around the house. This 

 idea may be the basis for the carvings of various sorts which are 



