Snow Goggles

FROM CARD: "SEPARATE CAVITY FOR THE EYE AND NOSE. THE EYE SLITS SIMILAR TO THAT OF SLEDGE ISLAND, CONTINUES ON THE FRONT INTERRUPTED IN THE REAR BY THE NOSE PIECE. NO. 48,724 FROM THE LOWER YUKON IS SIMILAR TO THIS SPECIMEN IN THE REAR, BUT HAS AN UNINTERRUPTED EYE SLIT IN FRONT. WIDTH 6 INCHES. INVENTORIED 1975. LOANED TO ALASKA STATE MUSEUM 3-31-83. LOAN RETURNED 09 23 87."

This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.

Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact https://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=559 , retrieved 10-26-2021; see web page for additional information: Snow goggles, Yup'ik. These snow goggles have a wrap-around slit for seeing to the sides as well as straight ahead. Elders have pointed out that goggles with narrow slits not only protect the eyes from excess light, but also sharpen and focus vision, like a pinhole camera. Snow goggles are an ancient element of Inuit hunting cultures, appearing in archaeological sites up to 2000 years old. "Snow goggles prevent one from squinting from the brightness, and they used them before sunglasses became available. And those who had bad eyes used them when they rowed to make their eyesight better. It helped you see better." -Phillip Moses, from "Yuungnaqpiallerput: The Way We Genuinely Live," 2007.

27 Jan 2022

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