Ulu knife use in Western Alaska: A comparative ethnoarchaeological study

Modern fish harvest camps provide archaeologists the opportunity to study processes and relationships in an ongoing traditional subsistence system (Chang 1988, 1991). This study deals with salmon butchering using a traditional semilunar knife known as the ulu. Ulu blades were made of slate during pr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current anthropology 2003-02, Vol.44 (1), p.116-122
Main Authors: FRINK, Lisa, HOFFMAN, Brian W, SHAW, Robert D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alaska
America and Arctic regions
Anthropology
Archaeology
Arctic regions
Comparative studies
Division of labour
Ethnoarchaeology
Fish
Indigenous people
Knives
Material culture
Metals
Native peoples
Prehistory and protohistory
Technological change
U.S.A
Ulu
Women
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Summary:Modern fish harvest camps provide archaeologists the opportunity to study processes and relationships in an ongoing traditional subsistence system (Chang 1988, 1991). This study deals with salmon butchering using a traditional semilunar knife known as the ulu. Ulu blades were made of slate during prehistoric times, but metal began to be used as it became increasingly available and the ulus currently in use all have metal blades. We asked native Western Alaskan women, the primary users of the ulu, to butcher fish with replica knives made of slate and metal in an effort to determine the differences in performance between the two and thus to model technological change associated with the replacement of ground-slate ulus with metal ones.
ISSN:0011-3204
1537-5382
DOI:10.1086/345688