{"id":"ARCTIC-004","label":"Point Hope Inupiaq wolfscarer Crossroads Alaska","people_or_site":"Inupiaq / Point Hope","country_current":"United States","historic_region":"Alaska / Point Hope","macroregion":"North America / Arctic","local_name":"wolf scarer","source_term":"bull roarer noisemaker","source_language":"English","object_description":"Baleen noisemaker with nylon cord made by Chester Seveck in 1966","function_summary":"An Inupiaq wolf scarer: a bullroarer swung to frighten wolves away.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"CROSSROADS_ALASKA_POINT_HOPE_WOLFSCARER","source_type":"exhibit_catalog_pdf","source_url":"https://archive.org/download/crossroadsalaska00chau/crossroadsalaska00chau.pdf","page_or_plate":"Crossroads Alaska","map_confidence":"medium_high","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Point Hope source locality not museum","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"A noisemaker of baleen strung on a nylon cord, made in 1966 by Chester Seveck, the Inupiaq herder born on the Kivalina River who tended reindeer for forty-six years and later became a well-known Alaska Native dancer and showman around Kotzebue. It is an Inupiaq \"wolf scarer,\" a bull roarer swung to frighten wolves away, and it belongs with the other noisy things of the North Pacific rim: the Yupik rattling sealskin ball of St. Lawrence Island, the Nivkh fishskin rattle of Sakhalin, the Nanai cradle rattle of the Amur River. The piece is fifteen centimeters long and held by the University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks.","pull_quote":"Iñupiaq \"wolf scarer\" (bull roarer) noisemaker made by Chester Seveck from Point Hope, Alaska, in 1966, of baleen with a nylon cord. University of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, #UA66-4-2. 15 cm.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Crossroads Alaska: Native Cultures of Alaska and Siberia (1995), cat. 48 \"Noisy toys\"","term_gloss":"English collector's label: an Inupiaq wolf scarer, a bull roarer swung to frighten off wolves.","cls":"play_practical","class_label":"Play / practical","color":"#24766D","is_candidate":false,"flags":["toy_survival"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"etymology":"\"Wolf scarer\" is the catalog's English descriptive label, naming the object's function rather than an Inupiaq word.","literal_gloss":"wolf scarer = a noisemaker (bull roarer) used to scare wolves","semantic_cluster":"motion_sound / toy_or_game","etymology_confidence":"high","sources":[{"citation":"Crossroads Alaska: Native Cultures of Alaska and Siberia (1995), catalogue 48, “Noisy toys”; University of Alaska Museum","url":"https://archive.org/download/crossroadsalaska00chau/crossroadsalaska00chau.pdf"}],"source_citations":"Crossroads Alaska: Native Cultures of Alaska and Siberia (1995), catalogue 48, “Noisy toys”; University of Alaska Museum","source_display":"Crossroads Alaska: Native Cultures of Alaska and Siberia (1995), catalogue 48, “Noisy toys”; University of Alaska Museum","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Baleen noisemaker with nylon cord made by Chester Seveck in 1966","function_display":"","confidence_display":"medium to high","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"inupiaq","display_name":"Point Hope Inupiaq wolfscarer Crossroads Alaska","image":{"full":"assets/objects/hunt_2026_10_03/ARCTIC-004_seveck_wolfscarer.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/hunt_2026_10_03/thumbs/ARCTIC-004_seveck_wolfscarer_thumb.jpg","credit":"University of Alaska Museum of the North, UA66-4-2 (made by Chester Seveck, 1966); Crossroads Alaska (1995), cat. 48, p. 58","license":"Internet Archive licenseurl: “http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/”; possible-copyright-status: “In Copyright. Digitized with the permission of the rights holder”. Smithsonian Libraries Copyright info: “In Copyright”.","source_page":"https://archive.org/details/crossroadsalaska00chau","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Baleen wolf scarer bound with white cord, beside its cord-wrapped handle, Point Hope, Alaska."},"slug":"arctic-004-inupiaq-point-hope"}