Identifier: annualreport6421910newy (find matches)
Title: Annual report
Year: 1902 (1900s)
Authors: New York State Museum
Subjects: New York State Museum Science Science
Publisher: Albany : University of the State of New York
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Fig. 10 Wooden^spoon from bottom of Black lake. Collected by E. R. BurmasterJ1910. Specimen is i 5 inches in length. spoon which he recognized by the animal or bird carved on thehandle. In olden times, the dream animal or clan totem was usuallycarved upon the handle, but specimens of later times nearly always 1 See Harrington. Some Unusual Iroquois Specimens. Am. Anthrop-ologist, new ser. n 185. 2 Niwado^kwatserha, in Mohawk. 56 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM have the conventionalized forms of birds carved upon them. Inrare instances the figure was carved from a separate piece of woodand attached to the spoon handle with a peg. The wood chosen for spoons was usually curly maple knots,although knots of other woods were valued and often used. TheIroquois preferred to have their spoons of a dark color and as the spoon wood was white or yellow, they used dyes to darkenthem. Hemlock bark or roots were boiled in water until the liquidwas of the proper shade, which was dark red, and then the spoon
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Fig. ii Types of Seneca and Onondaga eating spoons, i, wooden spoon; 2, bark ladle;3, buffalo horn spoon. Number 3 was collected by E. R. Burmaster, 1910, from theAlec John family who had preserved it as an heirloom for many years. was plunged in and boiled with the dye until it had becomethoroughly saturated with the dye and had partaken of the desiredcolor. By use and time the spoon became almost as black as ebonyand took a high polish. Spoons were sometimes shaped from elm bark but these werenot durable. They were scoops rather than ladles or spoons. The Iroquois did not readily abandon the use of wooden spoonsand in some districts they are still used. The Indians say that food Plate 14

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