Eskimo Knife "Ulu"
Eastern Arctic, Inuit: Nunavimiut, 1900-1909, Antler, metal, 5.3 x 6.4 cm (From McCord Museum).
Canadian Inuit, ("Thule"), Ulu (woman's knife), bone handle and iron blade, Strathcona Sound, Baffin Island, Nunavut, circa 1500-1800 A.D. (From the Canadian Museum of Civilization).
While most of the earliest samples have slate blades (as illustrated below, from Afognak Data Recovery Project, Afgonak Island, Kodiak Archipelago), there is evidence that some of these peoples used meteoric iron and iron acquired from Norse adventurers as much as 1000 years ago, working it by cold hammering.
They are still a very popular kitchen tool and modern samples abound.
|