TS’EN ZITL'I

Bone, dentalium shells, glass beads, caribou bone; L 47.5 cm
Iliamna, 1931-32

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Drinking tube

While a girl was secluded at puberty, she used a bone tube for drinking. The tube was on a beaded necklace and was often decorated with incised lines. Puberty seclusion continued in some Dena’ina communities into early 20th century. In the early 1930s, when anthropologist Cornelius Osgood collected this piece in Old Iliamna, many Dena’ina women still knew of the practice from their own girlhood experiences.

Collection: Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, ANT.015852

Image: © Chris Arend/Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University