Fur And Bead Ornament

National Museum of Natural History

E90037-0

From card: "Under lip of bear used for mole cases."Illus. p. 263 in Turner, Lucien M., Scott A. Heyes, and K. M. Helgen. 2014. Mammals of Ungava & Labrador: the 1882-1884 fieldnotes of Lucien M. Turner together with Inuit and Innu knowledge. Identified there: "Bear onrament with beads. A beaded bear lip ornament used by the Innu, possibly as a charm, collected by Turner at Ft. Chimo. Turner recorded that the ornament originated from the Little Whale River. He apparently believed that the ornament was made from the skin of a brown bear (Ursus arctos), writing: "These mementos are procured with great difficulty from the hunter who has risked his life in the struggles attending the capture of these beasts, for the barren-ground bear of that region is nto a timid creature like the Black Bear; and unless the hunter is well prepared for the animal he would do well to let it alone" (Turner 1894: 275)."


  • Type of Item charm
  • Culture Innu, Naskapi

  • Field Collector Lucien M. Turner

  • Made in Ugava Bay
  • Collected in Ugava Bay

  • Acquisition Date on January 9, 1884

  • Accession Number 013922