"Anthropology" Vancouver Travelogue by sjvessey

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>E</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1>xcept where I have quoted directly, all the commentaries below are based mainly on my memory of a guided tour round the musuem provided by a volunteer guide.</div>

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>V</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1>arious representations of another mythological figure - a giant woman who would stalk the woods at night eating any small children who strayed too far from their village. Typically this character is shown with small pouting lips and large round eyes. The face-plates of the double-headed cooking pot towards the rear features can be removed to reveal a hollow interior which, on ceremonial occasions, would be filled with a mixture of hot coals and wet leaves. Replacing the face-plate would result in smoke and steam belching from the eye holes. The owner of this item would have been a man of considerable wealth and stature within the tribe.</div>

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>T</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1>wo different views of the doorposts of a First Nation house. In the first photograph, a small curved indentation can be seen in the middle of the cross-beam. A similar set of posts would be set at the end of the house, joined by a supporting beam running the length of the house that would rest in the depressions on the top of the cross-beams. Visitors to the museum will see that its architectural style borrows a lot from this door-post concept.</div>

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>M</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1>ost museums display only a few percent of their artifacts, the vast majority remaining in storage away from public view. The Museum of Anthropology has pioneered a concept they refer to as 'visible storage', which allows them to put up to 70 percent of their collection on display. In simple terms, the museum's main archive area is within the public space, and consists of glass-topped drawers and display cases such as this one. The items are not labelled and to discover the identity and purpose of any particular exhibit the visitor must refer to one of the catalogues scattered around the area. As well as First Nation artifacts, the museum possesses material from many other cultures, including Japan, Korea, China, and Polynesia, much of which can be seen in this visible storage area. This particular unit shows various kinds of rattle.</div>

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>J</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1>apanese face masks, arrayed in a visible storage unit.</div>

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>A</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1> Chinese buddha figure, around four feet tall.</div>

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>N</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1>ative American totem poles, probably around one hundred years old. Officially the original inhabitants of Canada are collectively referred to as the 'First Nations', a group of people made up of many different tribes, with their own particular customs and style. The poles shown here are carved following the shape of the original tree, with the minimal amount of wood removed - a style typical of the particular tribe which created them. Notice also that the carved figures are interlinked - in the middle pole, a small human figure crouches between the legs of a stylised cormarant. The most commonly represented animals included bears, ravens, frogs and beavers, as well as mythological creatures from First Nation folklore.</div>

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>M</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1>ore face masks in visible storage, this time from Korea. Towards the bottom of the photo some arrows can be seen.</div>

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>A</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1>t the time of writing, and possibly prompted as a result of the events of September 11, the museum has a special exhibition entitled 'Understanding Islam Through Calligraphy'. This ornate Arabic helmet and shield is one of the first pieces in this exhibition.</div>

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>A</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1>n old mathematical text, in Arabic, dating from the 16th (?) century. A geometrical diagram can be clearly seen on the left-hand page.</div>

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>F</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1>rom the explanatory panel in the musuem: <em>This page is from a nearly complete manuscript of the Qur'an that is considered to be one of the wonders of Islamic calligraphy. No more than three or four Qur'anic manuscripts on coloured vellum are known to exist. The distinctive Kufic script is gold, written on blue vellum.</em> Dates from around the 16th (?) century.</div>

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>T</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1>he last carving by the famous Bill Reid, who died four years ago, entitled 'The Raven and the First Men'. The same artist produced the bronze sculpture on display at Vancouver Internation Airport. From the explanatory panel in the musuem: <em>The great flood, which had covered the earth for so long, had at last receded and the sand of Rose Spit lay dry. Raven walked along the sand, eyes and ears alert for any unusual sight or sound to break the monotony. A flash of white caught his eye and there, right at his feet, half buried in the sand, was a gigantic clamshell. He looked more closely and saw that the shell was full of little creatures cowering in terror in his enormous shadow. He leaned his great head close and, with his smooth trickster's tongue, coaxed and cajoled and coerced them to come out and play in his wonderful new shiny world. These little dwellers were the original Haidas, the first humans.</em></div>

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>T</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1>his pole was carved by a different tribe - a lot more wood has been removed and the curved shape of the tree trunk has been lost. The pole shows a bear grasping a small human figure in its paws.</div>

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>B</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1>oxes such as this one are made out of cedar. Their most unique feature is that the four sides of the box are made from a single, continuous piece of wood. When a plank of cedar is steamed over charcoal pits it becomes extremely flexible, and can be literally bent through ninety degrees. This was made easier by removing wedge-shaped pieces of wood along the line of the proposed bend beforehand using a chisel or similar device. Boxes made in this way were used for a wide variety of purposes, ranging from cooking (they were water-tight) to storing clothes and other items, to coffins - the same box could end up being used for all three purposes over the life of its owner.</div>

<div align=justify><font face='times new roman' color=#A00000 size=-1><b>A</b></font><font face='times new roman' color=#000000 size=-1> well-known figure from First Nation mythology, a huge sea wolf gripping a killer whale between its jaws. This is a modern carving dating from no more than 40 years ago.</div>