Engelse tekst<BR> Yanktonai bow case and quiver; 1870-1880<BR> Hide, glass beads, wood, sinew, snakeskin, iron, brass; bow: l. 93.5 cm., w. 3.2 cm.; arrows: av. l. 64 cm.; bowcase: l. 129 cm.<BR> RMV 710-28; Herman F.C. ten Kate collection; purchased from Niagara Falls trader, 1882<BR> <BR> Like the Yanktonai bandolier bag and powder horn appearing elsewhere in this volume, this bow case and quiver ensemble was collected by Herman Ten Kate during 1882. Although purchased from a dealer in Niagara Falls, New York, it is thought to come from the Yanktonai Sioux of eastern Dakota Territory.<BR> <BR> The bows that the Yanktonai used on the Plains were shorter than the ones that they had used in the Minnesota woodlands. Short bows were standard among Plains peoples because they were well suited for hunting and fighting from horseback. Bows of this type were strung with sinew, but remained unstrung when not in use. The inside of this example is covered with snakeskin and panels of four brass tacks decorate its front in two places. It has a hide grip and its ends are wrapped with sinew to prevent splitting.<BR> <BR> The arrows have three feather fletches each – a common Plains construction. The shafts between the feathers are partially painted red and black. The arrow points are made of metal and may either be of Indian manufacture or have been secured through trade. Older arrows would have had points made from flint, obsidian, slate or bone.<BR> <BR> The bow case and quiver together replicate a nineteenth century form that was common throughout much of Native North America. It includes a long, slender bow case and a shorter, stouter quiver. At one time, a carrying strap passed between the cases and was attached to them both. It was worn across the owner’s shoulders and upper chest. The bow case hung above the quiver and both opened to the wearer’s left. When not in use, bows and quivers were often hung from interior tipi poles.<BR> <BR> Few quiver and bow case sets were finely beaded as this example. They were more commonly made from the unadorned hide of fur-bearing animals, especially buffalo. Tails were frequently left attached to the animal skins. They hung down at the mouth of the quivers and provided a field for added decoration.<BR> <BR> The anthropological record reveals that while quiver and bow case sets like this one were ubiquitous throughout the Plains, mountain lion skin quivers were extremely desirable. They were prestigious accessories among groups that were as widely scattered as the Blackfeet, the Hidatsas and the Apaches. In the Southwest, mountain lion skin quivers appear prominently in the ancient kiva murals found at New Mexico’s Pottery Mound (c. 1400 C.E.). Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) people frequently associated the mountain lion with their war societies. Modern Pueblo peoples associate it variously with war and hunting societies (Hibben 1975:65,107-110). Otter pelts were also fashioned into highly desirable quiver and bow case combinations. These generally appeared along an axis that extended west from the Mandan villages to the Columbia River Plateau. The most elaborate of these utilized three otter skins (Holm 1981; Loeb 1983:180-200).<BR> <BR> Despite the presence of trade guns and rifles, bows and arrows remained useful tools for hunting buffalo and other animals. By the time Herman Ten Kate acquired this quiver and bow case set, however, they were representative of an obsolete technology. By 1882, the once-vast buffalo herds had nearly vanished and traditional Plains Indian diets were being replaced by garden crops and rations guaranteed during treaty negotiations.<BR> <BR> Steven L. Grafe<BR> Maryhill Museum of Art, Goldendale, WA; 2015<BR> <BR> Bill Holm, The Crow-Nez Perce Otterskin Bowcase-Quiver; in: American Indian Art Magazine 6/4:60-70; 1981. Barbara Ellen Loeb, Classic Intermontane Beadwork: Art of the Crow and Plateau Tribes; Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington; Seattle, 1983.<BR> <BR> <BR> Engelse tekst<BR> Yanktonai bow case and quiver with bow and arrows; hide, glass, wood, sinew, snakeskin, iron, brass; bow: l. 95.5 cm.<BR> This ensemble consists of separate compartments for the bow and the arrows. The preferred wood for making arrows was gooseberry (Ribes sp.), but cherry (Prunus sp.) and juneberry (Amelanchier) were also used with some frequency. Feathers from turkey buzzards and wild turkeys were used for fletching, bound with sinew, and secured with glue made from buffalo hoofs. Originally the arrows were tipped with points made from flint, slate or bone, also fastened to the shaft with sinew and glue. As soon as iron became available, metal arrowheads replaced the traditional ones. Although some were made commercially in American factories and by blacksmiths at trading posts and military forts, many were made by the Indians themselves. They used metal axes to cut roughly shaped arrowheads that were subsequently more finely shaped and sharpened by filing (Hassrick 1964:228-30; Hanson 1975:26-31; McLaughlin 2003:255).<BR> For bows a variety of woods were used, often ash or hickory, but also hardwood from wild fruit trees of apple, cherry and plum. Bows were strung with sinew, but not left taut while not in use. The inside of the bow is covered with snakeskin, and four brass tacks decorate the front. The seventeen arrows have iron points and three feathers each. The end parts are painted red and black.<BR> While living in central Minnesota, the Yanktonais used long bows for hunting deer in the extensive forests. However, when they moved onto the Plains to become buffalo hunters, they employed the short bow that could be handled better on horseback. These bows were also used in warfare (Jacobson 1980:13,15).<BR> Many Plains bow cases lack decoration or are only summarily embellished with a strip of beadwork or some paint. However, some are exquisitely beaded and painted, such as this example with alternating transverse bands of white, green, red and yellow beads, with parallel straight and triangular patterns. Other cases have beaded decoration lengthwise, such as one in the G.K. Warren collection, exhibiting a beadwork design similar to the powder bag (RMV 710-7) and gun case (RMV 710-27) in the Ten Kate collection. The quiver was stiffened by sewing a stick along its length (cf. Mason 1894: plates lxxxiii-lxxxv; Wissler 1910:155-162; Woodruff 1934:642; Feder 1974:36-8,50,52; Coe 1976:179; Thompson 1977:158,166-167,174,180-181; Hail 1980:169-172; Conn 1982:82,128,147-8; Hassrick and Markoe 1986:126-7,133; Brokenleg and Hoover 1993:57,64; Hanson 1994:41-47; 1996:80-83; Brasser 1998:60; Breen 2002:127-36,263-4; McLaughlin 2003:252-9).<BR> (Hovens 2008-09)