Gwich'in Name

  • Teetł’it Gwich’in Name:

    Vał thòh
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  • Gwichya Gwich’in Name:

    Vał thòh
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  • Vuntut Gwitchin Name:

    Dinjik vał dhòh
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“From caribou [or moose] leg skins, they made a long sled. The skins are slippery, and even when it is loaded, pulling [the sled] was easy. This is what they used for travelling and hunting.” — Paul Bonnetplume, Teetł’it Gwich’in Elder, ca. 1970
(“Life in the Yukon”)

Catalogue Data

Materials: moose-leg skin
Dimensions: L. approx. 120 cm
Date: 1930s
Made by: a member of the Tizya family, Old Crow, Yukon
Collected by: Asen Balikci, Old Crow, Yukon, summer 1961
Catalogue Number: CMCC VI-I-66

Manufacture and Use

  • About the Artifact

    “Skin toboggan. Made of moose skin, from the lower part of the limbs. The hair is oriented in one direction, to...

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  • About the Collector

    Anthropologist-filmmaker Asen Balikci was on the staff of the National Museum of Canada (now the Canadian Museum of...

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Gwadàl’ Zheii: Belongings from the Land has been developed in collaboration with the Gwich’in Social and Cultural Institute (www.gwichin.ca), Northwest Territories, and the Heritage Branch of the Vuntut Gwitchin Government (www.vgfn.ca), Yukon. Explore the rich cultural heritage of the Gwich’in through artifacts, historic and contemporary photographs, and oral histories and stories told by Elders.