Feeding the Ancestors presents an exquisite group of carved spoons from the Pacific Northwest that resides in the collections of Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Carved from the horns of mountain goats and Dall sheep, and incorporating elements of abalone shell and metal, most of the spoons were collected in Alaska in the late nineteenth century and were made and used by members of the Tlingit tribe. Hillel Burger's beautiful color photographs reveal every nuance of the carvers' extraordinary artistry.

Anne-Marie Victor-Howe introduces the collectors and describes the means by which these and other ethnographic objects were acquired. In the process, she paints a vivid picture of the "Last Frontier" just before and shortly after the United States purchased Alaska. A specialist in the ethnography of the Native peoples of the Northwest Coast, Victor-Howe provides a fascinating glimpse into these aboriginal subsistence cultures as she explains the manufacture and function of traditional spoons. Her accounts of the clan stories associated with specific carvings and of the traditional shamanic uses of spoons are the result of extensive consultation with Tlingit elders, scholars, and carvers.

Feeding the Ancestors is the first scholarly study of traditional feast spoons and a valuable contribution to our knowledge of Pacific Northwest Coast peoples and their art.

Contents
List of Illustrations 00
Foreword: [TK], by Rosita Worl 00
Acknowledgments 00
Tlingit Carved Horn Spoons 00
The Collectors 00
Spoons in Tlingit Culture 00
Spoons in Ceremonial Use 00
Spoons and Shamans 00
Two Spoons and Their Stories 00
Spoons since the Nineteenth Century 00
Color Plates 00
Notes 00
Suggested Reading 00
Illustrations
Frontispiece: [TK]
[A]Figures [TK]
[00]Map 00
[A]Color Plates
1	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting a sea lion 00
2	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting a giant clam and a human figure 00
3	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting a sea lion and Duktootl' 00
4	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting a Thunderbird 00
5	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting an eagle 00
6	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting human figures, an owl, and frogs 00
7	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting a frog, a human, and a raven 00
8	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting a frog, a hawk, and a dragonfly 00
9	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting a frog, a hawk, and a squatting human 00
10	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting a frog, human faces, and a dragonfly 00
11	Tlingit or Haida ceremonial or shaman spoons 00
12	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting an owl and a man wearing a hat 00
13	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting human faces and a frog 00
14	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting Gunakadeit, the sea monster 00
15	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting Gunakadeit, the sea monster 00
16	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting Gunakadeit and a whale 00
17	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting a raven 00
18	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting a whale and a raven 00
19	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting the hunter Kaats' 00
20	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting bears 00
21	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting a bear and a loon 00
22	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting a man wearing a bear headdress 00
23	Tlingit ceremonial spoon depicting Gooteel (Cannibal) 00
24	Tlingit ceremonial or shaman spoon 00
25	Tlingit shaman spoon 00