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Battle armor

Chugach

mid-to-late 18th century

wood, leather, whale sinew, paint, caribou antler

length 111.5 cm, height 61 cm; dimensions when gathered: height 61 cm, width 57 cm

Battle armor protected the chest and back of a warrior. The Chugach armor consists of two pieces of different sizes. The largest part of the armor protected the back and the smaller part the chest. The armor is made from narrow slats of wood tied together with sinew. Wooden body armor was found throughout Alaska and in Northeast Asia. The battle armor of the Chugach and the Tlingit were identical in terms of construction. The Aleut battle armor was shaped differently, but made in the same way with vertical pieces of wood. Battle armor made from pieces of tree roots used by the Eskimos from the region of the Bering Strait is very similar to the Aleut armor. The primary method of construction, that is, the manufacture of armor from slats, was used by all the above-mentioned peoples.

Ethnography of America