FISHSKINLAB - A STURGEON SKIN POUCH

A STURGEON SKIN POUCH

The latest Smithsonian Institution Arctic Studies Center Newsletter is out, and I am thrilled to share my contribution: “A Sturgeon Skin Pouch: Nivkh and Nanai Indigenous Cosmologies.” You can read it here:https://repository.si.edu/items/0a5da3d1-946c-4f37-89dd-e1d88b45a7d5

The article draws from research conducted at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in 2023, where I examined a Nivkh sturgeon skin pouch. Crafted from two interlocking sections from sturgeon skin, ingeniously folded to create spiral ends, the pouch was part of a hunter’s belt, used to carry flint, lighters, and protective charms. These tools functioned not only as practical gear but also as spiritual vessels that connected the wearer to guardian spirits during expeditions.

The study is enriched by collaborative dialogues with Nanai Elder Anatoly Donkan and builds on ongoing research into Siberian fish skin traditions. During fieldwork at the Stockholm Ethnographic Museum with tanner Lotta Rahme, I traced a photograph of explorer Henry Lansdell wearing a Nivkh fish skin coat and belt, including such a pouch. Further illustrations by Grabowsky at the International Ethnographic Archive in Leiden depict similar belts from Sakhalin Island, highlighting the ceremonial dimensions of these artefacts.

Among Arctic Indigenous communities such as the Nivkh, Nanai, Ainu, Inuit, Sámi, and Hezhe, fish are sacred beings. Their skins have long served as material conduits in shamanic ceremonies, where fish skin garments, drums, and amulets enabled spiritual journeys along the “river of the world.” These traditions reflect ecological knowledge and technological ingenuity, challenging contemporary extractivist worldviews.