United States · Carving / Jewelry / Bone and Ivory
No single Iñupiaq term securely verified in this pass
Iñupiat communities of northern and western Alaska carved labrets—plugs worn through pierced openings near or beneath the lower lip—from walrus ivory, bone, stone and sometimes wood, with examples also incorporating glass-bead inlay. Museum collections from Nuwuk/Point Barrow, King Island and Cape Prince of Wales document carved, incised, perforated and inlaid forms. In the Bering Strait region, labrets communicated maturity and social identity; ethnographic accounts describe Iñupiat men receiving labret holes around puberty and enlarging them over time. The wearing tradition largely disappeared under colonial and missionary pressure, although Arctic carving continues in other forms. The original labret-making tradition is therefore treated here as extinct rather than as a current Alaska Native ivory-carving category.
Risk level: Extinct · Not inscribed
A twining-dominant basketry tradition shared by the Yurok, Karuk, Hupa, and related peoples of the Klamath and Trinity River basins, distinguished by a single-sided 'half-twist' overlay technique in which a decorative material is woven…
Hand-carved paired hickory sticks used in Cherokee stickball (anetso), a two-handed ball-catching game considered the ancestor of modern lacrosse and historically used both as sport and as a ceremonial alternative to settling disputes that…
The hand-hammering (repoussé) of sheet copper into hollow, three-dimensional wind-direction ornaments — roosters, running horses, ships, and other figures — for barns, churches, and civic buildings, a colonial New England tradition dating…
A sewn-plank ocean-going canoe built without internal ribs or frame, constructed from split redwood driftwood planks drilled, sewn together with plant-fiber cordage, and waterproofed with yop (a mixture of pine pitch and natural asphaltum)…
Densely beaded shoulder bags and regalia elements combining fine glass-bead embroidery with geometric and floral motifs, developed as a significant Southeastern decorative art form following European bead trade and continuing today within…
A distinctive rattan and cane basketry tradition woven over a wooden mold with a solid turned wood base, developed by bored crewmen stationed for weeks at a time aboard the Nantucket Shoals lightship from the mid-19th century, later…
The precious metal refining tradition of Frankfurt — the German financial capital whose gold and silver trade (and later the Degussa/Umicore refinery) made it a significant node in the European precious metal economy.
The Alpine variants of Friulian knife-making distinct from the Maniago industrial district (CRAFT-0763) — smaller-scale workshop traditions in the Friulian mountain valleys producing folding knives, hunting knives, and pastoral tools with…
Celuk village in Gianyar district is the hereditary silver and gold smithing center of Bali, producing jewelry and decorative objects using filigree (twisted wire), granulation, repoussé, and casting techniques.
The Torres Strait Islander peoples — the Aboriginal and Pacific peoples of the islands between Australia and Papua New Guinea — maintain a marine shell inlay and carving tradition centered on the pearl shell (Pinctada maxima) and the cone…
Banjar goldwork is the traditional goldsmithing tradition of the Banjar people of South Kalimantan — producing jewelry of extraordinary delicacy using granulation, filigree, and repoussé techniques in fine gold (22–24 karat).
The Mandau is the traditional long-bladed weapon of the Dayak peoples of Kalimantan — a single-edged slashing blade 50–70cm long with a characteristic gentle curve, made from iron or steel, with a handle of carved deer antler or hornbill…