Native carvers represented native cosmology and lifestyles in bone, stone and wood. Carving bone from sea mammals is an ancient art in Alaska. Artifacts dating thousands of years ago indicate aboriginal people made most of their tools and weapons from ivory and bone. Traditionally native villages butchered the whales along the coast or on ice shelves; the usable parts were removed, the rest return to the sea.  Tides and waves of the Bering Sea often pushed the old bone to the surface and the beach. In the last thirty years Native carvers have collected much of the old bone, and now, due to shifting tides and sea levels, most of it is buried on the beaches and must be dug during the short summers.

The men carved bone to make tools and ceremonial objects. They carved dolls, miniature kayaks, sleds with dogs, all items that represented everyday life. And they carved for pleasure during the long winters.  Carved objects have been a source of income for native artists since the early 1800s. This art form is still popular with with traders, galleries, tourists and other tribal peoples.

Cribbage boards (a game) were popular items to carve and then sell or trade with ships passing by the coastal towns. Early cribbage boards were decorated with animal motifs, but when they became more popular trade items, European motifs were also used. The cribbage board in this exhibit is carved from a male walrus tusk.