R2485.8, snow shovel, Inuit, wood, 88.6 cm x 23.9 cm, Collection of Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Canada.

Inuit wood snow shovel

Inuit wood snow shovel.

Evidence
The snow shovel was made either from wood or thick skin such as walrus or square flipper seal.

Perspective
The snow shovel was mainly used for packing snow around he chinks in an iglu to make it tight. It was also used to dig out caches that had been buried in the fall or to dig in softer snow that could not be cut into blocks.

Significance
The snow shovel or puarik has a cutting edge at the bottom made from antler. This enabled one to dig into hard snow. There are also holes for a hand strap which would have been made from sealskin. Here also a piece of leather has been used to repair a split.