Bering Sea Yupik - Shelikof Strait Ceremonial Earrings Rare Blue Fossil Walrus Ivory $49.50

“A little superstition is a good thing to keep in one's bag of precautions.”

The Bering Sea peoples inhabit the entire coast of Alaska from the Shelikof Strait west through Kotzebue Sound, and north past Mackenzie Bay in the Beaufort Sea. They are very widespread and many different Yupik cultures have developed.

Through trading they gained access to many materials, including blue and light and dark mammoth ivory, as well as abalone shell. (Note that the shimmer seen in abalone shell, pearls and in the fringes of weavings is considered a manifestation of the spiritual power of the garment or adornment.)

For our Bering Sea Yupik – Shelikof Strait - earrings, which are fashioned after a set of 400 year old earrings and amulet found in near the Shelikof Strait, we chose to replace a square of abalone shell with blue 20,000 year old Fossil Waalrus Ivory. Dangling from this fully bezeled and backed Sterling Silver Rare Blue Fossil Ivory are three light 25,000 year old Fossil Mammoth Ivory beads. Sterling Silver earwire. 1 inch high, 3/8 inch wide.