Alaskan Snow Goggles

These snow goggles (igauget) were once used by Yup'ik hunters in the arctic to reduce glare and increase distance vision. Visitors to the exhibition Yuungnaqpiallerput (The Way We Genuinely Live): Masterworks of Science and Survival at the Anchorage Museum, can try on snow goggles and learn how they work. By reducing unwanted light and limiting the vertical field of view, the goggles allow an observer to see further into the distance and to scan the horizon without any head movement, useful advantages for a hunter on the bright snow-covered landscape.

Credit: Photographer: Chris Arend. Copyright 2007, Anchorage Museum