Documentation from the Nenets Ethnographic Museum in Naryan-Mar on a bone block

Sarmik – a bone block for the lasso loop

The traditional way of life of the Nenets is closely connected with reindeer herding. One of their most important working tools is the lasso (tynzya), which is used to catch reindeer and to keep the (domesticated) herd together. Skill in handling the tynzya has always been highly valued among reindeer herders, and boys learn this craft from an early age. A tynzya is a rope about 20 to 30 meters long, braided from spiral-cut reindeer hide.

At one end of the rope is a bone block made from the horn of a reindeer, elk, or mammoth. This block is called sarmik and measures about 8 to 10 cm in length and around 7 mm in thickness. The bone block has two holes: one end of the strap is threaded through the smaller hole and secured with a bone button, while the other end passes through a wider hole and can move freely. To make a sarmik, a piece of horn or bone was used. A hollow was hammered into it, and holes were drilled using a hand drill. Then a special knife – the pya har – was used for finishing.

In the exhibition of our Museum of Nenets Ethnography, there is a traditional tynzya lasso with a sarmik loop on display.

Created by Larisa Prokopevna Latysheva and Elena Gennadievna Menshakova, Naryan-Mar, 2024.