Cutting board from the fishing boat M/K Vally What can a wooden plank tell us about northern Norwegian coastal culture?

M/K Vally is a cutter-type fishing vessel that was bought by Alta Museum in 1982. The boat has been in the ownership of Alta residents since it was built in Hemnesberget in 1917 and is still seaworthy. The boat is currently moored at Urnesbukta on Amtmannsnes in Alta. In 2000, M/K Vally was granted official status as a protected vessel and is now the oldest protected vessel of its type in Finnmark. It is a floating historical relic and, as a former fishing vessel, also an important symbol of northern Norwegian coastal cultural heritage.

When Alta Museum was offered the cutting board, M/K Vally had already been added to the collection. We have three other cutting boards in our collection. But this cutting board had been used on board M/K Vally when it actively operated as a fishing vessel, which means that it is of great interest to us. The fact that the provenance or history of the cutting board is linked to Vally makes it very interesting to the museum. Provenance is an important factor when we consider the importance of an artefact in relation to our collection. The value of an artefact increases with the more documented information we have about the ownership, history, origin and use of an artefact.

The collection management system Primus has the following information about the wooden plank/cutting board:

“The Cutting Board. Artefact AM. 02507: Wooden plank

Designation: Wooden plank. Alternate name: Cutting board.

Description: Oblong carved plank with bark, natural shape, hole for rope at the end. The surface has cutting marks and burn marks, likely from use.

Material: Birch. Inscription: M/K Vally. Basis for dating: EST. 1972.

Height: 5.0 cm. Width: 20.5 cm. Length: 56.0 cm.

Classification: Fishing boat with equipment and accessories, food preparation, marine industries.”

This information was recorded and documented in Primus by Alta Museum employees when the cutting board was added to our collection. By looking at the condition and characteristics of the artefact, we are able to make assumptions about its history. What we can say for certain is that the wooden plank was used as a cutting board on board the fishing vessel M/K Vally. The size allows us to assume that it was not used for bread but that it was used to gut fish and that it was made for that purpose. The surface has deep cut marks that indicate that it was used to gut fish using large knives. Fish were often gutted on board the vessel before going ashore. The burn mark may have been accidental from an overturned candle or perhaps heat from a portable stove used for cooking.

There is no information in Primus about the previous whereabouts of the cutting board or who it was donated by: “Wooden plank from M/K Vally, donated to the museum by an unknown person, presumably between 1978 and 1989.”

The name M/K Vally is etched into the cutting board. The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries stipulates that fishermen are required to mark both the vessel and fishing tools that are taken out to sea with the name of the vessel. In extension of this, it was also common to label most of what was used on board.

As soon as a wooden board such as this is added to the collection, its status changes from a utility item to a collection artefact that must be preserved, stored for perpetuity at the correct temperature and humidity and handled only with gloves. The cutting board is considered valuable because it says something about our northern Norwegian history and a time when coastal fishing was carried out using smaller vessels such as small fishing boats and cutters like M/K Vally.