Tumpline:
A tumpline (/tump-lyne/) is a strap attached at both ends to a sack, backpack, or other luggage and used to carry the object by placing the strap over the top of the head. This utilizes the spine rather than the shoulders as standard backpack straps do. Tumplines are not intended to be worn over the forehead, but rather the top of the head just back from the hairline, pulling straight down in alignment with the spine. The bearer then leans forward, allowing the back to help support the load. [Wikipedia]
Seen in “Reexcavating The Collections,” Wayne Curtis, American Archaeology (spring 2017), mostly offline only. Too bad, it was a lovely picture of a tumpline rediscovered in a museum basement collection. Textiles such as those are extremely rare given their unstable nature, but the date of collection is in the 1890s, so they’ve been preserved for more than a century.
