Not only is it a top pop band name, this is a proper subject. Of course the people of the arctic regions need sunglasses. Snow blindness, or photokeratitisis to use its proper name, a terrible thing and these sunglasses will reduce the amount of UV light reaching the eyes and improve vision, allowing the people to hunt more easily and to basically live in the blinding whiteness of the region.

I know that Eskimo isn’t really in favour anymore and that really I should use the proper names, Yupik or Inupiat [or Inuit], but Eskimo Sunglasses is the better band name and title.

Anyway, here are some pictures of some of the sunglasses that have been made and I think they are fascinating and beautiful as well as very important for life in the Arctic snow, before us civilised folk get round to destroying it all.

The sunglasses are made from either ivory from walruses or from wood.

These are from the Old Bering Sea, Alaska and were made in around 400-800 CE

The four examples above are from the Punuk Islands and were made in around 800-1200 CE

These are wooden sunglasses from Alaska and were made around 1850. They have a small visor or peak and the eye holes are much more narrow

These are slightly more recent than the ones above. The eye slit is more narrow and it is much longer, giving a greater field of vision.