Harpoon

Museum number:
2-5829
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm21020005829
Alternate number:
x-919 (original number)
Accession number:
Acc.167
Description:
Feathered seal harpoon. Small bone point (barbed on one side) attached to a leather thong splitting at its ends to be connected at two places on the wooden shaft (Y-shaped harpoon line). Socket made of a heavy bone lashed with a braided sinew thread to the shaft.
Donor:
Alaska Commercial Company, Benjamin Bristol, and Older University Collections
Collection place:
Bering Sea and North, Alaska
Verbatim coll. place:
Alaska; Bering Sea
Culture or time period:
Alaskan Eskimo
Collector:
unknown
Collection date:
unknown
Materials:
Feather (material) (black), Leather, Penis bone (baculum), and Sinew (material)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Harpoons
Function:
1.1 Hunting and Fishing
Accession date:
1904
Context of use:
Summer sea hunting; with throwing board for sealing (seal, walrus, white whale)
Department:
Native US and Canada (except California)
Dimensions:
whole— weight 200 grams, whole— length 135 centimeters, socket— length 11.5 centimeters, point— length 5.2 centimeters, point— height 0.4 centimeters, point— width 0.7 centimeters, and socket— diameter 2.4 centimeters
Comment:
Neg. number: ACC41-29; ACC41-30 p. 103 Graburn Cf. Nelson 1899:135-38, pl. 54 Referenced in Rousselot 1983:83-115 and 363-370
Legacy documentation:
Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Harpoon, accession number 2-5829, described as Feathered seal harpoon. Small bone point (barbed on one side) attached to a leather thong splitting at its ends to be connected at two places on the wooden shaft (Y-shaped harpoon line). Socket made of a heavy bone lashed with a braided sinew thread to the shaft.Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Harpoon, accession number 2-5829, described as Feathered seal harpoon. Small bone point (barbed on one side) attached to a leather thong splitting at its ends to be connected at two places on the wooden shaft (Y-shaped harpoon line). Socket made of a heavy bone lashed with a braided sinew thread to the shaft.Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Harpoon, accession number 2-5829, described as Feathered seal harpoon. Small bone point (barbed on one side) attached to a leather thong splitting at its ends to be connected at two places on the wooden shaft (Y-shaped harpoon line). Socket made of a heavy bone lashed with a braided sinew thread to the shaft.

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