Spear-thrower

Museum number:
2-3014
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm21020003014
Accession number:
Acc.26
Description:
Spear thrower. “the natives are very expert and will hit a silver dollar at over a hundred feet. If the point of the spear misses the bird the sharp points nearer the hand are very apt to catch in the wings. This was made and owned by the old chief. The ivory forming the spear point- and on the staff- is from the jawbone of a whale and secured by walrus thongs. The wood is driftwood presumably from the Yukon River. The driver [spear thrower] is made from driftwood and shaped to fit the hand.” Copied from Cushing’s notebook.
Donor:
Phoebe Apperson Hearst
Collection place:
Great Diomede Island, Siberia, Russia
Verbatim coll. place:
Alaska
Culture or time period:
Alaskan Eskimo
Collector:
H. H. Cushing
Collection date:
1901
Taxon:
Cetacea and Odobenus rosmarus
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Atlatls
Accession date:
December 16, 1902
Department:
Native US and Canada (except California)
Loans:
S1958-1959 #5 [formerly I-58-B]: California State Indian Museum (November 12, 1958–May 31, 1963)
Legacy documentation:
Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Spear-thrower, accession number 2-3014, described as Spear thrower. “the natives are very expert and will hit a silver dollar at over a hundred feet. If the point of the spear misses the bird the sharp points nearer the hand are very apt to catch in the wings. This was made and owned by the old chief. The ivory forming the spear point- and on the staff- is from the jawbone of a whale and secured by walrus thongs. The wood is driftwood presumably from the Yukon River. The driver [spear thrower] is made from driftwood and shaped to fit the hand.” Copied from Cushing’s notebook.Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Spear-thrower, accession number 2-3014, described as Spear thrower. “the natives are very expert and will hit a silver dollar at over a hundred feet. If the point of the spear misses the bird the sharp points nearer the hand are very apt to catch in the wings. This was made and owned by the old chief. The ivory forming the spear point- and on the staff- is from the jawbone of a whale and secured by walrus thongs. The wood is driftwood presumably from the Yukon River. The driver [spear thrower] is made from driftwood and shaped to fit the hand.” Copied from Cushing’s notebook.Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Spear-thrower, accession number 2-3014, described as Spear thrower. “the natives are very expert and will hit a silver dollar at over a hundred feet. If the point of the spear misses the bird the sharp points nearer the hand are very apt to catch in the wings. This was made and owned by the old chief. The ivory forming the spear point- and on the staff- is from the jawbone of a whale and secured by walrus thongs. The wood is driftwood presumably from the Yukon River. The driver [spear thrower] is made from driftwood and shaped to fit the hand.” Copied from Cushing’s notebook.Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Spear-thrower, accession number 2-3014, described as Spear thrower. “the natives are very expert and will hit a silver dollar at over a hundred feet. If the point of the spear misses the bird the sharp points nearer the hand are very apt to catch in the wings. This was made and owned by the old chief. The ivory forming the spear point- and on the staff- is from the jawbone of a whale and secured by walrus thongs. The wood is driftwood presumably from the Yukon River. The driver [spear thrower] is made from driftwood and shaped to fit the hand.” Copied from Cushing’s notebook.Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Spear-thrower, accession number 2-3014, described as Spear thrower. “the natives are very expert and will hit a silver dollar at over a hundred feet. If the point of the spear misses the bird the sharp points nearer the hand are very apt to catch in the wings. This was made and owned by the old chief. The ivory forming the spear point- and on the staff- is from the jawbone of a whale and secured by walrus thongs. The wood is driftwood presumably from the Yukon River. The driver [spear thrower] is made from driftwood and shaped to fit the hand.” Copied from Cushing’s notebook.

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