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1884.19.352

Spearthrower, carved from a flat piece of wood, with a groove and ivory peg (broken) at the narrower distal end to engage the spear butt. [LM 16/10/2007]

1884.19.352

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Collection type
Object
Description
Spearthrower, carved from a flat piece of wood, with a groove and ivory peg (broken) at the narrower distal end to engage the spear butt. [LM 16/10/2007]
Long description
Spearthrower, carved from a flat piece of wood, with a groove and ivory peg (broken) at the narrower distal end to engage the spear butt. At the wider proximal end the implement is carved to fit the hand, with an angle for the thumb, a hole for the index finger, grooves for the other fingers and an ivory peg to fit between the second and third fingers. On the other side, an incised line connects the finger hole with the tip of the implement. [LM 16/10/2007]
Geographical reference
United States of America
Northern America > North America > United States of America
Western USA Alaska Icy Cape Point Barrow
Cultural groups
Inuit (Greenland)
Inuit
Date / Period
Date made: Possibly before 1852
Date collected
1852 - 1854
Acquisition information
Donated: 1884
Materials and processes
Material Wood Plant, Material Animal Ivory Tooth, Process Carved, Process Perforated, Process Incised, Process Grooved
Dimensions
Length: max 453 mm, Width: max 77 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1884.19.352 PR Cat other PR nos: 213
Research and responses

In Primitive Warfare II (read Friday June 5th 1868) Pitt-Rivers describes 2 hafted projectile points collected 'from the Esquimaux, between Icy Cape and Point Barrow' which he purchased from someone who had 'bought them himself from that locality'. He illustrated these 2 objects on Plate XVIII (numbers 163 and 164), to show 'the mode of fixing [arrow-heads and spear-heads] in their shafts' (p. 419). It is possible that this object is part of the material obtained from Alaska in this purchase. [Dan Hicks 20/09/2012]

Spear throwers were used by the Inuit in North America to help harpoons and spears travel further and with greater speed. Inuit spears had bone or ivory pegs which fitted perforations in the spear-throwers. Handgrips were important in the intense cold of northernmost N America and these spear-throwers often have grips designed to fit a particular hunter's hand. The length of an Inuit spearthrower is usually equal to the distance between the tip of the elbow and the extended index finger of the hunter. [AP Leverhulme project on founding collection 1995-1998]

Associated publications
Lane Fox. A.H. 1868. Primitive Warfare II. Journal of the Royal United Services Institution 12 (1868): 399-439. [Dan Hicks 20/09/2012]

Search terms: Weapon, Hunting, Spear-thrower

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