Wooden spear-harpoon, with bone spear head at one end, and bone harpoon fitting at the other end. At the midpoint of the shaft is the head of a seal, in walrus tusk. [VS [OPS move] 6/9/2018]

Collection type: Object
Description: Wooden spear-harpoon, with bone spear head at one end, and bone harpoon fitting at the other end. At the midpoint of the shaft is the head of a seal, in walrus tusk. [VS [OPS move] 6/9/2018]
Long description: Wooden spear-harpoon, with bone spear head at one end, and bone harpoon fitting at the other end. At the midpoint of the shaft is the head of a seal, in walrus tusk. The eyes and ears are infilled with baleen and the seal is bound to the shaft with hide and baleen. The spearhead is a curved sword shape with a groove along the midrigde and is socked to the wooden shaft and also bound on with hide and baleen. The harpoon fitting is a socked bone end, with a hole, fitting a long bone point, held loosely in place by hide binding. [VS [OPS move] 6/9/2018]
Geographical reference: United States of America
Northern America > North America > United States of America; Alaska Bering Strait Kotzebue Sound
Cultural groups: Inuit (Greenland); Inuit
Person: Field collector Frederick William Beechey; Field collector HMS Blossom; PRM source Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Date / Period: Date made: On or before 1826
Date collected: 1826
Acquisition information: Transferred: 11/03/1886
Materials and processes: Material Wood Plant, Material Animal Ivory Tooth, Material Walrus Skin Animal, Material Whale Bone Animal, Material Glass, Material Bead
Dimensions: Depth: max 68 mm, Width: max 49 mm, Length: max 2052 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1886.1.682.1 Other numbers: 332
Research and responses: Please note that there was no further information about Beechey on the Donor Index cards at the Ashmolean Museum, Department of Antiquities. [L.Ph 23/3/2004]

Search terms: Weapon, Hunting, Fishing, Figure, Spear, Harpoon, Animal Figure, Hunting accessory, Fishing Accessory