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1886.1.1287

Fish hook of shell shank with turtle shell hook and bundle of flax line.

1886.1.1287

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Collection type
Object
Description
Fish hook of shell shank with turtle shell hook and bundle of flax line.
Long description
Fish hook of shell shank with turtle shell hook and bundle of flax line. The hook is bound to the shank with flax plant fibre. The tuft of flax contains a few strands of red fibre. [MJD 31/03/2009]
Person
Field collector Johann Reinhold Forster
Field collector Georg Forster
Field collector HMS Resolution
Field collector Frederick William Beechey
Field collector HMS Blossom
PRM source Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Date / Period
Date made: Before 04/06/1774?, uncertain
Date collected
Between 17 August and 18 September 1773, or between 22 April and 4 June 1774?
Acquisition information
Transferred: 19/04/1886
Materials and processes
Material Turtleshell Reptile, Material Flax (NZ) Plant, Material Shell, Material Pigment, Process Carved, Process Ground, Process Perforated, Process Twisted, Process Tied
Dimensions
Width: max 14 mm, Length: max 94 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1886.1.1287
Research and responses

According to Peter Gathercole there is not enough distinctive stylistic evidence or concrete documentation to determine whether any of the fish hooks included in the Cook catalogue were collected by the Forsters or if they could even be associated with Cook voyages. [PG 26/2/97] However, a number of fish hooks have been assigned Forster numbers (1282, 1292, and 1301-1305) but these attributions are tenuous due to the above stated reasons. This object has not been designated a 'Forster' number. [undated, unsigned, but NMM; JC 9 7 2015]

I believe that the "Samoan Is." provenance written on this object is correct, and Society Islands is incorrect. In this case, the hook is unlikely to have been collected during Cook's voyages because Cook did not visit Samoa. Based on the style of the point, and the fact that the point is made of turtle shell, not pearl shell, this fish hook was most likely not collected in French Polynesia or any of the East Polynesian islands. Stylistically, it is a better match with fish hooks collected in West Polynesia (e.g. Tonga or Samoa). Information provided by Barry Rolett, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa, following a research visit in June 2024.

Search terms: Fishing, Hook, Lure, Fishing Accessory, Line

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