Seal, Walrus & Whale Harpoon
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1880
name: label: Donor Name
content: Edward W. Nelson
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "45415-18. #45415 - ILLUS. IN BAE 18TH AR, PT. 1; PL. LV-A7; P. 139." LOAN: CROSSROADS SEP 22 1988. ILLUS.: CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS CATALOGUE; FIG.199, P.162. LOAN RETURNED: JAN 21 1993. NOTE: object was lent for Crossroads (and thus illustrated in catalogue) under incorrect catalogue # of 45475. Crossroads caption notes: "Walrus harpoons were heavier than sealing harpoons and had larger heads. Seal hide was used as line. Ice picks at the butt end balanced the shaft and were used for testing ice thickness."
label: Notes
content: Described p. 108 in Brown, James Temple. 1883. The whale fishery and its appliances. Washington: Govt. print. off.: "Eskimo Harpoon. Handle, wood, tipped with head of an animal carved in bone. Bone shank inserted in recess of tip and lashed with raw-hide. End of handle near tip served with strips of baleen and rawhide. Small seal-head carved in bone and seized to central part of handle, used as a finger rest, and as a stop for the line. Harpoon-butt and head wanting. Total length, 54 inches. Sledge Island. E. W. Nelson."
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact https://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=574 , retrieved 12-17-2021; see web page for additional information: Harpoon, Inupiaq. This heavy harpoon for bearded seals and walrus has a toggling head designed to turn and hold fast beneath the animal's skin. Behind the toggling head its slender foreshaft is a carved bone socketpiece bearing the image of a polar bear, invoking the spirit of one of the Arctic's most sacred and respected animals. An ice pick is attached to the other end of the weapon.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 31 Jan 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Sledge Island, Norton Sound, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Inupiaq
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 80A00050
label: USNM Number
content: E45415-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Harpoon
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 173.7 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 5.5 cm