Harpoon Rest
date: label: Accession Date
content: 9 Feb 1882
name: label: Collector
content: Edward W. Nelson
label: Donor Name
content: Edward W. Nelson
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "NAME: WHALE LINE GUIDE.* REMARKS: USED ON BOW OF UMIAK AFTER WHALER. ILLUS. IN BAE 18TH AR, PT. 1; PL. LXXVIII-37; P. 218. ILLUS. IN BAE 18TH AR, PT. 1; PL. CVII-A; P. 446. ALSO IN USNM REPT, 1895; PL. 72, FIGS. 1 & 2; P. 912. *NELSON CALLS THIS A "SPEAR REST", IT PROBABLY FUNCTIONS AS BOTH. LOANED TO UNI. GALLERY 1/7/82. RETURNED 5/23/82."
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=110 , retrieved 11-25-2021; see web page for additional information: Harpoon rest, Inupiaq. Images of legendary tiŋmiaqpait [big birds (giant eagles)], each with a whale in its talons, appear on this harpoon rest from the bow of a whaling boat. The birds are remembered for teaching people to practice the Messenger Feast and the Eagle-Wolf Dance. The spiritual aspects of whaling inspire both Inupiaq art and oral tradition. As 19th century Inupiaq hunters watched and waited for bowhead whales, they kept a large whaling harpoon ready in the bow of the umiaq [open skin boat]. There it rested in a U-shaped holder made of wood, bone, or walrus ivory. When close to a bowhead, the harpooner lifted the heavy weapon from its resting place and threw with all his strength. Harpoon rests, which were decorated with symbols of animal spirits, are not used on modern whaling boats. This harpoon rest from the village of Wales on the northwest Alaska coast is made out of two pieces of walrus ivory, pinned together with ivory pegs. Drawings of eagles catching whales appear on the front and back, and animals with lifted paws-polar bears according to Edward Nelson-are carved on each side. The holes are for leather lashings that tied the harpoon rest to the frame of the boat. Stories about tiŋmiaqpait [big birds (usually identified as giant eagles)] were told by many peoples of the North Pacific region. There are Inupiaq, Yup'ik, Chukchi, Koryak, St. Lawrence Island Yupik, and Alutiiq traditions about these birds. In villages along the Alaska coast, the birds were said to hunt whales; in inland areas, they preyed on caribou and even people. At Sabotnisky, a village on the lower Yukon River, a legendary pair of giant eagles nested in an old volcano. They fed their young with people they snatched from the village, until at last a hunter killed them to revenge the death of his wife. The eagles' mountaintop nest was littered with human bones, shreds of clothing and even kayaks that had been plucked from the Yukon River with hunters inside. In other stories, however, giant eagles help people by teaching them the songs and dances of the Messenger Feast.
label: Notes
content: On exhibit in NMNH Sant Ocean Hall. 2014 exhibit caption identifies this as an ivory harpoon rest with thunderbird design, Inupiaq.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 16 Dec 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Cape Prince Of Wales, 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: 82A00003
label: USNM Number
content: E48169-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Harpoon Rest
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 15 cm