Fish Spear
date: label: Accession Date
content: 7 Jan 1869
name: label: Collector
content: Roderick R. MacFarlane
label: Donor Name
content: Roderick R. MacFarlane
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "ILLUS. IN PROCEEDINGS, USNM, VOL. 60; PL. 24, NO. 9; P. 48." FROM 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "ADJUSTABLE SPEAR-HEADS.-CONSIST OF TWO PARTS: A CARVED, BARBED BONE, WHICH IS POINTED AND FITS INTO HEAD OF WOODEN SHAFT, AND A METAL HEAD, BARBED, WHICH IS LASHED IN A SLOT IN OUTER END OF THE BONE HEAD. FROM ANDERSON RIVER. LENGTHS, 6 1/2 INS. TO 1 FT. 2 INS. BRITISH AMERICA, 1867. COLLECTED BY ROBERT [SIC, SHOULD BE RODERICK] MACFARLANE. NOS. 7,420, 2,431, AND FOUR SPECIMENS, NO. 2,675."
label: Notes
content: Note that 7420 is mentioned as being used in an exhibit in Berlin in 1880 on p. 60 of USNM Bulletin No. 18.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Inuvialuit Pitqusiit Inuuniarutait: Inuvialuit Living History, The MacFarlane Collection website, by the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre (ICRC), Inuvik, N.W.T., Canada (website credits here http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/posts/12 ), entry on this artifact http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/items/111 , retrieved 1-27-2020: Dart head made from whalebone. It has two barbs along one edge, and an iron blade set into a slot at one end and held in place with an iron rivet. The other end tapers to a rounded point where it would have been inserted into a socket at the end of a shaft. Near that end a hole has been drilled for attaching a line. The Smithsonian Institution's catalogue card identifies this item as a fish spear, but more likely it is a head for a dart used for hunting sea mammals. More information here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/38: Darts are used for hunting sea mammals such as seals and whales. Darts have a barbed point that is inserted into a socket at the end of a shaft. The dart head detached from the shaft and stays attached to an animal when it is struck. A line fastened to the dart head is secured at the other end to a float or to the shaft.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 21 Apr 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Northwest Territories, Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Inuit, Inuvialuk (Inuvialuit)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 69A00012
label: USNM Number
content: E7420-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Dart
physicalDescription: label: Minimum Length - Object
content: 16.5 cm
label: Maximum Length - Object
content: 36 cm