Throwing Board
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1 Nov 1878
name: label: Donor Name
content: Edward W. Nelson
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "THE NOTCHES ON THE HANDLE SHOW THE NUMBER OF BELUGA (WHALES) KILLED BY THE OWNER. WITH FINGER POCKET ON THE SHAFT AND TWO PEGS FOR THE OTHER FINGERS. INTERMEDIATE FORM USED ABOUT NORTON SOUND, ALASKA. IN NORTON SOUND, WHILE THE KOTZEBUE FINGER POCKET IS PRESERVED, TWO OR MORE PEGS ARE SET ON THE SIDE OF THE SHAFT TO GIVE THE FINGERS A FIRMER GRASP. ILLUS. IN BAE 18TH AR, PT. 1; FIG. 43-3; P. 154."
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=70 , retrieved 11-25-2021; see web page for additional information: Throwing board, Inupiaq. A throwing board added length and leverage to a man's arm, allowing him to hurl a harpoon or dart with great speed, power, and distance. The shaft of the weapon rested in the groove along the top of the board and pivoted on the ivory piece at the end. Boards for seal hunting were equal in length to the distance between a man's elbow and the tip of his forefinger, but longer boards were used for large animals such as beluga whales. Hunters used throwing boards to increase the force and speed with which they could throw darts for killing sea mammals and waterfowl. This tool is also called a thruster, throwing stick, spear thrower or atlatl. It is a flat piece of wood with a groove along the top where the dart shaft rests, and an ivory pin that hooks the back end of the dart. The front end is shaped to fit the hand, with pegs on the side for a better grip and a hole for the forefinger. For most uses, the distance between the hunter's elbow and tip of his forefinger determined the length of the board. Extra length was added if it was for hunting beluga whales. Capt. F. W. Beechey-in the Kotzebue Sound area in 1826-described how a throwing board was used: "In our way on board we met several native caiacs [kayaks], and had an exhibition of the skill of one of the Esquimaux in throwing his dart, which he placed in a slip, a small wooden instrument about a foot in length, with a hole cut in the end to receive the forefinger, and a notch for the thumb. The stick being thus grasped, the dart was laid along a groove in the slip, and embraced by the middle finger and thumb. The man next propelled his caiac [kayak] with speed in order to communicate greater velocity to the dart, and then whirled it through the air to a considerable distance."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 20 Jan 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Kigiktauik, 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: 78A00080
label: USNM Number
content: E33897-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Atlatl
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 61 cm