Bone Arrowhead
date: label: Accession Date
content: 7 Jan 1869
name: label: Donor Name
content: Roderick R. MacFarlane
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Fish spear point bone."
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/105 , retrieved 1-27-2020: Arrowhead made from bone. It is self-pointed, with barbs along one edge and a conical tang that appears to have been repaired. The Smithsonian Institution catalogue identifies this as a tip for a fish spear; however, it is similar in size and shape to arrowheads on arrows in the MacFarlane Collection. More information here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/4: Complete arrows as well as separate arrowheads are present in the MacFarlane Collection. The arrow shafts are made from a single piece of spruce, and typically are 60 to 70 cm. long. Most have been stained with red ochre. The shafts are round in cross section, except near the notch for the bowstring where they are slightly flattened to provide a better grip for the fingers. Fleching consists of two split and trimmed feathers attached with sinew lashing. Several types of arrowheads were used, depending on the game that was hunted. Some of the ochre markings on arrow shafts may have been owner's marks, and some arrowheads are likewise marked with notches and incised lines that might have been used to identify their owner. Community Interpretations Darrel Nasogaluak: Arrowheads were meant to come off the shaft after an animal was struck. My grandfather Edgar Kotokak told me that barbs were cut into only one edge so that the head moved around inside the wound as the animal moved, increasing the chance of killing it.
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: E7426-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Arrow