Ivory Harpoon Foreshafts
date: label: Accession Date
content: 10 Oct 1913
name: label: Collector
content: Riley D. Moore
label: Donor Name
content: U.S. National Museum
notes: label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027; only one of the three foreshafts is on loan.
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=682 , retrieved 7-17-2018: Harpoon foreshaft. Harpoons were complex and precisely designed tools for harvesting sea mammals. This short, pointed piece served as a connector between the harpoon head and the socket piece. When the weapon hit a seal or walrus the harpoon head popped off and twisted away from the foreshaft, embedding itself beneath the animal's skin.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 12 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 3
place: label: Place
content: St. Lawrence Island, Bering Sea, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yupik, St. Lawrence Island
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 055962
label: USNM Number
content: E280307-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Harpoon
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 12 cm