Harpoon-Head

Date1800-1900

MediumBone

ClassificationsAgriculture/subsistence

Terms

Object numberC03237

DescriptionSmall head of a harpoon. For hunting small animals, fish or birds.

Inuit and Eskimo harpoon-heads were either toggle-heads or barbed heads. The main difference between these two styles lies in the way each cements the animal in place - the toggle-head twists 90 degrees through a complex system of external lines and pulleys, while the barbed heads simply had teeth along the edges that secured the harpoon in place. This harpoon-head is evidently of the second category, with a longer shape and teeth running along the side such that the piece could easily puncture flesh and not so easily come loose.
Inuit or possibly Aleut.

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