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More about Harpoons

E7422-0 - Harpoon Heads (4), Foreshaft and Foreshaft Socket Back

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Description

Four harpoon heads, a foreshaft and a foreshaft socket. The harpoon heads are made of antler. One has a bone or ivory blade inserted into a slot at one end and secured with a bone rivet. The other two have barbed iron blades held in slots by iron rivets. The body of one of the harpoon heads has a sharp barb on each side. Each has a line hole running though the body in the same plane as the blade, and a single spur. The foreshaft is a long, slender and slightly curved rod made of ivory. One end is slightly square and fits snugly into the socket piece. The other end tapers to a rounded point and fits into sockets at the bases of each of the harpoon heads. The socket piece is made of ivory. It has a wedge-shaped base that would have been inserted into a shaft made of wood and secured with lashing of some type. The other end has a drilled hole for receiving one end of the foreshaft.

Information from the Smithsonian

FROM CARD: "1 ILLUS. IN PROCEEDINGS, USNM, VOL. 60; P1. 25, NO. 6; P. 48; ALSO P1. 25, NO. 11."

  • Collection: Macfarlane Collection
  • Catalogue Number: E7422-0
  • Object Type: harpoon
  • Materials: iron, antler, bone, ivory
  • Manufacturing Techniques: cutting, drilling, riveting
  • Tags: hunting, sea mammal hunting

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