Accession Number

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Material

Process

Region

Acquired

PRM Source

Dimension

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Description

Wooden halibut hook with bone barb lashed on and carved with a sculpin or sea lion and bird figure. [CAK 26/06/2009]

Longer Description

Wooden halibut hook with bone barb lashed on and carved with a sculpin or sea lion and bird figure. The hook has been carved from two pieces of wood and lashed together with string to form an acute angle. One arm of the hook is carved from a wood with distinct reddish hues in its growth rings. A bone barb has been carved and lashed to this arm with string. The bone barb is positioned such that it faces the second arm. The second arm is carved with a sea creature, possibly a sculpin or sea lion. It has a prominent nose, open mouth and eyes just above the lashing, and a body with front and back flippers or fins. A small bird figure with body, wings, head and short, crooked beak sits on top of the back flippers/fins. The reverse of this arm has been carved out to form a concave impression. The body of the fish/sea lion has been perforated and a length of cord inserted. The cord has been knotted on either end. [CAK 26/06/2009]

Primary Documentation

Accession Book Entry - WELLCOME HISTORICAL MEDICAL MUSEUM, 28 PORTMAN SQUARE, LONDON, W.1...1951.6.57 N. AMERICA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, HAIDA INDIANS. Wooden halibut hook with bone barb lashed on. Upper part of shank carved with animal and bird. Max. length 23.4 cm.

There is no further information on the catalogue card. [CW 11 6 98]

Pitt Rivers Museum label - BRITISH COLUMBIA HAIDA INDIANS Halibut hook Gift of the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum [MJD 02/04/2009]

Related Documents File - Letter from E. Ashworth Underwood [Director, The Wellcome Historical Medical Museum] to T. K. Penniman dated 30 January, 1951, inviting the Pitt Rivers Museum to send a representative to select items from the Wellcome collection, housed temporarily at the British Museum. [GI 4/2/2002]

Related Documents File - The Haida Project Related Documents File contains video of research sessions and interviews with Haida delegates from September 2009 as part of the project ‘Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge'. It also includes post-visit communications that discuss object provenance. For extensive photographic, video, and textual records documenting the Haida research visit as a whole, including but not limited to preparations of objects for handling, travel logistics, British Museum participation, transcribed notes from research sessions and associated public events held at PRM, see the Haida Project Digital Archive, stored with the Accessions Registers. Original hand-written notes taken during research sessions have been accessioned into the Manuscripts collection, in addition to select other materials. [CAK 02/06/2010]

Research Notes

The following information comes from Haida delegates who worked with the museum's collection in September 2009 as part of the project “Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge”:
This fish hook was viewed alongside other fish hooks on Monday Sept 14, 2009. The hook was identified as a halibut hook. Christian White clarified that it would be used to catch large halibut. He thought it was made from yew wood and red cedar and that the string could be sail-making twine. He thought the figures were a sculpin with a bird on top. Candace Weir commented that the sculpin is a crest within Eagle lineages and that delegates Vince Collison and Melinda Pick could both use the sculpin crest. Melinda Pick and Ruth Gladstone Davies commented that the designs on halibut hooks have nothing to do with what is being caught, but are more likely to to reflect the crests of the owner. Billy Yovanovich thought the figures were of a sea lion with an eagle on top. It was suggested the barb was made from bear or sea lion penis bone.
With regards to the materials, Christian White observed that the section of hook with the barb would often be made from a different kind of wood than the other arm. The differences in the density of the wood allow one section to sink below the other and maintain a particular orientation of the hook in the water. The woods would be weighted so that the hook arm floated. Heavier woods would be affixed to bone barbs, and the lighter wood on the other arm, so that when the hook was on the seabed or sinking it maintained a particular orientation. The bottom section would often need replacing more often, presumably because of the wear from the fishes' teeth.
The bone hooks and wood are bound together using particular tying techniques. This involves laying a length of thread loose along the length of the wood that is to be bound to the hook and binding that under the wound cord. Once enough cord has been wound about the wood and hook this thread is picked back up and used to tie the other end off and to clamp together the sinew / fibres used to tie the hook up. This helps to guard against the binding coming loose as the hook is submerged and begins to absorb water, or as the fish takes hold.
To gauge the hook size a maker would use the width of their thumb across the joint inserted between the bone hook and the outer wooden frame. [CAK 20/05/2010]