Whalebone Fish Line And Hooks Item Number: E5116-0 from the National Museum of Natural History

Notes

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/157 , retrieved 1-13-2020: Three fish lures with lines attached. The shanks of the lures are made from antler. Two have iron hooks and one has a hook made of copper. Each has a baleen line attached to holes drilled through the narrow end of its shank, and shallow holes for decorative insets drilled into faces and edges for decorative insets. The insets that are still in place are all pieces of copper. More information here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/21: Fishing tackle was used for catching fish in rivers and streams during the open water season, and for jigging through holes chiseled through ice in winter and spring. Fishing tackle in the MacFarlane Collection includes fishing rods (iqaluksiun) with lines (ipiutaq) made from baleen, and bone and antler lures (niksik) with iron hooks. Less commonly, fishhooks were made from wood.