Harpoon Head Item Number: A9096 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Large flat leaf-shaped iron blade. Fixed to the blade with compresses of spruce resin are two antler spurs (elk ?) incised with designs of wolf and snake. Also attached, there is a heavy lanyard of twisted sinew (whale or sea-lion) (used to attach head to long line). Engraved with lightning serpent imagery.

History Of Use

The Nuu-chah-nulth and Makah are the only Northwest Coast Indigenous peoples to have hunted the great humpback and gray whales, performing these feats from canoes on the open Pacific Ocean. This detachable harpoon head was designed to dislodge on impact from the shaft of the whaling harpoon, its metal blade (in earlier times, made of sharpened mussel shell) separating from the antler spurs as body heat from the captured whale softened the glue-like resin. Rigorous training, preparatory rituals and specialized equipment- including yew-wood harpoons, sinew lanyards, sealskin floats, cedar-bark lines- were critical to the success of the whaler and his crew.

Iconographic Meaning

Incised on the spurs, and visible to spirit beings under the sea and beyond the horizon (and to those who look closely), are depictions of hiʔitl’i:k, or lightning serpents—supernatural helpers of the greatest whaler of all, the Thunderbird.

Item History

What

Name
Harpoon Head
Identification Number
A9096
Type of Item
harpoon head
Material
sinew, spruce resin, elk antler, iron metal and wood
Manufacturing Technique
worked, bound and carved
Overall
height 24.0 cm, width 7.6 cm, depth 4.8 cm

Who

Culture
Nuu-chah-nulth
Previous Owner
George Terasaki
Received from
George Terasaki (Seller) and Walter C. Koerner (Funding source)

Where

Holding Institution
MOA: University of British Columbia
Made in
Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

When

Creation Date
between 1875 and 1900
Ownership Date
before June 1969
Acquisition Date
during June 1969

Other

Item Classes
metalwork
Condition
fair