One side has geometric designs composed of finely carved grooves. One end has a dowel and the other has a knob of pitch.

Geometric designs composed of oblique bands are carved into one side only. Paddle shape, red. Hook section is secured by fibre string and pitch.

Spear thrower with flat handle made of wood that has a round stick attached at one end by pitch, and two pieces of white shell attached at the other by pitch. Handle tapers towards ends.

Spear thrower with wood handle and point. Shell at base of handle and red and black seeds inside shell, along with point, are all secured by pitch.

Spear thrower with paddle-shaped handle that has grey resin on narrow base end and attaching a small stick at the tip. Handle design is geometric with zig-zagging bands composed of diagonal lines at stidk end and a triangle composed of diagonal lines below the zig-zagging bands; handle reverse has no design.

Spear thrower with carved finial that is decorated with small white triangles. Loop of braided cord knotted around centre of shaft.

Spear thrower with flat handle made of wood that has a round stick attached at one end by pitch, and two pieces of white shell attached at the other by pitch. Handle tapers towards ends.

Model of a spear thrower or atlatl. Relatively flat triangular-like shape with one end curving into an upward point and the other end being a flat end which has two holes diagonal from each other and a short denticulate serrated edge.

The spear throwers are Pacific Eskimo, Chugach (J.C.H.King, Museum of Mankind - 12 1992). The original European tribal names and, where possible, current tribal names have both been given in separate GLT fields.; The throwers added power and distance to small spears or darts used in the hunting of seals, sea otters and whales.; Exhibited: One of the spear throwers B) rests on a Qayaq in the CUMAA new Anthropological displays 1990-. Spear thrower A) was loaned by CUMAA to the Vancouver Centennial Museum May 1986, returned January 1987.; Collected by: Swaine.Admiral.Spelman in 1794. Literature: Also see the 'Catalogue of the Northwest Coast Collection: Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology' (1996), Dr Gillian Crowther. (J.Tanner, May 1998). King (1994) notes that he found only one North American record relating to a spear (dart) thrower in the Wisbech Museum records. Although there are three others mentioned as 1851.96.3-5, their provenance is given as Hawaiian. (J.Tanner, December 1998). See 'From Pacific Shores: Eighteenth-century Ethnographic Collections at Cambridge - The Voyages of Cook, Vancouver and the First Fleet' (J. Tanner, 1999:77). See 'Artificial Curiosities from the Northwest Coast of America (J.C.H. King, 1981: cf. Monochrome Plate 25; 21). Vancouver Collection: George Vancouver (1758-1798) was born in King' s Lynn, Norfolk. His father, John Jasper Vancouver was assistant collector of customs at King's Lynn, which was at that time a busy seaport. It is believed that through his connections he was able to bring George to the attention of Captain James Cook, who was then preparing to sail on the second of his world voyages. Thus George entered the Royal Navy in 1771 upon receiving an appointment from Cook and thereby gained a rigorous training in seamanship. In 1791 Vancouver was sent on a mission to receive the surrender of the Spanish post at Nootka Sound in present day British Columbia, to survey the coast of the American Northwest, and to search for a water connection to the eastern part of the continent. He wrote a lengthy account of his voyage entitled, ' A Voyage of discovery to the North Pacific ocean, and Round the World' (1798). It was on this latter voyage that Spelman Swaine accompanied Vancouver and acquired the objects held at UCMAA. Spelman Swaine was born on 1st January 1769 at Lynn Regis in Norfolk and died on 13th January 1848 at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. His forebears had risen from the ranks of yeoman farmers to gain land in the village of Leverington and build Leverington Hall about 1640, which was held by the family until the end of the 18th century. Swaine himself was brought up at Swanns, another mansion in Leverington, but later moved to Wisbech. He began his naval career in April 1782 and by the October he saw action as midshipman on the ' Recovery' in Lord Howe' s relief of Gibraltar. Thereafter, he lead an eventful and distinguished naval career, finally gaining the rank of Rear Admiral in 1846. In particular, the Swaine collection at UCMAA originates from his period with Captain George Vancouver' s expedition round the world between 1791 and 1795 on the HMS Discovery, as midshipman and later lieutenant. Swaine and his family gave a small but important collection from this voyage to Wisbech Museum, which were later acquired by UCMAA. (J. Tanner, 1999). 'Exhibited: B: On display on top of the kayak in the Maudslay Hall, 1990-2012'