ALASKAN ARTIFACTS

ALEUT,  INUIT ESKIMO

 

Toggling Harpoon

OBS Phase Length: 3.54"

With chert side blades

 

Toggling Harpoon- form of a harpoon that toggles sideways beneath the skin and blubber of a sea mammal, where it cannot be broken off by ice

 

Non- Toggling Harpoon form of a harpoon that detaches from its shaft after it pierces the prey, becoming lodged under the blubber and skin by means of its barbed sides.

 

The barbed non-toggling form,probably originated from the old paleolithic fish harpoon that predates man's arrival in the Bering Strait by thousands of years,

 

For more information  see the

Arctic Studies Center

 

Non-Toggling Harpoon

 

Non-Toggling Type Harpoon

Harpoon with Tip Length:7.25" Lithic Comp.: Antler with Grey Chert Point

First Stage Length 4.85" Material Comp.: Ivory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Length: 5.801"

Lithic Comp.: Antler w/ Iron

  

     

Old Bering Sea > Birnirk Culture . Archaic Stage marine-mammal-hunting communities flourishing around the coasts of the Bering Straits in North America and Siberia between about 2200 BP and 1500 BP. Representing the early stages of the Thule Tradition, the material culture includes pottery influenced by developments in Siberia. Stone tools tend to be polished slate rather than chipped stone, and include lanceolate knives, projectile heads, and the ulu transverse-bladed knife.

Length: 2.4"

Lithic: Comp: Green Chert
 

Length: 2.6"

Ivory Barbs Missing

Lithic: Comp: Green Chert

Toggle Heads

 

Punuk Culture, Circa 1000 BP,  Baleen Harpoon Point from St Lawrence Island

Length: 2.555"

Thickness: .094"

Width: 1.150"

Lithic Comp.: Baleen
 

Stemmed Toggle Point

Length: 1.879"

Thickness: .149"

Width: .800"

Lithic Comp.: Slate

Length: 1.605"

Thickness: .080"

Width: .429"

Lithic Comp.: Flaked Basalt
 

Length: 1.550"

Thickness: .070"

Width: .948"

Lithic: Comp: Slate
 

Length: 1.644"

Thickness: .071"

Width: .896"

Lithic: Comp: Slate

Length: 1.199"

Thickness: .074"

Width: .556"

Lithic: Comp: Slate

Length: 1.452"

Thickness: .053"

Width: .922"

Lithic: Comp: Slate
 

Punuk Culture

  

Toggle Preform

Whale Toggling Harpoon