Large Projectile
Total L: 44.5cm
Shaft: 40.5 x 1.3cm
Tip: 4cm long x 3.5cm wide (at widest point) x .1cm thick
Wood, metal, baleen
Port Clarence, Alaska (Iñupiaq), c. 1881
Collector: W. H. Dall
Museum ID: DAL.C1.abf.1130
This projectile may have been an attachment for a larger lance which would be used to kill a sea mammal that had already been weakened by harpoons. The hunter would pierce the animal with the lance and the tip would detach, remaining lodged in the animal. The body of the lance tip is made of wood and is tipped with a metal point, which is attached with a strip of baleen. On the side of the lance tip, closer to the metal point, is a small carving of what appears to be a wolf or some other creature. Often hunters would mark their lances with identifying marks such as these so that if an animal escaped and was found they would know who had killed it.