МАЭ № 2888-67

Fragment of a shaft of a harpoon for hunting seals

Kodiak Eskimos

second half of 19th century

wood, paint, ivory, seal sinew, caribou antler

length 114.5 cm, length of the point 6.4 cm

The Kodiak Alutiit hunted harbor and other types of seals whenever possible. When a man went to sea he always carried in his kayak a harpoon for hunting seals. When he spotted an animal surfacing, the hunter would throw a harpoon and rarely ever missed his target. They often hunted harbor seals when the animals were sleeping on top of the water in kelp beds. Having spotted his prey, the hunter would thrown a harpoon with a float attached to it and yell loudly. The wounded harbor seal would dive deep below in fear, get tangled up in the seaweed and suffocate. After the float which was floating on the surface of the water stopped moving, they would pull the dead animal from the water.

Ethnography of America