Collection: Fry

Item Number: Fry0145

Category: Dart

Region: Arctic

Tribe: Eskimo

Period: 1875-1900

Materials: Walrus ivory point, seal hide line, whale bone foreshaft, wood and fletching.

Description: Sealing dart, to be thrown with an atlatl, usually from a seated position in a kayak. The dart is weighted with a heavy whale bone foreshaft to add weight and energy to the throw. The ivory point detaches from the foreshaft, on impact, and remains attached, by seal hide line, to the wooden shaft in a martingale configuration, causing the shaft to turn crossways in the water and thereby retarding the escape of the injured prey.

Dimensions: 54"

Provenance:

Paul Gray, Old Chatham, N.Y.

Exhibitions:

Lure of the Arctic, Cincinnati Art Museum, October 2007 - January 2008

References:

Fitzhugh, William W. and Susan A. Kaplan, Inua; Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C., 1982, p. 68

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