Bering Sea Carved Whalebone Eskimo Inuit Harpoon Line Attacher
A Bering Sea Carved Whalebone Eskimo Inuit Harpoon Line Attacher in the form of a Polar Bear
18th – Early 19th Century
Size: 6.5cm long, 2.5cm high - 2½ ins long - 1 ins high
18th – Early 19th Century
Size: 6.5cm long, 2.5cm high - 2½ ins long - 1 ins high
Attachers fasten loops at the ends of lines and bar attachers such as this are used to secure the detachable harpoon head to the float line. Animal effigies are often carved for their amuletic properties and because bar attachers are positioned closest to the harpoon and its quarry.
Polar bears are rarely encountered along the mainland south of Norton Sound in the Arctic and the seal hunters may travel on the ice without fear of attacks. In the Bering Strait area and further north the hunters never go onto the winter ice without their spears. Terrible tales are told of the fate of those who chanced to meet these animals while unarmed.
Polar bears are rarely encountered along the mainland south of Norton Sound in the Arctic and the seal hunters may travel on the ice without fear of attacks. In the Bering Strait area and further north the hunters never go onto the winter ice without their spears. Terrible tales are told of the fate of those who chanced to meet these animals while unarmed.
Bering Sea Carved Whalebone Eskimo Inuit Harpoon Line Attacher
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