Harpoon element

As Peter Loovers (Sainsbury Centre) points out, based on Sergei A. Arutunov’s text The Eskimo ^Harpoon1, the harpoon of the Old Bering Sea cultures consists of five parts: the counterweight-stabilizer, the shaft, the socket piece, the pre-point and the harpoon point. The carved walrus ivory components were meticulously crafted, in particular the counterweight, shaft head and harpoon tip, which were adorned with intricate motifs.

The harpoon was seen as a conduit to the spirit world, a messenger between humans and marine animals.

Ekven is the name of a village in Chukotka, near the eastern tip of Siberia. The site’s underground houses and tombs, excavated since the 1960s, bear witness to 3,000 years of uninterrupted occupation by whaling populations. Most of the objects discovered at the site are contemporary with the ancient cultures of the Bering Sea, St Lawrence Island and Alaska.
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1- W. Fitzhugh, J. Hollowell, A. Crowell. 2009 Gifts from the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of the Bering Strait, Princeton University Art Museum, 2009, pp 52-57

Price: €19,000