Amutat

Identifier1983.087.003

MaterialWood/Plant material;Sea Mammal Bone;Ivory;Sinew;Feather;Fur;Hide;Rock/Stone/Mineral;Human-made

Dimensions Length: 35.5"

Age19th century

ProvenanceNorth Pacific Rim (possibly Prince William Sound region), Alaska (attributed), late 19th century (attributed), Unangax or Alutiiq/Sugpiaq (attributed). Purchased from Jonathan Holstein, New York, New York. The shaft is made of wood, with a bone socket, into the end of which is a hollowed wooden plug in which a unilaterally barbed (3 barbs) bone point is placed. The bone point is connected to a braided sinew line with many windings of a navy blue commercial thread. The sinew line is wound around the socket piece and the wooden shaft, and tied at two places. At the point where the bone socket is connected to the shaft, a thin layer of rawhide (gut ?) covers the joint. The shaft is round, narrowing slightly beneath the fletching and ending in a bulbous end. The three feathers are light brown, dark brown, and mottled brown, held to the shaft at each end by sinew. The shaft is painted red except for the final 3.2 cm. at the junction of shaft and socket piece, where there is a blue/black band. The arrow is decorated in a variety of ways: the sinew line near the barbed tip has blue and red wool thread worked into it; the rawhide or gut junction cover has red string at one end and blue at the other. The socket piece is decorated with four sets of two nucleated circles connected by an incised line. The arrow is part of a larger collection which includes a bow, four arrows, and a wooden quiver for hunting sea otters.