Fishing Spear

Item name and ID#: Barb from fishing spear, 1975-0543

Donor: Dennis Corrington

Area: Brevig Mission, Alaska

Culture: Iñupiaq

Material: Ivory

Measurements: Length 10 cm Width 1.5 cm

Description: Fishing spear with seven notches cut into the side.

This barb was carved from walrus ivory before it was potentially attached to the end of a fishing spear. It’s most likely a fragment from a three-pronged fishing spear that had been commonly used throughout the Bering Strait region (Alaska Native Collections 2013). Spearheads with the same distinct notches used by Yup'ik communities are described to be made with barbs so the spear holds fast, preventing the fish from releasing itself (Fienup-Riordan 2007).

This fishing spear barb is from Brevig Mission, a small community in the Kawerak region, where approximately 91% of 388 residents are Alaskan Native and fishing remains critical to food security (Raymond-Yakoubian 2019; Raymond-Yakoubian 2013). This remote community must receive all outside goods by air or barge in the summer, meaning subsistence living has remained a critical component of the livelihoods of residents (Raymond-Yakoubian 2009).

The migration and return of fish, including salmon, whitefish, and smelt, to the Bering Strait region is central to life and is a key component of subsistence living (Burch 2006; Raymond-Yakoubian 2019). A Brevig Mission resident notes “I wouldn’t know how to describe who I am, without that subsistence of salmon” (Raymond-Yakoubian and Angnaboogok 2017).

While salmon is incredibly valuable, tomcod is also a critical staple due to its consistent presence in local waters year-round (Raymond-Yakoubian 2013). Rita Olanna, a Brevig Mission resident, explains her “grandpa used to say people […] were saved from starvation because tomcods were plentiful” (Raymond-Yakoubian 2013).

Women will typically cut and section fish with an ulu knife and then process them through methods such as drying, smoking, fresh freezing, and fermentation (Raymond-Yakoubian 2013; Raymond-Yakoubian and Raymond-Yakoubian 2015). Every part of a fish is meticulously used with sections being prepared as food or materials (Raymond-Yakoubian 2013). Eggs, stomachs, livers, and filets can be boiled, fried, smoked, and baked with seal oil and other ingredients (Raymond-Yakoubian 2013). Fish are also commonly eaten dried or partially frozen, called quaq (Raymond-Yakoubian 2013). Some fish-sourced materials include skins that are sewn for waterproof clothing such as boots and tomcod head bones that are used for game pieces (Alaska Native Collections 2013; Raymond-Yakoubian 2013).

Due to the central role of fish in most Alaska Native communities, they are an integral component of identity and are honored with the utmost care and respect (Fienup-Riordan 2007). Origin stories revolving around salmon show how fish have always been an integral part of Indigenous culture and survival (Carothers et al. 2021). It is believed by many Iñupiaq people that fish are persons with agency, and if proper respect is not shown, the fish will be offended and not return (Crowell 2010; Carothers et al. 2021). Iñupiaq people have had to alter their fishing practices due to the pressures of climate change and environmental policy, yet fish remain a critical staple to daily and seasonal life (Raymond-Yakoubian and Raymond-Yakoubian 2015; Raymond-Yakoubian 2009).

The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian holds a barbed Iñupiaq  spear point  made from bone, an Iñupiaq  spear point  made from ivory with eight barbs on two sides, and an Iñupiaq curved barbed  spear point  which would have been used for hunting birds.

Alaska Native Collections (2013) Arctic Studies. Smithsonian Institution.  https://alaska.si.edu/cultures.asp . Last accessed April 28, 2023.

Carothers, C., J. Black, S. J. Langdon, R. Donkersloot, D. Ringer, J. Coleman, E. R. Gavenus, W. Justin, M. Williams, F. Christiansen, C. Stevens, B. Woods, S. Clark, P. M. Clay, L. Mack, J. Raymond-Yakoubian, A. Akall'eq Sanders, B. L. Stevens, and A. Whiting (2021) Indigenous peoples and salmon stewardship: a critical relationship. Ecology and Society 26(1):16.

Crowell, Aron L. Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska. (2010) Washington: Smithsonian Institution.

Fienup-Riordan, Ann, and Alice Rearden (2007) Yuungnaqpiallerput = the Way We Genuinely Live: Masterworks of Yup'ik Science and Survival. Seattle: University of Washington Press in association with Anchorage Museum Association and Calista Elders Council.

Oquilluk, William A., and Laurel L. Bland (1981) People of Kauwerak: Legends of the Northern Eskimo. Anchorage, AK: Alaska Pacific University Press.

Raymond-Yakoubian, Julie M. (2019) “Salmon, Cosmology, and Identity in Elim Alaska,”  https://kawerak.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TK-of-Salmon-Final-Report.pdf . Last accessed April 28, 2023.

Raymond-Yakoubian, B., and Raymond-Yakoubian J.  (2015) “Always taught not to waste”: Traditional Knowledge and Norton Sound/Bering Strait Salmon Populations.  https://kawerak.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TK-of-Salmon-Final-Report.pdf   Last accessed April 28, 2023.        

Raymond-Yakoubian, Julie M. (2013) When the fish come, we go fishing: local ecological  knowledge of non-salmon fish used for subsistence in the Bering Strait region.  https://kawerak.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Non-Salmon-Report.pdf  Last accessed April 28, 2023.       

Raymond-Yakoubian and Angnaboogok (2017) Cosmological Changes. Shifts in Human–Fish Relationships in Alaska’s Bering Strait Region. In Shared Lives of Humans and Animals: Animal Agency in the Global North. Eds. Tuomas Räsänen and Syrjämaa Taina. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

University of Missouri Museum of Anthropology (n/d) General Collection Object Data Form. Museum of Anthropology.  https://as-file.col.missouri.edu/fmi/webd/General%20Collection . Last accessed April 17, 2023.