Eastern Greenland Harpoon and Atlatl Spearthrower from the Meteor Expedition 1929

A scarce East Greenlandic Inuit or Kalaallit harpoon lance and Atlatl (spearthrower). Collected in 1929 in Angmassalik (now Tasiilaq) by a member of the German Meteor Expedition (Deutsche Atlantik Expedition), from whose family these items were purchased. The Meteor expedition was a geographical and oceanographic mission that undertook several journeys in the 1920’s mainly to the South Atlantic but also the north Arctic Sea and the Coast of Greenland. These items come with a photocopy of a german newspaper page detailing the exact journey in 1929 on which these specific objects were collected. Although the date of collection is proven, it seems very likely that these two pieces are in fact of much greater age and are in fact 19th century. Both items have suffered some damage in use, something that happened not infrequently given the harsh usage and climate to which they were subjected. The long lance or harpoon made of Siberian light driftwood as is typical for these pieces, the front mounted with a sturdy plate of seal or narwhal bone which is lashed with sealskin thong. The Narwhal point with a break halfway along. Halfway along the shaft are a couple of holes presumably to take pegs to fit to the atlatl, one further protruding bone peg, and a bone hook to be used as a lever when using the spear thrower. The spear thrower itself with typical shaped finger notches to one end, one side reinforced with shaped sections of sealbone. There is a groove along the centre to one side to fit snugly with the lance. The bone mount to the very tip has suffered a fracture where it would have had a hole to fit to the corresponding hook on the harpoon. To one side is an inked inscription ‘ Angmangsalik 16 August 1929’. harpoon 77 inches long overall.