1000 year old copper pointed antler arrow found in Yukon

[snappingturtle]

There's no way it was ever fired from a bow. I think it's likely a seal harpoon, the point fitting an equal shaped hollow in a spear handle and, as mentioned, a line attached. I've seen footage of Eskimo people hunched over ice holes waiting for the seal to take some air using a similar device, but more of a toggle that releases within the animal than this thing. I don't see it as an active hunting weapon, more a lying in wait weapon.

I was thinking inuit harpoon myself but they recon its an arrow head? I don' t see anything giving dimensions, what makes you think its not as they say?

 

[Nice65]

I was thinking inuit harpoon myself but they recon its an arrow head? I don' t see anything giving dimensions, what makes you think its not as they say?

It doesn't have a notch, it has a point designed to fit into a shaft. it isn't straight or aerodynamic, it's not a material used for arrows, and it couldn't penetrate prey to a depth that allows the barbs to be useful if shot from a bow. It's a plunging, striking weapon that requires the weight and thrust of a hunters body behind it. It also closely resembles pictures of similar hunting tools at the time. I'm reckoning fishing tool because no hunter would plunge that into a pig or moose and not expect the animal to become seriously narked about it, therefore highly dangerous.

And because I rarely believe everything I read in the news.

 

[Robson Valley]

Might as well look at UBC/MOA documented examples as much as any thing else.
Coppermine and Yellowknife got their names with the native copper nuggets, mixed in the local river gravels.
I have handled those nuggets, pea size to maybe 20 mm.
The copper tip is a cutter which allows the insertion of the larger barbed bone section.

To contemplate its use also requires you to get a correct list of potential prey for the Pacific Northwest.

Build a fire, bang a few rocks together and forge a copper tip like that one. Interesting exercise.