de Laguna] ARCHEOLOGY, YAKUT AT BAY AREA, ALASKA 153 



This type of spear is primarily used to catch fish in frozen lakes in 

 winter, and would therefore not be as important among coastal tribes 

 who relied upon stores of dried and smoked salmon, taken by the far 

 more efficient traps and weirs. 



On the other hand, Drucker (1950, Trait 49, p. 238) reports the 

 fish gaff from a number of northern and central Northwest Coast 

 tribes, although he "does not believe the gaff hook was an aboriginal 

 implement on this part of the coast, nor did most informants think so." 

 Descriptions of the gaff hook by some of our Tlingit informants do 

 not give the same impression of such recent adoption. Birket-Smith 

 (1953, pp. 41, 200), moreover, records the gaff from the Aleut, Chu- 

 gach, and other Eskimo groups, and finds it "common throughout 

 the Northwest Coast and far into California," ascribing to it a respect- 

 able antiquity (i.e. as "Neo-Eskimo"). We cannot, of course, be sure 

 that Drucker and Birket-Smith are referring to exactly the same 

 implement. 



The gaff is used by the Thngit to hook salmon by feel in muddy 

 streams where they cannot be seen and speared. Such streams are 

 numerous in the Yakutat area. 



FISH LURES OR AMULETS 



Two flat pieces of bird bone from Old Town I may have been lures 

 or amulets (fig. 18, k, I). They are 4.5 cm. long, and 1 to 1.4 cm. 

 wide, with the outlines of a fish. On one, the eye, mouth, fin (?), and 

 tail are depicted, while a drilled hole served for suspension. The other 

 only vaguely suggests a fish, with a deep notch at one end and a pair 

 of notches at the other, representing the mouth and tail and perhaps 

 serving for attachment of a cord. 



Drucker (1950, Trait 98, a, h) reports no fish Im-es on the Northwest 

 Coast, except for the very special spinner used by the Nootka which 

 is quite different from the fish image dangled from a line. R-ostlund 

 (1952, pp. 180 f.) has summarized the distribution of the fish decoy. 



Figure 18. — Devices used in fishing and trapping. Drawn by Donald F. McGeein. a, 

 Bone barb for gaff or fish spear, from Mound B, upper levels, Old Town III (No. 321); 

 b, bone gorge, from Surface Pit 8, Mound B, lower levels, Old Town II (No. HI); c, bone 

 gorge, from Mound B, lower levels. Old Town II (49-25^6); d, copper pin (tooth for fish 

 rake?), from fill of House 8, Old Town II (No. 602); e, copper pin (tooth for fish rake?), 

 from Mound B, lower levels. Old Town II (No. 877); /, bone barb for gaff or fish spear, 

 from Mound B, upper levels, Old Town III (49-25-45); g, bone barb for gaff or fish 

 spear, from Subsurface Pit 38 below Storage House, Old Town II (No. 432); h, notched 

 pebble (sinker?), from Mound B, upper levels. Old Town III (No. 21); i, copper pin (tooth 

 for fish rake?), from Mound B, upper levels. Old Town III (No. 970); ;, copper hook 

 (for snare ?), from fill of House Pit 1, Old Town III (No. 758); k, bone fish lure (?), from 

 Mound D, upper levels, Old Town I (No. 925); /, bone fish lure (?), from Mound D, lower 

 levels. Old Town I (No. 923). 



