29 
BILATERALLY BARBED BONE HARPOON POINTS 
Fifteen bilaterally barbed harpoon points were found (See Plate I, 
figures 22, 23, 24, 26, 27). Twelve of them are broken and four have been 
scorched, but whether accidentally, or intentionally to harden them, is 
uncertain. That four of the points are unfinished is suggested by the marks 
of cutting still to be seen on the sides and edges (figure 27), the irregular 
shape, unsmoothed appearance, and thickened butts of others, and the fact 
that one point retains part of the joint (figure 22). Only a few are 
smoothed and polished. Two are derived from the front wall and three 
others from the back wall of metapodial bones of the deer, the latter 
retaining the natural, longitudinal hollow (figures 22 and 27) ; another 
(figure 24) seems to be made from the side wall of the same kind of bone; 
and two are derived from parts of deer tibiae. The rest of the points are 
probably also derived from deer bones. A few show the cancellated part 
of the bone. Many points have blunt tips. The shape of their cross- 
section depends on the kind of bone from which they are derived or the 
degree of artificial modification, those retaining the marrow hollow of the 
bone being concavo-convex, whereas the smoothly finished specimens are 
round, half round, and oval. Some of the points are symmetrical; the one 
in figure 24 has the edges parallel for over two-thirds of its entire length; 
others (figure 27) are not symmetrical. The bases of only two of the whole 
specimens (figures 24 and 27) have been made to fit into the socket in the 
spear shaft; the basal edge of another has been chipped, possibly in 
preparation for grinding to a wedge shape. The point in figure 23 has 
two deep notches on the basal portion, probably for the attachment of the 
cord by which it was secured to the shaft. The barbs, which are mostly 
opposite each other, were made by oblique notches, the axils being acute. 
Some of them are crudely made. The number of barbs varies, three 
specimens having one barb (figure 27); two, two barbs; five, three barbs 
(figures 24 and 26) ; three, four barbs; one, three barbs on one edge and 
four on the other (figure 22) ; and another, one barb on one edge and eight 
others in four groups of two barbs on the other (figure 23). The three whole 
specimens are 3fV, 4f, and 7 inches long, respectively. They are ^ to 
T % inch thick. None of them is perforated, in fact very few found at 
Iroquoian sites elsewhere have holes (Rau, page 150, and Beauchamp, 
4:294). The shape of the point in figure 23 suggests that it may have 
been brought from the Atlantic coast, where similar specimens have been 
found (Compare with Smith, 3, Plate VI, figure 9). 
The fact that here, as well as at Iroquoian sites elsewhere in Ontario 
(author, 2:48) and New York, so many of the points are broken would 
suggest that these specimens may have been points for arrows rather than 
harpoons, or they may have served as terminal or central prongs of the 
trident type of spear, as in three Eskimo specimens in the National Museum 
of Canada (See Cadzow, Plate II, figure b). 
Points of the same type as some of those described above have been 
found at other Iroquoian sites in Ontario (See author, 2, Figures 34, 35, 
37-39), at the site of Iiochelaga (Dawson, 2, Figure 4), in New York 
23466—3 
