Credit: National Film Board of Canada

Arrowheads

These tools were used by prehistoric people in Newfoundland and Labrador about 4,000 years ago. The dark tool on the bottom is a spear point made of chipped stone. It was found at a site in Bonavista Bay. The four other tools were found at burial sites at Port-aux-Choix on the Northern Peninsula. The two just above the penny are made of slate. They may have been used to kill seals and walruses or caribou. Above them is a harpoon, and the largest tool is a lance made of bone.

The harpoon is called a toggling harpoon. It was a better tool than the ones made earlier. The toggling harpoon has two parts, which you can see here. The part at the right of this picture is called the foreshaft. It is made of bone or antler. It was tied to a long wooden pole. The part with the hole in it is the point. A rope made of skin was tied through the hole. The hunter held the rope. When an animal was harpooned, the hunter pulled the foreshaft out so that only the point was left in the animal. Then, he pulled on the line and the point turned sideways. This fixed the harpoon point inside the animal. Then the hunter could hold the animal with his rope and move in to kill it with a lance.