Wooden harpoon shaft, L’Anse aux Meadows

The straight brown wooden shaft (bottom) is a harpoon that was used by the Groswater people. The 121 cm long tamarack shaft was excavated at L’Anse aux Meadows in the 1970s.

Above the original artifact is a recreation of what the harpoon would have looked like when it was made and used by the Groswater people nearly 3000 years ago. The recreation was done by Tim Rast of Elf Shot Gallery.

Both the reproduction and original can be found on display in the visitor center at L’Anse aux Meadows.

The original artifact was radiocarbon dated to 2970 years ago (+/-110 years)