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The rostrum from a bowhead
whale, this piece of bone extends from the top-front
of the skull with great plates of baleen (whale
bone) hanging from either side making up two sides
of a triangle. The rostrums are always found
detached from the rest of the skull indicating
perhaps that they were cut off for ease of
processing. This piece is about 3-4m long.
the holes in the bone are where major blood vessels
and/or nerves passed through to supply the skin and
muscle.
A large open bay to the south of the Hornsund fjord, Gåshamna
is the site of whaling activity from the 1600 to
1700's. In these times bowhead and right whales were
the target species as they were slow swimming and
relatively easy to catch, they yielded large
quantities of oil and of whale bone (baleen). The
faster swimming rorquals such as blue, fin and minke
whales wouldn't be in the whalers sights for another
two hundred years.
These remains are left behind by English whalers of
this era.
76° 56.7' N, 15°
49.9' E
Picture
copyright Paul Ward |
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