From card: ""Palma, spear used in bear hunting" Iron blade, wooden handle, leather wrapping at upper end."
Reference: Ivanova-Unarova, Zinaida, 2017. Siberian Collections in the U.S. Museums. Yakutsk. Object is identified there: Spear. Batyia. 18-19th century. Metal, wood, hide. Forging, carving. Length with shaft: 132. A metal blade is attached to a long wooden shaft. On the right side, there is a wide uosoval fuller typical for batyia. The blade gradually widens at the centre, narrowing at the tip. The base of the blade is profiled with notches. The wooden shaft is wrapped in small leather straps. In the 17th century, the spear was used as a hacking-thrusting weapon for close combat. In the 18th-19th centuries, it was used for hunting. The metal is heavily blackened and there is a crack on the shaft.
