New Product! Hafted Beothuk Arrowhead Necklace

Hafted Beothuk points for necklace

This weekend marks a big change of theme for Elfshot. Its the weekend of the Provincial Craft Wholesale Show in St. John's. Craft producers from around the province set up booths at the Holiday Inn and shop owners come and place their spring orders for the upcoming tourist season. The show isn't open to the public and no one actually walks out with product in hand, but if you are a retailer and would like to see what new and innovative products are out there, then this is the place to be.

NEW PRODUCT! Hafted Beothuk Necklaces (Newfoundland Chert, Wood, Artificial Sinew, Epoxy, Red Ochre stain) $39.95 CDN tax inc.

The new product that I'm introducing this season combines two previous best sellers and adds a bit of colour. I'm making hafted Beothuk arrowheads stained with red ochre. I've made hafted necklaces in the past and the Beothuk necklaces made from Newfoundland chert have always been popular, but I haven't hafted these before because I didn't have a good colourfast method of applying the red ochre stain... until now. I know a few people who wear their Elfshot jewelry all the time and I love watching how the pieces age. I think that one of the cool thing about these hafted Beothuk necklaces is that they look old right out of the box and will only acquire more character over the years.

Reproduction Arrow, Recent Indian (Little Passage Beothuk style)

Metal Tipped Arrows made
for "Stealing Mary"

The points that I use on these necklaces are exactly the same as the points that I use on full Beothuk arrow reproductions. Technically the style of arrowhead that I use are Little Passage points. Little Passage is the name given to the Beothuk artifacts that are found in Newfoundland for the 500 years or so before European contact and trade goods start showing up in their archaeological sites. There's no doubt that the Beothuk were the people making the Little Passage arrowheads, but archaeologists tend to make a distinction between the Little Passage time period before contact and the Beothuk time period, after contact. The chipped stone arrowheads started to take second stage to hammered iron arrowheads as soon as European iron became available in the form of scavenged nails and trap parts.

Photo Credits:
1,2,4: Tim Rast
3: Eric Walsh