Completing the first Quttinirpaaq Reproductions

Artifacts (top),  Reproductions (bottom)

I can check off a few of the reproductions in the Quttinirpaaq National Park Independence I job after today.  I trimmed the microblades down that I made earlier in the week so that they match the artifacts and made a couple bifaces to match the endblades/projectile points in the collection.

Biface tip. Artifact (L), Reproduction (R)

Many of the pieces in this collection are broken, which can make them tricky to reproduce.  It usually means that I have to make a complete piece and then break it.  I really only get one shot at the break so unless its perfect I have to start over again.  One of the pieces that I worked on today has a funny break due to a flaw in the material.  In the photo on the left, you can see a little spur of stone hanging off the fracture in the artifact.  It may be difficult to reproduce exactly.  I got a pretty good copy done today, but I'll probably try another one later just to see if I can get lucky.

Serrated point, Artifact (L), Reproduction (R)

The little serrated endblade or projectile point is probably my favourite piece so far.  Its very finely chipped, with the sides of the stem being ground slightly to be fit into a socket on an arrow shaft or harpoon head.  I made one version of the this piece on the silicified coral that I showed on Wednesday's post, but it turned out to be too white.  I tried to scorch it a bit to darken up the colour, but overdid it and it wound up looking kind of messy.  I made a second one that I'm much happier with - its the one in the photos here.  I used another heat treated rock that I found in bucket of rock in my workshop.  I'm not exactly sure where it came from, but its a pretty good match for chert used in the Kettle Lake projectile point.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast