Dorswater* Endblade

Groswater endblade, Dorsal view

Have you ever asked yourself, "Could plano-convex box-based Groswater Palaeoeskimo endblades have been tip-fluted?"  I mean, who hasn't?  Maybe you were thinking that the reason we never, or practically never, find tip-fluted Groswater endblades is that there is some mechanical limit that makes it impossible to knap such a thing.

Well, there isn't.

Ventral face with a WHAAAAT?

 If the people who knapped the distinctive Groswater endblades had wanted to, they could have tip-fluted them just fine.  So scratch that one off the list, here's a reproduction of a tip-fluted Groswater endblade that proves the point.  The reason or reasons that Groswater endblades are not tip-fluted is not a function of the other unusual properties of the endblades - that they have a plano-convex or "D" shaped cross-section and a squared box base.  There must have been other reason(s) for the design.

This unusual endblade will tip the one-of-a-kind harpoon reproduction that I'm working on for an archaeologist who wants a single piece that represents all of the various cultures and sites that he's worked on. I haven't initialled it yet, but I promise to sign it.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

*not a real culture