Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Palaeoeskimo Scraper Sampler

A pile of reproduction scrapers
I need an assortment of Palaeoeskimo scrapers for a couple ongoing orders.  Here's a look at some of the chert side scrapers and end scrapers that I have made, so far.  A portion of this collection will be sent off as is, while others will be hafted into handles for the client.  Like the original tools, these reproductions are generally made unifacially on flakes of chert.  They are designed to be hafted into handles and while there was usually an effort made to maintain a purely unifacially worked scraping edge, the hafting area of these tools often show bifacial retouch to help shape the flake to fit into the socket of a handle.  The handles took many forms, but among the Palaeoeskimo cultures, they were usually open sockets and the stone was hafted with the flat ventral surface of the flake mounted facing away from the handle.

Assorted side scrapers



Groswater Palaeoeskimo end scrapers.  Usually we find the little used up scrapers with their distinctive ears, like the one on the right, but when they were first made they would have had a longer, wider body like the one on the left.  As they are used, blunted, resharpened, and used again, that wide body is worn back towards the handle and the ears form just at the point that the stone tool is ready to be discarded.

Mixed Palaeoeskimo side scrapers and end scrapers.



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