Bone and chert pins

Bone hair pins and chert figurines

Rounding out the jewellery order that I've been working on are two pairs of pins; one pair made from bone and the other made from chert.  The bone pins are reproductions of Maritime Archaic hair pins found at Port au Choix.  They are carved with bird heads.  I include sealskin barrettes with the ones that I make, but there is no direct evidence that this is how they would have been used.  The little chert human figures are based on an artifact from a Dorset Palaeoeskimo context at Port au Choix.  There are a few human and animal representations knapped from chert that have been found at Dorset sites.  Sometimes they are made on old endblades and other times (like those reproduced here) they are made on flakes.  These pieces have metal pin backs glued on to them to turn them into small brooches.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast