![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4doo__rqbHI9iGkXIYA5EY3g47wkSXO4HNbLMrx3cWejd-ratA40GYRJD75d1j1UExabHo1A0SgFk2NiYvujfuYof24RGwByZZDMxHh-WKrdoQ7SIJrT72F65m2IEmDX5OpPGCrBKa7Q/s200/Frankenpoint+007.jpg) |
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.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuxZDi6U36l0y9I5EurJK0Drsz1ntWRS7f2HHRmWYoNvuKzuRBtnlyMEy7eg9EtCAK9eVUNB5SfamzhFavSShileqampHLioL9iAVsAvMza7JPRqT2mo2NgvQVqGiAjauhRqCHx5ND10/s200/Frankenpoint+009.jpg) |
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.
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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.
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Photo Credits: Tim Rast
*not a real culture