| Adzelike Tools |
Adzes and their flakes, axes, chisels,
gouges and picks are
included
under one class because all are ground tools analyzed using similar
traits. ADZES
are long asymmetric unifacial tools with retouched hafts
for wood and antler sockets. Their asymmetry arises from flaking and
grinding on the dorsal face of the tip and sides of their bits, using
the flat ventral bottom of the adze as a platform. Sometimes, a small
groove was cut here parallel to the sides. This groove served as a
limit for flake removal when the adze was sharpened. Sharpening FLAKES
from the cutting edge or bit may be identified from the orientation of
their striae or use lines and the curved platform. Lateral adze flakes
have straight platforms. AXES are bifacial symmetric
tools also with
retouched hafts, their symmetry coming from equal flake removal and
grinding of both lateral faces, with the cutting edge parallel to the
long axis. CHISELS with unifacially or bifacially
retouched bits are
smaller than adzes unless hand-hafted, where they are larger. GOUGES
are channel-ground for grooving wood while PICKS are
crude pointed
earth-diggers. |
| Artifact |
Usually refers to tools, but includes samples of
soil, wood, antler, etc., from a cultural context, plus unworked flakes
and blades. |
| Attribute |
A trait used in assigning an artifact to a phase
or tradition. In this work, they include: material, colour, plan,
section, metric data, location, type of base, retouch, wear, platform
and breakage. Non-tool cores, blades, flakes and soil samples do not
use all traits, while special burins, pushplanes and skin flexers have
added traits. Most are self-explanatory but some, such as TORTOISE
section, refer to an inverted dish-shaped face. |
| Awl |
A copper or bone hide-piercing tool. |
| Axe |
see under Adzelike tools |
| Burination |
Results from accidental longitudinal splitting of
a point tip after striking a stone or bone, or intentional removal of
spalls from one or both edges of a flake or artifact to form the sharp
perpendicular edges of a burin. The number of spalls removed from
burins is countable in the number of stepwise hinge fractures at the
base of the spall face. |
| Core |
A round, cubic, flat, keeled, pyramidal,
cylindrical, conical or amorphous stone mass used as a source of flakes
or blades for making tools. Flakes and blades are removed by striking a
platform, resulting in a scar on the core face. Flake scars along the
periphery of a core usually diverge, while bladescars along a prepared
curved platform resemble fluted Greek columns. The only true BLADE
CORES are Pre-Dorset, but rare Taltheilei quartzite cores may
look
bladelike. A core itself may be a tool, e.g., PUSHPLANE
if its platform
series was deliberatly serrated, then worn by planing wood, bone or
antler. |
| Culture |
Prehistorically, a way of life defined through
artifacts of phase and tradition. |
| Edge Grinder |
Tool, usually sandstone, used for dulling point
and knife basal edges to protect haft sinew. |
| Flakes |
Flakes are waste material resulting from core
reduction; tiny flakes or shatter from tool sharpening. Those with part
of the original cutting edge of a knife on their platform are SHARPENING
FLAKES. Their size may infer original
knife size or its
conservation due to scarce raw material. WORKED FLAKES
were used as
awls, scrapers, gravers and knives. BLADELIKE FLAKES
resemble blades in
the absence of a blade tradition. Colour may have been important for
identifying knapping quality and visibility against snow or sand when
tools are dropped. |
| Flexer |
Identified by striae over their round ends,
indicating skin bending for softening as in chitho edges. They occur in
all Beverly traditions and phases on elongated tools such as points,
knives, spokeshaves and the ends of bar whetstones. Similar to
burnisher. |
| Gouge |
see under Adzelike tools |
| Graver |
A flake with retouched corners for engraving wood
or bone, its multi-directional or rotational use not forming strial
patterns. |
| Hammerstone |
A round or long symmetric pock-marked cobble or
pebble of shock-resistant granite, quartzite or basalt. End or polar
pocked ones were likely used directly on cores; side or equatorially
pocked ones indirectly via a striker. As simple castoffs, many surface
examples are too uniform for cultural assignment. Chipewyan
hammerstones were replaced by historic metal axes. |
| Phase |
A time period with a distinctive collection of
tools from many archaeological sites which identify a group of people
over their seasonal round and within a given tradition. Phase can be
conceived as an archaeological culture. |
| Pick |
see under Adzelike tools |
| Platform and the bulb of percussion |
The area on a flake struck using a
hammerstone or billet when it was part of a core. The shock wave
generated by the blow resulted in a convex or positive BULB OF
PERCUSSION on the flake and a corresponding concave or negative
bulb on
the core. As bulb or platform remain on some tools, they are used as
orientation in measuring and describing attributes. Some PLATFORMS are
facetted, indicating careful core preparation to control flake or blade
removal. |
| Shaft Polisher |
An abrasive sandstone block with a deep groove
for smoothing arrow and lance shafts. |
| Spatula |
A long antler, bone or wood spoon for extracting
marrow. |
| Spokeshave |
A concave scraper for rounding arrow and spear
shafts. |
| Spur |
either a sharp unretouched but used corner on a
flake or an retouched barb or apex on the end or side of an
intentionally-made tool such as a graver or endscraper. |
| Striae and Polish |
Microscopic parallel lines made through tool use
or manufacture. Visible use STRIAE form when scrapers and knives are
used on sand-contaminated skin and flesh; or burins while planing or
slotting wood, bone or antler objects. Striae size typify pressures
needed; striae orientation their angle of application. POLISH lines are
much smaller than striae and differ from wind abrasion because they may
also be linear. |
| Taltheilei |
Name given to ancestral Chipewyan and taken from
the Taltheilei Narrows which separates the main body of Great Slave
Lake and its East Arm. |
| Tools and their Division |
Artifacts for performing specific tasks and
analyzed by use wear and retouch on their tip (bit in scrapers and
ground tools), midsection and base. Divisions may not be obvious.
Reworked projectile points may have round or flat tips. Bases of knives
and points may be pointed and sharp or their midsections may merge into
base or tip, leaving side and basal edge fragments identifiable on use
wear and blunting. If a retouched edge fragment has some base it is
classed as retouched. If the retouch ends before the break, it is
classed as unretouched. |
| Tradition |
A series of phases depicting consistently
changing toolkits of a group, its ancestors and descendants living a
similar lifestyle. The Beverly range has four traditions: Taltheilei
(historic through 2600 B.P.), Pre-Dorset (2650 to 3450 B.P.), Shield
Archaic (3500 to 6450 B.P.) and Northern Plano (700 to 8000 B.P.) |
| Wedge |
Bashed stone tool for splitting soft wood, hard
antler or bone. May be hit unipolarly or bipolarly (one or both ends),
double bipolarly or discoidally. Wood splitting results in unipolar
percussion from the hammerstone; the opposite end is seldom smashed due
to softer wood. Wedges used on antler or bone are often discoidally-hit
because bashing around the periphery disperses hammerstone blows and
prolongs the life of the wedge. |
| Whetstone |
A long symmetric bifacial tool of abrasive
sandstone or schist for sharpening stone and copper tool edges or
smoothing their faces. Mainly barlike in plan, some have suspension
notches, while round or ovoid ones may have been carried in pouches as
they were not easily replaced. All have flat tops and bottoms. Some are
retouched, most are plain, and some are striated and very worn.
Commercial whetstones of carborundum and Arkansas sandstone were
imported and used by the Chipewyan in the 19th century. |