Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition: Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1888, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1892, pages 3-442Murdoch, John
History
Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition: Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1888, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1892, pages 3-442
Murdoch, John
Eskimos -- Alaska -- Barrow, Point, Region
From this type to that shown in Fig. 135 (No. 89876 [696] brought by
the natives from the ruins on the Kulugrua) the transition is easy.
Suppose, for the greater protection of the lashings, we _inclose_ the
channels on the sides of the head--in other words, bore holes instead
of cutting grooves--we have exactly this pattern, namely, vertical
eyes on each side of the head joined by transverse channels on the
upper face. The specimen figured has on each side two oblong slots
with a round eye between them. The blade is of iron, Fig. 136, No.
56640 [260] has two eyes on each side, and shows a different method of
attaching the blade, which is countersunk flush with the upper surface
of the body and secured with three stout iron rivets. The next step is
to substitute horizontal eyes for the vertical ones, so as to have
only one set of holes to thread the lashings through. This is seen in
No. 89869 [878], Fig. 137, from Nuwŭk, which in general pattern
closely resembles No. 89876 [696], but has three large horizontal eyes
instead of the vertical ones. The blade is of iron and the haft of
whale’s bone. The lashing is essentially the same as that of the
modern adz, No. 56638 [309].
[Illustration: FIG. 137.--Hafted bone and iron adz. 1/4]
That this final type of hafting was reached before stone had gone out
of use for such implements is shown by Fig. 138, No. 89839 [769], from
Utkiavwĭñ, which, while very like the last in shape, has a blade of
hard, dark purple slate. The haft is of reindeer antler. The lashing
has the short end _knotted_ to the long part after making the first
round, instead of being slit to receive the latter. Otherwise it is of
the usual pattern. These composite adzes of bone and stone or iron
seemed to have been common at the end of the period when stone was
exclusively used and when iron first came into use in small
quantities, and a good many have been preserved until the present day.
We obtained four hafted and six unhafted specimens, besides seven jade
blades for such composite adzes, which are easily recognizable by
their small size and their shape. They are usually broad and rather
thin, and narrowed to the butt, as is seen in Fig. 139, No. 56685
[71], a beautiful little adz of bright green jade 2.8 inches long and
2.3 wide, from Utkiavwĭñ. No. 56670 [246] also from Utkiavwĭñ, is a
similar blade of greenish jade slightly larger, being 3.4 inches long
and 2 inches wide. No. 89670 [1092] is a tiny blade of hard,
fine-grained black stone, probably oil-soaked jade, only 1.7 inches
long and 1.5 wide. It is very smoothly ground. Such little adzes, we
were told, were especially used for cutting bone. The implement,[N284]
which Nordenskiöld calls a “stone chisel,” found in the ruins of an
old Eskimo house at Cape North, is evidently the head of one of these
little bone adzes, as is plainly seen on comparing this figure with
the larger adzes figured above.
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