Tikchik village: a nineteenth century riverine community in ... - Cluster

266 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 56over most of its surface and has a more finely retouched workingedge. This implement, the identification of which should be consideredtentative, would presumably have been used unhafted (PL 1,10) . Scraper blanks of blue and black chert number nine specimens,all of which show rough chipping; one appears to have been intendedas a discoidal scraper (PI. 1,3).Nine fragmentary chert end blades vary in width from 9 mm. to1.7 cm. and show uniformly even flaking on all surfaces. Eight aretip fragments and the two most carefully made specimens have serratededges (PI. 1,4,5). Of the two blades showing the form of thebase, both have slight stems and one is very small and virtually complete(PI. 1,6). The larger specimens might have been end-bladedknife blades, while the smaller ones were probably projectile points.There are 14 blanks for end blades, all of chert, and ranging in lengthfrom 3 to 8 cm.Two hand drills are similarly constructed but made from differentmaterials. A chert specimen has been carefully flaked to a slenderpoint at the distal end and has been thinned at the proximal end bythe removal of a single large flake on each surface (PL 1,7). Theother drill is made of fine-grained schist, has a thinner point, and islonger (PL 1,8).A single implement of fine-grained schist is tentatively identifiedas an awl or gouge. It is a pebble that appears to have been roughlyflaked at the proximal end to facilitate holding in the hand. The distalend has been sharpened by the removal of a long flake along oneside and a certain amount of rough chipping on the other (PL 1,9).In addition to the chipped stone artifacts described above, a totalof 322 flint chips were carefully examined, counted and discardedeither in the field or the laboratory.Ground StoneObjects of ground stone form the largest category of locally manufacturedartifacts in the collection and the relatively large number oftypes represented gives a clear idea of the importance of this toolmakingtechnique to the people of Tikchik. The most abundantartifacts in this category are whetstones, of which there are 61 specimens.These have been divided into two types based on the natureof the stone from which they were made. The 45 specimens belongingto type 1 are made of a relatively soft material ranging from avery fine-grained sandstone or siltstone to a relatively coarse-grainedschist. A wide range in size is represented. Three whetstones of this