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

VANSTONE: TIKCHIK VILLAGE 287row slightly at the proximal end, and are made from somewhatheavier metal than the previously described end bladed knife blades(PI. 7,15-16).A single skin scraper blade is badly corroded but it has obviouslybeen cut from the side of a can. It is 6.7 cm. in length, has a slightlyconvex working edge, and tapers toward the proximal end.A heavy piece of cast iron has been crudely shaped in the form ofa chisel or gouge (PI. 7,7) and a very small fragment seems to havebeen similarly worked.shallow, roughly rectangular containers.Among the most interesting of the indigenously constructed metalartifacts are six complete or nearly complete dishes or small containers,all in a very bad state of preservation. They are made frompieces of can siding which have been folded at the comers to formThe best preserved exampleis folded at one end only and may have been a scoop (PI. 7,i).Much more clearly identifiable as scoops are two pieces of can metalwhich have been bent in such a way as to form a round hole at theproximal end into which a short wooden handle would have beenfitted. Such scoops might have been used for flour or sugar (PI. 7,9).Two light pieces of metal, probably fragments of the rims of largecans or buckets, have been folded for added strength and then turnedup at one end to form a hook. Such implements might have beenused as pothooks (PI. 7,20).A series of five round pieces of cut can metal found together intest trench 1 have small holes on opposite sides near the edges; theywere presumably strung together as a necklace (PI. 7,3). Anothertype of necklace, part of which is represented in the collection, wasmade from beads and spent rifle cartridges strung together at intervals.A single rimfire cartridge case of undetermined caliber is drilledat the proximal end and has stringing material knotted on the insideand a single white bead still attached to the outside (PI. 7,13).The lid of a tin can has been slit on one side and folded in thevicinity of the slit, presumably to be worn as a pendant (PI. 7x9,).Two other objects may also possibly be pendants. One is a roundpiece of metal, almost exactly the same size as the preceding artifactbut made of heavier material, with a single drilled hole in the centerand a series of 12 holes drilled at intervals around the edges (PL 7,17) .The other, somewhat lighter, is of semilunar shape and has three irregularly-spaceddrilled holes (PI. 7,2).