Kettle Lake Discovery Kit

A traveling exhibit for Canada's
northermost National Park

 Here's a look at the (very nearly) completed Kettle Lake Discovery Kit that was put together by Parks Canada to help tell the early archaeological story of Quttinirpaaq National Park on northern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut.  I've been involved in making artifact reproductions and sharing stories from Quttinirpaaq since 2010. Most recently, I was asked to make a couple reproductions of Independence I stone tools complete with organic handles for inclusion in this tri-lingual (Inuktitut, French, and English) traveling kit.  A lot of people were involved in the planning, design, and assembly of the contents of this pelican case, but the person coordinating it all was Parks Canada's Patrick Carroll.   Earlier this week Patrick shared photos from Quatro Design of the end result and secured permission for me to share these images on my blog.  I think it all looks fantastic and it shouldn't have any problems being tossed in and out of twin otters and helicopters on it's way to and from Quttinirpaaq.

I haven't seen the case in person, but it looks like there are flat cards that fit in the lid of the box with maps, photos, and information from the Kettle Lake archaeological sites.  In the foam body of the case there is a list of the artifact reproductions included in the kit, a series of individually bagged lithic reproductions, the case containing the hafted artifact reproductions and a copy of Ancient Stone Tools of Nunavut by Douglas Stenton and Robert Park.

Each of the small bags in the kit contains an artifact reproduction that users can handle and a card with a photograph of the original artifact that the reproduction is based on on side.

The flip side of the photo card has the English, French, and Inuktitut name for the stone tool 

The centre box contained a hafted scraper and microblade based on the tools found by Parks Canada archaeologists at Kettle Lake.  There is a sticker label that will go on top of this box when the kit next makes it's way to the Parks Canada office in Iqaluit.

The whole kit fits into a rugged, waterproof pelican case about the size of a brief case.  If you happen to see this case on the ground in Quttinirpaaq - I'd love to see a photo! 

Photo Credits: Quatro Design inc. courtesy of Parks Canada

Portable tool kit for Parks Canada, Nunavut Field Office

Composite tools for a portable
Discovery Kit

It feels so good to be getting more orders out the door!  Here is a pair of hafted artifact reproductions based on the Independence I artifacts found at Kettle Lake in Quttinirpaaq National Park in Nunavut.  I've been working off-an-on with this collection and the Parks Canada Nunavut Field Office since 2010.  Originally I reproduced the artifacts exactly as they came out of the ground and then in 2013 I traveled to Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord to host artifact reproduction workshops in the communities.

Case Closed.

The case has been re-opened.

 Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Emulating Independence I Tool Makers

The current issue of Above&Beyond, Canada's Arctic Journal contains an article that I wrote about the Quttinirpaaq National Park reproductions that I made a couple years back.  If you've ever visited the Canadian Arctic, you might recognize Above&Beyond as the inflight magazine of First Air.  Here is a link to the full issue and my article called "Emulating Independence I Tool Makers: Quttinirpaaq National Park's Oldest Artifacts".

Link to story

Photo Credits: Screen Captures from Above&Beyond

Independence I driftwood arrow

Independence I arrowhead
in driftwood foreshaft

 The workshops and demonstrations that I'm doing this week in Resolute and next week in Grise Fiord are focused on the Independence I muskox hunters who lived in Quttinirpaaq National Park up to 4500 years ago.  They left behind their tiny stone arrowheads and hearths filled with muskox bones, so its not a stretch to suggest that the little arrowheads were used to hunt musk ox.  Independence I bows and arrows would likely have been built from driftwood, and reinforced with horn, antler, or bone and held together with sinew.  I've started building an arrow with a knapped chert point and scarfed together sections of driftwood.  I've also decided to try to build it without the use of any glue, just twisted sinew held in place with friction.

Reproduction arrowhead from
Quttinirpaaq in forground

To the best of my knowledge, there has never been an Independence I arrow found, so I am using the uncannily well preserved Saqqaq sites in Greenland as references for the organic pieces.  Unlike the Saqqaq arrows, I'm working from driftwood twigs and branches, rather than driftwood logs that have been split, but otherwise I am following the Saqqaq model as closely as possible for arrowshaft dimensions and design details. I'm using Bjarne Grønnow's 2012 article in Études/Inuit/Studies called "An archaeological reconstruction of Saqqaq bows, darts, harpoons, and lances" as my guide.

The arrow is about 75 cm long,
scarfed together from 3 pieces
of driftwood

The main design elements that I'm incorporating from the Saqqaq arrows into the Independence I reconstruction are the open bedded style of haft for the arrowhead, the 14 cm long foreshaft, the scarfed joins along the shaft, the diameter and cross-section of the main shaft and the shallow nock style.  The Saqqaq arrows are missing feathers, althought they are presumed to have had them.  For the moment, my Independence I arrow is also missing feathers, although I think I have half the school kids in town on a mission to find me some wing feathers so that we can complete the project.

Laying out the arrow, and some of the stone tools used to assist its construction.

Does he look worried?

 Reference:

Grønnow, Bjarne
2012 An archaeological reconstruction of Saqqaq bows, darts, harpoons, and lances in Études/Inuit/Studies, Volume 36(1), 2012, p. 23-48

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Artifact Replication Workshops in Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord

Quttinirpaaq Artifacts (R) and Reproductions (L)

I'll be in Canada's two northernmost communities during November teaching artifact replication workshops based on the archaeological finds from Quttinirpaaq National Park.  This is a follow-up project to the Independence I artifact reproductions that I made in 2010.  I'll be teaching 10 people in each community how to chip stone tools and haft them into handles using traditional materials.  We will cover topics like hard hammer percussion, pressure flaking, signing your work, processing sinew, and working with baleen and driftwood.

Resolute Bay: Mon-Fri, November 11-15 at the South Camp Inn

Grise Fiord: Mon-Fri, Nov 18-22 at Umimmak School

If you or someone you know lives in Resolute or Grise Fiord, please contact Patrick Carroll with Parks Canada in Iqaluit to register for this free course: 867-975-4796, patrick.carroll@pc.gc.ca.

(click to enlarge)

Photo Credits:
1) Tim Rast
2) Parks Canada

Cataloguing the Final Quttinirpaaq Lithic Reproductions

The Reproductions are the ones with the labels

This might be a first for Elfshot - the reproductions have got catalogue numbers on them before the artifacts!  I have all 11 Independence I artifact reproductions finished and they'll be couriered back to Winnipeg later today, along with the 11 original artifacts.  The artifacts were found this summer at two sites at Kettle Lake in Quttinirpaaq National Park.  The sites are still in the process of being catalogued, so the artifacts don't actually have their catalogue numbers on them yet - the labelled pieces that you see in these photos are the reproductions, not the originals.

Burin, Artifact (L), Reproduction (R)

When archaeologists collect artifacts from a site, we bag and record each piece separately.  Every artifact is given a unique number that is used to identify it and tie it back to all of the information that is associated with it, like the site it came from, its specific location within that site, when it was found, who collected it, etc.  Back in the lab, this catalogue number is affixed to the artifact in some stable, but reversible way.  Stable, so that the number stays with the artifact throughout its entire lifetime, and reversible so that it can be removed without damaging the artifact.  We don't want to do anything to an artifact that can't be undone.

Nail Polish and Pen for cataloguing

With lithics, the simplest way to label them in a stable, but reversible way is with ink and clear nail polish.  A small patch of nail polish is spread on an out of the way place on the artifact and let dry.  Then the catalogue number is written on that nail polish as discretely and neatly as possible with ink.  Finally a top coat of nail polish is spread over the ink to seal it in.  This label is secure from normal wear while the artifact is handled or stored in a bag or box, but can be easily wiped away with nail polish remover and a cotton swap, if the need arises.

Uniface, Artifact (L), Reproduction (R)

The reproductions that I make are purposefully made from the same materials as the originals and I attempt to make them as identical as possible to the originals.  While they are fresh in my mind, I can tell them apart, but in a few months I won't be able to tell which is the original and which is the copy, so its very important that the reproductions are marked.

Diamond engraver to sign "TR"

I permanently mark my reproductions by engraving a small "TR" signature on them.  I use a diamond bit on my rotary tool to permanently etch my initials into the stone.  You wouldn't want to do that with artifacts, but its good to have some sort of mark on the reproductions that can't be removed.

Artifacts (Top) and Reproductions (Bottom)

To be extra cautious, many of the collections managers who have Elfshot reproductions stored alongside actual artifacts choose to label them in the same way as archaeological artifacts.  Sometimes they are catalogued with a fictional site and catalogue number, but in the case of the Quttinirpaaq Independence I reproductions, the Parks Canada archaeologists and collections managers decided to record the reproductions with the same catalogue numbers as the real artifacts, but with an "R" suffix added to the label to indicate that it is the reproduction.

When the the Quttinirpaaq artifacts have their catalogue numbers inked onto them, they'll be the same numbers as on the reproductions, but without the "R" at the end of the line.  This way the reproduction will be linked back to the provenience information associated with the artifact that it represents, but still distinguishable from the original.  Its all designed to protect the integrity of the archaeological record.  The goal is to make something identical from the original, but never to lose track of which are the real artifacts and which are the copies.

Quttinirpaaq National Park:  Elfshot Reproductions (L) & Independence I Artifacts (R)

  
Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Another Batch of Quttinirpaaq Reproductions

Reproductions (L) and Artifacts (R)

I have four more Independence I reproductions to show off.  As of this morning, I have good versions of 8 of the 11 artifacts in the set. This batch includes another biface tip, two burins and a scraper.  I was going to say that I was averaging two pieces a day, but if that was true, I'd be done by now.  The truth is that every day that I get two pieces finished has been preceded by a day where I got absolutely nothing done.  A friend of mine used to quote Oscar Wilde when he was writing his MA thesis; "I'm exhausted, I spent all morning putting a comma in and all afternoon taking it out".  Making these things feels a little like that.

Sorting through flakes

The days when I don't get anything finished are spent making dozens of flakes and sorting through them to find the most suitable pieces to start with.  I try to find two or three flakes that have the potential to be worked into each piece.  Sometimes I get lucky and the reproduction works on the first flake, but more often than not I make several practice versions before I get a piece that I'm satisfied with.  Often the first couple of pieces are necessary to learn how the piece was actually made.  Sometimes the reason for certain features on a stone tool aren't obvious until after you actually try making it.  That was especially true with the burins in this set.

Burin #2 Reproduction (L) and Artifact (R)

Each of the three burins from the Quttinirpaaq collection is different from each other.  I only have access to a small sample of the tools from Quttinirpaaq's Kettle Lake sites, so I'm not sure if these three burins represent three different styles of burins made at the site, or if every burin was randomly made.  One burin has a spall removed from the working edge and another spall-like flake removed from the side of the base.  It was made on the midsection of a flake with a prominent ripple that makes an unusual knob on one face of the hafting area.  The second burin was made on a lumpy flake, had at least two spalls removed from the working edge and has a roundish base (photo on the right).  The third one has a burin spall removed from one edge, and then a weird spall taken off the opposite side to create a sharp point.  That one has a square base and I still haven't made a copy of it that I'm happy with.

Quttinirpaaq National Park Artifacts (top) and Reproductions (bottom): from Left to Right, Biface Tip Fragment, Scraper, Burin #1, and Burin #2

Earred Scraper Reproduction (L) and Artifact (R)

The scraper in the set is a relatively straight forward, earred style of scraper.  The shape wasn't too difficult to match once I got a flake that had the correct dimensions, but I'm most pleased with the patina and cortex that I applied to the piece to finish it.  The original artifact had a patch of cortex on one facet that had a metallic sheen to it, so I mixed a few metal shavings in with my usual glue and rock dust mixture to create a sparkly cortex on the reproduction (photo above).  I don't know what the white growth or patina is on the underside the original scraper, but a bit of blow torched carpenters glue gave a great match on the reproduction.


Photo Credits: Tim Rast

What is Independence I?

Independence I reproductions (L) and artifacts (R)

I've mentioned Independence I a few times in the context of the Quttinirpaaq National Park reproductions.  Independence I is the name that archaeologists have given to the sites and artifacts left by the first people to populate  the Canadian High Arctic and northern Greenland, beginning about 4400 years ago.

Independence I is an unusually appropriate name for a group of Arctic pioneers, but the origin of the name is simply the location that the first sites belonging to this culture were found; Independence Fjord in northeastern Greenland.  In Greenland, sites belonging to this culture date from 4400-3300 B.P.   These early Palaeoeskimo sites were first described in the 1950s by Eigil Knuth, a Danish archaeologist.  He called the earlier sites, located at higher elevations, Independence I and the lower, later sites Independence II.  There aren't any Independence I sites in Newfoundland and Labrador, but there are remarkable similarities between Independence II artifacts and the tools found at Groswater Palaeoeskimo sites in this Province.

Muskox provided food, tents, clothes, but not fuel

Its hard to imagine the lives of the Independence I people, because the archaeological evidence creates a picture that is very different from the way the Inuit and even later Palaeoeskimo peoples lived in the far north.  The faunal remains suggest that musk-ox, and not seals were the primary source of food and resources for the Independence I people.  All of their dwellings seem to have been above ground tents, without any evidence for semi-subterranean dwellings, which became the standard cold season houses amongst later groups.  There's little or no evidence for soapstone lamps which would have burned seal oil.  Instead, it appears that the Independence I people were relying on open fires, built in slab walled box hearths for heat, perhaps depending on a relative abundance of driftwood that has since been depleted from Arctic shores by thousands of years of scavenging.

In his book, Ancient People of the Arctic, Bob McGhee envisions an Independence I way of life that is "well beyond the bounds of endurance known from any human group described by anthropologists or historians." (McGhee 1996:64).  In an environment where the summer is perpetual daylight and the winter is perpetual night, McGhee reconstructs an annual cycle of activity for the Independence I people in which they take advantage of the brief summer to prepare for near hibernation in the winter.  Without seal oil lamps, the people would have relied on inactivity and the careful conservation of body heat, through extended periods of inactivity and sleep, to survive the darkness and cold.

According to McGhee:

Eigil Knuth was the first to suggest that the Independence people may have passed the winter 'in a kind of torpor'.  The months of winter darkness must have discouraged all but the most essential hunting, preventing women from sewing clothing and men from working at their crafts.  We are forced to imagine a winter life devoted to amusing the children, singing or telling stories, thinking of the coming summer, and dreaming.  Northern Canada used to teem with anecdotes of isolated White trappers who spent the winters in semi-hibernation, passing days or weeks at a time in dream rather than in the reality of cold darkness and scarce food.  The early Palaeo-Eskimos may have survived the High Arctic only by adopting such a way of life as the ordinary custom for an entire society. (McGhee 1996:64-65)

Southern Ellesmere Island in September.  Imagine living on Northern Ellesmere Island in February with your family, in a Muskox skin tent.

Scraper from Kettle Lake, Quttinirpaaq

 On one hand its seems like a bleak existence, but as McGhee goes on to argue, it could also have been one rich in imagination, which may have have laid the groundwork for the artistic expressions of later Palaeoeskimo people.

Photo Credits:
1-3,5,6: Tim Rast
4: Amazon.com

Completing the first Quttinirpaaq Reproductions

Artifacts (top),  Reproductions (bottom)

I can check off a few of the reproductions in the Quttinirpaaq National Park Independence I job after today.  I trimmed the microblades down that I made earlier in the week so that they match the artifacts and made a couple bifaces to match the endblades/projectile points in the collection.

Biface tip. Artifact (L), Reproduction (R)

Many of the pieces in this collection are broken, which can make them tricky to reproduce.  It usually means that I have to make a complete piece and then break it.  I really only get one shot at the break so unless its perfect I have to start over again.  One of the pieces that I worked on today has a funny break due to a flaw in the material.  In the photo on the left, you can see a little spur of stone hanging off the fracture in the artifact.  It may be difficult to reproduce exactly.  I got a pretty good copy done today, but I'll probably try another one later just to see if I can get lucky.

Serrated point, Artifact (L), Reproduction (R)

The little serrated endblade or projectile point is probably my favourite piece so far.  Its very finely chipped, with the sides of the stem being ground slightly to be fit into a socket on an arrow shaft or harpoon head.  I made one version of the this piece on the silicified coral that I showed on Wednesday's post, but it turned out to be too white.  I tried to scorch it a bit to darken up the colour, but overdid it and it wound up looking kind of messy.  I made a second one that I'm much happier with - its the one in the photos here.  I used another heat treated rock that I found in bucket of rock in my workshop.  I'm not exactly sure where it came from, but its a pretty good match for chert used in the Kettle Lake projectile point.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Selecting the Quttinirpaaq Stone

Serrated Endblade

Unfortunately, I don't have any chert from northern Ellesmere Island to make the Quttinirpaaq Independence I artifact reproductions from, so I've been going through my boxes of rock looking for good look alike stone.  The majority of the artifacts from the Kettle Lake sites are made on fine grained grey chert that looks a lot like the chert that I collect from Newfoundland, so they won't be any problem at all.  However, I had to find slightly more exotic materials for the tiny serrated endblade and the two microblades in the collection.

Microblades, the lower left two are artifacts

The microblades have a little more translucent quality to them than the chert that I collect myself in Newfoundland.  Translucent chert or chalcedony does show up in Palaeoeskimo sites in Province, but I don't know where the source outcrops are located.  Somewhere on the Northern Peninsula, I guess.  English flint has a similar appearance, so that's what I'll use for the microblade reproductions.   Most of the microblades in the photo to the left are made from English flint.  The original artifacts are the two microblades in the lower lefthand corner.

Silicified Coral flakes and Endblade artifact

The little serrated endblade is made on a very fine grained whitish-grey chert with a waxy texture.  I doubt the chert that was used to make the endblade found at Kettle Lake was heat treated, but it has a gloss to it that is similar to the inside of a heat treated rock.  The best match I've found so far was this piece of heat treated, silicified (fossilized) coral from Florida.  The endblade is so small that I can make it on relatively tiny soft hammer flakes - the kind of flakes that normally wind up in the garbage because they are too thin to work.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Planning out another week

Need to get this harpoon back on the wall

On Saturday, Lori and I went out to Glovertown to pick up Andrew.  It was a much nicer day than when I took him out at the start of the week.  We spent the rest of the weekend doing a bit of shopping around St. John's.  Today is mostly an office day.  I need to get caught up on some e-mails and paperwork.  There is still a pile of stuff in the front hallway to put away from the classroom visit on Friday.

Quttinirpaaq microblade to copy

It doesn't look like I'll get into the workshop today, but come tomorrow I need to get back to the Quttinirpaaq reproductions for Parks Canada.  I also have a Central Arctic style Inuit drum to make this week, which means steam bending wood again. I'll be using oak or poplar for this build, which should help make the bending go a little easier than the pine that I was bending last year.  It'll be interesting to see how the drum turns out - its going to be a prop in a museum display and someone else is going to finish the antiquing on the "skin".  So when I'm done with it, it will have an antiqued wooden frame and drumstick, but a clean cotton canvas skin.  Its doesn't actually have to be playable, but if its built right it should still turn out to be a functional drum.  


Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Quttinirpaaq Artifacts Arrive!

First Impressions

I love my job!  Just a few minutes ago, Purolator delivered a package to the door containing 4500 year old artifacts from Quttinirpaaq National Park on the tip of Ellesmere Island.  The package wasn't sent from Ellesmere Island (it came from Parks Canada in Winnipeg), but at this time last year these artifacts were on Ellesmere.  At that time, the last people to have seen them would have been the Palaeoeskimo people who made them!   Archaeologists working for Parks Canada surface collected them this summer and they were catalogued and analyzed in Manitoba.  Now, over the next few weeks, I'll be knapping reproductions of all the pieces.

11 Kettle Lake artifacts

These are Independence I artifacts from sites at Kettle Lake, some of the earliest sites in the High Arctic.  The people who made these tools were true Arctic explorers - they travelled from one end of the Arctic archipelago to the other when there was no one around to ask for directions.  Well, maybe not the specific people who made these pieces, but perhaps their parents or grandparents made part of the trip.  The Eastern Arctic was populated very quickly, probably within a few generations.  The Palaeoeskimo people came from the Western Arctic and you don't find a gradual progression of early aged sites from west to east, like you might expect if the Arctic was populated slowly.  Instead, we find some of the earliest sites at the most northerly and easterly points in the Arctic, like Quttinirpaaq National Park, Ellesmere Island.

Tiny, serrated point

Maybe part of the secret to the early Palaeoeskimo pioneers' rapid movement was travelling light.  Check out how tiny these tools are! This will be my first time making Independence I artifact reproductions from a collection like this so I'm eager to get going and start figuring out all those little things that make them unique.

Photo Credits:
1: Lori White
2-3: Tim Rast