Fig. 120.—Woman’s knife, slate blade.
The natives of Point Barrow used round knives long before the introduction of iron. There are in the collection twenty-three more or less complete round knives of stone, most of which are genuine implements that have been used. Of these a few, which are perhaps the more recent ones, have blades not unlike the modern steel knife. For instance, No. 89680 [1106] Fig. 120, has a blade of hard gray mica slate of almost precisely the modern shape, but both faces are gradually worked down to the cutting edge without a bevel on either. The handle is very large and stout and made of coarse whale’s bone. This knife was said to have come from the ruined village at Pernyɐ. Fig. 121, No. 89679 [971], from Nuwŭk, was made for sale, but is perhaps a model of a form sometimes used. The shape of the blade is quite different from those now in use, in having the cutting edge turned so strongly to the front. The handle is of oak and the blade of rather hard, dark purple slate. Fig. 122, 89689 [985], also from Nuwŭk, and made for the market, is introduced to show a method of hafting which may have been formerly employed. The haft is of reindeer antler in two longitudinal sections, between which the blade is wedged. These two sections are held together by lashings of sinew at each end, passing through holes in each piece and round the ends. These lashings being put on wet, have shrunk so that the blade is very tightly clasped between the two parts of the handle. The commoner form of these stone knives, however, has the back of the blade much longer, so that the sides are straight instead of oblique and usually round off gradually at the ends of the cutting edge without being produced into a point at either end. No. 89682 [958] is a form intermediate between this and the modern shape, having a blade with a long back, but produced into a sharp point at one end. The handle is of reindeer antler and the blade rather soft black slate. This specimen is a very cleverly counterfeited antique.
Fig. 121.—Woman’s knife, slate blade.
Fig. 122.—Woman’s knife, slate blade.
