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SIDE-SCRAPERS, END
SCRAPERS &
GRAVER
MILL
IRON SITE
CARTER COUNTY, MONTANA
RETURN TO PAGE 2
COPYRIGHT
JULY 31, 2009 PETER A. BOSTROM
These seven
unifacial tools were discovered during the excavation of the camp
site area on the Mill Iron site. They represent some of the better examples
of at least 62 different tools found on the site. Most of these
tools were used for cutting or scraping purposes. Lithic microwear
analysis done by Kaoru Akoshima of Sendai University, Japan suggests
that "---almost all tool usage suggested by microwear studies of the
Mill Iron assemblage indicates a relation to the faunal (the bison)
exploitation."
The tool at top left is made of silicified wood. This flake was
unifacially flaked along both sides to form the cutting edges. Each
edge was flaked from an opposite side to the other. Microwear
analysis couldn't make a determination of how it was used.
The three unifacial tools at top right were sharpened on single
edges (single edge retouch) by pressure flaking. The two flakes on
the right are thought to be biface reduction flakes and it's
believed that the third example came from a core. The unifacial tool
at second from left is described as a side-scraper. The material was
not identified except as chert and it measures 2 3/4 inches (7 cm)
long.
The two unifacial tools at bottom left are end-scrapers. The
example on the left is described as a classic example of an
exhausted end-scraper. It's made on a thick flake and the sides and
working edge on the end are steeply flaked by pressure flaking. This
scraper is made of Hartville chert and it measures 1 9/16 inches (4
cm) long. The scraper to the right is made on a much thinner flake.
It's made of an unidentified chert and measures 1 3/16 inches (3 cm)
long
The unifacial tool at lower right is a graver. Gravers are
described in this assemblage as small pointed projections flaked
into the edge of a flake or other tool. This graver was made by
pressure flaking concavities on the edge to isolate a graver point
in between. Microwear analysis determined that the graver point on
this example is still sharp and that it was never used. This graver
is made from an unidentified chert and it measures 1/2 inch (1.3 cm)
long.
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