98 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 192 



do small blades for chisels or planing adzes (Hrdlidka, 1944, pi. 69, 

 pp. 333, 343; Heizer, 1956, pi. 47, I, y, z, a'; pi. 31, k, I, n, o). Ten 

 Tena chisels, although crude (de Laguna, 1947, pi. xi, 8, 9), may be 

 related to the Eskimo and Yakutat specimens. 



The relatively late development or late popularity of these small 

 tools in Prince William Sound and at Yakutat is paralleled by the 

 growth in importance of the splitting adz in these areas, and suggests 

 the development of skilled woodworking. As less exclusive reliance 

 came to be placed on the ordinary large planing adz blade, a general- 

 ized tool, there came to be increased use of the more specialized 

 splitting adz and of the various forms of small adzes, chisels, and im- 

 plements like burins. Presumably greater skills were developed as 

 heavy and delicate tasks became differentiated. 



It is uncertain whether we have any close parallels to these small 

 tools on the Northwest Coast south of Yakutat, except for the 

 specimens cited in Niblack, and the celtlike chisel blades of the 

 Nootka, Salish, and Quileut (de Laguna, 1947, p. 168; Barnett, 1939, 

 Traits 583 and 585). While Drucker (1950, Trait 414) records stone 

 chisels from the coastal Tsimshian, Bella Coola, Kwakiutl, and 

 Nootka, his Haida and Tlingit informants denied their use. This is 

 in striking contrast to the ethnological information obtained at 

 Yakutat. 



Keithahn (1962, p. 68) mentions occasional finds in southeastern 

 Alaska of very small blades of greenstone and other hard rocks, which 

 he calls "micro bits" for adzes. A typical example from Mole Harbor 

 on Admiralty Island is only 3.8 cm. long. These may well correspond 

 to some of the small woodworking tools from Yakutat. 



Further comparisons of such smaU tools, as well as of chisels and 

 adz blades, must await the publication in fuU of Borden's material 

 from the Fraser Kiver area. Here, small chisels and wedges are 

 present through the series of sites on the delta. Nephrite adz blades, 

 neatly sawed out and finished, are common at Beach Grove, an un- 

 dated site which may be as old as or older than the famous site of 

 Marpole (Eburne). They are abundant at the latter site, but rare 

 at Locarno Beach I. They again become common at Whalen Farm 

 II, and at historic Stselax. At Whalen I, adz blades of California 

 mussel shell were used. Radiocarbon dates from most of these sites 

 take us back with assurance to the middle of the first millennium B.C., 

 and perhaps further. Marpole (Eburne) has dates ranging from 

 943 B.C. ±170 years up to A.D. 179 ±60 years (Borden, personal 

 communication). Unfortunately, we do not know how these dates 

 may be related to the material excavated at this site at various times, 

 and we have no dates from Cattle Point on San Juan Island. 



