130 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 192 



are so small as to be ineffectual; the cross section is lenticular. The 

 specimen is now (6.2) cm. long, but was probably twice that when 

 complete, and is 2 cm. wide and 1.6 cm. thick. It may have been 

 the blade for a small lance (for sea mammals?) or for an arrow, since 

 bilaterally barbed arrowheads were mentioned by some of om- 

 informants. 



Barbed slate blades appear in Kachemak Bay II and in the early 

 prehistoric period on Prince William Sound, but become popular 

 only in later prehistoric times in these areas. They are numerous in 

 both upper and lower levels at Uyak Bay, Kodiak, but are absent from 

 the Aleutians where slate blades of any kind are rare (de Laguna, 1947, 

 p. 175; 1956, p. 153 ff., 270; Heizer, 1956, pp. 49 f., especially type V). 

 Although a few barbed slate blades are known from the Coast Salish 

 area, they seem to be otherwise absent from the Northwest Coast. 

 The center of their development was evidently among the Pacific 

 Eskimo. 



CHIPPED STONE WEAPON BLADES 



Two chipped triangular or leaf-shaped blades of slaty green chert 

 (fig. 11, a, b), from Old Town III and Old Town II, measure 5.4 by 

 2.2 cm., and 6.9 by 2.8 cm. They were double-edged blades for 

 weapons or knives. A triangular blade of slaked schist (fig. 11, g), 

 10.2 by 5.9 cm., is from Old Town III. 



The last is rather similar to chipped triangular slate blades from 

 Prince William Sound (de Laguna, 1956, pis. 28, 10, 29, 10, p. 131), 

 although the latter are smaller, and were probably for arrows or darts. 

 Blades of chipped metamorphic slate were common in Kachemak Bay, 

 especially in Period II. They ranged in size from 4 by 1.2 cm. to 11.5 

 by 6.5 cm., and were leaf shaped, narrowing to a straight base or 

 rudimentary tang. One specim.en (de Laguna, 1934, p. 69, pi. 30, 8) 

 is quite similar to the Yakutat blades. Although longer and more 

 slender leaf-shaped chipped blades for lances, spears, and knives are 

 common, especially from the lower levels at Uyak Bay, Kodiak, there 

 are fom* triangular specimens of basalt and slate that are almost 

 identical with the Yakutat blades (Heizer, 1956, pi. 36, d-g, pp. 47 f.). 



It is impossible to compare the Yakutat specimens with chipped 

 blades from the Northwest Coast, especially from the southern part 

 where such artifacts are numerous, because the materials used are 

 different. Adequate comparisons cannot be based upon outlines of 

 the shapes alone, but must involve sizes, thicknesses, methods of 

 flaking and degrees of skill exhibited (M. W. Smith, 1950, pp. 17 ff.). 

 We can only mention, therefore, that Drucker (1943, pp. 41 f., 122) 

 records occasional archeological chipped stone points from Tlingit, 

 Haida, Tsimshian, and Bella Coola territories (but not otherwise on 



