The Mackenzie Inuit Whale Bone Industry: Raw Material, Tool Manufacture, Scheduling, and Trade

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The bones of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) were used by Mackenzie Inuit groups in producing a number of items essential to transportation and procurement. However, the whale bone industry, and its relationship to Mackenzie Inuit economic and social systems, is poorly understood. A recently excavated archaeological assemblage from McKinley Bay, Northwest Territories, provides a record of intensive Nuvugarmiut whale bone tool manufacture, which can be used to reconstruct a reduction sequence. Bowhead bone reduction at McKinley Bay focused on ribs, which were transversely worked into large sections. Cortical blanks were isolated from central rib sections, but proximal and distal rib sections were treated directly as blanks and preforms for the production of large durable tools, such as harpoon heads, adze sockets, mattock blades, and picks. The intensive whale bone reduction at McKinley Bay was part of a broader gearing-up strategy focused on the manufacture and repair of sleds and harpoons needed for the late winter migration and spring seal hunt. More generally, because the whale bone industry was intimately related to the bowhead hunt and its proceeds, it may provide fundamental insights about key aspects of coastal whaling societies, such as social organization, redistribution, and inter-territorial trade. De manière plus générale, puisque l'industrie des os de baleine était étroitement liée à la chasse à la baleine et à ses produits, elle pourrait permettre d'en savoir plus sur des aspects clés des sociétés baleinières de la côte, comme l'organisation sociale, le répartition du peuple et le commerce entre les territoires.Mots clés : région du delta du Mackenzie, Inuvialuit, inuit du Mackenzie, outils en os, baleine boréale, séquence de transformation, chasse à la baleine, emploi du temps, commerce, réalisation d'outils Traduit pour la revue Arctic par Nicole Giguère.

Prehistoric Whale Bone Technology in Southern New Zealand

“…Further afield, the ribs of bowhead whales ( Balaena mysticetus ), which are morphologically similar to the southern right whale, were prized by Arctic Inuit for the manufacture of a range of artefacts (Whitridge, ; Monks, ; Betts, ). Betts () analysis of the Mackenzie Inuit whale bone industry showed that the transverse reduction of bowhead whale ribs created debitage fragments that look identical to the morphological flake fragments from Kahukura. In the transverse reduction process described by Betts (), first the rib ends are removed, then the sides of the ribs are reduced to create rib cores, which are then sawn into a number of cortical blanks—largely flat sections of dense cortical bone that can be used to manufacture a wide range of artefacts.…”

“…Betts () analysis of the Mackenzie Inuit whale bone industry showed that the transverse reduction of bowhead whale ribs created debitage fragments that look identical to the morphological flake fragments from Kahukura. In the transverse reduction process described by Betts (), first the rib ends are removed, then the sides of the ribs are reduced to create rib cores, which are then sawn into a number of cortical blanks—largely flat sections of dense cortical bone that can be used to manufacture a wide range of artefacts. Bowhead whales and southern right whales are close relatives and have a similar morphology (Rosenbaum et al ., ; Churchill et al ., ); thus, it is reasonable to assume that the ribs of southern right whales may have been prized for their industrial qualities in the same way that bowheads were prized by the Arctic Inuit.…”

“…Bowhead whales and southern right whales are close relatives and have a similar morphology (Rosenbaum et al ., ; Churchill et al ., ); thus, it is reasonable to assume that the ribs of southern right whales may have been prized for their industrial qualities in the same way that bowheads were prized by the Arctic Inuit. The sequence of rib bone reduction seen at Kahukura appears to mirror that of the Mackenzie Inuit culture (Betts, ) and may be an example of the most efficient and economical method of whale bone processing, maximising the yield of cortical blanks.…”

“…Betts () successfully combined tool mark identification of whale bone fragments with a chaîne opératoire ‐based debitage analysis which provided information enabling the reconstruction of the sequence of reduction applied to bowhead whale rib bones. The Kahukura whale bone assemblage is similar to the one from Betts, () site in that it is made up of a large proportion of processing by‐products. The morphology of these fragments and the marks left by processing tools allow insight into how they were created, providing information about the processing strategies and tools used to reduce whale bones at the site.…”

First evidence of a whale-bone industry in the western European Upper Paleolithic: Magdalenian artifacts from Isturitz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France)

“…The first one is to determine the reasons why the Magdalenians chose this raw material to manufacture a portion of their projectile points, foreshafts, and wedges. If, as a first approach, we consider only the intrinsic properties of the material-ignoring extrinsic factors such as economic availability, symbolic status, etc.-it appears that its large dimensions probably played a role: compared to antlers or to the bones of most land mammals, whale bones allow the manufacture of larger tools (Betts, 2007). The peculiar mechanical properties of whale bone must also be considered.…”