First Nations Artifacts

Last week, we were lucky enough to again welcome Richard, one of our district Aboriginal cultural facilitators, into our classroom.  This time, he came to teach us about different  tools that were commonly used by the First Nations peoples living in this area.  He brought in several replicas and we had to hypothesize about what the tool might have been used for.  At the end, we shared our hypotheses, then he told us what the tools were actually used for.  Many of our guesses were quite accurate!  Here are a few photos of us examining the artifacts.

Projectile points were used for hunting or fishing when attached to an arrow or spear.

An abrading stone was used for smoothing materials  and keeping knives  sharp.

An adze was used for scraping, cutting and other woodworking.

A biface was used as a knife or as a weapon when attached to a handle.

A pebble tool (the oldest artifact)  was used for smoothing materials and for hammering. 

A stone bowl was used for mixing or crushing plants  for food or medicine.

A maul was used as a hammer.

A drill point was used for making holes in bone, stone or animal hides.

Thank you again, Richard, for sharing your knowledge!

Click here to see the Surrey Schools Aboriginal technology file which shows more pictures and descriptions of tools.