13
- Without barbs; inserted blade (parallel to line hole).
- Both barbs and inserted blade.
- Closed shaft socket. Mostly two dorsal spurs.
- Neither barbs nor inserted blade.
- With barbs; no inserted blade.
- Without barbs, with inserted blade.
- Almost round.
- Very flat.
- Both barbs and inserted blade.
The large whaling harpoon heads and the Ituartit harpoon heads, each of which are specialised for particular purposes, are not included in this system, nor are the Cape Dorset harpoon heads with rectangular shaft socket; they will be treated separately later.
This system is so arranged that the forms of harpoon head which, from a typological point of view, must be regarded as being the simplest, are always placed before the more complicated, derived forms. To bore a line hole straight through the harpoon head is simpler than making two borings which meet at an angle; to cut a shaft socket from the side seems to be easier than boring it in from the end; a harpoon head without barbs is a more simple form than a head with barbs; a harpoon head with a bone point, without an inserted blade, is a more simple form than one in which there is a separate, inserted blade; a harpoon head with two opposite barbs is a simpler form than heads with several barbs.
From these purely theoretical considerations we now pass on to see what, from the already described material of the Central Eskimo finds, may be concluded regarding the chronology of these types of harpoon heads. We then see that in the Naujan find, which we must look upon as the oldest of the large, collective finds, the types A I, which comprise the forms which have been called the Thule types, are quite in the majority, whilst, within this group, a 1 (Thule type 1) appears in few specimens, whereas b 1 and c 1 (Thule types 2 and 3) are the prevailing forms; the derivatives of these are not met with in the settlement find, but two of them (b 3 and d 2) appear in grave finds from Naujan. Furthermore, there are in the Naujan find a few specimens of types II a and c 2, as well as B II c 1, a form that is closely related to the thin harpoon heads A II c 1. The very flat harpoon heads do not occur at all in the Naujan find. If we now go from Naujan to Ponds Inlet we see, in the Mitimatalik find — which must be regarded as the oldest — only the type A I b 1. In the Qilalukan find it is still the types AI which predominate; but besides the more simple forms which marked the Naujan find we find a
