Maritime Archaic Hide Preparation and Sewing Tools from Port au Choix, Newfoundland.
Maritime Archaic peoples made their clothing from animal hides with the tools shown here. The long bone "beamer" (at the bottom) was used to remove hair from skins by placing the hide over a log and scraping with the sharpened edge of the beamer. Similar tools, made from iron, are still used in tanneries today. The caribou shoulder blade scraper (at the top) helped to remove the flesh and fat from the inside of the hide. Sharp flakes of stone were probably used to cut the skins, which were then sewn to make leggings, jackets, boots, mitts and probably headwear. The bone awl (below the scraper on the right) could be used to punch holes in the hide, and fine needles of bird bones (on the left below the scraper) with eyes often less than one millimetre wide were used to sew garments together with thread made from caribou sinew. Above the beamer is a 4,000-year-old needle case which contained needles at the time of its discovery at Port-au-Choix.
