Spurred End Scraper

A spurred end scraper is an end scraper with a small, sharp projection, the spur, at one or both corners of its rounded bit. Otherwise it is a typical end scraper: a flake with a flat underside, a steep bit retouched across one end, and sides often trimmed or notched for a handle (Bell 1980; Texas Beyond History). Eren and colleagues (2013) define a spur as a projection no wider than 3 mm and at least 1 mm long.

Some spurs were made on purpose by retouch; others were left over as the bit was resharpened. Grimes and colleagues (1984), working on the Bull Brook scrapers, proposed that repeated resharpening of a scraper with notched or narrowed sides cuts the bit back until it meets the notch, leaving a point at the corner. Analysis of 563 complete Clovis unifacial tools from the Lower Great Lakes found that spurs were sometimes deliberately made (Eren et al. 2013).

The bit was used, like other end scrapers, mainly on hides. The function of the spur is less clear: suggestions include piercing or tearing hide, tattooing and engraving bone, antler, wood or ivory, and many spurs show no use-wear (Eren et al. 2013; Robinson et al. 2004). The key trait is a sharp spur at a corner of an end scraper's bit.

Spur at least 1 mm long and no more than 3 mm wide (working definition, Eren et al. 2013). In seven Clovis assemblages from the Lower Great Lakes, complete unifaces with a spur averaged 9.7 g (n = 239) and those without 11.5 g (n = 321); 24–38% of the unifaces at each site carried a spur (Eren et al. 2013). Overall size is that of ordinary Paleoindian end scrapers, mostly 20–60 mm long (Bell 1980).

Paleoindian sites across North America: the Northeast and Maritimes (Bull Brook, Debert, Vermont sites), the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, Kentucky, the Plains and Texas, and Alberta (Robinson et al. 2004; Eren et al. 2013; Peck 2011).

Identification tips: Look for a sharp, narrow point exactly at a corner of the scraping bit, not a broken corner. A notch just below the spur suggests it formed as the bit was resharpened back to the notch (Robinson et al. 2004).

Similar types: End Scraper lacks a corner spur. Graver has one or more spurs but no scraping bit. Notched oblique scrapers from Vermont Paleoindian sites have a notch and an angled bit and may be an earlier stage of the same tool (Robinson et al. 2004).

Naming: Also called graver scraper, spurred scraper or end scraper with graver spur.

Dating evidence: Archaeologists treat spurred end scrapers as a Paleoindian marker. Rogers (1985, 1986), surveying Kansas stream terraces, found spurred end scrapers consistently with Paleoindian material, while other gravers occur through the whole prehistoric record. Kentucky's Early and Middle Paleoindian end scrapers include spurred examples, and spurred end scrapers become more common in Middle Paleoindian assemblages there (Pollack 2008).