DORSET TIP FLUTING - A 2ND AMERICAN INVENTION

This paper describes and analyzes a Dorset ''invention,'' the tip flut ing of points, which is characteristic of the Early and Middle Dorset. This technique, which has been looked upon as a finishing touch, is s hown to be derived from microblade pressure knapping. Tip-fluted point s are the result of repeated knapping, very likely by pressure, of mic roblade-like spalls from the apex of a specialized blank. Tip fluting was applied at different stages of point manufacture, from the blank, to the preform, to used and broken points. The process could be applie d to both faces, and in some case from both ends. The resulting flutes were achieved through a series of reasoned steps pertaining to the mi croblade knapping technique. Unlike the Paleo-Indian basal fluting of points, which was a finishing step of the haft element, the tip-flutin g technique did not spread out of the Canadian Dorset area where it or iginated and was used for less than a millennium.