PORT ANGELES — When Lower Elwha Klallam tribal workers at the graving yard site needed special tools to excavate human remains and artifacts, they turned to a tribal member known for his artistic ability.
“Some of my family members who work there told me about some of the problems they were having removing items from the ground, so I started playing around in the shop,” said Darrell Charles Jr.
Charles, 28, has been carving since he was a young boy.
He has invented and modified hand tools, and is supplying them to friends and family who work on the state Department of Transportation’s graving yard property as part of the archeological excavation of the former Klallam village known as Tse-whit-zen.
The result of Charles’ “playing around” in a humble carving shed on the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation is two wooden tools — simply called spoons and scrapers.
Charles has made dozens of spoons and scrapers at the request of tribal members and archaeologists working at the 22.5-acre waterfront site.
“I had been gone for a few weeks on another carving project in Tulalip and already have nine orders for spoons and scrapers in only a few days,” Charles said.
“I will have them ready next week.”
Both wooden tools are made of scrap maple and yew, woods known for their strength.
“But they do wear down over time,” Charles said. “They use them a lot at the site because they are constantly finding things.”
