Hello All,
As TIGHAR Member #2842, I have been a reader of everything about Amelia on TIGHAR, but this is my first post.
Gus Rubio commented that "In addition, I would think that close inspection of the broken edges might show if they were used as tools."
As I thought about the mystery of the broken glass containers, it occurred to me that there may be a parallel to the folding pocket knife that was apparently broken apart by the castaway to provide a blade or other part of greater function to survival than the original item. What does a man who finds himself in a bar fight without a weapon grab (besides pool cues)? He grabs a bottle, of course, then breaks it so that he has an edged weapon, as we see in many, many movies. So, my suggestion is that if the glass containers were broken by the castaway, they were broken somehow, some way, so that the resulting glass shards would be useful as cutting or scraping tools. A sharp, curved piece of glass with a rounded, smooth base, such as the freckle cream jar bottom might have served a useful purpose in scraping out turtle or clam shells. From the photo it appears as if there would have been a useful sharp edge with nice non-sharp handle (the base).
Even if the castaway did not get to use all of the glass shards as tools, they may have been something that was anticipated as having value as a tool, thus the glass containers were broken by some means to see what useful pieces might be obtained. If the knife blade was getting dull from scraping out or breaking open shells, it might not take very long to think of breaking any glass containers at hand to have access to a very sharp edge. If they were broken for use as cutting and scraping tools, then the glass containers would have been broken purposefully and carefully by whatever means were available so as not to ruin the resulting pieces for their intended use. There may have been some trial and error involved in this endeavor.
Bye for now,
Barry Dreher
TIGHAR 2842