Stratum X—4 objects.
The remarkable preponderance in stratum II is probably again the result of the practice of cremation of bodies.
When one remembers that awls were the principal tools used in making baskets and that baskets took the place of pottery in the household of the California Indians, one will not wonder at their great number.
Their shapes vary. Four of them are shown in [plate 9], figs. 1 to 4. Fig. 1, from stratum I, gives the type by far the most common in the 3 or 4 upper strata; the other three, fig. 2, 1-8686, from stratum IV, fig. 3, 1-8897, from VIII, fig. 4, 1-8972, from IX, give examples of the many secondary forms and illustrate the diversity of form occurring in the lower strata. Although fig. 4, as regards its shape, reminds us of the type of the tool of the upper strata (cf. fig. 1), not a single implement was found in the lower strata that was the exact counterpart of those in the upper. Manifestly it was the inhabitants of the upper strata who developed and established the latter form. Its distinctive feature is this, that only one side of the bone (mostly tibia of deer) is used, that a foot-like portion of the joint is left, and that the awl is sharpened and well finished off on all sides, even to the inner channel. Usually there is a slight bulging out in the middle of the tool which increases its strength.
The characteristic feature of [pl. 9], fig. 2, is that only the shaft of the bone is open, the joint being left intact. In [pl. 9], figs. 3 and 4, the foot-like supports are missing; whether originally they were there or not is a question. They seem to have been missing from the very beginning, at least the one shown in [pl. 9], fig. 3. The whole shape of the instrument is crude. In several awl-like implements of the lower strata, as in text-fig. 25, 1-8797, from stratum VII, the canal in the bone is not even opened, but kept intact through the whole instrument.[[130]]
b. Blunt Awl-like Implements.
Fig. 25. × 1/2. A bone, probably used for an awl. Fig. 26. × 1/2. Bone implement of unknown use.
The absence of points indicates a somewhat different use to which such instruments were put. In addition to this feature there is very frequently a peculiar curve which, while it is the natural shape of the bone, must have been chosen purposely,—for instance, 1-8692, [pl. 9], fig. 5, from IV, and 1-8829, text-fig. 26, from stratum VIIa. The bone of front leg of a stag is the original form of the partly awl-shaped partly paper-cutter-like implement, 1-8579, text-fig. 27, from stratum II. A similar one from the southern part of the United States has been observed.[[131]]
