Figs. 27 and 28. × 1/2. Bones probably used as awls. Fig. 29. × 1/2. Bone of “paper-cutter” type.
c. Flat Awl-like Implements.
These represent a large and important class of implements which occur in numbers in several of the lower strata (V and IX), although really only in fragments; cf. 1-8985, [pl. 9], fig. 6, from stratum V. They are curved sideways, and well-pointed in spite of their otherwise flat character. The interior reticulate structure of the natural bone is retained on one side of the implement.
Fig. 28, 1-8541, from stratum II, has a peculiar shape; it is broad, in the form of a channel and pointed. One of the edges of the channel seems to be worn smooth through usage. The back end is broken off.
[130] Numbers of awl-like bone implements of this kind coming from the United States have been depicted. For those from California, see H. H. Bancroft, Native Races, IV, p. 711, No. 1 (the other so-called tool, No. 2, is a natural bone without value as a tool); Moorehead, l. c., p. 271, fig. 410; F. W. Putnam, Rep. of U. S. Geogr. Survey, l. c., pl. XI, figs. 13 to 15 and 19; p. 227, fig. 104; Nadaillac, l. c., p. 49, fig. 15 (not very useful); from the southern states, for instance, Ch. C. Jones, Antiquities of the Southern Indians, 1873, pl. XVI, fig. 1; Moorehead, l. c., p. 142; Chas. Rau, Smiths. Contrib., No. 287, p. 64, fig. 238 (Kentucky, Tennessee); from shellmounds of New England; Wyman, Am. Naturalist, I, pl. 14, fig. 5, and pl. 15, fig. 9 (both repeated in Abbott, l. c., p. 213, figs. 199 and 202), from New York; Schoolcraft Archives of Aborig. Knowledge, 1860, II, pl. 49, fig. 3, with p. 90, from the Aleutian Islands, Chas. Rau, l. c., fig. 236.
[131] Moorehead, l. c., p. 142; comp. also Ch. Rau, Smiths. Contrib., No. 287, XXII, p. 64, fig. 237 (from Kentucky).
2. Needle-like Implements.
They differ from the awl-like implements in that they are intended not only to pierce an article but also to pass through it. In this class there are also secondary shapes.